There is no shortage of resources put together often by the GNWT. The challenge that I acknowledge exists is that there are so many different resources put together by different agencies in different departments of the GNWT. Yes, again, I am prepared to commit that we do a better job of organizing them. I don't know what that package might look like or what the source will be, but I hear the Member's point, and, again, that is not an unreasonable request.
Would the Minister be willing to commit to identifying, with her colleagues, a lead department for domestic violence before the end of this sitting?
There is an interdepartmental working group that's not really, I realize, the most accessible place for Members of the Assembly or members of the public to access Cabinet on a specific issue. I'm just concerned with the idea that it's going to happen within the life of the current sitting. That's only another month away. I'm happy to make that a target, but I'm hesitant to go so far as to make it a commitment. When I make a commitment, as I think I've said before, I take that fairly seriously. I'll make it a target. At the very least, I will report back on what progress is made in terms of achieving the goal within the life of the Assembly.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I definitely appreciate that. Over the course of gathering information from multiple different departments, it took my CA and I about a month to put together all of the information and the resources that the Minister referred to that are available through the government, and that's not very useful or realistic for someone who is suffering from domestic violence. My next and final question for the Minister is: is there a plan for this Assembly to create a domestic violence action plan? Thank you.
That's not a new request, and I certainly want to begin by acknowledging my own awareness of the depth of the problem and the challenge. I've spoken to it at the Ministers' meetings that I've attended already thus far. I do know that the federal government has a strategy and they're in the midst of developing an action plan, and I expect that it would be prudent for us to at least see what progress there is made at a federal level to ensure that, if there is funding associated with whatever might be happening at that level, we can ensure that the identified departmental lead can then try to access that funding. There are still a few pieces moving at the moment. I need to see how they play out. Some of those will be put into motion, I believe, over the next month with respect to, first, working within our own departments, and second, knowing what the direction of the federal budget might be. Those two things might help us give direction as to how much we can achieve in terms of putting together an action plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, I gave my Member's statement for women in trades. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: how many apprentices, in total, do we have in the Northwest Territories, and how many of them are women?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are 320 registered apprentices in the Northwest Territories. Of that 320, 15 are women. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Fifteen out of 320, I believe, is a statistic that shows that we're really not tapping into a huge section of our labour pool; that is, women who are willing to enter the trades. Is the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment willing to create a women in trades program?
As part of the apprenticeship or ATOC strategy, we've already committed to that, and we're working on that. We hope to launch the program later this year, and it's going to be similar to the ones in Alberta and Nova Scotia, and it's going to be focused on getting more women in trades. There are other partners in the territory, as well; Skills Canada NWT has launched a program aimed at girls in middle school to help them start getting interested in the trades, as well. There are a lot of people who we could be talking to about this. Five percent of the registered apprentices are women. We're missing 45 percent of the population who could be in that. It's something that we are really trying to work on.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's commitment to develop this program. In reviewing the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupational Certification Strategy, ATOC as he referred to it, there were a number of recommendations regarding that. Has the department taken action on the working group's suggestions, and will the Minister commit to implementing those suggestions coming out of the ATOC strategy?
The Member is correct, there has been a lot of discussion. There are a lot of recommendations, and we're working on it. Not everything has happened, but things are happening, and I can get a more detailed report for the Member and provide updates whenever the Member would like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, monsieur le President. I want to ask some questions of the Minister of Finance, who also has responsibility for human resources. Most Canadian jurisdictions ensure that employees are provided with domestic violence leave, effective January 1, 2020. Our Employment Standards Act provides up to five days of paid family violence leave, another five days of unpaid leave, and maybe even 15 weeks of unpaid leave with proper notice. I supported these changes, but our main collective agreement with UNW only provides for three days of paid domestic violence leave. Is the Minister of aware of this difference in domestic violence leave for GNWT employees and other employees, and what action, if any, is she prepared to take to deal with these less-generous provisions for our employees? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The collective agreement does have a difference in it as compared to what is in the employment standards provisions, but it actually does also say that more than three days of leave can be approved by the employer and that the approval cannot be unreasonably denied. Certainly, we could take the step of at least reminding all of the GNWT that, indeed, one would not want to deny leave in circumstances when there is a case of domestic violence leave. If they have been given the three days and are requesting further, I would expect that, in many, many cases, it would be unreasonable to deny it. While it's worded differently, it's not quite as strict as that, and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to be discouraged, if they need leave, from going and speaking to their responsible supervisor to provide that information. As far as then changing the collective agreement, there will always be further bargaining and further negotiations that take place at new rounds of bargaining. If this is an issue that is seen by the employees, then we will see it at that point and deal with it in due course. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I think she made a commitment that she would actually send out a reminder. Is the Minister prepared to send out a reminder to GNWT supervisors that this provision in the collective agreement is perhaps more permissive than seems to be interpreted?
I wouldn't want the Minister of Justice to get angry with me if I'm now interpreting the collective agreement. That was not my intention, but certainly, simply to just point out again that more than three days of leave with pay will be approved by the employer, and that approval cannot be unreasonably denied. If it's a simple reminder of what the collective agreement says, and if that's not being applied, firstly, I would ask Members to bring that to my attention if it's not being applied, and there is no harm in reminding our own staff and our own supervisors what is in the agreement, so I am happy to certainly do that.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I think that was a yes, again, that she will send out a reminder to GNWT supervisors about that. That's great. I am wondering if the Minister could commit to using the domestic leave provisions in the Employment Standards Act as a baseline when it comes to renegotiating the collective agreements. I am sure UNW would support more generous provisions. As I understand it, that's what they had pushed for at the bargaining table but couldn't achieve it. Again, will the Minister use the Employment Standards Act as the baseline moving forward in the negotiations of new collective agreements?
Coming up with a bargaining mandate is a more complicated matter than one I am going to begin to commit to here on the floor, but I am confident that all of my Cabinet colleagues are hearing this exchange. Sometimes that's exactly the benefit of being in this House, so that we can all hear those exchanges and hear the issues that are raised.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Look, this is an issue of fairness. Are we going to treat our employees the same way that all other employees in the Northwest Territories are treated? I think that's a very simple question, here. I am looking for a commitment from the Minister that she is going to work with our unions to make sure that the domestic violence leave provisions are the same for all employees in the Northwest Territories. Is that a commitment she is prepared to make? Masi, Mr. Speaker.
I don't disagree that this is an issue of great importance, and I, of course, want to ensure that all of the employees of the GNWT are treated not only fairly, but in the best possible way. I am simply not going to make a commitment about a bargaining mandate. I am not going to make a commitment on the floor, other than to say, as I have before, that I do make a commitment to improving and continuing the relationship that we have with our unions. It's an important and critical relationship and, if this is an issue that comes up in the course of those conversations, I would look forward to having that conversation directly with them at that time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to continue my conversation with the Minister of Justice in regard to domestic violence. I apologize; I hope I am not putting too much pressure on her. My first question is just in regard to the resource that I requested earlier. I am just wondering if, while we are waiting for Cabinet to choose a lead department, the Department of Justice would be prepared to take on creating those resources for victims of domestic violence? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Departments of Justice and Finance will be so excited today. As I have said, I already have committed to ensuring that I will report back to this House as to the best place in which we are going to house the issue of domestic violence and solving domestic violence, and when I make that report, I will report back on where and who will be working to bring the resources together.
There are times where having a specific and defined resource is to the benefit of someone with a specific, defined issue; there may be other times where an individual wants to get all of the resources without having to go and put them all together, as the Member has very well defined and described today the challenges of that. What I will simply say is that I will take it upon myself to be the one who reports back here and explains how we are going to do that, likely by going back first to the interdepartmental working group that already exists. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Not the answer I was looking for, but I will live with it for now and hopefully won't end up putting it together on my own. My second question is in regard to the Canada-wide action plan. I am wondering how long we are prepared to wait for information from Canada to come. Do we have a threshold of when we are going to decide to go out and create our own action plan, or will we be patient and wait for the Canada-wide one? I am wondering if Cabinet has decided as a group that we are going to wait until the end of this year and then move forward with our own plan, just so that we know, on this side of the room, what our expectations for timelines should be.
While I have spoken here many times about the value that I place on partnerships with the federal government, I will also say very plainly that I do not think we always need to wait for others to do work that is relevant to our own residents. I can't give a defined date, but I am happy to also point out, as I had missed earlier, that the interdepartmental working group that I have mentioned has actually commissioned research through the Aurora Research Institute about best practices to address domestic violence and intimate partner violence here in the Northwest Territories. What I would like to do and suggest is that I will wait until we have that back, see what that recommends, and at that point, we can move forward and determine whether that will be the foundation for an action plan or not.
I am wondering what the expected deadline is on that plan from that institute and if we will be able to see it on this side of the House as soon as Justice receives it.
I have seen that date, but I don't remember if offhand, to be very honest. I will find out. I will get back to the Member. Certainly, to this point, it has been my practice to try to get all of these types of reports and evaluations over to the other Members as quickly as possible. Not quite a commitment, but that has at least been my intent and my working practice thus far. Unless there's something about this report that I am unaware of, being that it was commissioned by an outside entity, that would otherwise be my expectation.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I previously asked questions to the Minister of Infrastructure about extending the hours of the department of motor vehicles in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that this is a small issue, but it is my intention to go through each of my campaign platform points and try my best, and if I can't have an office buy a couple of hours, then I wonder what I am doing here. The Minister responsible for the Department of Infrastructure last said that one of the barriers to implementing this was cost. I would like to know what the cost would be in adding an additional day to the department of motor vehicles' operating hours.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the entire cost of adding one extra day, versus moving days around, I don't have that number in front of me. However, it would be the staffing for at least one employee there for the hours. Then, there would be security needed, if that was on a weekend; so that's $22 per hour for security. There would also be issues with the HVAC systems. Buildings are turned off, generally, over weekends and in the evenings, so that would also be an additional cost to building maintenance that we would have to deal with. I am not sure if we would have to look at things like different types of pay rates for people working outside the regular 9:00 to 5:00 business hours, but I believe those would all be things that would add to the cost. If the Member would like, I could find out what one day of operating costs at the DMV are and supply that to him. Thank you.
One of the problems in this House is that it is not my job, and it's not the Minister's job, to get into the operations of departments and be talking about HVAC systems, but consistently, when I ask for something that seems like common sense to me, that the department of motor vehicles should be open outside of government hours, I end up talking about HVAC systems, so I would look forward to the Minister providing that information. Would the Minister be willing to also provide information on whether it would cost us money to have the department of motor vehicles be closed on Monday, but then open Saturday, which would allow us to have some hours which are not government hours?
Yes, I can provide the costs of what that would be. Again, I would have to get that information off of the department. I don't think it is as easy as just shutting down for Monday and opening up on Saturday, because there are, like I said, other ramifications to deal with having people in the building on a weekend when the rest of the building is not occupied. That includes, at this moment, the response team within the building, which does involve using staff that is in the building already who would, then, not be there on a weekend. Again, I will commit to the Member. We can give him a costing to change those hours, but I do believe it would be with a cost.
I hope, by end of three years of pestering the Minister about this, I can get a couple of extra hours. At some point, if the democratically elected people of the NWT can't get a couple of hours of time to renew their driver's licence, then I don't believe we are having the right conversations. My question for the Minister of Infrastructure is simple. I don't want to continue having conversations about the operating costs and the operations of a building. Will the Minister direct her department to open the department of motor vehicles in Yellowknife for some portion of time, either evenings or weekends?
No, I won't make that direction at this time, because, while the Regular Member does not maybe have to worry about the cost, I do. Therefore, I will look at the costs; if it does make sense, I will do what I can for this to be a win for the Member with his constituents. However, I do need to factor in the costs of the budgets of my department.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. Will the Minister look at working on policies, if a person wants out of a lease who is suffering from family violence, such as verbal abuse? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
