Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Homelessness is a serious issue within the whole Northwest Territories, and it’s a priority of the 18th Legislative Assembly and a personal issue for myself, a professional issue, so I am committed to addressing homelessness during my tenure here. The $600,000 specifically, though, is to work with the resident or the homeless shelters within the Yellowknife area because of the need, the amount of homeless people in the community. Once that is finished, then we would be looking to work within the other communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I understand that Yellowknife is almost a magnet community for homelessness, so I understand there is a great need here. Could the Minister elaborate on the $750,000 thirdparty social housing, the money going to social housing, thirdparty social housing providers? Who are these providers and what type of social housing are they providing, and is there any of that in Hay River?
I can't say directly if there's any in Hay River. I will get back to the Member on that question. My background is in Yellowknife, so thirdparty housing providers are things like Rock Hill or the Bailey House or Lynn's Place places, that provide social housing to the communities and that we support them as well.
I'd like to know: does Hay River meet the department's definition of “small community,” thereby making it eligible to receive some of the benefits of the $1.2 million being put towards single units to address small community homelessness that was announced yesterday?
Anything outside of Yellowknife, actually, meets the definition of “small communities.” There are some projects that we're doing. There are things already in place, the Northern Pathways to Housing; the Small Community Homelessness Fund which gives food, et cetera; transitional supportive housing; public housing, everybody's aware of; Homelessness Assistance Fund. Then the Small Community Homelessness Fund, like I say, provides mostly meals, foods, and you can get, in the south it's up to $10,000 and in the northern regions it's up to $15,000.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, I would just like to ask who in the department is working within Hay River to develop a plan for homelessness, to address homelessness in Hay River. I'd like to be of any assistance I can. I'd like to offer that to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My awareness, right now in Hay River we're working with the Small Community Homelessness Fund in providing support to the Hay River Soup Kitchen, the Hay River committee for people with disabilities and the Family Support Centre. As I said, once we have been strategic in what we're doing in the capital area, then we'll be reaching out to the communities. One thing I should have said also is that we are building small units within other communities in the North, so we're not only focusing on Yellowknife. We are taking a holistic approach.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled “NWT Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations Annual Report 201516.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to file a document called “UNW Electronic Petition Results.” This petition did not meet the standards to be submitted as a petition, so I'm submitting it as a document. Thank you.
I now call Committee of the Whole to order. Mr. Beaulieu, what is the wish of committee?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to continue their consideration of the mains with the Department of Human Resources today.
Are we agreed?
Agreed.
We've agreed to consider Tabled Document 5018(2), Main Estimates, 20162017, and we've agreed to begin consideration of the Department of Human Resources. I'll turn to the Minister responsible for the department for opening comments, Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm pleased to present the 20162017 main estimates for the Department of Human Resources, and I'll do my best to keep my remarks brief. Overall, the department's estimates propose a decrease of $680,000, which is about 2.8 per cent below the 201516 main estimates. These estimates limit nonprogram related expenditures and continue to support the longterm sustainability of the fiscal framework. In our role as a corporate service provider, $4.5 million or about 19 per cent of the department's 201617 funding, is allocated for direct support to departments and agencies through programs to address hiring, development, and wellbeing of GNWT employees.
Highlights of the proposed estimates include:
a reduction in compensation and benefits due to the elimination of three positions;
a reduction in nonprogram related contracts.
The Department of Human Resources continues to provide leadership, direction, and support to the GNWT in all areas of human resource management, which ultimately helps to facilitate the achievement of government priorities by all departments. This includes:
modernizing legislation and policy for the GNWT as it relates to the management of the public service; and
offering effective recruitment, development, and retention of staff through quality GNWTwide programs, services, and advice, including working towards a truly representative, inclusive workforce; and
leading the governmentwide initiatives for occupational health and safety.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That does conclude my opening remarks.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Usually we do take a break, so my witnesses aren't here. I'm happy to take the table and begin the discussions until the witnesses do arrive.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. What we can do is just take a break and then, when the witnesses arrive, we can continue.
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Thank you, Members. I would like to call the Committee of the Whole to order. To start off with, thank you Mr. Minister. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Thank you, Mr. Chair, I would.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Sergeant-at-Arms, could you please escort the witnesses into the Chamber, please. Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Bronwyn Watters, who is the deputy minister of Human Resources, and on my right, Michelle Simpson, who is the director of corporate affairs.
We will now proceed to consider the detail for the Department of Human Resources. I will move on to this one. We will defer departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning at page 210. Human Resources, active position summary, information item, do we have any questions? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this is the right section. I'm just wondering if our witnesses can tell us what's happening with safe disclosure legislation, which is also known as whistleblower protection. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do have a safe disclosure policy in place that was negotiated with the UNW, and they are part of the review committee on that. When that agreement was put in place, we did indicate that we were going to move forward with some safe disclosure legislation here in the Northwest Territories. We did not move forward with that in the last government. We were monitoring the effectiveness of the safe disclosure policy that we did put in place, and we had very, very few individuals who actually took up and utilized that policy. It doesn't mean we don't need the legislation, and what we are doing moving forward is we are incorporating the safe disclosure legislation within the new Public Service Act which is being worked on currently in the Department of Human Resources. It will all be part of one act as opposed to two separate acts.
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. When can we expect to see the amendments to the Public Service Act come forward? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is a significant piece of legislation requiring a significant amount of work. It will be done in the life of this government. We don't anticipate getting it in front of the House until 2018, which will allow us the time required to get this act into a modern state. In the meantime, with respect to safe disclosure, we do have the safe disclosure policy that was designed in cooperation with UNW for individuals who wish to disclose information or have concerns about things they see within the public service, so 2018.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. We'll look forward to that in 2018. I had one other matter I wanted to pursue. It's the Safe Advantage program, which I think is run through our Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission. I think, overall, GNWT has had some problems with our compliance and ratings and have had to pay a number of fines in the past as a result of, I guess, our not very good performance. What kind of assurance can the Minister provide? Or tell us what's happening in terms of the Safe Advantage program. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are committed to a safe workplace for all of our staff. Our people are our most valuable asset, and we need to make sure that they are working in safe environments. To that end, the Department of Human Resources does provide assistance to all the departments who have established individual occupational health and safety committees throughout most of the work sites and most of the departments through the GNWT, most of the departments, not necessarily every work site. I can tell you that through the Safe Advantage program there have been years where we have got fines. There was, when the program was first put in place, we got fined a number of years in a row. The fines are dependent on a couple of things. They are dependent on our claims history over a given year. They are dependent upon how we respond to a questionnaire that is provided to us, and our claims history, and then also a site visit or a telephone call to a location. I can tell you that for this year we have passed, and there is no claim or no fine going to be levelled against the Government of the Northwest Territories. I believe last year we were also fine free. But we have had years where we have been fined, and this is something that the Department of Human Resources as well as every other department in the Government of the Northwest Territories must stay on top of, must ensure that we do have the safe work sites that we want for our employees.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's certainly good news to hear that we passed this year and that there were no fines because, of course, as we want to set a good example as one of the main employers in the Northwest Territories and particularly as a public government. I presume that there's some sort of report that will come through this evaluation. Can the Minister commit to provide that report to the House? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we do get a report and a summary from the WSCC, who is administering the Safe Advantage program. I can say that this year we actually did pretty good with respect to our results. We compiled its March 201516 management questionnaire and submitted a response: 92 per cent on part one and 100 per cent on part two. We did pretty good and we did all right on the interview, which resulted in no fine. We will provide the report, when we get it, to committee.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Mr. Chair, I think it's good that the report will be provided to committee, but I guess I'm hoping that the Minister will commit to table the document in the House. I think we want to show that we're leading by example, so I'd ask if he could table the report in the House. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, before I commit to tabling that document, I would like to obviously talk to the Minister responsible for the WSCC. It's really their report to table, but given that our information's in there I will certainly have a conversation with the Minister responsible for the WSCC.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Any further questions? I see none. Human Resources, directorate, operations expenditures summary, activity total, $4,547,000 on page 212. Agreed?
Agreed.
