Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact is, and we've agreed that there needs to be work done around our hiring practices within the Government of the Northwest Territories. We've committed to doing that and bringing a paper forward for this Assembly to review, the Members and our government, to improve on a number of areas. As the Member's well aware, we've just done the human resources amalgamation, and getting those processes, our normal processes, in working order so that we can do an effective job with our staff today. We haven't had the opportunity to deal with these issues the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that we do in fact, within HR, have an individual. In a number of departments we have individuals who are disabled. But I'm not going to stand here and highlight who, where and what position. We have individuals working with disabilities. The issue at hand is, as the Member stated, there are numbers and then there's statistics. He's used the fact that 13 percent of people are identified as disabled within the Northwest Territories. The question should more appropriately be, I guess, I look at it is how many of those are in the area of...

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have to look at as a government when we put out for positions to have filled by residents of the Northwest Territories is the type of function and other parameters we have to work within in having people be successful in applications when they apply for that position. We can’t just set targets and say there’s a 20 percent requirement here, let’s fill it with persons with a disability, or that are from a different part of the territory, or aboriginal descent, 1922-ers or whatever we call, as well. The fact is, first and foremost, as we put out positions that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact is, as a representative government, I can’t defend what previous governments did or did not do. The fact is that when Ministers bring forward a request for direct appointment, it’s tied to some of our other initiatives. For example, when we talk about graduates from our Nursing Program, our Social Work Program, as well as some of the teachers, and as well the internship program that we have of people who’ve gone to school, receive some training in their area and have worked within the department for a year or so, we’ve used that tool as an avenue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct in his quoting of the numbers of the amount of people who have counted themselves as disabled when they’ve applied for positions or have positions within the Government of the Northwest Territories. The numbers, in fact, since our tracking from 1991, are very similar throughout the years. They haven’t changed much. Part of the issue, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that when somebody applies for a position within the government, they have to identify if in fact they are disabled or not and some people who are working within the government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of issues that would come up just sitting here thinking about it. So instead of getting into that detail in this forum and possibly making some errors in the response, what I would suggest is that I know there’s been ongoing discussions and we’ve had some meetings in the past, I will direct people from within our payroll systems to meet with the agency and try to come up with something that’s appropriate. Part of it could be, as I said, simply a matter of knowing in advance who is going to be working for what time period and that would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we start branching into the area of contracts, that brings a whole new set of rules on its own. Part of the issue is that we had to go down this path of going onto one payroll system is that departments, boards and agencies had too many different systems out there causing a lot of grief for those that would get payroll and then have some changes that needed to be made. We had to go back after the fact. I think there is an opportunity here. If we can work out an arrangement with the Tlicho agency on the timing of when individuals come in, if we had...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the problem arises when we have an individual or, in this case, elders who would come to work for a school board or an agency and they would only come as and when, once every few weeks, once a month or maybe even less than that, depending on what information they were going to provide. That is a difficult portion because our systems right now, as we run our payroll system, do not adequately address that. That is an issue. We have been trying to work with Education around this area to accommodate the request. Part of the problem, as we work our system...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue has arisen as a result of the payroll systems being amalgamated where we would use one system of pay. Previously, boards and agencies outside our system or who had their own systems would cut off-cycle cheques. Since being requested to be incorporated in our payroll system, this issue has arisen. We have been working together with Education, trying to come up with another form of off-cycle cheques being issued. Part of the problem is that we need to try to shorten that timeline. Right now, they have fallen into the casual payroll system. To...

Mr. Speaker, energy costs are a concern to all of us. The Department of Public Works and Services has an opportunity to test a cheaper alternative energy source this coming year at the North Slave Correctional Centre.

Public Works and Services and the Department of Justice recently received a proposal from a Yellowknife-based company, Arctic Green Energy, to provide a wood pellet boiler system at the North Slave Correctional Centre.

Providing heat for buildings using wood pellet boilers has been common practice in Europe for decades, with systems reliably heating numerous facilities such as...