David Krutko

We’re on page 2-63, Management and Recruitment Services, Upgrades, Manager Summaries: $7.341 million. Mr. Hawkins.

On page 2-63, Management and Recruitment Services. Next on the list, Mr. Abernethy.

Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, that’s the frustration that everyone’s feeling around here. It’s because the meeting that was supposed to take place yesterday and today was cancelled by his department. Now they’re telling the people, “We were going to talk about this issue yesterday and today, but wait till the fall. We’ll talk about it then.”

People can’t wait that long. I’d like to ask the Minister: exactly why isn’t his department realizing this is a critical problem we’re having in our communities — dealing with preparing documents and information — because of this situation? Yet there’s the technical ability...

If you like, Mr. Minister, you can refer the question to the Minister responsible for that information.

Mr. Speaker, the government must do everything it can to ensure the protection of those among us who have disabilities, by way of mobility, wheelchair bound, from accessing public facilities to accessing public housing. The government must do everything it can to improve the quality of life of these individuals, as they are the ones that we are here to protect.

Mr. Speaker, I watched a young man struggling to push his wheelchair down the street in Fort McPherson by way of the mud and the gravel, thinking “That’s a challenge.” After talking to his dad, I found out this individual had nowhere to...

Since the Minister touched on steps, one of the issues I hear quite a bit from aboriginal employees who are in the public workforce is they are trying to enhance themselves, go back to school and take training, go to university, you know, get their doctorates, get their different degrees to basically move them up the ladder. But there seems to be a lot of reluctance from people from within the administration to see aboriginal people succeed and be able to be the bosses of their bosses. I think there is a threat out there that people are afraid that by moving these people up the workforce...

Mr. Chair, my question is in regard to human resources strategy but also on the policy side. This department is now responsible for ensuring that the policies that we do have are implemented but, more importantly, dealing with the Affirmative Action Policy. With these cuts that are taking place, a large number of aboriginal people are being let go, yet as a government we’re somewhere just under 40 per cent of aboriginal employment in this government. I think we have a policy that clearly states that we’re supposed to do what we can to ensure we have a reflective workforce and, more importantly...

Mr. Speaker, also in my Member’s statement I took issue with regard to the residency clause that’s in place for individuals who are born and raised in their home communities. They’re band members in those communities, but if they leave the community for less than a year and come back to the home community, they have to wait three months before they can get into public housing. Yet there are vacancies.

I’d like to ask the Minister: is there a possibility that the Minister or the department can make special exemptions for people who are disabled, people who have already been in public housing...

Mr. Speaker, in regard to my Member’s statement in the area of people with disabilities that live in small communities and the challenges that they face — more importantly, the lack of houses in our communities to accommodate people with disabilities — this government has taken steps to look at barrier-free houses. I know that the Member for Yellowknife mentioned that there were the eight units built here in Yellowknife. In regard to barrier-free houses, we have built houses in seniors’ housing which are barrier-free. We have built seniors’ facilities which are barrier-free. We have the...