Rylund Johnson

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories and all departments update the job descriptions of all public service positions to ensure the inclusion of value statements which affirms the importance of Indigenous knowledge and community experience; update job information section of all job descriptions to ensure that only plain language is used; ensure that each job information section provides an equivalency formula that is publicly accessible and demonstrates concrete examples of what education equivalencies will be accepted in place of...

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories restore Indigenous language terms and spellings to refer to languages and communities;

And further, that the GNWT should update all legislation, regulations, policies, guidelines, standards, and communications within the life of the 20th Assembly;

And furthermore, the GNWT should also consult Indigenous communities on the changes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my statement, it was my understanding that as we proceed on unauthorized rights, it was essentially if it was an Indigenous person and there was a potential rights case, we weren't going to evaluate it; we were just going to put it in a box and to the side. I've recently learned that that is not the case and there are cases where we will go forward with eviction for Indigenous peoples unauthorized using public land.

My question is for the Minister of Lands. Can he just tell me what exactly is the test being used? Are there some sort of hard limits here...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, for the purpose of capacity building, make it a standard policy to ensure that an Indigenous person consistently occupies at least one assistant deputy minister position within all departments; consistently staffs all regional supervisor positions with Indigenous employees; promotes and requires, where possible, that all public boards and agencies have a minimum level of Indigenous representation within the overall makeup of their board of directors; requires, where possible, for agencies to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is something that the federal government does for French. And I've actually had a job for the federal government where they would pay me for four hours on Fridays to take French lessons. And I think it would be great to see us doing the same thing for our Indigenous language speakers in the GNWT. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories identify which headquarters positions can be located to the regions, which jobs can be tagged as flexible and moved among a number of locations, and those that could be classified as remote working arrangements aiming to allow priority 1 employees to work in the community of residence. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that each department and agency be required to have an annual official languages action plan to improve and revitalize the language skills of its Indigenous employees. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations made it a priority to find ways to increase Indigenous representation in the Northwest Territories public service. This work began in 2020, and the committee's report was read into the record on March 28, 2023. The committee met with people in person and virtually in communities across the Northwest Territories to hear their perspectives on this matter.

The committee consistently heard a deep longstanding disappointment with the government as an employer and a viewpoint that the system is intended to keep Indigenous...

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment set up a creative commons for Indigenouslanguage resource materials;

And further, that the creative commons should build on the Our Languages NWT platform and offer an accessible digital space;

And furthermore, it should allow creators and users to share and collaborate on educational materials, languagelearning apps, curricula, grant applications, and other resources. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to note that this right exists in Nunavut and what they have done is their plan to roll it out, it goes until 2038. And I think that's the kind of multigenerational thinking you need if we're actually going to ever achieve this. And part of their plan speaks to they actually need to have students go through the education system, become fluent so they can then become teachers. So that's the kind of thinking they're at with this. And I believe as we go on to review our Education Act, language rights need to be a key part of it. Thank you, Madam Chair.