Bob McLeod

Human Resources works very closely with the management of all the different departments to make sure that policies are followed and that the candidates that have the most merit and have the highest priorities of this government get hired for specific jobs.

We’ve looked at our hiring process. We looked at our job evaluation process to try to eliminate the systemic barriers that are either perceived or that have seen to be out there to prevent Aboriginal people from getting into jobs at different levels. We’re told that we put in barriers by demanding very specific qualifications or...

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, we have met with the Yukon and we are basically following the approach that the Yukon government has taken. We are developing a disabilities framework that we will be rolling out this coming year and as well as any programs that we can access money, we will be sure to pursue it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as a government, we are not averse to incorporating the best practices that are out there. That was the reason we approached the Yukon government, because they are seen as having one of the best diversity programs. I would expect that we would have been aware of that program. I will find out where we are at in terms of applying for money through that program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are intending to do, to work with the institutions and the government and so on. Most of them have started already and we want to maximize that kind of food. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of identifying those areas. We have received federal funding as part of our Growing Forward initiative which would look at things like muskox, wood bison and, of course, Great Bear Lake obviously has a lot of fish, so those are the areas that we would be looking at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize another MacLeod in the House. I’d like to recognize Lisa MacLeod, the MPP for Ontario, Nepean-Carleton, who works out of Queens Park. She’s the official opposition critic for revenue and government accountability. I’d also like to recognize a constituent of mine from Yellowknife South, Emily Stevenson. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in certain areas we do have the potential and information. For example, we have a fairly good idea of the collapse of the caribou populations, how it affected the barren-ground outfitters, for example, and how it affected Yellowknife, because we collected that information on an annual basis, and in fact the outfitters used to generate that information themselves because it was important for them to have the general public understand how much value the outfitters provided to the Northwest Territories.

With regard to how it affected individuals, generally we have to rely on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we have been basically making some broad estimations and I think that this is an area that as we put more resources and more funding into developing local economies and with regards to food and country food, we are going to paying much more attention to statistics now. For example, we have been estimating the value of country food at about $30 million for the Northwest Territories. For the compensation process, we allow the harvesters to factor in the value of harvesting as part of the calculation of the YMIR. This is an area that, as we go...

We have a staffing appeals process in the government and we’ve been limited by the fact that our legislation, for some reason, is restricted as to only having three staffing appeal positions, but we are making representation to have that changed so that we can have more staffing appeal officers so that we don’t have as much of a backlog.

Not only do we have a system of staffing appeals officers, we also have our human resource officers that go back and review with those that are interested as to how they felt they could improve upon when they go for interviews and also give them feedback on how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government developed a human resource strategy called 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. That strategic plan has been guiding our actions for the past couple of years. We have an Affirmative Action Advisory Group. We have set up some specific affirmative action competitions so that we can begin to get more Aboriginal people into senior management programs. And of course, we have developed a number of leadership programs which Aboriginal people are starting to take a much more significant participation in than they have in the past. Thank...