Heading back north
The Arctic calls once more for Stewiacke CAO Sheldon Dorey
The shimmering dance of the northern lights and icy wilderness of Canada’s Arctic is calling Sheldon Dorey home after 17 years in Stewiacke.
The shimmering dance of the northern lights and icy wilderness of Canada’s Arctic is calling Sheldon Dorey home after 17 years in Stewiacke.
Stepping down as the Town of Stewiacke’s chief administration officer, Dorey seized the chance to take up a similar role at Baker Lake in Nunavut, and he’s leaving this week.
“There’s vast, wide open spaces and I’m an outdoors kind of person,” said Dorey. “There’s lots of hunting and fishing.”
While Dorey can’t wait to fly north once again, he will nonetheless miss Nova Scotia and Stewiacke, which he grew to love during his 17 years there.
Wishing his town and council colleagues the best of luck, Dorey said that Stewiacke “has a lot of potential.”
“It’s with mixed emotions I leave again.”
“I’m sure Stewiacke will survive. It’s a gorgeous little town.”
And he feels the town is in a solid position today, based on past efforts.
“The biggest wins are probably all the infrastructure work that we managed to accomplish – water, wastewater, streets, capital programs, playgrounds, that sort of stuff.”
He also said the council was good to work with.
Dorey fondly recalled his previous Arctic postings with the Hudson’s Bay Company, when caribou, wolves, foxes and rabbits were common sights on an almost virgin landscape.
At night, Dorey enjoyed regular displays of the northern lights in “every colour of the rainbow.”
While snow and ice covered the ground for most of the year, the brief arctic summers brought out a riot of wildflowers and revealed to Dorey a land cut through with seemingly endless lakes.
Having begun his career with the Hudson’s Bay Company in Manitoba, Dorey transferred between several Arctic communities and finished up in Naujaat, formerly Repulse Bay. There, he put his skills to use as that hamlet’s senior administration officer.
His new home of Baker Lake, also known as Qamani’tuaq in Inuit, is a bigger town of more than 2,000 people located about 320 km west of Hudson Bay. The town sits on land devoid of trees.
Most Baker Lake residents work in nearby mines and mineral exploration, but the town is also known for traditional Inuit art, such as basalt stone sculptures and wall hangings.
According to Dorey, people either love or hate life in such isolated communities, today made a little less remote through modern technology such as Skype and cellphones.
“I was one of those that loved it,” said Dorey.
Dorey and his family left the arctic 17 years ago for their children’s education, settling in Stewiacke as it was relatively close to his birthplace of Newfoundland.
He and his wife, Valerie, have twin daughters who are 27 and a son, 25.
The application process to replace Dorey at the helm of Stewiacke’s administrative team is open until Friday.
Mayor Wendy Robinson said a firm has been hired to receive applications, which are to be vetted down to approximately four or five individuals.
A town committee will shortlist those candidates down to one or two and then submit a recommendation to council.