Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. It’s in regard to the human resource officers in the Mackenzie Delta region — more importantly, the ones in my riding. I know I’ve raised in Committee of the Whole that these people are basically not given opportunities by way of training. The equipment they’re working with is hand-me-down. In some cases it’s practically junk. I have received pictures in this particular matter of the equipment these people are having to operate. I’m told that most of the radios and whatnot that are in those offices in our communities are now being moved to the Inuvik office. For me, the whole idea of building capacity in communities is to make sure we have the infrastructure and the people and provide them with equipment to do their jobs. So I would like to ask the Minister: why is it that there is now a trend in place where we’re moving equipment out of communities to the regional office in Inuvik?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The trend and ongoing commitment of the government for Environment and Natural Resources is to make sure that our offices are adequately provided for, that staff have equipment, that staff are given training, that we hire local whenever possible. The Member has raised some concerns. It occurred in his constituency in Fort McPherson in regard to the equipment and some of the staffing issues. We’ve already had meetings, as I’ve indicated to the Member, and we’re going to make sure that those issues that have been identified will be remedied.
Mr. Speaker, It’s not only unique to Fort McPherson. This situation also occurs in Aklavik, and I know for a fact in regard to the people in Tsiigehtchic, for the majority of their supplies that they need, they have to run into Inuvik, pick it up and come back into the field. I think we are putting officers in a dangerous situation where they are all around the road with no radio communication in their vehicles, vehicles that are over 15 years old and snowmobiles that basically should be put into a museum.
I would like to ask the Minister again: why is this trend continuing to take place? Basically this government has accrued that capital in this House for those particular communities. That capital could be allocated to those communities, and now the newer equipment’s been taken out of communities, and they’ve been given the older equipment which was at the regional office. So I would like to ask the Minister: how are you investigating this, and exactly what are you going to do about it?
Mr. Speaker, we are checking into these concerns. In fact, we’ve been aware of the concerns for some time. What we are going to do about it is we are going to take steps to remedy the issue as it pertains to the staff and to the equipment and vehicles.
Mr. Speaker, I believe also that to be fair to our aboriginal employees, especially in the Inuvik region.... They are unfairly treated when it comes to training dollars. Other individuals or non-aboriginals are able to go southern places to take training, but our employees in the Inuvik region are told to go see if they can take a course at Arctic College in Inuvik. Yet other employees are basically allowed to go to southern courses. I would like to ask the Minister: why is this government allowing mishandling by way of how we treat our employees, aboriginal versus non-aboriginal, in the Inuvik regional office?
We place as a department and as a government a very high priority on staff training and educational opportunities for all of our staff. We are working very closely with the colleges. There are also a lot of other courses, both within the government and outside of government, that our staff can benefit from. The Member has made an assertion here that there is an unfair distribution. I will ask the department to provide me with training that was not accessed by the staff in the Inuvik region over the last year or so to see what, in fact, the information tells us and if there are any inequities. Then we will move to address those inequities, whatever they may be.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to ask the Minister: are there any cultural enhancement programs put in place for new employees, non-aboriginal employees, in the Inuvik region so that they can understand the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit culture and the people that they have to serve and not to basically assume things without understanding the culture of the people in that region? I would like to ask the Minister: do they provide cultural enhancement programs to new employees in regard to the culture of the people that they’re serving?
There are orientation packages provided to employees, part of which, I believe, is a cross-culture awareness component.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
