Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate my colleague from Yellowknife North's position. I share a lot of her sentiments when it comes to the underlying causes of why we don't see more Indigenous representation in our public service.
Mr. Speaker, if we keep what we have -- if we keep what we have always had, then we will keep getting what we've always got. I'm going to say a little bit of what I said at the briefing earlier this week because I had to rush through my comments due to time constraints; I don't have that here.
My colleague from Monfwi is relentless, with good reason, when she speaks about education for youth. Improving our educational outcomes are how you change the workforce in the long term. It's crucial we don't forget this. Systemic changes to education access and outcomes can easily become generational and doesn't allow the GNWT to aim for better Indigenous representation right now. It's my -- if my Indigenous colleagues on the whole are comfortable with this amended IEP moving forward, I support them.
What I do want to state unequivocally is that diversity, equity, and inclusion is fundamentally about prioritizing equity for underrepresented groups within the employer, especially underrepresented groups that have historical barriers to employment. That is what affirmative action tried to accomplish but failed and what now IEP seeks to address.
I think there is value of having long-term Northerners in the public service, but I do not feel that they are underrepresented as an equity group. To say that they are is disingenuous.
At the public briefing with the Minister this week, I highlighted my main concern, which is what I hear from my constituents, around the lack of an employment equity policy going ahead at this time. When affirmative action ceases to exist on April 1, so goes preferential hiring for folks with disabilities, for example. This work was originally in scope for the reworking of an affirmative action policy but was halted due to public feedback. I fully accept that many people are not comfortable around self-identifying various characteristics about themselves in the hiring process. Sometimes this is extremely personal information that they don't wish to share, and it seems invasive. I'm still confident that the work can be done to ensure hiring equity for historically underrepresented folks is appropriate and inclusive. I have heard from the Minister and her staff that they continue to prioritize this work and, most importantly, will work with stakeholders on this work. At this time, I'm satisfied that the GNWT is hearing that historical inequities need to be addressed. And if it means taking apart the functions of the original affirmative action policy and dealing with them one at a time, I am all right with this.
Back in January, I had a conversation after the letters from some Members to this -- to the Premier came out. And my friends told me this, and I want to share it with the House today: All equity work is frustrating. It triggers our most primal survival responses. When we are triggered, we are taught our options are flight, fight, freeze, and fawn. But we have another option, Mr. Speaker. Surrender. That seems to be a reoccurring lesson for me for the last few months. Surrendering is accepting what is and to give space to other people's stories, other people's truths. It is to know that my truth is not the objective truth. It's giving space for other people's stories to model for them how we give space for our own. The irony of race equity work is a constantly fighting not to become the very thing we're resisting. So I cannot speak to whether or not an Indigenous employment policy is right for Indigenous people. Only Indigenous people can do that, Mr. Speaker. And what I am hearing is they want to see this go ahead. So at this time, I will not support this motion.
Thank you, member from Great Slave. To the motion. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't think there's much disagreement in this room about the problem that is trying to be solved through implementation of this new policy. In fact, I haven't heard any disagreement about that, the problem of underrepresentation of Indigenous persons in the public service.
So to give a little bit of history on this, the department during the last term of the Assembly went out and did engagement with the public on changing the affirmative action policy and fixing the issues that are at hand. What came back was quite complex. It produced a lot of results with a number of different recommendations. And I would say that there was not a clear path identified which put the department in a difficult position. And I would note that much of what was said in that engagement was spoken to by the Member for Yellowknife North just now.
The various challenges that Indigenous persons and persons with disabilities, people in minority groups, face in terms of the barriers to their advancement within the government, to their entry into the workforce, education outcomes, which the Member for Monfwi has spoken eloquently about and I agree with completely -- and I have more to say about education outcomes in a different item that we're considering today -- and so the department was faced with something difficult. How do we get at this issue? And they brought forward what we saw as the first iteration of the Indigenous employment policy. And so committee responded to that, wrote to the Minister. It ended up as was pointed out by other members -- wrote to the minister multiple times. First sort of critiquing the initial attempt and saying we wanted to engage further and consider other options. And one of the things that committee pointed out, that I'm going to speak to a bit further in a second here, is that the new Indigenous employment policy as presented addressed three out of the 17, 17 recommendations, that came out of the What We Heard report of the department's engagement on this issue. And so there -- even with this new policy are a huge number of gaps that still need to be filled. Again, the Member for Yellowknife North spoke well to those gaps, and so I don't want to stand here and repeat those.
And so the other thing that committee did is that, you know, with the department, ultimately we got -- we came to a place where committee wrote the Minister asking -- asking her to pause this process and say, you know, we need to do more work on this. And the committee also went out to the public and said now that the policy's out, what do you think. And committee received a significant number of responses, far more than we usually do. We received 50 written responses from the public raising a number of different issues, raising issues with the way the policy was being implemented, concerns about it, but in particular, noting again, the gaps in education, the gaps that are not being filled with this policy and all the different elements that lead to barriers to advancement and barriers to entry into jobs with the government. And so my main takeaway right now is that there is still a lot of work left to be done. And I would note that when the Minister came before committee just the other day, staff acknowledged that fact, acknowledged that there's a lot of work to do, acknowledged that when it comes to diversity and inclusion, all the groups that have been left out of the new policy, there's a lot of work left to be done.
And so what I've come away with from this process is just I don't really understand why this had to be rushed, why it had to be done now, considering that this is a policy that's 30 years old, it's taken a long time for us to get here, and why the Minister couldn't take more time to work with committee, help build consensus around a new policy and a set of actions and changes that we can all agree on that comprehensively get at the various issue that is came up during engagement. And I think that's why we're having so much difficulty with this now, is that this policy as it stands alone doesn't solve all those problems.
And I want to acknowledge that there was some concession by the Minister. The Minister did change the policy to recognize that the real goal here, the real outcome that we're looking for is increased employment of Northerners, Indigenous Northerners in particular, from the territory or from groups represented in the territory if they didn't necessarily grow up here. And I don't disagree with that. I think it's a -- I think it's a good goal, and I think most people do. But where I do have concerns is all the folks who are left out and the 14 other recommendations that haven't been addressed by this particular policy.
Now, the Minister has ensured us, and the Minister's staff has ensured us, that work is ongoing on that and I appreciate that but, again, I still just don't understand why we couldn't bring forward something more wholistic that acknowledges all these issues, particularly the one that I think, you know, was highlighted by the -- sorry, Mr. Speaker. The name is -- but something that's been highlighted is the enormous education gap between Indigenous youth and non-Indigenous youth in this territory and the fact that education outcomes are so different. I think that that is one of the key issues. We have got to get at that. And I certainly hope that that becomes one of the next big priorities of the Assembly, is addressing that issue head on.
So that's really where I'm left here. And as chair of the committee that wrote to the Minister multiple times, I would just say, you know, I'm standing in support of this motion today in good faith with Cabinet in the sense that what I'm really trying to say here is we wanted to work with Cabinet on developing a more fulsome solution. We wrote to Cabinet and asked to do that and were not met with -- with that willingness.
Now, I want to acknowledge a few things. The Minister has reached out to committee and suggested we form a working group and that we work on this issue on a go-forward basis. I appreciate that and certainly look forward to doing that work. The other thing I wanted to know is, you know, some of the questions that I asked yesterday in had the house were about how this is going to affect students. And I would just note that I think it'll bring some of my constituents a fair bit of comfort knowing that students that go away and have been educated in the territory and go off to university still come -- will still be able to receive a form of preference hiring when they apply for the jobs in the Northwest Territories. And those are folks that I'm concerned about, people who are just entering their careers. So I appreciate that reassurance from the Minister. And, you know, I look forward in whichever way this goes down -- I look forward to working with the Minister further on this issue. We are certainly not done. There's a lot more work to be done as was highlighted by the Member for Yellowknife North, by Member for Monfwi, by all the Members who have spoken, that there's a lot more work to do. So I look forward to doing that work. And, again, I just say in good faith I support this motion asking for a pause as I had done as chair of the committee writing just saying, you know, we need to take more time to do this, and I certainly respect the Members who have come around and support the policy in its current form. Either way, always look forward to working with my colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Member from Inuvik Range Lake -- or how about we try this, how about I moved Range Lake to Inuvik? Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've had a lot of conversation around this issue. We've taken it back to our ridings for sure. I've had conversations with members in my riding. It ranged from agnostic, where it doesn't matter, it doesn't work anyway, to we want to see Northerners first, it should be about Indigenous people, and I've had also some people who are P2s coming in, and P2s, I've had a conversation with who have, by the way, been gainfully employed because they allegedly have letters after their name where they've got the education, they've been working in the North a long time and, indeed, helped build the North and have been paid to help build the North, and have done quite well for themselves and are going to stay here and enjoy the benefits of living in the North. But for me, Mr. Speaker, this has to be about Indigenous employment, period. That, for me, Mr. Speaker is what it's about. It's about having a policy and, more importantly, following that policy. Some of our issues around affirmative action, as again, we've had this thing for 30 years. It hasn't really worked. We have a 1 percent unemployment rate in non-Indigenous and a 14 percent unemployment with Indigenous. So something is not working. So we need to make a change. Do I agree 100 percent with the -- you know, with the new Indigenous employment policy? No. And I've had several conversations with the Minister about that. She's been kind enough to sit down and answer some questions.
One of the concerns I did have in my riding was that it has to be northern Indigenous first. That's a change that was made and that was a change that was explained when we had our public hearing on that earlier this week. That was, likely for me, Mr. Speaker, the number one issue that I had heard in my riding, that it has to be northern Indigenous first.
I don't know if the new policy's going to be better than the old one. I do know the old one hasn't been working. And we have stats to show that. I don't think this is going to have a huge impact on non-Indigenous. Again, the stats don't lie. If you look at the unemployment rate, surely you can see that. I do think there are gaps in our system, and I'm -- you know, for me, it's about equivalencies. It's about people that are working in the government, Indigenous people working in the government that have been in roles for a long time -- and I've said this before -- have equivalencies, so have done the job, but yet not gotten that additional promotion to get them at that next level, the senior level. Instead you've brought in other people to do that job. May or may not have been from the territory, may not have worked out. Again, the person acts in that position for a long time, but the equivalencies aren't being recognized either because the policy's not being followed correctly or there's lateral violence, there's things that happens within the workforce. But people, there's that gap that people are sat there, that should be promoted, that are Indigenous people that aren't, and that's likely the biggest concern for me, Mr. Speaker. That's where I see a gap that has to be filled and has to be looked at.
Can the new policy do that? I mean, I hope so. For me, we have to try and do something different. And it's a policy, and I appreciate that the -- you know, the Minister has talked about a working group that we can work on this together with committee, with Cabinet, with the Minister's department, to find out, indeed, if this is working, if something can work better than the policy that we know hasn't worked for 30 years. I think everyone in this room has either mentioned that or agreed to that, that what we had has not been working. And so to try something different -- and if the new policy doesn't work, then we go back and we try something again. But, again, I -- you know, for me, it's about Indigenous employment. That's the goal here. It's what we're trying to do here. That's what I've heard in my riding, that people want to hear, it's about how do we -- and we're just talking in the public service here of course, Mr. Speaker, how do we increase Indigenous employment in public service. The policy we have hasn't gotten us there.
So, Mr. Speaker, I mean -- and, again, like, we need workers. I mean, listen, if -- to be a nurse or to be a teacher or to be a doctor or to be an accountant, to be a lab tech, you have to have those qualifications so it doesn't matter, you know, who you are, Mr. Speaker, you have to have that. We're not talking about positions -- and we need those in every jurisdiction right now. We know that. I mean, we're looking to bring people in. We're bringing agency nurses in. We're -- like, we need -- we need people. We have, you know -- so, again, for me, our focus has to be in the public service on Indigenous employment.
Mr. Speaker, as my friend from Monfwi had said, I'm willing to give this a shot, the new policy. I think committee needs to work with the government on this to ensure that if there's an opportunity in the IEP that we're taking full of advantage of that, that we're actually implementing and following up on the policies as they are presented. Because, again, I think, Mr. Speaker, that's been one of the things that we haven't done a good job within the past. So willing to give that an opportunity.
I appreciate what my colleague from Yellowknife Centre, Yellowknife -- Range Lake as well. I mean, yeah, and I've heard some of those -- some of those concerns in my riding as well. But the overwhelming thing I heard in my riding was that it has to be Indigenous northern first, and that's the change that the Minister has made, and I'm willing to give this a shot, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. To the motion. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This policy is a revised policy from the 30-year-old one. And I've seen a number of changes in the positions, northern Indigenous positions, in the Sahtu. I recall years ago we never had a regional superintendent from the region. Now we do, so that tells me that things have changed since way back then. However there's always room for improvements on efficiencies, and certainly similar to this policy and every policy that this government has, it's only good as the implementation. And if you want to measure that success, then we can do a survey, an analysis on the improvements to measure the policy is actually working, whether it's this one or others. And certainly, Mr. Speaker, this policy has really created an opening door of reviews and efficiencies and What We Heard engagements from the public. We've got that. As previous speakers mentioned, there's parts of recommendations that are identifying missing gaps. So to that, moving forward for the remaining term of this Assembly, opens the doors for further collaboration on efficiencies. And I'm also mindful that the multi-jurisdictions of our Northwest Territories is different in the Sahtu, similar to the other three neighboring settlement areas, have various provisions of government benefits to the beneficiaries of the land claim. So given that, and also being respectful on what we had said the beginning of this Assembly, there's going to be days that we are here today, making a decision on what you think is right for the people that put you in this House. But, also, I'm mindful of outside the land claim. This policy is a territorial one, not a land claim one, but it also applies to the jurisdiction I represent.
Now if we look at efficiencies and reviews and say okay, well, can we improve that, as my colleague from Boot Lake mentioned okay, you got 1 percent and you got 14 percent. Okay, those are numbers to sit back and say okay, let's analyze this; why isn't this working. So there's certainly room for improvements. To make my long presentation short, I'm willing to give this new policy a chance. However, I want a midterm review to the remaining term of our Assembly. We can say midterm, or we can say an annual review; is it really working come next fiscal year. Let's look at it. Don't develop a policy and put it on the desk and it stays there. So for the record, I'm willing to give this new revised policy a chance, and let's tweak it, let's improve it, and let's move on. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a policy whose purpose is to improve equity must focus on areas where there is inequity. To be effective, we need to ask ourselves who is not being treated with equity if we're going to make a difference. And so, Mr. Speaker, that is now the focus of the new Indigenous employment policy. It is focusing on those persons who we know have not been -- historically and systemically been treated with equity in the Northwest Territories and also in Canada. The policy, though, is and always has been about hiring for the GNWT for the Northwest Territories, and it has focused always, and intended always, to benefit support Indigenous persons living in the Northwest Territories. Some of those Indigenous people who live here, who reached out to the GNWT during the course of our engagement, are not Members of the Indigenous Nations who find themselves -- Indigenous First Nations and Inuit and Metis who are within the present boundaries of the Northwest Territories. Some of them are from communities that may straddle the boundary. Others have moved here or maybe were born here and are Members of Indigenous Nations from elsewhere in Canada. And the Indigenous employment policy, after the engagement sessions, was meant to capture that in a very simple and focused way.
And so, Mr. Speaker, we went through a fairly extensive engagement process. It did not begin this Assembly. Arguably, it did not even begin last Assembly because for 30 years, perhaps for the reasons we are all here speaking today, this policy has been political and not one on which it is easy to find consensus. So back all the way in 2005, work was done to try to review the policy to update it because we're out of step with the rest of Canada. No one else is doing affirmative action policies anymore. But we just can't seem to change this one. 2014 it comes forward again. Just can't get it over the line. Can't agree, and it gets ended, it gets stopped.
So we move it forward last government and did an extensive engagement. There were special theme days in this House about human resources and hiring of Indigenous people, I believe not just once but more than once. It was one of the hottest topics in this building in the last government about hiring Indigenous people into the public service. And so the engagement process that we embarked on involved Indigenous -- the NWT Council of Leaders, the IGC Secretariat, multiple in-person sessions in multiple communities, the Indigenous Employment Advisory Committee, multiple outreaches directly to myself as well as to other Members. Mr. Speaker, one of our standing committees in the 19th Assembly also engaged, at length, in human resources, examining how they could better match the fact that we are not representing the Northwest Territories in the government's public service. Members of this room are -- were on that committee. And that brings, of course, to where we are today and the What We Heard report and looking at how we were going to try our best to find a path forward on something that is not easily agreed upon because it does touch on a deep inequity in our society that is reflected in the public service. But that inequity is much deeper than just the public service, and this public service hiring policy will not fix it by itself. But we can be honest about it.
And so, Mr. Speaker, we did almost a year ago, in fact, March of last year, go with this new Assembly to standing committee and presented on the proposed changes, received letters. And, Mr. Speaker, I don't actually want this to be about the back and forth of that. I am -- I've been to committee now several times and have noted and will say here I regret the falling out that we have had on this policy. It didn't have to be that way, and I acknowledge that. And it shouldn't be that. That is, in fact, very rare in terms of how this House and all 19 of us speak and collaborate. Whether it's about policies, legislation, the budget, it is not generally how we do things, that there is such a deep divide between us. I am regretful that that's the situation we find ourselves in. But we did go back and the department I believe made efforts to answer the concerns that were being raised about the policy, because the concerns that are being raised about the policy are not just about the words on the page of how we screen in candidates to be in public service. The bigger issues are about education, education outcomes, schools, training, racism, unconscious bias, cultural training, language. Those are the really big issues, and they're difficult. So we did appear again and tried to provide detail about the Indigenous recruitment and retention framework because that, along with the diversity and inclusion framework, with the human resources -- the strategic plans, the cultural training, the context that we are trying to create -- the culture that we are trying to create within human resources has changed, and I hope is changing. There is an entire suite of things that we are rolling out over the last few years. This is now but one policy, not the only policy, that is meant to govern and direct how we behave and how we act in human resources vis-a-vie the creation of a public service that is more inclusive, more diverse, and more reflective of the public that we serve.
And so, Mr. Speaker, the Indigenous employment policy now is one that focuses on equity, but it is, again, not one that is meant to focus only on southern hires or one group -- or one group of Indigenous persons. It really is now focusing, with amendments, on, of course, firstly and foremost, those Indigenous people who have the tie to a community or a group or nation within the present boundaries of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I've had questions about why that back and forth. Again, we were trying to be inclusive of all Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories and just be simple and direct, but I recognize, and we should all recognize, that we have treaty obligations. We have treaty obligations to nations within the present boundaries that we are in, and we're going to respect them and we're going to put those as being a priority tier. But then we wanted to make sure that there's all the other people who are Indigenous Canadians living here who may not be members of those groups but who we still want to see reflected in had the public service.
And, Mr. Speaker, the most recent public hearing that I had the opportunity to attend just a few days ago with my colleagues from the standing committee, after which I did receive feedback from the public service, from a member of the public service directly to me, who is a member of the public service, who is an Indigenous Canadian, who is not a member of one of the groups from the present boundaries of the Northwest Territories. So I want all of the folks who may find themselves as Indigenous Canadians living here in the Northwest Territories to consider applying to the public service and to hopefully see that we want to prioritize their presence within the ranks of the public service.
Mr. Speaker, this is why we are implementing this policy. We want to be laser focused. We want to ensure that we are focusing on a group that has not seen equity and that has not benefitted.
There are some who have benefitted from the old affirmative action policy where there was priority given to women in nontraditional roles and, in this respect, the policy was successful. The percentage of women in the Government of the Northwest Territories has risen from 59.3 percent back in 2000 to now 65.5 percent of the public service are women. Since 2007, women's representation among senior management has nearly doubled. We are now at 61.4 percent women in the senior management. So it is fortunate, from that perspective, that this is no longer a group, and has not been for some time, that requires an equity approach in order to achieve equity. That's never to say that we don't want to continue to look for diversity and inclusion, but there are different tools that we can use to ensure that we maintain these gains.
And so, Mr. Speaker, it is interesting if we look too at the labour force. So women are actually slightly less than half of the labour force but make up almost two-thirds of the public service. They're not underrepresented. And so the affirmative action policy may have played a role in changing those numbers around over the last 25 years, but there's certainly no likewise improvements for people who identify as Indigenous Canadians.
But similarly, Mr. Speaker, there's no evidence to suggest that non-Indigenous Northerners are disadvantaged or in need of the priority hiring in order to gain employment within the public service. In 2024, the unemployment rate for Indigenous residents averaged 12 percent. It was at around 2 percent for non-Indigenous residents. Residents and employees are also, of course, now, we note, who may be having other identity features, who maybe have a -- maybe have a marginalized or a vulnerable group, maybe from a minority group, this is now a group that we do want to ensure see themselves focused upon, that there are other more modern tools by which we can achieve that, and that's the diversity -- the work of the diversity and inclusion unit within the Department of Finance. And, again, Mr. Speaker, the landscape that we operate in truly has changed and we hope will continue to change within human resources.
So we -- I would also take this chance, Mr. Speaker, to note that the duty to accommodate begins at the time that a person is applying for their position, not after. At the time that they are applying. Anyone who is qualified for a position should be able to apply for that job, feel themselves have that opportunity, have the ability to receive whatever accommodation might be necessary so that they can show that their skills, abilities, and qualifications meet the needs of the position. There should not be -- if we are truly a public service that is representative and inclusive, then we should be able to provide those accommodations in a proactive and positive way and not wait for people to have to self-identify.
There's work still to be done here, Mr. Speaker. There's no denying that. But that's the path that we want to be on. These are the values that we haven't to have in the Government of the Northwest Territories as our public service.
I also want to acknowledge that there are a number of processes to get at, again, some of the challenges that have been raised which is how we value and recognize the contribution of northern residents and northern knowledge. It's not necessarily determined by how long someone lives here. What we are doing now which has not been done in many the past, certainly not in a widespread or organized fashion and certainly not made as public as it is now, is changing some of our processes to reward and to categorize and prioritize northern knowledge as one of the skill sets that we would hire for. Northern values, northern experience, northern languages. We have 11 official languages, Mr. Speaker, and we could do an awfully good job now in recognizing that as a skill when we are hiring to build a workforce of people who appreciate the significance and importance of this territory, and it doesn't necessarily matter how long you've lived here. But we can include provisions when we begin our hiring for local knowledge in the job description. We can have a geographically limited competition if there's a concern around making sure that someone has a very specific knowledge and specific commitment and connection to a community. These are all tools that we can start to use.
And, Mr. Speaker, I know I've answered this many times, but if people are tuning in today, the summer student program and the intern program is open to people who are ordinarily resident. Doesn't matter how long but at least ordinarily resident when they're coming back. Similarly, the SFA program is one that is also open to ordinary residents. So there are advantages for young people who may not -- may just be entering their career stage.
The new Indigenous employment policy does involve mandatory reporting as does the Indigenous recruitment and retention framework. There are targets that are broken down by division, by types of positions. And Mr. Speaker, that's a much different type of approach than just a blanket -- just a blanket decision about who -- how many numbers we want to get. We are trying to do a better job now, Mr. Speaker, of looking at the workforce, looking who is out there looking for work, who different groups may be, and when we do reporting and set targets, to do so in a much more measured and targeted way.
We will continue, Mr. Speaker, to engage Indigenous governments. Certainly over the last few months, I've had myself many conversations, personally I have the officials in the Department of Finance with representatives of Indigenous governments, about the importance and the value of prioritizing those groups who are here within the Northwest Territories first and foremost. And that is the amendment that was made and approved by Cabinet and that's now set to go out on April 1st.
But, again, Mr. Speaker, it is a whole package of cultural shift that we are putting forward, this being but one part.
I'm pleased to hear some mention of the offer that we've made to collaborate with the Standing Committee on Government Operations. As I say, I would like this to be something as we roll out, given the importance and the value of speaking about representing Indigenous people and getting to a place of equity with people who have been systemically disadvantaged and discriminated against, that we do that as a collective, that we have the opportunity to share and to learn, and that some of the various tools that I'm describing and discussing don't have to be unknown. They should be better known, and we should be held to use them. That is the ideal, Mr. Speaker. Don't need to wait 30 years for review. Happy to do this over the course of the life of this government. Couldn't agree more. Being held to account for it can only be a good thing.
Mr. Speaker, my own riding is one that has a lot of public servants. It is one that is, I strongly suspect, not a majority Indigenous Canadian, Mr. Speaker, and I've heard from my own residents on this. This notion that something's being taken away from them, Mr. Speaker, saddens me because it's not, in my view, what defines us as Northerners whether or not you have access to a priority attempt to maybe get a job. Mr. Speaker, it is not what defines us as Northerners. What defines us as Northerners is our connection to this place, our connection to the land, our connection to friends and to family and to neighbours. That's why -- certainly why I think most people live here and why they have opportunities here, why there's such a strong connection by many here.
Mr. Speaker, I had yesterday the opportunity to meet with the Arctic Economic Council that was visiting here in Yellowknife, and they were asking about, you know, why people are living here and what their connections are. Mr. Speaker, from what I was hearing, and certainly from the reaction that most people would give, it's not because there's the possibility that there might someday be the advanced screening on a GNWT public servant's job. Mr. Speaker, I hope that we don't get to that place, that's the reason people are living here. There's so much more in the North to keep people here, to bring them here, and to bring them home.
So, Mr. Speaker, with that, this a policy of the Government of the Northwest Territories. It's a policy of Cabinet. It has been reviewed at length. It's been reviewed at length by many years, including by this Cabinet. And, again, we appreciate the feedback that was had since December to now, and that's why the changes were made as they were to reflect our northern Indigenous context and the treaty obligations and connections we have to treaty -- northern government. But with that, Mr. Speaker, in light of it, Cabinet will be voting against this motion. Thank you
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife South. To the motion.
Question.
Question's been called. Does the Member from Yellowknife Centre wish to conclude debate?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I was quite shocked by the last statement by the finance Minister that Cabinet was going to vote against this motion because, I mean, tradition has it that when we provide motions, they're treated as advice and they abstain from motions. So this is clearly a sense of maybe -- I don't know, is it a new form of working as a party? I mean, they never vote against motions. And it's very -- it's a disappointment. So when they talk about working together, this would have just been heeded as advice. And the Premier can laugh all he wants about this but, I mean, maybe this is an impression of what maybe party politics is happening under the skin or under the guise or under whatever; I don't know.
Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, there we go.
Member from Hay River North has a point of order. Member from Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What it sounded like to me is the Member was imputing motives stating that, you know, this is an attempt at party politics and we're working as a party. I will let you know that I will never in this Assembly work as -- in a party system or strive to work in a party system or support a party system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Hay River North. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Well, I appreciate the Premier's creative imagination, but I wasn't formalizing there's a party politics. I was talking about the guise of the government collaborating together in a manner that they never do. So the Premier does have an imagination on this particular guard, I didn't specifically make that illustration clear enough, and I didn't say the party of one that already acts like that. I mean, I am making a clear point of the impression. So he can be creative in his thoughts and his imagination but he's completely wrong. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Colleagues, I'm going to have to review what was actually said with the Hansard and that before I make a formal decision on this. But, colleagues, please remember when we're in this House debating that we are respectful to one another and that we move forward in a positive manner so that we can have honest debate here. Thank you. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I look forward to your ruling when it does come, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the latest revision of this particular policy by the government has eked out seven Members of this side of the House spoke against it. Guess what happens? The typical going down the hall or whatever the calls are made, I mean, how do you describe this (audio) --
(audio) on the motion. Thank you. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
And hence, Mr. Speaker, we have the policy now before us and that's why this motion is coming forward. Mr. Speaker, I have asked different times at committee when did they review the affirmative action policy. They have not. There's no answers. That's why this motion exists. Mr. Speaker, the Premier and everyone else can talk about the impacts on these people -- on folks, but there are equity groups that are being impacted by this. That's why it needs to go back to committee.
Mr. Speaker, this isn't the -- there was at least four letters that said slow down, have consultation. That's what this motion's all about.
Mr. Speaker, as the motion and my colleagues have said, many Indigenous governments feel steamrolled by this process, this drive-by consultation. Back in 2022, there was never a detailed consultation as to what you're getting. That's why this motion is being sent back, Mr. Speaker.
At the heart of the issue, as I said in my original comment, this is about problems with education, as people mentioned the credentials, job opportunities, and even, let us not forget, not everyone wants to work for the GNWT.
Mr. Speaker, the affirmative action program wasn't meant to solve every problem but what worked in it allowed -- there were things that could have worked, and we could have modified the current policy to fix the small gaps. And, sure, there may have been larger gaps; that's true. But we wouldn't know because it's never been reviewed.
Now it's often been brought why it needs to go back, brought up as the issue of it needs to go back because oh my goodness, if we don't follow the new direction of the government, it's unconstitutional, yet unproven other than a statement, Mr. Speaker.
So specific to committee comments, you know, the policy may never have been perfect but, ultimately, the affirmative action policy was an important foundation in the North. That's why it needs to go back to committee to talk about it. The EIP program isn't making things better. It's just a reinvention of something that I'm not sure what's happening.
Mr. Speaker, sure, I agree that we could do better. We've heard people say that their Indigenous colleagues, they want to follow their direction. Some have said yes. Some will say they support this motion going back to committee. Mr. Speaker, much work has to be done, as pointed out by Member for Frame Lake, hence it needs to go back to the committee.
Mr. Speaker, this isn't -- this current policy of the affirmative action program hasn't made things worse. The problem is is the application hasn't had the reviews and statistics and measurements as my colleague from the Sahtu has pointed out are key. So, Mr. Speaker, that's why it needs to go back. Mr. Speaker, the Minister says this isn't an -- or equity policy. Yes, you know, if it was, then we'd be talking about something different. She's right that there might be Northerners who are Indigenous but not Indigenous to the Northwest Territories who are impacted by the current policy of the affirmative action policy. But there's nothing stopping us from editing that and making that contribution acknowledged.
Mr. Speaker, I like the fact that she pointed out that women -- statistics on women in the government employment sector have increased. Fantastic. Empowering people. Mr. Speaker, taking away P2s is not disenfranchising Northerners because they came after them. So this new policy rendition doesn't change anything. It doesn't fix anything either.
Mr. Speaker, she highlighted in 2005 -- in 2014, which actually I happened to be there at the same time, I can tell you right now that everybody fought for the recognition of long-term Northerners, and even the finance Ministers of those days were Indigenous fighting for long-term Northerners to ensure that they get appreciated.
Mr. Speaker, the finance Minister pointed out this work was, you know, some of it or maybe largely or whatnot or you can say it's a continuation, but it's a lot of work was done last term. So back to my point my colleague from Range Lake had said, there was no mandate. So are we just simply doing the work of the last term because the Minister didn't get it through in the last time? I mean, it sort of makes you wonder what's the value of elections if the Cabinet's going to just keep dredging up old work that used to be done. We had a reset a year and a half ago. And, again, it wasn't in the mandate as pointed out. It wasn't in the Minister letters that isn't pointed out. It wasn't even on the campaign trail by anybody, Mr. Speaker.
There's frustration abound. That's why this needs to be done. There have been many P1s who have told me that they don't want to see this lost. I agree there are ways to fix the current policy which is exactly why it needs to go back. My colleague from Tu Nedhe, you know, brought up the issue of what's the point of committee advice if it's just going to be ignored? It makes you wonder what is happening.
Mr. Speaker, to wrap up this is that what it does is it creates a new format that we're trying to solve southern Indigenous hiring problems. I support northern Indigenous empowerment hiring opportunities, whether it's education or jobs. I've always held the line that I would do what I can to be a champion of the causes and certainly a champion of their success. And that doesn't change today. To my last breath, I'll be working to support the North, its people, its Indigenous people. But it feels like when we have such overwhelming criticism, it makes you wonder are we not following the direction of the people, or are we following the direction of the finance Minister and Cabinet?
Mr. Speaker, the people of the North don't like this. The finance Minister likes this. The Cabinet likes this. And it's been tweaked in a manner that a few of my Indigenous colleagues feel like at least their groups are protected. And I'm glad it can be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, on that note, I will heed your advice and finish with this is frustrating, this is divisive, and it's been led by the government, and our committee colleagues wanted to be part of the solution. This is how we get it back on track, working together. Thank you very much.
Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Frame Lake. The Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
All those opposed, please stand.
The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Monfwi. The Member for Great Slave. The Member for Mackenzie Delta. The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Nunakput. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Sahtu.
All those abstaining, please stand.
The Member for Yellowknife North.
Those in favour, 4. Opposed, 13. One abstention. The motion is defeated.
---Defeated
Colleagues, we will take a brief recess to deal with the other motions. We have to give the translators a bit of a break. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS nurses and healthcare workers deliver essential healthcare services to residents of the Northwest Territories, including in rural and remote communities that present challenging operating conditions;
AND WHEREAS the delivery of quality health care in the Northwest Territories depends on a stable, well-supported workforce of regulated healthcare professionals, including nurses and allied health workers;
AND WHEREAS healthcare workers are suffering from increased workloads and staffing shortages that contribute to low morale, burnout, and reduced staff retention which in turn leads to disruptions in continuity of patient care;
AND WHEREAS management practices of the Northwest Territories healthcare system are currently under review through the appointment of a public administrator;
AND WHEREAS recruitment and retention of nurses and healthcare workers remain a serious challenge and require proactive review of management and labour policies to ensure fair treatment, safe working conditions, and adequate professional support to improve working conditions and job satisfaction;
AND WHEREAS access to health care and addressing the effects of trauma is a priority
of the 20th Assembly;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Monfwi, that the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly undertake a comprehensive review of healthcare management practices, bargaining structures and labour policies, in consultation with nurses, labour unions, independent professional associations, frontline healthcare workers, and other key stakeholders to identify and recommend measures that:
(i) reinforce workplace protections for nurses and healthcare workers, including improved work-life balance initiatives, competitive compensation, and mental health supports;
(ii) address management practices that contribute to low workplace morale, fostering a supportive and collaborative working environment;
(iii) strengthen recruitment and retention strategies for nurses and healthcare staff through focused incentives and stable workforce planning;
(iv) increase accountability in the administration of health care in the Northwest Territories to ensure that policies reflect the realities of frontline work and lead to real improvements in working conditions in all healthcare settings including hospitals, health centres and health cabins;
AND FURTHER, that the Legislative Assembly engage thoroughly with labour unions, professional associations, health agencies and Indigenous governments to ensure that these measures accurately reflect the needs of healthcare workers in the Northwest Territories;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the comprehensive review of health care management practices, bargaining structures and labour policies be referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for further study.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I want to thank the Member for Monfwi for seconding the motion, and I want to thank the Member for Range Lake for coming up with the idea for this motion in the first place, as a way to show nurses and healthcare workers that we see their struggle. We see the pain that they endure amidst staff shortages and increased demands trying to keep our healthcare system afloat and do right by the patients that they try to help day after day after night after night.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot run a good quality healthcare system if the majority of our nurses and doctors are temporary contract workers. We need a stable workforce who live in our communities, know their patients, understand cultural safety, and understand who else to reach out to within our health and social services system to make referrals and help patients access the more wholistic supports they need. Temporary workers just can't do those things well.
Now, we've spoken many times in this House about the need for healthcare worker recruitment and retention. We've talked about policies and strategies and statistics, the cost of agency nurses and contract workers in terms of our budget and the health authority's deficit, but we rarely put our healthcare workers themselves at the centre of the solution. We rarely give them a platform to have their voices heard, to have their ideas considered, to let them be co-designers of the system we want to see, to empower them to be leaders in healthcare system reform.
Mr. Speaker, I am a Member of the Standing Committee on Social Development -- I am the seconder of this motion -- the Member from Monfwi is the chair. And the committee has already identified it wants to broadly examine how to make our entire healthcare system more sustainable.
This motion is asking the committee to take a deeper dive into examining healthcare recruitment and retention from the perspective of its workers, to hear from them directly so that our recommendations better reflect the realities of frontline workers.
The committee, of course, should focus on the things that we as MLAs have some control or influence over - our government and health authority's policies and management practices and our own government's legislation, including how we legislate bargaining structures and regulation of health care professionals. I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on how they envision this Assembly and our committees moving forward to address this important issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am making a motion to amend Motion 52-20(1), strengthening support for nurses and healthcare workers.
I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, to amend Motion 52-20(1), strengthening support for nurses and healthcare workers, by adding the words the "employer's" between the words "of" and "management" in the fifth clause of the preamble, such that the clause reads:
AND WHEREAS recruitment and retention of nurses and healthcare workers remain a serious challenge and require proactive review of the employer's management and labour policies to ensure fair treatment, safe working conditions, and adequate professional support to improve working conditions and job satisfaction.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. The motion to a -- or the motion to amend the motion is in order. The question before the House is now the amendment debate must be on the amendment and not the main motion. To the motion. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this amendment and the two that follow are simply to clarify that it is not the intent of the motion to interfere with how the union conducts its internal business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will support the amendment as it was always my intention for the committee to focus its work on the government's own legislation and policies. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion to amend the motion, all those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion has passed to the motion as amended.
---Carried
Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. The motion to amend the motion is in order. The question before the House is now the amendment debate must be on the amendment and not the main motion. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? The motion's passed as amended, to the motion as amended.
---Carried
Member from Great Slave.
