Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I see the amazing team working on homelessness is off to their next project already; very quick moving on their feet.
I would like to recognize some of the Weledeh residents. In particular, of course, Anna Pontin, also her dad, Dave Pontin, here today. This family is very active in these areas and Anna is carrying on the tradition.
Also, Jack Kotaska and also all those working on this, and other residents of Weledeh that might be behind me. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a resident of Tulita, however, he’s living here in Yellowknife: Mr. Paul Andrew. I’d also like to congratulate the young team on their achievements. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I’d like to welcome everybody in the gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings, and welcome.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what would be involved in proclaiming a day of recognition for families who have lost children that were yet unborn, children that are born stillbirth and children that are lost to sudden infant death syndrome. What would be involved in our government when we declare a day as a day of remembrance or a day to recognize something like this? What’s involved? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I am no expert in this area, but I notice that over the last couple of years a lot of the days that are dedicated to things such as this were started off by interest groups. So my first recommendation would be that if there’s an interest group that wants to discuss this with our department, that would be a good place to start.
I’m not aware whether there is an actual developed and formed territorial organization as yet, but I’m sure that even by bringing the awareness to this in the House today there could very well be responses to this. We would be following suit of other jurisdictions in Canada, such as New Brunswick, which I mentioned, which have already taken the lead to do this. I don’t think it’s something that would be costly to the government and I’m not exactly sure how the proclamation of certain days is undertaken, but I would certainly encourage anybody who shares an interest in this topic of remembering young people, young lives that have been lost, and remembering family members, if they could communicate that to us I’m sure that we could get a formal presentation and request to the Minister. Thank you.
Also, once the information is in, I think the next process we’ll have to look at is maybe a motion from the Member from the House to look at designating such a day. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Admittedly, the North needs more skilled workers than ever before and it’s paramount that we need to do everything possible to make sure that our residents succeed at being given those skilled jobs of the future.
I rise today as a follow-up to my Member’s statement in which I talked about some of the barriers facing our northern apprentices. One of those barriers is the current way we legislate and regulate our targeted wage subsidies that flow from the employer to the apprentice employee. My questions today will be directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Can the Minister indicate when was the last time the Apprenticeship, Trade and Occupations Certification Act was reviewed and has this act kept up with current changes in labour market development agreements across Canada? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi. I do believe this question is timely. As you know, the Minister of ITI delivered an economic development report that was tabled last week. Part of that consisted of training, training Northerners. With the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupation Act, it was recently revised. It came into force October 2012, and full implementation this August 2013. So that is part of ongoing development that we’re going through.
The review also consisted of various partners involved, stakeholders, industries, apprentices and the Apprenticeship Board. So those are just some of the processes that we have to go through to review and implement the current act that we have. But it was done back in 2012. That’s when they last revised the version. Mahsi.
I appreciate the Minister’s response to that. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment supports the development, maintenance and delivery of designated trades, occupational training programs and the development of our skilled northern workforce.
Can the Minister describe, in the event of an apprentice having employer difficulties, what are the options of this apprentice to seek help or assistance?
Mr. Speaker, part of the process is, of course, we have our ECE staff that deal with apprentices, and just to make them aware of their obligations within the program itself, being an apprentice. My staff is, of course, available any time if there is a challenge or a barrier in the way that the Member has alluded to earlier. Those are areas that my departmental staff are available to meet with certain individuals, especially those apprentices. We also have a regional representative, as well, that deals with the service centres in the regions. They are available to help and support these, whether it be the trainees or apprentices.
Those are just some of the key highlights of resource support staff we have at the headquarter level, regional level and community level.
Earlier today I spoke of the barriers of the targeted wage subsidies being in the hands of the employers wherein, I think, a perfect scenario, would be more suited in the stewardship of the apprentice.
Could the Minister indicate by what process in today’s landscape could the apprentice play a more active role in the control of directing such targeted wage subsides to would-be employers? Is this possible?
Part of, again, the process is apprentice training on the jobs that we have. We currently have a wage subsidy, and that’s provided to the small employers so they can be competitive with the larger employers as well.
Most of the programs, as you know, there are limited financial resources with a high demand exceeding supply. With the feedback from my colleague, the Minister of ITI, on the Economic Development Panel, part of the role, I guess, is apprenticeship is something that we will review in light of supply and demand, and as you’ve heard from the panelists, there’s a high demand for northern apprentices, northern journeymen. We are fully reviewing that, as well, working side by side with the ITI Minister.
Part of the NWT is our GNWT has a remarkable subsidy program that we provide assistance to apprentices, assistance to small employers so they can hire and train those individuals. On average, there are 90 to 100 apprentices on an annual basis, journeymen that successfully completed their program. We’re very proud of them. Again, reiterating that developing northern jobs, northern training for northern people.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s response. Knowing that this Minister seeks the highest standards in forming industry partnerships, as we’ve heard, and the quality of the skilled workforce, would the Minister commit to investigating the current barriers of the Targeted Wage Subsidy Program delivery, work within our Canada-Northwest Territories Labour Market Development Agreement, and report back to this House a strategy and an action plan to improve such a barrier?
The uptake and successful completion of the Apprenticeship Program continues to increase every year, as highlighted earlier. The Labour Agreement is under review this year. That is a program that has been very successful. It is a federal legislative program and it’s coming to an end in 2014. We are focusing and monitoring that program and the overall review. Of course, the suggestions and ideas that are being generated in this House will be captured and will be considered as part of the review process. I will continue to work with the federal Minister responsible, Skills Development.
Also, I would like to commit today that we’re dealing with the partners in the industries, as we’ve done in the past, having them in the room, providing a true partnership. Those are the areas that we are continuing to discuss, my department discussing with the regional representatives. Industries are part of the representatives, as well, so they will be part of the process when we are dealing with the wage subsidy to the employers. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will be to the Minister of Human Resources. What currently does the GNWT do to link students with job opportunities throughout the GNWT?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of different things that we do. One of the things that we do is the Graduate Internship Program. Since 2001, over 300 northern graduates have been supported through this Graduate Internship Program. We do market this program to students through a number of different ways. The GNWT Messenger, posters displayed in Yellowknife, through the Human Resources, direct e-mail blast from Student Financial Assistance, newspaper advertisement and Bear Facts. We have a budget of $1.3 million. We can support about 33 internships a year at $40,000 an internship. We also have summer student employment for returning students.
To date, this fiscal year, we have hired 197 students with 17 more job offers in the queue. Last year we supported 308 students. We expect to support around the same number again. I have had conversations with my ministerial colleagues, encouraging them to have their departments hire as many students as we can reasonably.
Through the Department of Health and Social Services and Maximizing Northern Employment, we have the Graduate Placement Program for nurses and social workers, and through Education, Culture and Employment, graduate placement for teachers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister for those answers. What priorities are given to those NWT students returning for employment in the Northwest Territories and the GNWT?
Mr. Speaker, for the Internship Program, the northern students are given priority as outlined in the Affirmative Action Policy, because the internship programs are just for returning students so it is offered to them only. Summer Student Employment, the program is in place to help summer students get jobs for the summer months. Once again, the Affirmative Action Policy applies. For graduate placement for nurses and social workers as well as teachers, once again affirmative action applies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, what is the GNWT doing to link these students that are starting out in their first or second year and they talk about what they want to be, whether they want to be teachers, doctors, lawyers, businesspeople? What are they doing linking those students in the potential employment that we know that aging population is affecting the GNWT as well as many industries? What are we doing to link those students as early as possible to those positions in the NWT?
Mr. Speaker, for things like nurses and social workers and teachers, it is a little easier because we have programs designed specifically for those. We do know the students that are in the northern program here in Yellowknife for social work and for nursing, for education as well. That one is a little easier to link to.
For students in the South who are interested in coming to the North to work in a variety of professions – the Member mentioned things like a lawyer or these other trades – it is a little bit more difficult. Through Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy, we do have some limitations in our ability to go through Education, Culture and Employment and directly link to those students. It is a challenge. It is something we are in discussions with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, finding a way so that we can direct contact those students based on the area of profession that they are interested in, but we are not, and more work is required on that.
For the Summer Student Program for the students who are going to be going back to school, we do have a Related Experience Program, so those individuals who have identified what profession they are pursuing, we can bring them in as casuals in areas where they need to or if they are interested in working in the future, and by that way we do develop a relationship with those students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, along the lines, we talked about decentralizing and devolution. Obviously, this is an important factor for students coming in as well. How does the human resource development work to develop not only the big city of Yellowknife – you mentioned Yellowknife, obviously – but throughout the regions and throughout the smaller communities?
The Member, in his opening statement, made reference to the training program that he went through, and the government used to have a number of training programs from entry-level and officer-level positions. We don’t have that per se today, but it is one of the things we’re looking at through the Regional Recruitment Plan. The Regional Recruitment Plan will be put in front of committee in short order here. One of the things that we’re talking about in that particular plan is on-the-job training programs that will help individuals obtain employment with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
---Interjection
Okay. I was going to give you a fifth one but, Mr. Bouchard, I’m sorry. My fault. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made a statement on medical travel, and my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Medical travel involves, especially in my riding of the Deh Cho, either patients travelling from Hay River Reserve or else by plane, if they have the choice, or else from Fort Providence, Kakisa or Enterprise travelling by vehicle. Unfortunately, sometimes people are not given the choice to travel that long road between here and Fort Providence, so it becomes quite the experience.
Who decides if it’s okay for a patient to travel home by taxi after surgery? Is there a doctor involved in this decision, and if so, how is it communicated to medical travel staff? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The decision on medical travel is a clinical decision, so it would be a physician. It could be a doctor; it could be a nurse practitioner or possibly even a registered nurse, when the person is in recovery and going back home. Thank you.
How does the Health Minister justify not paying for meals and accommodations when a patient has to come to Yellowknife for medical reasons? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I recognize that it’s an issue in the medical travel. Right now the budget for individuals to come and travel to a community is very, very minimal, and we are examining that and recognizing the fact that the amount of money allocated on a daily basis, the per diem for meals, is insufficient to cover the amount needed to be able to eat three meals when you’re on travel. Thank you.
I understand that a couple years work went into the review of the Medical Travel Policy but it remains unchanged. What is the status of that review? Mahsi.
Yes, the review is complete. We are actually looking at making actual changes to the medical travel, to improve the medical travel system for the patients. I don’t have the specific dates on when the changes will occur, but the review is completed. We know what the problems are. It’s just a matter of incorporating change into the system now.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister indicated, if medical travel is required, a physician is required. Communities that don’t have health centres, in particular Kakisa, if a patient has to travel to either Hay River or Yellowknife, they make a decision. If there’s going to be a review of the policy, can that be considered to accommodate the needs of residents from Kakisa that doesn’t have a health centre? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, yes, that is going to be part of the review. In places where they don’t have any nursing or places that don’t have any actual health centre or nursing station, we’re going to try to accommodate those communities as much as possible in the new changes to the Medical Travel Program.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
