Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've already committed that we will review the human rights legislation and ensure that our policies are in line with that legislation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm obviously not a labour lawyer or qualified to interpret the legislation as it might be done before the courts, but I will assure the Member that we will have a look at the human rights legislation. We'll have a look at what the requirements are and ensure that this government is in compliance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we’ve contracted for a review of the Apprenticeship Program in the Northwest Territories earlier this year and we’re expecting to see a draft of the report in late September. So by this fall there should be a thorough review that will be available to the new government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our policy refers only to the employees themselves. So according to our policy, the duty to accommodate wouldn’t automatically extend to another family member. However, the government does have in its human resource policies the opportunity for flex time and, depending on operational requirements, the supervisors are able to work with employees and, if their operation will allow it, can…We can see employees are given different shifts or different hours in order to accommodate. So that is something that is already accommodated in our policies, but it has to depend on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under the human resource manual there is a clear definition of what is expected under the duty to accommodate and it is up to supervisors to work with employees to make sure that duty is actually delivered.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would be a marvellous opportunity if we could find a way to have a person in every community to deal exclusively with seniors but, as the Members knows, we don’t have enough of a demand in all of our communities to have staff available for such dedication. That’s one of the reasons that we’re looking at service centres, or government service centres in communities where programs like income security programs can be delivered. Hopefully, over time, we can expand the programming that they’re able to deliver to include those services for seniors. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am always willing to meet with a Member to discuss a constituency issue any time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday in my statement about income security, the government’s plan is to eventually move towards providing all of our social programs, if possible, through one office in all communities. It will take some time to get there, but eventually that would be the plan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to make it very clear that that is not the case. The human resources officer is not the person who makes the decision about who gets hired. It is a departmental decision. The human resources officers are involved to ensure that the process follows all of the GNWT policies and that the method of doing the interview and the assessment is done correctly. It is a department decision about the offers, but they have to make sure that they've followed all the processes and that's the role of the HR officer.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The goal of involving human resources officers or staffing officers in the process is to ensure that all of the government's rules and regulations and policies are followed. We want to make sure, for instance, that the affirmative action policy is followed as it should be in the process. I would expect that in terms of technical questions, that more weight would be given to a supervisor if they are more knowledgeable about the technical area, so I'll have to follow up with the department and find out exactly how that might be accommodated. Thank you.