Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I bring this motion to the floor in my continuing effort to improve the prospects of persons with disabilities for employment within the GNWT.

At the moment, as I have stated, the known percentage of persons with a disability in our territorial government workforce is just 0.5 percent. It is quite likely that that number in actually is much higher, but, as is often mentioned by the Minister of Human Resources, our statistics rely on GNWT employees self-identifying as a person with a disability. The first action of this motion seeks to change that. It seeks to establish a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we’ve been going through this department we’ve been struggling to try and find some way for our Aboriginal government partners to come to the table. They say they need money. We say they can’t have it until they sign the AIP. Yet I’m looking at $350,000 here which is in the budget for this next fiscal year. I’d like to ask the Minister, can this money going to Aboriginal government organizations not be used to get them to the AIP devolution agreements discussion table?

I’ve mentioned a number of times that I think daycares need to be funded differently so that they can have some stable funding to rely on so they’re not living from hand to mouth from one week to the next. I guess I need to go back and ask the Minister, was there a review done? I’m a little confused by his last answer. He mentions a report. Was a review done, is there a report, and is it available for Members to see? Thank you.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what comes forward later on down the line. I did want to express my concern and I express it again.

I’m going to change tack a bit here. One of the concerns I think that’s been expressed by this department in terms of implementation of self-government agreements for the tables that they are currently negotiating and that also may be finished, one of the concerns that I have heard expressed is the underfunding by the federal government for implementation. I’d like to hear from the Minister or the department whether or not that’s still a concern and I guess...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am totally in support of this motion. I think for me there are two main reasons why I believe that this motion ought to be passed and taken action on. The first one is, I think, respect for our elders and our seniors. I think the fact that we at the moment lump them all together for home maintenance and repair is not a sign of disrespect, but we are not respecting them as we should.

The second issue for me is that I believe, and I believe I’ve heard the government say, that we want to keep our seniors in their homes as much as possible. We want to keep everybody in...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, February 28, 2011, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that the GNWT develop a reliable, trustworthy and confidential measuring tool to verify the percentage of persons with a disability within the GNWT workforce;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories reassess and, if necessary, revise the staffing priorities assigned to the affirmative action groups identified in Section 101 of the GNWT Human Resources Manual to ensure the priority assigned to persons with disabilities...

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that information that the general public does have the opportunity to go to the Department of Justice for assistance. Several other provinces in Canada and the Canadian government itself have implemented, over the last five to six years, legislation which deals with workplace harassment and bullying. I’d like to ask the Minister whether that is something that this government might consider to either change an existing act or to bring in a new act that would deal with harassment and bullying in the workplace.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of comments here I have to follow up since Mr. Bromley is not here, and express, as he would, his dismay that this budget has increased by 5.3 percent instead of the 3 percent cap that we had presumably agreed on. That said, I am really pleased to hear about the single-window service centres and that they are working, that the GSO, government service officers seem to be a successful move and I look forward to hearing further updates as we get a little further into this project.

I am disappointed, however, there is nothing in the Premier’s remarks, I will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Justice. I’ll give him a little bit of a break from the education venue. Workplace harassment and workplace bullying are something which I think we are becoming more and more aware of. I think it’s existed for a very long time and is all too common. I think we are becoming more aware that employers do not necessarily treat their employees fairly.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice what legislation or regulations currently exist in the NWT to deal with workplace harassment or workplace bullying.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to question here the surplus deficit. After looking at income and expenditures for this fund is a deficit of $232,000 and yet the description at the top indicates that it is supposed to be a breakeven operation. Could I get an explanation as to why this is a deficit and is it a certain point in time only? That is it. Thanks.