Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government believed that the employment equity plan that was put before committee would have improved the results over what we’re seeing under the current policy. That was the position that was advanced. So yes, that was the goal to try and improve the results. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, the government had looked at the affirmative action policy and had agreed that it wasn’t delivering on the results that were expected from it and had looked at other options, including moving to an employment equity position. That proposal was taken to the standing committee and proposed. We haven’t actually heard formally back from the committee, but we had the sense that there wasn’t support for it. If there’s not support for a change in the policy, then we are looking at the existing policy. If there’s a committee that’s called for in the existing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to take a look at whether or not, I would undertake to attempt in the next couple of months to develop such a discussion paper that would deal with both immigration issues and challenges that we’re seeing in the North as well as prior learning assessment for immigrants and other challenges that they may face and see if there aren’t some ways in which we might work with the federal government to address those. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hadn’t heard about this problem with the fast-food service restaurants, but now that I have heard about it I would be quite happy to find out what their specific needs are and then see how we can address that with Minister Solberg, yes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. Mr. Speaker, last June I tabled the NWT Arts Strategy Progress Report, a document prepared jointly by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

Minister Bell and I committed to convening a consultation group, composed of NWT arts community representatives, to review the March 2006 NWT Arts Strategy Progress Report. We wanted the group to provide advice on actions that would support the goals and objectives of the NWT Arts Strategy.

This arts consultation group included both past members of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, the government went to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight in September of this year with a proposal for employment equity. In other words, taking specific targets and providing resources to make sure we could move to meet those targets in certain areas. The government hasn’t had a formal response back yet from AOC. Once we have that response, we’ll be prepared to move to address the issue and we’ll certainly take a look at the proposal that Mr. Villeneuve is now making. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being relatively new to the file, I know that I’ve talked to my colleague, the previous Minister, about the status of this and I understand that he’d gone to the standing committee with a proposal for moving to an employment equity process, but the committee isn’t in favour of that. So clearly we’re in a position where we have to take a look at the affirmative action plan and see if we can come up with something that Members of this House are supportive of, if we’re going to make any changes. As things stand right now, the affirmative action policy is the one that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the big issues that Ministers across Canada are trying to address is how to measure prior learning and the whole field of prior learning assessment, and how to recognize the qualifications that immigrants to Canada bring to the table is not something that we’re struggling with in our jurisdiction alone, but it is a problem all across Canada. I would be quite happy to continue to work on this file. One of the big issues that we have is we have a lot of professions that are self-regulating. It’s been somewhat of a challenge to get some of those professions to come...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest to Ms. Lee’s statement and it is an issue that I understand is becoming more and more of a problem for northern employers finding suitable staff because of the overheated economy. To date, I have approached Minister Solberg’s office on a couple of issues. One was to see if we could get some action on assisting the tourism operators who need Japanese staff; another to address an issue of a long-standing or outstanding application for Canadian citizenship for a doctor who is practicing in the North. We’ve had successful resolution of one of those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Archives Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Archives Act to replace the definition "public record" and to except certain records from that definition. This excludes those records from the requirements for transfer to the archives. The excepted records include:

records of the Legislative Assembly, the Speaker, the Clerk, and the committees and individual Members of the Legislative Assembly;

correspondence between members of the public and Members...