Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to follow up on my statement on the Affirmative Action Policy. About 30 years ago, as a result of the Oka Crisis, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples did a report and released their findings on November 1, 1996. That was 30 years ago. In 2019, it is a long shot, but marijuana was legalized. Much has changed. My question is to the Minister of Finance. I asked the Minister this question before and did not get a direct answer, so I will ask again: why has the Affirmative Action Policy not been updated in the last 30 years? Does concern about the legitimacy of affirmative action for other disadvantaged groups have anything to do with the GNWT's reluctance to update its policy? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The policy is one tool related to recruitment of Indigenous employees. We have introduced a number of programs that will assist with increasing Indigenous employees within the GNWT and will help employees advance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
One of the suggestions is to identify an individual who, perhaps, could herald some changes in terms of instituting opportunities for career paths for Indigenous people. Will the Minister consider developing a standalone Affirmative Action Policy for Indigenous people? Will he instruct his department to begin this work before the end of this Assembly?
We always want to try and increase the number of Indigenous employees within the GNWT, and I think that the government has taken a number of steps to do so. I think that the Member pointed out some of my past comments about merit, moving a lot of them along based on merit and what they bring to the job. In my career within the GNWT, and here in the Legislative Assembly, I have seen improvement.
The 19th Assembly, when they come in, can choose to take up this approach if they want, but I am not sure that changing the policy would be the best approach to increasing Indigenous employment.
Is there a model in other jurisdictions that has been successful in hiring more Aboriginal people into the government that the GNWT could perhaps use as a model?
I can get back to the Member, but there are few, if any, jurisdictions that have been as successful as the GNWT in increasing Indigenous employment. We share best practices amongst provinces and territories. I am not sure if there is a model out there that we can actually use; I think that ours is the model that they can actually use.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we are on to something good here, so I will ask the Minister: will the Minister commit to bringing on board an Indigenous employee advocate who is tasked to work with the management to assist interested Indigenous employees seeking work with the GNWT? Mahsi.
As far as an Indigenous employee advocate, I am not sure if we have one, but we already have a Diversity and Inclusion Unit and an Indigenous Employee Advisory Committee.
As I said before, we are winding down the life of the 18th Legislative Assembly, and as the 19th comes in, one of their priorities may be to include this as they move forward. We will let them make that decision, but we have already taken some steps to address the Members' concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
