Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Human Resources some questions following my Member’s statement on Aboriginal employment and salaries in the Government of the Northwest Territories. The indigenous Aboriginal is 31 percent of our total GNWT workforce. I’d like to ask the Minister what is the current strategy for recruitment to increase those numbers in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government developed a human resource strategy called 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. That strategic plan has been guiding our actions for the past couple of years. We have an Affirmative Action Advisory Group. We have set up some specific affirmative action competitions so that we can begin to get more Aboriginal people into senior management programs. And of course, we have developed a number of leadership programs which Aboriginal people are starting to take a much more significant participation in than they have in the past. Thank you.
I don’t know if the new advisory group had a chance to operate yet, but I think the reality of the situation in our North and some of the issues are that the upper management is non-Aboriginal and when Aboriginals apply for jobs they’re not getting them. I don’t know, those statistics do not show up, but it happens time and time again. I think it happened in Justice recently, where three Aboriginals were not hired and a non-Aboriginal was, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister how would the department track issues like that. Thank you.
Human Resources works very closely with the management of all the different departments to make sure that policies are followed and that the candidates that have the most merit and have the highest priorities of this government get hired for specific jobs.
We’ve looked at our hiring process. We looked at our job evaluation process to try to eliminate the systemic barriers that are either perceived or that have seen to be out there to prevent Aboriginal people from getting into jobs at different levels. We’re told that we put in barriers by demanding very specific qualifications or certifications, so we’ve gone through reviews of job descriptions so that equivalencies will be considered.
Also, with regard to competitions, if you’re a P1 and you are qualified, then you have priority hiring. Those are the kinds of things that the Affirmative Action Policy allows us to do. Even with all of those built-in systems, we’ve been stuck at 31 percent Aboriginal affirmative action employment. Thank you.
The stats have been stable for the last 10 years. We’ve had only, like, 30 percent indigenous Aboriginal employment for the last 10 years and the stats aren’t growing. Some of the barriers are systemic, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister again: in the 20/20 strategy and the new Aboriginal board, is there a mechanism for somebody to appeal a job that they felt they should have got but a non-Aboriginal got it, like in the case of Justice and the Corrections Centre?
There are many other areas too, Mr. Speaker. I get lots of inquiries where Aboriginal people from my constituency applied for jobs but they were screened out, and when you’re screened out you’re not allowed an appeal, Mr. Speaker, and often non-Aboriginals get that job. I’d like to know if there’s a mechanism in our new system that can be used to address that. Mahsi.
We have a staffing appeals process in the government and we’ve been limited by the fact that our legislation, for some reason, is restricted as to only having three staffing appeal positions, but we are making representation to have that changed so that we can have more staffing appeal officers so that we don’t have as much of a backlog.
Not only do we have a system of staffing appeals officers, we also have our human resource officers that go back and review with those that are interested as to how they felt they could improve upon when they go for interviews and also give them feedback on how they thought they performed in the interview process. Those are the kinds of initiatives that we’re using to give people a better opportunity to be successful in gaining employment with the government. But not everybody wants to work for the Government of the Northwest Territories. You have to keep that in mind as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Those that do, I believe, aren’t getting the chance, Mr. Speaker. The word that’s been used in the public is like nepotism, but it’s not really nepotism if it’s someone from your home province. Nepotism is about hiring family and close family members, but it’s more like the buddy system that’s going on. How do we prevent it and how can we track that, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Our government has a number of checks and balances to make sure that doesn’t happen. We also have the conflict of interest requirements and all of these checks and balances that would prevent against nepotism. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
