The “Administrator of Everything”: Parliamentary Support Staff in Smaller Jurisdictions – An Interview with Helen Fitzsimmons
With a career spanning 46 years as an employee of the Government of Yukon, including the past 21 years serving the Yukon Legislative Assembly, Helen Fitzsimmons was feted by MLAs, colleagues and peers on April 27, the last sitting day of the 2023 Spring Sitting. With unanimous consent, the Assembly delivered tributes to Helen at the end of the sitting day. Extraordinarily, also with unanimous consent, Helen then addressed the Assembly. (The last time that the rare honour of addressing the Assembly had been conferred by the Yukon Legislative Assembly upon someone had been in 2011 when the House recessed to receive an address by Governor General David Johnston). Although normally only the first hour of the sitting day is videotaped, the tributes and address were recorded and posted on the Assembly’s Facebook page. The gallery, which had been empty minutes earlier, filled to capacity for this tribute. Visitors present included Yukon’s current senator, Yukon’s former senator, a former Yukon Premier, a former Commissioner, a former Speaker, former Ministers and MLAs, former party leaders, former Chiefs of Staff and Principal Secretaries, former Clerks, current and past Legislative Assembly Office staff and caucus staff, as well as some of Helen’s friends and family. Everyone present showed great admiration and love for Helen and was eager to hear her say a few words about what her career and time at the Assembly meant to her. In this interview conducted before her summer retirement, Helen shares more insight into her life as a long-serving parliamentary support staff employee in a smaller jurisdiction.
Canadian Parliamentary Review: Thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me. It was wonderful to see that tribute to you in the House by the MLAs. It was very, very touching.
Helen Fitzsimmons: Absolutely. And as my colleague (the Deputy Clerk) said, you can tell they each worked hard on their own speeches and you know they weren’t written by somebody else. It was a huge honour for me. You know, throughout my entire career I’ve always felt very appreciated and supported. To go out after 46 years that with that kind of tribute is beyond phenomenal.
CPR: And the emotion too, right? You could really see that they will miss you and they aren’t sure what they’re going to do without you.
HF: I’ll be on speed dial probably for the next year or so. (Laughs)
CPR: I have a feeling you’re right. (Laughs). That was a nice way to end, but let’s go back to the beginning. What prompted you to seek employment with the Government of Yukon and later the Assembly?
HF: In this smaller jurisdiction, the Legislative Assembly staff are also Government of the Yukon employees. Having already worked for the Yukon Government for 25 years, when the opportunity arose for the position here, a friend of mine convinced me to apply. I wasn’t really thinking of applying, because I loved my previous job in realty and planning services where I looked after all the government’s owned and leased buildings. But I thought, let’s give it a try. What have I got to lose? And, lo and behold, they offered me the job. The Assembly was looking for an individual who had a wide range of experience in administration, human resources and finance systems. It’s a big job and my knowledge and skills fit with that, so I applied and the Clerk hired me.
CPR: In a smaller jurisdiction, when you have one of these roles, are you required to do a lot of different types of work compared to a position at a larger Assembly where there’s a more robust support staff? Did you have to be a jack of all trades?
HF: Yes, you have to be. I am a senior manager responsible for providing leadership, direction, management, control, implementation and evaluation of administration, finance, human resources, information technology, and asset management. In addition, I provide senior-level support, vision, direction, recommendations and strategic advice to the Clerk and the Members’ Services Board (an all-party committee responsible for matters of financial and administrative policy affecting the Assembly). It’s a huge job.
In addition to that, I also play an integral role as part of the senior management team for the House Officers (Ombudsman Office [which includes the Information and Privacy Commissioner and Public Interest Disclosure Commissioner], Child and Youth Advocate, Elections Yukon, Conflict Commissioner and Lobbyist Registrar) by providing advice, recommendations, and guidance for financial management, human resources management and information and system management.
I also assist the MLAs, caucuses, look after the MLA Pension Plan, and recently was made the Lobbyist Administrator.
While in a strictly organizational sense, the Director reports to the Clerk, the responsibilities of my position require that I support the House Officers, MLAs, and caucuses. Therefore, I have many bosses. This also requires me to keep the confidence of all, while not reporting or informing the Clerk of certain discussions, recommendations, or decisions.
You are kind of in your own little silo and you are expected to still make things happen. You must be ready to make decisions and navigate through different things and negotiate all those kinds of things. I think I’ve worked hard to provide independent, nonpartisan advice and services, plus a wide array of other things.
And that array is very wide. Loading the dishwasher, moving furniture, etc. When an MLA from a rural riding was sick I delivered cold medicine to their house. Those are the kinds of things that are all part of my role. We have a staff of six who provide the same services as other jurisdictions, so the expectation has always been you will do whatever is required. It’s all-encompassing.
Nothing is ever temporary. The more you can do, the more they will give you to do. But I loved it. There has never been a time when I was bored or had nothing to do.
CPR: There was a cabinet minister in the 1940s (C.D. Howe), whose work on the war effort was so extensive that he was referred to as the Minister of Everything. It sounds as though you played that role in the Assembly! Perhaps you’re the Administrator of Everything. How did you manage to juggle all these responsibilities and not let any of these balls drop? Because it really sounds from the tributes in the Assembly as though people knew how effectively you did this job.
HF: Well, I’m a hard worker. I put in a lot of hours and took very little vacation leave, so that helps. I’m just kind of a “get ‘er done” person. It’s a full time job, but it’s a very rewarding job. You just find the time and you’re constantly shifting your priorities to what’s more important. And every day there seems to be something! (Laughs)
You just get used to doing that. I kind of feel a little sorry for my replacement because the expectations are pretty high. But, hopefully, they will take into consideration this person is learning and that I already had a lot of experience before I came to the Legislative Assembly.
I also had help from the Canadian Association of Parliamentary Administrators (CAPA). This group not only provides networking opportunities but also assists smaller jurisdictions. The help they provide us is invaluable. When I first attended a CAPA conference, our accounts payable systems and human resources systems were a little bit higher tech than some of the other jurisdictions because the Assembly employees were government employees. At the beginning, it was kind of nice to feel as though we did something a little bit better than other places but now that’s changed over time. It’s hard work when you have a very small staff and yet you provide the same services as larger jurisdictions.
But this association and the Clerks’ network are just invaluable. Once you meet these people and have that network, they can help so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It makes things a little bit easier for us to do our job.
CPR: I would imagine that in the more than 20 years you were at the Assembly and the 25 years prior to that when you were working for the government, you’ve seen many, many changes. What have you noticed as some of the biggest changes within the Assembly itself?
HF: When I first started here, we had those tiny little cassettes that Hansard would record on, and then we’d run them to the transcribers, who would do what they needed to do. Now we have a new automated recording and sound system, so that was a huge step in the right direction for us.
Also when I started, we had one camera. When we’d do Question Period, that camera would pan from the Speaker to the MLA. Of course, you know, the camera is always moving, and people can see that. Then we upgraded and went to two cameras. One stayed on the Speaker and the second one would pan without people having to see the pan. Now, we are installing a new system where we’re going to have six cameras. It’s going to be more automated, with a little bit of artificial intelligence as part of it. The camera operator won’t have to be in the room with a stand and the camera. There will be an editing room, too. That’s a big change for the Assembly as well. I can see us slowly moving into the 21st century and that’s a good thing. In smaller jurisdictions, it’s kind of hard to stay on top of that stuff. Trying to do all those things with a staff of six makes things very busy.
CPR: I imagine you’ve met many MLAs during your career, some of them may have been elected for quite some time and others may have had brief tenure in the Assembly. Do you feel that MLAs have a deep understanding of the work of parliamentary support services, or does a lot of occur ‘behind the curtain’?
HF: I have been working for the government for 46 years and 21 of those years have been in the Assembly. During this time, I truly believe every elected Member is doing their best to serve the Yukon. But do they understand all the things we do? I would say no. However, they do know that what we do is important. In the tribute in the Assembly, Kate White, the Leader of the Third Party, said, to paraphrase: “It’s not just the things Helen does that we are thankful for. It’s the things she does that we don’t know about that we don’t have to be worried about.”
We’re family. I think all jurisdictions feel the same way. We have special relationships with these individuals, and when we suffer losses, it’s kind of like losing a family member. When you’re a small jurisdiction and you work together closely every day, you see these people more than you see your family. They become your second family.
CPR: As you think back on your time and at the Assembly in your career more generally, what advice might you give to people who are newly hired into parliamentary support services?
HF: Being a small jurisdiction, we’re all expected to work hard and put this place first. It probably doesn’t sound right to other people, but it’s a special commitment to ensure the Assembly is able to function.
Putting this place first means being able to think outside the box. We don’t always have policies and rules and directives and everything in place, so you must think outside the box. You must find solutions to whatever problem arises.
Building positive relationships is very important. Whether it’s with the MLAs or even other government employees, I think you need a flair to be able to negotiate and you must be able to say “no”.
CPR: And I imagine it can be difficult for some people to hear “no,” and for people working for them or with them to say it nicely but firmly.
HF: To say “no” and still get that kind of tribute in the House and feel the love means you have done your job, right?
CPR: Yes.
HF: Being nonpartisan is something that is a must. One of the things that all three of the party leaders said to me was: “We know you vote, but none of us know who you vote for.” And that’s something that’s super important.
CPR: Do you plan to come back to the Assembly once you’re well and truly retired? Or, after 46 years, have you seen enough of the inside of that building to last a lifetime?
HF: That’s funny! A lot of people ask me that question. Apart from a 1-day Special Sitting in Dawson City on June 13, our Assembly won’t reconvene until the Fall, so I have several months to think about it. I’ll definitely be back for sure to see the new camera system. I’ll probably be sitting in the editing room with our video contractor because I’d really like to see how that works. That’s a part of my legacy, moving us in that direction.
You know, I’m going to stay in touch with everybody. In this job, most days you don’t even get a chance to take lunch. So, I’m looking forward to being able to have lunches with them. I will continue to stay a part of most of their lives because, as I said, we’re family.
CPR: Is there anything that I didn’t cover in these questions that you’d like to talk about?
HF: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Legislative Assembly and that’s thanks in large part to Patrick Michael, the Clerk who hired me, and his successors Floyd McCormick and Dan Cable. They believed in me. One of the Clerks said: “You know, supporting you was easy. All I had to do was stay out of your way and let you get the job done.” That felt good – having supervisors who believe in you really does make a difference.
Like I said during that tribute in the Assembly, my parents taught their children to work hard so your employer doesn’t think you’re replaceable. I worked hard to make sure that happened.
I’m still young. I don’t think this is the end of my working career. However, my parents are aging, and they need me a lot more. It’s just not possible in this position to spend the time I want to with them. At some point, I think I’ll be back to work, but not in such a demanding kind of position. I’ll leave that to the younger generation. (Laughs) For now, I’m focusing on taking the summer off and spending time with my parents.