Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time I'd like to welcome my cousin, William Greenland to the House and also a well-renowned artist here in the Northwest Territories. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we were aware that Dechinta had made that application. Thank you.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, duties from the reduction of that position were uptaken by the six other staff in that department. Thank you.

Yes, they would be. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Senior management involves workers that we have throughout the Northwest Territories. There's consultations between the head office and the regional offices in terms of positions that are made.

As we said, we looked at entry level jobs to management jobs. We do have directors and senior managers in the regional offices, as well, that communicate with our head office staff. We look at positions throughout the whole Northwest Territories, so there is discussions. As I mentioned, given the confidentiality of the exercise in the reductions, they were conducted by those...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I think that's exactly what we've done through the labour market information report and needs assessment as well as developing that Skills 4 Success Action Plan. We did get a lot of input from industry throughout the Northwest Territories, and, moving forward, we also have the mobility trades trailer in Inuvik that we try to utilize. But I do understand the Member's point and that we need to get some of these training opportunities into the communities, possibly partnering up with industry moving forward.

With this particular project, because it was the length of time...

Given the confidentiality of the reduction exercise, senior management that the department delivered the exercise with the positions as mentioned from entry level to management.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As discussions from yesterday where we had talked about some of the school and learning centres, a lot of our community members that spoke up yesterday talked about the need for learning centres in our community as well, which does get on the needs assessment based on priority. We do have an Aurora College Act and we do want to ensure that our communities also have the opportunities to provide learning outcomes and opportunities for some of our residents that do live in small communities. So we're still in talks with Dechinta and College nordique in terms of working...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the departments look at any kind of reductions within our programs, specifically when it comes to positions in the GNWT, we look at three factors. One is the nature of the position: does the incumbent require specialized training or could the task be delegated to others within the work unit.

Another one is the status of the position; whether it is vacant or not. The third factor that we do take into consideration is risks and impact on program delivery: could the program continue to be delivered with staff that are still within that division.