Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. The statistics from the public service annual report show that, again from my statement, from 2013 to 2021 Indigenous employment went down by 23 while nonIndigenous employees went up by 61 staff. The declining trend has continued during this Assembly.
Can the Minister explain the main reasons for declining Indigenous representation at the Department of Justice when we have had programs in place like the Indigenous Career Gateway, the Indigenous Management Development Program since 2018? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to report that we have reversed that trend, and the numbers are on their way up. We hit an all time low about two years ago, or actually last year, and then we have reversed and we've made up ground by a couple years. So there's a long way to go, but the work is underway and there's a number of initiatives. I won't preempt any of the Member's questions by talking about them, but I just wanted to let everyone know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of our committee's government operations has had presentations from human resources on the Indigenous recruitment and retention framework, and each department must create a plan. So what is the plan specifically at Justice to reverse these trends? And I know he says that we're going up, but we should have a plan to make sure that number stays where it's going up and continues so that we have a representative government in Justice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This has been a priority of this Assembly and of this Cabinet, and it is taken seriously at all levels, so. And I had many conversations with senior managers at the Department of Justice, and this is something that they are regularly discussing. Procedures have been put in place within the department to ensure that, where possible, Indigenous candidates were hired, and if not, why not. There's checks and balances.
We are running a CNRTP program, which is the corrections training program, strictly for Indigenous trainees. So generally this is open to the public, but there's currently an application process for Indigenous persons only. And that deadline closes, I believe March 4th. So I'd recommend everyone who wants to apply get their name in. We are constantly looking at the job descriptions and how we can improve those to ensure that we're not unintentionally excluding people. So there's a number of initiatives, and it's something that is really being driven from the top down, and we want to ensure that we instill this culture across the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I go to my next question, I'm going to go back to this since the Minister has talked about the CNRTP program; I've brought this up in the past with the department. Will the Minister commit to having the hiring staff, the recruiting staff for this program, to go through some of those pools that we currently have in our HR department for any Indigenous applicants to see if they're interested. You know, they've put their resume in once already. You know, we should be utilizing those areas to see if we can bring these people into, like I said, a career in Justice. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to say yes, but I can't commit to something that's already happening. I don't want to take credit for it. That is what's happening. And if the Member knows of specific instances where it appears that it's not happening, please let me know. We want to find out. No system is perfect. And if there are some gaps in the system, we want to figure out how to address those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister, and I hope it is happening. And, you know, I just wanted to say, like, to Mr. Speaker, when you and I toured the correctional facility here, one of the comments that I did make when we were there was that other than the warden at the time, there was not one other Indigenous employee that we saw while we did the tour. Every employee that we did see was and the counsellor. Just the two. And the warden is no longer there. So I just wanted to make that comment.
Can the Minister be bold and commit to issuing a ministerial directive to instruct hiring managers to use programs like the Indigenous Career Gateway and Indigenous management development and training programs as well as searching the pools, casual pools, and job before posting, at least until the end of his term? Be bold, Minister. Be bold.
Laughter
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that's what happens. That's what's supposed to happen. We have HR processes in place. The Department of Finance, the human resources division, is the lead on ensuring that the work is done. So that is what happens. And I can't make a directive to you know, that is beyond my scope because we have governmentwide policies in place. Again, if the Member, or anyone, is aware of instances where things aren't happening the way they should be, I want to hear about it because we do want to make changes where needed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
