Earlier this week, a number of public servants were announced as the recipients of the 2023-2024 Premier’s Awards for Excellence.
These awards help to recognize the work and achievements of public service workers who have gone above and beyond in their respective fields. This year’s awards were presented in four different categories: Individual Excellence, Team Excellence, Collaboration Excellence, and Indigenous Partnership Excellence.
The award ceremony also included the presentation of two additional awards, those being the Dave Ramsden Career Excellence Award and the Kristine McLeod Emerging Indigenous Leader Award.
The Premier’s Award for Individual Excellence was given to Fraser Lennie, the Director of Quality, Risk, and Client Experience with the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority. Lennie was chosen for this award due to his leadership on the Cultural Safety Design Collaborative Project, which helped improve responsive care for Indigenous clients, and made a strong impact on the healthcare system.
The Premier’s Award for Team Excellence was given to the 2023 Emergency Response – MACA Senior Management Leadership Team. This team was in charge of the response to the 2023 wildfires, as they coordinated fire crew responses across the Territory, and worked to keep people safe as nearly seventy percent of the population evacuated.
The Premier’s Award for Collaboration Excellence was given out to two teams. The first is the NTHSSA-HRHSSA Evidence-Based Practice for Improving Quality (EPIQ) Facilitator Team, which gave quality improvement training to more than 115 healthcare staff across the NWT. The other recipient is the Diagnostic Imaging Replacement Project Team, which replaced outdated diagnostic imaging technology, which helped to enhance healthcare communication.
The Premier’s Award for Indigenous Partnership Excellence was given to the Mentor Apprentice Program team for their efforts in revitalizing Indigenous languages by utilizing mentor-apprentice pairings with seven different language groups.
The Dave Ramsden Career Excellence Award was given to Benoît Boutin, Executive Director of the Francophone Affairs Secretariat, who helped contribute to French language communications, and his role as a mentor within the GNWT.
Finally, the Kristine McLeod Emerging Indigenous Leader Award was given to Tyanna Steinwand. Tyanna is the Manager of Research Operations and Training with the Tłı̨chǫ Government. Tyanna has worked as an advocate for cultural preservation, environmental stewardship, and Tłı̨chǫ language revitalization.
The awards were presented at a special ceremony at the Legislative Assembly building in Yellowknife.
