Kevin A. Menicoche

Natural justice must prevail. I clearly laid out in my Member’s statement with regard to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that people are innocent until proven guilty, yet here the Minister is saying perhaps they are breaching a code of conduct. They’re actually not. It has to be proven in a court of law. I would like to cover off in other departments, Justice, maybe RCMP, people are actually not suspended without pay. They are delegated other duties in their department.

Why are we taking a hard-line position, especially when we’re not following any natural justice process? I think we’ve got...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Human Resources some questions about the department’s position on employees who have been charged. I’m not too clear if they’ve got a policy or a guideline or a procedure or how it works when it comes to our employees. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing me to speak to the motion.

I spoke on this issue last week, and I felt it was deserving of a motion to speak about a wellness centre to be included in the Stanton Renewal Project.

I think at that time, too, Mr. Francois Paulette, the chair of the Stanton Elders’ Council, had been calling upon the Department of Health and Social Services to include a wellness centre at the Stanton Territorial Hospital for about eight years, and now the Stanton Elders’ Council is in full support of designing a facility like that.

I’m pleased to...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that this domestic violence death review committee motion, I certainly will be supporting it. As the motion states, and the mover of the motion as well, it’s just reviewing these situations. We’ll learn from them. It has benefitted many jurisdictions and I think it’s time for us to start doing that. Even though when you review it, it’s for a large, general population, but I believe it can work in the smaller communities as well. It’s about establishing and learning from the risk patterns that are out there and protecting our people as well...

I’m glad that Mr. Premier mentioned the whole area about facilitation and mediation. That’s getting back to the first question.

Does the Premier see a role for mediation when it comes to a perceived impasse as it were? Mr. Premier and Aboriginal Affairs doesn’t see it as stalled talks, so despite that, is it their way to get mediation happening, look at both sides’ positions and come to some resolution and try to continue to move forward with the talks? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you graciously, colleagues. I spoke to the Premier in his role as the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs on Monday, but I’d like to ask Mr. Premier about the GNWT and the negotiating table for the Dehcho First Nations. I know that they haven’t actually been negotiating since January.

How does the GNWT intend to respond to the Dehcho First Nations for their request for mediation to resolve the current impasse to get negotiations back on track? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I know that the Minister thinks I’m trying to be specific, but I’m trying to be general about this. When it comes to treating employees fairly, it means treating them all fairly.

Why would we want to treat one employee more unfair than other employees, especially when he’s not management, he’s not an excluded employee and he’s fairly low level as an employee? So just generally, he’s sitting there, he’s the Minister of Human Resources, the law and natural justice must prevail and everybody must be treated equally, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Earlier in my Member’s statement I spoke about the presumption of innocence, which means, of course, you’re innocent until proven guilty. I’ve got a scenario where an employee was actually suspended without pay, pending the court case. If there’s no policy or guidelines, how can this happen? Like, we’re an employer, we’ve got beautiful policies on maintaining and keeping and expanding on our employees, yet when somebody gets in a situation like this we suspend them without pay. How can this happen? I’d like the Minister of Human Resources to answer that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. GNWT employees who are charged and suspended without pay is breaching Canadian common law of innocence until proven guilty. The GNWT, as an employer, must adhere to this principle of law.

In Canada, Section 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom states: “Any person charged with an offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.”

The presumption of innocence is the legal right of any accused in a criminal trial. The law in Canada applies to everyone...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say, for the record, that motions are not taken lightly by Members of this House or the Priorities and Planning committee where the motion was talked about.

In closing, I would like to thank the honourable Member for Hay River North for seconding this motion and getting it into the House to talk about.

I am pleased to hear the Minister’s response with regard to taking it seriously and moving forward. Certainly, that’s where I want to go with this motion. It’s about considering it seriously. Let’s continue deliberations about the planning. I’m a...