Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Cathie Bolstad, a resident of Weledeh and well known by everybody, I am sure. Also, Elizabeth Portland with Ecology North and Natural History Group and other roles, and any other residents of Weledeh. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize not only a constituent but a member from Hay River, Tim Coleman, who travels quite a bit back and forth, and also the Mineral Strategy Group, thank you for coming today, especially Cathie Bolstad, who travels to Hay River regularly, annually for a golf tournament. It is good to see their support for Hay River as well. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Today I would like to welcome in the gallery Mr. Gerrand, our Conflict of Interest Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Welcome, Mr. Gerrand. I would like to welcome everybody here. My sister Mary is in the gallery today. It is always good to have family.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my congratulations to Ms. Beverly Masuzumi from Fort Good Hope on receiving her Education Hall of Fame on May 30, 2013. Beverly is known for her true leadership in the past and her passion for educating the students in the Sahtu. She spent 10 years working to improve educational opportunities for our students by being part of the local education authority board and the Sahtu District Education Council, and was chair of the district education council for those six years.
On behalf of the Sahtu region, I would like to again congratulate Ms. Masuzumi on her strong belief in our education system, our students and our communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure who to ask my questions to and I am not even sure what to ask at this stage. You can tell I am a little frustrated with the lack of support for some very valuable NGOs. I don’t think we have really quantified the value that NGOs bring to a situation. If we as a government had to pay for the work that they do, we probably wouldn’t realize the same results and we probably couldn’t afford it.
The council that I refer to in Hay River is the Council for Persons with Disabilities. They teach literacy counselling; they fundraised $50,000 in the community to operate a handivan; they offer their food and shelter program; they have healthy food initiatives; they do a Community Gardening Program; they do PC training with clients that are in Hay River.
We have a facility in Hay River, an assisted living facility for persons with disabilities, as well, and we really appreciate having it there. Don’t get me wrong, but that facility costs this government about $4 million a year to operate and there are 10 clients there. If you do the math quickly, with all the overhead and everything, that is about $400,000 per client, and yet we have an NGO in Hay River that is out there working with people with disabilities in the community, in which they get from this government $35,000 per year. If that NGO were not doing this work, who would be doing it? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Beaulieu, Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot of the work that that particular NGO does now, I think, was done because there was a lack of services in that area in Hay River, so it would be difficult to say how they would be able to obtain those types of services if it wasn’t for that particular NGO group.
Could I get the Minister to concur that this NGO does do good and valuable work in our community, and the value of their work far exceeds the $35,000 a year which they get from this government and our given grief that goes along with it? Can the Minister concur this is valuable work worth far more than what they receive from this government? Thank you.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet with this group and I do agree that the work they do is very valuable. I had an opportunity to speak to the people that were in the office at the time taking a course. I personally knew all of them in there and spoke with them, and they were very pleased to be given an opportunity to learn what they were learning there in working with this particular society. Thank you.
I would like to thank Minister Beaulieu for his visit to Hay River, for taking time out of his busy schedule, for going there and seeing the facility these folks were in, for listening to them, for hearing what their challenges were and what they were offering the community, and he did express great support. I have to say that and I want to thank him for that.
How can we translate that, as Mr. Beaulieu heads up the Department of Health and Social Services, how can that commitment and support for an NGO translate down to the people who actually deliver that support within the public service? How can that be communicated so they understand that’s the goal and that’s the opinion of this government? Thank you.
We are going to be able to have that discussion with the senior management at the department. We’re also dealing with the local authority, and between ourselves and the authority, we recognize that we do fund each of these non-government organizations and this particular organization does receive some funding from the department, but the majority of their funding does come from outside of the government. So I will make sure that the department understands that these guys could use some support when they’re leveraging this kind of funding in the community.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
As a result of the things that I’ve shared here today, and my colleagues have shared here today, I would like to see this government come out with a statement saying that they recognize and appreciate the valued work of NGOs in our territory, and that those NGOs go towards making this territory and the lives of many people better than they would be, and that this government cannot do everything alone, and that we support, encourage and thank those NGOs who do this work for us. Can this government send a message like that out? Thank you.
The government is moving more and more into multi-year funding with the organization. We continuously have discussions with these organizations, trying to develop some wage parity with these organizations. So the government is recognizing that these organizations are valuable and we’re trying to step up to the plate. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, my questions will be directed to the Premier. During the last Assembly, $5 million was allocated over two years specifically to meet crucial needs of small communities. Why is that not continued under this government? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the last Assembly we were operating under a very severe fiscal situation and at that time the government of the day foresaw that there was going to be a very severe economic downturn. So when the Assembly started, the government of the day decided that we would cut programs, so that we could take that money that we obtained by cutting programs. I think we had a target of about $132 million and that money, in turn, was used to make funding available to a number of different committees. I think we were about to cut about $65 million in programs and that’s where the $5 million came from to make available to the community and sustainable and rural communities.
This government, the 17th Assembly, decided that we were not going to cut programs, that we were going to maintain programs, although we had a very tight fiscal situation. We managed our way through the fiscal situation, and I should point out that we have a number of committees and none of the committees have any funding allocated to them to dispense. The committee that you reference is there to provide advice to the government and Cabinet on very unique conditions that small and rural communities face.
The public probably does not understand how spending recommendations made by the Rural and Remote Communities would be handled by the government. Will the Premier describe the process for us?
We have a committee made up of a combination of Cabinet Ministers and MLAs. We have three Cabinet Ministers and five MLAs on the Committee on Sustainability of Rural and Remote Communities. The terms of reference provide that it would provide advice to Cabinet.
The way I would see it is that this committee, we would have to work it so that it can tie into the budget process so that their recommendations can be provided on a timely basis, in time that they could be considered when we do capital planning and our main estimates.
What are the government’s key priorities for improving services and infrastructure in rural and remote communities?
Obviously, we want communities in the rural and small communities to have a similar quality of life to other communities in the Northwest Territories. I’ve always said that one shouldn’t be penalized because of where they live, so we would endeavour to try to work in that regard.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Premier when he first began saying the past government was facing a little financial difficulty, like most of the country. In the small communities, not much has changed since then.
When will the communities see more programs being offered, and will this government continue that $5 million in this government?
We would have to work with all Members of this Assembly to try to address that decision. At this point in time, we are just starting our main estimates process, and there are tremendous demands for fiscal resources, and if the Legislative Assembly feels that that’s the direction we should go in, obviously we look at all of these parameters when we do our main estimates.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I detailed in my Member’s statement about the difficulties of Aboriginal people gaining employment. Well, the ones that remain unemployed. Getting employment with our Government of the Northwest Territories, I’d like to ask the Minister of Human Resources questions in this regard.
Firstly, what is the department currently doing to meet the Government of the Northwest Territories’ commitment of a public service that is representative of 51 percent of our population that is Aboriginal?
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT is committed to developing a competent public service representative of the population it serves. There are a number of things that we are doing. We do have the Affirmative Action Policy that we apply to all staffing actions. But we’ve also put in things like the Associate Director/Superintendent Program and a few other programs. We also have the Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee, which has been put together to provide some guidance and direction to myself and Cabinet on how to improve representation of Aboriginal peoples within our public service.
In the Member’s statement, he mentioned how difficult it is, or some of the frustrations that individuals who are going through the competition process have identified. One of the things we are doing to help address that is we put together How to Apply on a Government Job, which is a workshop, and there are some materials for reading as well. It is going to be made available throughout the Northwest Territories. I have shared the brochure with my colleagues.
I have indicated that we will be going out to all the regional centres and hopefully communities, as well, to provide this workshop to help individuals better understand the competition process in the Northwest Territories and what they can do to help strengthen their opportunities or chances of obtaining employment in those communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister is right; people are really frustrated about their chance of trying to get employment. As I detailed, a lot of them get screened out and don’t know why.
Can the Minister undertake a process to review the human resource hiring process to ensure Aboriginal candidates are continually engaged and involved and encouraged if they are not the successful candidate? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that is already being done. That is one of the things that the Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee is looking at. They are looking at all of the processes that exist out there today and are trying to identify what some of the gaps might be, what some of the things that are occurring that might limit some of these candidates from actually taking the next step.
As I have indicated, we are doing the How to Apply on a Government Job, which we hope will help individuals understand the process better and what things they can do with their resumes and during interviews that will help strengthen their application and their bid for positions within the Government of the Northwest Territories. By way of review, that is one of the things that we are hoping to get advice and recommendations on from the advisory committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister truly understands the situation. I would like to know if this practice is currently being done right now. I have constituents that are screened out. They are hiding the test results from them, not showing them, not encouraging about how to better themselves for the next applications if they continue that.
I would like to know if this current practice that the Minister is talking about is being used by our front-line human resource and the departments that people are applying on. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to say yes. It is something that I have made clear to the deputy minister that I would like in the regional centres and Yellowknife, everywhere there is staff in action, for our staff to take that additional step in helping individuals understand why they are screened out. It doesn’t happen in every case, I can’t say that, but I will continue to encourage the deputy and his staff within the department to provide that extra step to help individuals understand why they may have been screened out and what they can do better.
I would encourage all the Members to encourage their residents and their constituents to please take the How to Apply on Government Jobs. It will help people understand some of the intricacies of our process and will hopefully help them make it through to the next step and get the jobs that they are qualified to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some of it is changing the processes too. One of the biggest issues is the inability of people that apply to appeal a job. I know that short-term positions are not appealable. Sometimes if they are an outside applicant, then they cannot appeal those jobs. I would like to know if they are going to improve that process too. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Member and I should sit down and just follow up, because I’m not sure I fully get that question.
There are appeal rights. All Aboriginal candidates have appeal rights for GNWT jobs, with the exception of casual jobs. There are no appeal rights on casual jobs. Any time that an individual applies on a term or an indeterminate position and they are Aboriginal or P2, they have the right to appeal that competition. If they are an existing employee and they have applied on a job and they are screened out, regardless of their affirmative action, they have a right to appeal that position. The appeal rights are there. Some people choose not to use them, but they should be notified of their appeal rights by the screening committee or the staffing officer responsible for that file.
I would be happy to sit down with the Member and have some more discussions around that so I better understand where the Member is coming from. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the NGO Stabilization Fund. Through the process, there was a review and there were no changes at that time.
I want to ask the Premier, in regard to this fund, will the department again look at reviewing this NGO Stabilization Fund in light of what he is hearing today, to ensure that some of these programs, some of these fundings can get to some of the critical services that some of our people are delivering now on a voluntary basis in our communities?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we reviewed the NGO Stabilization Fund to clarify which types of NGOs were eligible to apply and also to respond faster, to process the applications faster and flow the money out on a much faster basis. We were able to do that. This year we have had 14 applications. Thank you.
Certainly, the Premier is correct on the NGOs delivering essential services in our communities that support the government’s objectives of healthy, strong communities and also developing capacities, and to manage programs and services.
I want to ask the Minister, in regard to the review, the society sometimes needs to be in good standing or needs to be registered within the Northwest Territories are created under a federal statute. I want to ask if the Minister can look at the flexibility of this eligibility of NGOs to include groups like land claims or other groups that also do essential services because of a lack of volunteers or people to fulfill those critical services to our people. Would the Minister continue looking at, seeing if this is a possibility in some of the small communities?
Essentially what our government wants to do is we want to help NGOs that have no other access to funding. I would think land claims organizations negotiate land claims agreements with other governments and they have access to resources. I would think skidoo clubs were the same; they could access resources. We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that funding the NGO Stabilization Fund is focused on those NGOs that provide essential services to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
