Debates of October 30, 2006 (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the affirmative action policy was developed in the late '80s to help the Government of the Northwest Territories develop a representative workforce that is representative of the people that is serves.

Mr. Speaker, that program has had its detractors and supporters from the very start. It has been studied excessively for the last 10 years by the government. In fact, in the 13th Assembly I was part of a committee of MLAs that did a report to government suggesting changes to the affirmative action policy, one of them being a change of name to employment equity. We now, as well, have our own human rights legislation.

We’re in the 21st Century and the statistics have shown us very clearly that the affirmative action policy is one that needs work; that it hasn’t been able to achieve the goals that were set out for it; that it’s too broad; that it doesn’t allow you to focus on those areas of our occupations and professions where there is a true shortage. It has been very successful at the entry-level positions with the officer and clerical positions, but with limited success elsewhere. Some geographical areas like Yellowknife continue to have a very poor representative workforce compared to the rest of the Northwest Territories.

I know that this Assembly of this Legislature and this government have been looking at that for this particular program now for the last three years and I believe it’s high time to do the overhaul that’s required. I know that there’s going to be discussion on what are the roles of P1s, P2s and P3s, especially in light of mobility legislation, our own human rights legislation. But it is a discussion that has to be undertaken. This is a very important program and one that we cannot keep studying and avoid dealing with.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, as we look at this, I would like to point out to everybody and the people of the Northwest Territories, that truly the best affirmative action program is a good education. You can show by our statistics that everybody who gets a diploma or a degree or post-graduate studies or a trade are highly employable -- in the 90 percentile range -- and we have to continue to invest in that particular part of this process. But the actual affirmative action program is ready to be overhauled and I fully support and will have questions later today for the Minister of Human Resources. I fully support moving the employment equity program forward into the discussion stage at the very least with the public. Thank you.

---Applause