Candidates who apply and who are eligible for an appeal, which is individuals who identify themselves as being candidates, would be potentially able to appeal. Those processes are reviewed by independent staffing officers. Independent staffing officers, there is a regulation that applies in terms of identifying who those individuals are. They have to meet a certain set of criteria including the fact that they are outside of the service of the GNWT, and those are the individuals who would review those appeals.
The Affirmative Action Policy states that all departments and agencies within the public service will plan and implement affirmative action measures. Senior management made a statement to Regular MLAs that there have never been an evaluation of the Affirmative Action Policy. What action is the government going to take to evaluate the Affirmative Action Policy?
Many, many years ago, there were some reviews of the Affirmative Action Policy but it has certainly not been any time within recent memory. I can confirm, Mr. Speaker, I have already requested and received a briefing on specifically the issue of the Affirmative Action Policy from the department. It, certainly, is on the radar, if I might say so in that way, that it is something the department is alive to, and that there may be a need to modernize that policy. For the moment, the next step would simply be to do that work within the department, and to bring it to Cabinet to see that it does see action within the next Assembly, if considered appropriate.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories, policy 14.03 pertaining to the Affirmative Action Policy states, "The Government of the Northwest Territories will give preference in employing, training, and promoting qualified suitable and eligible target group persons." What has the government done to train and promote these target group persons?
Mr. Speaker, there are a number of programs existing already within the Department of Finance and specifically within the human resources department that are meant to address exactly the challenge that I am hearing. For example, the Indigenous Career Gateway Program is an opportunity for Indigenous candidates to be given training in order to assume positions within the GNWT. Regional Recruitment Program is another opportunity that is meant to link opportunities that come available within regions and to identify when there is an opportunity that requires some training in order to help a person become eligible for that position. Indigenous Management Development and Training Program, that is an opportunity for individuals already within the GNWT's public service to see that they have appropriate skills and training so that they can continue to advance their careers within the GNWT.
There, certainly, are a few programs within the Government of the Northwest Territories, and as I mentioned earlier today in my own Minister's statement that there is a recognition that, perhaps, more efforts can and should be made to ensure that those programs are well communicated to the public, to our staff, and to all Members of the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. As I mentioned in my statement, women found the campaign schools helpful in preparing them to run and win in the last territorial election. My question for the Minister is whether she is a supporter of the campaign schools for women? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, I am in support of offering the training for the women across the Northwest Territories. Empowering and encouraging women to participate fully in public office is essential to ensuring that government reflects the societies they represent. The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes that women face many challenges when considering to run for office. Our government remains committed to ensuring that women's voices are heard at all levels. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. My next question for the Minister is: when will the campaign schools resume, and who will be offering them?
A facilities workshop is scheduled to be held here in Yellowknife March 10th and 11th. The purpose of this workshop is to teach women from across the Northwest Territories how to teach the Campaign School for Women. By increasing the number of trained facilitators who can provide this training, more workshops can be delivered and the content can focus on more specific regional community concerns. A call for expression was advertised, inviting potential facilitators to submit their names to take part in the facilitators' workshop. Up to 15 regional community participants will be selected. Once this workshop is complete, the Women's Advisory Office will work with the trained facilitators to schedule workshops to be held in all the regions in this calendar year.
Lots of good news in that answer. My understanding is that there will be wide-spread campaign schools and they will be offered by local people. One of the things that I was told, and the Premier was told when we were offering campaign schools, is that it was useful to have people who were in elected office be part of the teaching group so that there was the "see it, be it" dynamic there, that people could meet actual politicians doing the job. Is there any provision for this kind of "see it, be it" dynamic to continue in the campaign schools?
Yes. We have the special advisor of the Women's Advisory Office, and we will work with the communities that are interested in hosting workshops.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize that the special advisor for the Status of Women does some great work in the Northwest Territories, but I was thinking about ways in which to involve women who are currently in leadership and political life in the workshops. Is it possible to find a way to involve these women in the campaign schools? Thank you.
Absolutely; that is the intent. I also would like to add that the Women's Advisory Office will be scheduling workshops in the communities where campaign school workshops have not been held. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are related to the Income Security Program and the shortfalls of client banking in the small communities. I believe that it is the Income Security workers who advise clients to open bank accounts. The onus is now on clients to produce bank statements. Can the Minister advise if the Income Security employees are advising clients to open bank accounts? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that it is advisable to have a bank account. It is easier to keep track of your money; direct deposits can make their way into that bank account sooner. There is also the option to cut a cheque at the Income Assistance office, so it is not an absolute necessity to have a bank account. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
From what I understand and what I have been approached by, they are required to have a bank account because part of the process to get Income Security is the Income Security employee needs the bank statement. That is what I understand of that program, and that is what is stressing out many of the clients, especially the ones who aren't working. There are some of the seniors who are involved in that, too, and they are not meeting their obligations to pay their rent. That is why I asked that, because I understand that they are being sent away from the Income Security office to go get someone else to help them print those bank statements. That would be my next question to the Minister, is if their employees are required, if they are opening the bank accounts, to assist with inquiring and printing bank statements for the clients.
There have been some staffing issues in Fort Providence, and there hasn't been someone there, permanently, every single day for quite a while. I am happy to announce that, on January 27th, that position was permanently staffed. A lot of those issues that the residents have been facing are going to be cleared up. This person has previous experience as a client service officer, so the client service officer can help clients access their banking information. There is office equipment, phones, faxes, and computers at the office that they can use. There should be no reason that they are being sent away.
That being said, the Member has brought these concerns to me, and so I am going to dig deeper. I can look into this and get back to the Member with more specifics.
It seems like, with the Income Security Program, there is always one problem after another. Since the inception of the program, there are changes here, changes there. The headquarters office doesn't know what the regional or the small community offices are doing. I would really recommend that they have an overall review of the program to make sure we have all our Ts crossed and our Is dotted so that the program is uniform and runs smoothly, as is happening with all the other programs. That is just a comment.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Would the Minister like to respond?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we have done with Income Security is take a continuous improvement approach. I was a Regular Member for four years, and I am still an MLA. I do get concerns from constituents about Income Assistance, but the vast majority of times, things go off without a hitch; there aren't problems. There are going to be hiccups in any system like this, but we are committed to continuously looking at each case, learning from it, and improving our system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Deh Cho. Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Justice. Has the GNWT ever laid a charge under its Residential Tenancies Act?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, in fact, we have once -- once -- to my knowledge laid a charge, back in 2001.
That one charge, I believe, points to the larger systemic issue that it is not worth pursuing a prosecution under our Residential Tenancies Act, as presently the maximum fine available to a corporation is $25,000. I talked about Northview earlier today; $25,000 is not even a rounding error on a multi-million-dollar corporation. My question for the Minister of Justice is: is the $25,000 fine for corporations under our Residential Tenancies Act consistent with best practices?
The maximum fine of $25,000 is actually among the highest in all of the country. To my knowledge, there are only two provinces or territories that have significantly higher fines, and a third, namely Quebec, that has a fine set at $29,000. We are in line with what is happening in other jurisdictions.
One of the issues with fines is that, in a residential tenancies dispute between a landlord and a tenant, the fine then goes to the GNWT, which doesn't necessarily resolve the issue. Under more recent legislation in the Northwest Territories, we have provided territorial judges with a suite of remedial powers, such as orders that would allow some of that money to then go to the tenant in the dispute. Is it best practice to provide our territorial judges with remedial powers under the Residential Tenancies Act?
The powers under the Residential Tenancies Act were recently transferred from being restricted to the Territorial Court to Supreme Court, which certainly did increase the suite of options available to judges and improve the options in terms of their enforceability. The Residential Tenancies Act is aimed at essentially settling disputes between individuals who have civil disputes. Certainly, the suggestion that there should be powers more akin to criminal law powers is not going to be appropriate or even possible within the jurisdiction of the act. To that extent, in my view, it is already doing what it can to provide options for tenants to take action and to enforce their orders and to do so within the powers that are available within our court services.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe we have found ourselves in a situation where, in only ever laying one charge, even if it is aligned with other jurisdictions, the North does not have any tools to address such systemic abuses. My question is on a larger scale. Does the Department of Justice regularly review the various offences and penalties sections across NWT legislation to assure they are consistent with what other jurisdictions are doing and best practices? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There is not a set program in place to review every single set of regulatory enforcement penalties that are available under every single piece of legislation. That certainly is something that is done when individual items of legislation or regulations are up for review, which is indeed when the Residential Tenancies Act itself sought itself to receive an update in terms of the fine provisions that are included therein. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the Minister of Finance has brought up the Indigenous Career Gateway Program, I just have a couple of questions. Can the Minister provide us with the number of people they have hired through this program per year since this program was started? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a fairly new program. I believe that is the first year, and, if I am wrong, I will commit to correcting that. In 2018-2019, in that fiscal year, there were 12 department applications, and in 2019-2020, there were seven. In total at the moment, there are 19 positions that are going through that Indigenous Career Gateway Program. Thank you.
Can the Minister tell me where these positions were located?
In 2018-2019, there were seven in Yellowknife, one in Fort Smith, one in Behchoko, and three in Inuvik. For 2019-2020, there were an additional two to Yellowknife, three to Inuvik, one to Behchoko, and one to Hay River.
Was the money that was allocated for these positions utilized annually?
It is part of an annual budgeting process where there are $40,000 in total available through the Department of Finance to departments that they seek to avail themselves of the program, to a maximum of 15 positions per year.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
