Debates of March 7, 2005 (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 555-15(3): Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Office

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am wondering if the Minister could answer whether or not any thought had gone into developing a pipeline secretariat or something of that nature to give this a bit more ground to stand on instead of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline office. The secretariat could be located in Hay River as well, but with more positions and more dedication to this government to address the impending pipeline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 555-15(3): Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Office

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t have any detailed discussions of a model of that nature. That’s not to say that they weren’t going on in our department or other departments as this planning was underway. Recommendations came to me for the creation of this Mackenzie Valley pipeline office. Admittedly, I think we have said before, this really comprises our first phase response in terms of resource oil and gas development. This isn’t it. We do need to work to ensure that we are adequately resourced up and down the valley. I guess the real flashpoint of where we need to quickly get some resources is the Mackenzie Delta. All I can say to Members is we are working on a more comprehensive response and I don’t remember discussions of a secretariat that would take departmental positions from other departments and pull them under one roof. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 555-15(3): Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Office

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel strongly that the government is lagging behind. I think this is probably two years overdue. When will the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office in Hay River be up and fully staffed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 555-15(3): Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Office

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s hard for me to disagree that we shouldn’t have been able to move on this more quickly. We have seen this development coming for some time. All I can say is that we are responding now. We are moving very quickly to ensure the office in Hay River is up and running by the end of March. We’ve had a number of stages here in terms of trying to staff. We went northern first. We didn’t get the kind of response we thought we might get, but we are looking for some very specific technical positions. We have broadened the search to include southern Canada. I understand we have had a very good response now and I look forward to being able to staff up the office by April. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of FMBS, Mr. Floyd Roland, with regard to affirmative action. Some of the few statistics that are out there, Mr. Speaker, are some 53 percent of aboriginal people were employed in January as opposed to 83 percent of non-aboriginals. That means that a heck of a lot of our aboriginals aren’t working out there and our government has an affirmative action program that is not working as well. How much of a priority is the affirmative action policy for our government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The percentage in 2003 from our own stats of aboriginal employees would be in the area of 32 percent, an average between all communities. The affirmative action policy is still something that we use on every position out there and it’s a consideration on any options we have to do hiring throughout the government. The affirmative action policy is in place and is used for positions that are advertised. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Supplementary To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the percentage, it is 32 percent, however, he doesn’t note that it has dropped over two percent the last few years. Can the Minister tell us, Mr. Speaker, what kind of targets our government is looking at? What is the target set by this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the affirmative action policy, we talk about a representative workforce of the population it serves. We don’t have a set percentage that each department has to achieve, but what we do is reference the population that we serve. So in the case of the Northwest Territories, we’re hopeful that we can see 50 percent of the workforce being of the aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories. In some cases, we are very close to that. Some departments are achieving that; in some areas they are not. The average we see now is at 32 percent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Supplementary To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can appreciate that some of the targets the departments are having difficulty matching is because of the recruitment skills or skill level. A lot has to do with education, but just in terms of our business planning, as we’re going through the business plans here in the Legislative Assembly this month, what I’m not seeing in our business plans is actual affirmative action targets or recruitment targets for northerners. Apparently it used to be in the business plans, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister why these targets are not in the business plans this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the affirmative action statistics information is provided to committee members through the process we go through. We do provide supplemental information. As we’ve seen, our main estimates documents have grown because we’ve added additional information in there and I guess the feeling at that time was, as we’re going forward, we do supply the information on affirmative action statistics to Members and felt it wasn’t necessary in the document itself. But we’ll take it under advisement if Members would like to see that changed again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Supplementary To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess our discussion here related a lot to hiring outside workers, but in terms of the Management Assignment Program, what are the targets? What is the government doing to increase the visibility of northerners in the management sector of our government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue around the MAP or the Management Assignment Program is something that we are aware of and I’ve started to look into that matter as the concern has been raised to me. There are no specific targets at that point. There are avenues for any employee within the government workforce to be nominated and move into that program, then they follow through a pretty rigorous assessment program and out of that we see who we can move up the process through the MAP. So there are no specific targets, but it is an issue that we’re aware of and looking to address. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in his capacity as the Minister responsible for income support. Mr. Speaker, recently I have been contacted by a constituent who is suffering from a chronic heart condition and requires a heart transplant. She also has two young children who she has to look after. Because of her condition, she is not able to work. She is highly educated. It’s not that she can’t get a job; she’s just not able to work. While she’s waiting for this transplant, she has to get herself into really good shape, which requires her to have a special diet. She has been running into all sorts of obstacles in terms of getting some government assistance to support herself and her children. I’m told there is really no separate program for persons with disabilities, there is no Income Support Program for people with disabilities. So there are two things she’s running into: that is the lack of separate funding programs for people with permanent disabilities or semi-permanent, and also the fact that while she’s waiting for disability payments, there is no transitional assistance available. Could I ask the Minister why it is we don’t have that sort of program in place? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 557-15(3): Income Support For Disabled Persons

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as I’m aware, there is a program or part of the program that supports people with disabilities and kicks in extra payments for those people who have disabilities under the Income Support Program. In terms of a transition, I’m not sure what we’d be looking for, but I’d be happy to look into the matter and get back to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 557-15(3): Income Support For Disabled Persons

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that the GNWT may have some programs for someone with a disability. It’s very minimal. It’s about $300 a month extra on top of normal income support. But one cannot get that, as they go through the federal process first and make sure they don’t qualify for the federal process. The problem is these take a long time. They could take three or four months. For someone who doesn’t have work, they have no money, the government does not allow any transition amount between while you’re waiting. Could the Minister revisit that issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 557-15(3): Income Support For Disabled Persons

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not aware of any tie-in to the federal program. I’ll have to look into that. The Member asked if I would look into it. The answer is yes, I will.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 557-15(3): Income Support For Disabled Persons

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment and I will be happy to provide him with all the information he might require. But the third thing that I have to ask the Minister is the fact that our income support is really designed for people who are not able to get work for one reason or another, but not necessarily for those with disabilities. This woman who is disabled and can’t really function at 100 percent keeps getting asked to take a course on how to get a job and how to lead a productive life. That’s very frustrating. Would the Minister consider getting a different program to cater to that? Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 557-15(3): Income Support For Disabled Persons

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly look into the issues that the Member has raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat. It’s with regard to the GNWT’s plan to phase out the affirmative action policy through their human resource consolidation. I want to ask the Minister if it is the plan of the new consolidation of the human resource function of this government. Is that an avenue to the eventual elimination of the affirmative action policy, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 558-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is not the intention to phase out the affirmative action policy of the Government of the Northwest Territories. What we have looked at are a number of the reports that were done by previous assemblies, and Members of previous assemblies and one of the recommendations in one of those reports suggests that the name be changed to employment equity and that’s one of the considerations we’re taking into consideration as we go about the review of the government’s affirmative action policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 558-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The employment equity I know is based on the philosophy that employers will hire a representative workforce because it makes good business sense and operational sense to do so, and that’s a quote from the past Premier of this government in 2002. Another quote is from the executive director of our corporate human resource division saying that I expect it will be here for another two years and then we’ll eventually phase out the affirmative action and replace it with this employment equity. So I just want to ask the Minister what measures, with the amalgamation of the human resource function, is the department going to take to ensure that the guidelines that are in the affirmative action policy are going to be incorporated into this new employment equity policy, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 558-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our intention is, as we begin this work and pull the initial portions together, to meet with Members of the Assembly and through committees and put the work forward in that way and begin the in-depth discussion that we need to do on how we come up with a program that is going to work well for us as the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 558-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess as it stands now, the government spends about $7.8 million just to carry out the human resource functions in the various departments of the GNWT. How is the amalgamation and consolidation of the new human resources functions? Is that going to be a higher cost to this government or is it going to be less or is it going to be the same or has that even been visited yet, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 558-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work that’s undergoing right now we’re trying to get done within the resources we have available, but we also recognize that with over 180 employees being impacted and how we redesign the Human Resource Service Centre process and go into the regional build up of those, we understand and know that there’s going to be some growth in the areas as we try to make sure we can do this job accurately and get it done efficiently, as well. So there’s going to be some growth when we look at some increase in regional centres for staffing, as well as the restructuring of the office space. Right now, a lot of the individuals are in place in the communities within their departments and we’re going to pool those into central locations in the regions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 558-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess with the new vision of the human resource services for the GNWT, it says connecting our clients to provide leadership and excellence in human resource management. Mr. Speaker, one of the operating principles of that vision is that they will support managers in the recruitment and retention of a capable, competent public service that is representative of the people it serves and that focuses on results. So I’m just wondering, is the Minister going to make a commitment to the residents of the NWT, especially the aboriginal affirmative action candidates in the government, that they are going to be getting fair and equitable representation in Management Assignment Program positions, in any management program that this government is looking to fill.