Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize Donna Pick and Gayla Wick, Yellowknife South constituents.

Mr. Speaker, HR’s role is not different. It’s just that we may take a different approach with some of the larger departments and some of the larger boards in how we approach the staffing for boards and agencies.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve worked in a number of environments where cross-cultural training was provided across the board, and it was a requirement for not only front-line employees but all employees to take cross-cultural awareness training.

This is certainly an area that I think is important, certainly for people who are new to the North and new to the communities. We develop training programs, and we will make sure that this service continues to be provided.

Mr. Speaker, we had an opportunity to brief the standing committee with regard to human resources, and I am waiting for a letter from the committee that would indicate they’re supportive of the department taking such an approach. If we have that support, then we would go forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is certainly our intention. As has been mentioned, we do have 118 potentially affected employees, depending on whether the budget gets passed or not. There are a number of these employees that are approaching some significant milestones with regard to retirement. So this is an area that we’re looking at.

The Government of the Northwest Territories doesn’t specifically contribute to the operations of the Joint Review Panel. Where we spend money is in making sure that we have the people and the resources to develop the positions that are taken by the Government of the Northwest Territories in any interventions, also in reviewing the interventions of other groups and agencies that appear in front of the Joint Review Panel.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories presently has 4,753 full-time indeterminate employees and 1,051 casual employees. At this moment, we have 118 potentially affected employees. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a former builder, supporter and fierce advocate of our tourism industry in the Northwest Territories.

Jim Peterson passed away on April 15 of this year, just weeks before his beloved lodge on Point Lake opened for its 22nd season.

Jim first came to the Northwest Territories in 1979 with the Canadian Armed Forces and established northern roots that were, thankfully, never uplifted.

In 1986 he became an active participant in the NWT tourism industry with the establishment of Point Lake Lodge north of Yellowknife. A seasoned outdoorsman and outfitter, he...

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if the Member is talking about workfare or something where people who are on income support should be put to work. But there have been a number of different programs over the years, and I guess we’d have to check to see whether they’re still in existence. I recall IRAP, for example, where you would get money to do projects, but you could only hire people that were on income assistance to do the work. But certainly I think that any program where we can help people acquire new skills, I’d be supportive. I’d certainly be willing to look at it.

We are in the process of negotiating an agrifood agreement with the federal government. Once that is concluded, then we will be able to communicate what we’ve been successful in negotiating to the communities. Production of food is certainly something we want to encourage and to see continuing to grow.