Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Rolling action! The Next 5 Years: Northwest Territories Film & Media Sector Strategy and Action Plan 20212026. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 32, an Act to amend the Northern Employees Benefits Services Pension Plan Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to strengthening relationships with governments. We are also committed to providing opportunities to create a more diverse, inclusive, and representative public service.

Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department of Finance is launching Building Capacity with Indigenous Governments, a new program to support up to ten twoway secondment arrangements between the GNWT and Indigenous governments each year.

The program will support the secondment of employees between governments for immersive experiences about how our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the appeal process provides an opportunity for someone who's an unsuccessful candidate to review a procedural error. So, in other words, that there was something that was not applied correctly in terms of applying with certain rules, certain element of The Collective Agreement, the Affirmative Action Policy. It's not a doover on an application, and it's not an opportunity to question a job description or to question the qualifications or equivalencies, which, again, Mr. Speaker, those qualifications and equivalencies are set up before the screening gets...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, human resources have representatives who act as facilitators on hiring committees with whatever department they might be working with. The point of doing that, the point of having human resources present, is, in fact, to ensure, again, that the hiring process remains fair, follows all of the regulations, rules, The Collective Agreement, policy, et cetera. Selection committee members then, of course, if they are in a conflict, are to remove themselves. If there's any relationship to a candidate or any potential for bias, they are not to take part in that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents: Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022; and Supplementary Estimates (Operation Expenditures), No. 1, 20212022. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, speaking about a culture of hiring, Mr. Speaker, I don't accept that that characterization is fair, that the idea of saying that it is troubled and has double standards or is unfair. I don't accept that characterization, Mr. Speaker. There's a lot of people within the entire GNWT, 5,000 strong, who care deeply about the territory, who care deeply about the people that they serve, and care deeply about having a representative workforce. That is not to say that every process is perfect. That is not to say that every public servant is perfect any more than...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, I don't agree that the entire hiring system of the GNWT is not transparent. It is certainly a complex system at times. There are quite a number of pieces of legislation policy that need to be adhered to and followed. The Collective Agreement has to be adhered to and followed. And in doing so, that, again, that does require a fairly rigorous process and a fairly sometimes one might think of it being a complex process. If it's not always very well understood, just as the Affirmative Action Policy is not always very well understood. And all of those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, but that it was so easy. So the summer student program, it doesn't have a separate line item or budgeting item to it, as I think was mentioned earlier in Members' statement. The way that it works, though, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance, of course, can coordinate the support hiring of summer students and can coordinate and support training programs for the summer students.

Every department has a responsibility to determine what their needs are, to find special projects that they often do, and often do rely, indeed, on summer students who are coming in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of May 31st, 2021, we have a total of 192 summer students currently hired. There's an additional 53 who have pending offers. Thank you.