Caroline Wawzonek

One of the other commitments of the 19th Legislative Assembly, of course, is to increase employment in regional centres. That is a commitment of the 19th Assembly and of this government and is certainly one that the Department of Finance also plays a role in. There are ongoing efforts to ensure that, when new positions are being created, efforts are made to consider whether they have to, in fact, be centralized in the capital, which sometimes is the case, depending on the nature of the work, depending on the nature of the role to be played. If it is not the case, then it need not be centred...

I'm sorry. Eight, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to maintaining a professional and representative public service. Increasing Indigenous representation within our public service has long been a goal of the Legislative Assembly. The first and most visible tool used by the GNWT to support this goal is the Affirmative Action Policy. This policy and its implementation are often criticized as being ineffective because the percentage of Indigenous Aboriginal employees in the GNWT has remained at around 30 percent for the last several decades. Madam Speaker, the Affirmative...

I think I probably just answered that in my last description, but I may have misheard, I didn't have my earpiece in there. That's exactly the idea is to try to create opportunities for anyone that's applying and anyone that's within the application process and the interview process to be able to speak and communicate in a way other than just the traditional asking of a question and having to provide a correct or specific answer but instead be able to tell stories. Part of the reason there has been a change in the Indigenous cultural awareness training and sensitivity program is so that all...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The total costs so far of the COVID-19 pandemic is $175 million. The COVID secretariat is just one part of that. We have already received more than half of that, over $92.5 million from the federal government. The federal government has been a good partner with this fight. Every province and territory is fighting this fight. The COVID secretariat is just one -- I'd say, it's quite a small part of what we're doing, Madam Speaker.

Whether we call it a secretariat or whether you call it a task force or whether you call it the COVID umbrella, it really doesn't matter. What...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have the numbers for 2020 as of March 31, 2020, in front of me, Affirmative Action statistics. That is, Indigenous Aboriginal females make up just under 21 percent of the workforce. Indigenous Aboriginal males, just shy of nine percent of the workforce. As far as change over time, Madam Speaker, I will look at those numbers and provide them. I do have them here, just not right in front of me right now. I don't think there has been significant change over time from my recollection of the numbers, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As this Legislative Assembly did back with the 2020-2021 Main Estimates, we came together collectively and worked collaboratively on an approach to commit to investing in much needed infrastructure that is one of the priorities for this Legislative Assembly and for NWT residents. There are some commitments that arise, some that approach. They are as follows:

Federal Housing Co-Investment Fund - Northern Carve Out

Communities in the Northwest Territories are in need of new construction of mixed-income, mixed-use affordable housing. To provide eligible organizations the...

With respect to management positions or non-traditional positions, there are different designations depending on a person's status. Priority 1A is for Indigenous Aboriginal persons, so persons who are both born in the Northwest Territories and who have an Indigenous background, and female. Then priority 1B is the same categorizing of being Indigenous and Aboriginal but male. Number two is resident women. Number three is Indigenous non-Aboriginal persons or resident disabled persons. Last, there is no priority. With respect to all other competitions, again, that's the non-management...

Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 21, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, be read for the first time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister of Finance and the Minister responsible for the public service, Mr. Chair, I believe over 400 members of the public service have put their names forward volunteering at various times to take part in the government's response to COVID-19. Not every one of them can necessarily be positioned somewhere as part of a direct COVID response. Although, I believe at one point, we hit 188, if not more, that were, in fact, redeployed. Again, every time you redeploy someone, you take them away from their home position, and you take them away from the programs and the...