Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm glad to hear the Minister acknowledge the disconnect. I'm always hesitant when I hear about investigations or analysis done by a department on its own department. Maybe more of a comment, but it would be nice to having the Minister commit to having independent third parties look at the GNWT's policies. I don't believe that they are being followed and would like to see these change. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I'm not really sure what else to say. When those matters come to my desk, we take them back, we follow it carefully, and I don't just accept the responses that come back from the department. We make enquiries, and those responses are that, when they are being told that something is being followed, I do believe that people are not lying to me from the public service and that they are, in fact, saying the truth when they say that they followed a policy. That doesn't mean that we don't have things to fix. Madam Speaker, again, there are a lot of things being done right now. Staffing appeals, as I said earlier, are themselves done independently. The framework process that's being developed is department by department, and there are going to be targets for those in positions of authority and power within and throughout the department, so they are meeting those targets along the way.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Prior to creation of the Affirmative Action Policy, the deficit of Indigenous Aboriginal hires within the public sector has been and continues to be a problem for this government. Madam Speaker, will the Minister of Finance confirm the percentage of Indigenous Aboriginal men and women currently employed within the GNWT public sector and are we moving in a forward direction? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have the numbers for 2020 as of March 31, 2020, in front of me, Affirmative Action statistics. That is, Indigenous Aboriginal females make up just under 21 percent of the workforce. Indigenous Aboriginal males, just shy of nine percent of the workforce. As far as change over time, Madam Speaker, I will look at those numbers and provide them. I do have them here, just not right in front of me right now. I don't think there has been significant change over time from my recollection of the numbers, Madam Speaker.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Will the Minister of Finance confirm the model used by this government to recruit and interview potential Indigenous Aboriginal candidates for positions within the GNWT?
I'll start even before the interview process takes place. What people may not realize is that there is actually quite a lot of information available on the GNWT's HR website about how to participate in an interview, how to prepare, how to submit a resume. There is also the opportunity for people to contact someone at human resources to assist them with the preparation of their materials before they apply and also to help them prepare for an interview. I think that's probably an underutilized and perhaps not even well-known opportunity that is available.
As far as once someone is in the actual interview itself, the Department of Finance human resources does use what is called behavioural-based interviews. The idea being that people are encouraged to tell stories and to speak about personal experiences rather than being asked more of the sort of answering questions in a more formulaic way or a more formalized way. Part of the idea there is that it is supposed to be an opportunity to create a better type of communication and dialogue for people in an interview.
Will the Minister of Finance confirm that Indigenous Aboriginal culture is incorporated into the recruitment and interview process?
I think I probably just answered that in my last description, but I may have misheard, I didn't have my earpiece in there. That's exactly the idea is to try to create opportunities for anyone that's applying and anyone that's within the application process and the interview process to be able to speak and communicate in a way other than just the traditional asking of a question and having to provide a correct or specific answer but instead be able to tell stories. Part of the reason there has been a change in the Indigenous cultural awareness training and sensitivity program is so that all members of the public service are themselves aware that there are different ways of communicating, aware that there are different backgrounds, aware that there are language differences, and that when they are engaging with someone and trying to recruit someone that they bring that awareness with them, that they become culturally aware, and that they are better placed to actually have engagements that are more meaningful and more respectful.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Minister of Finance confirm that all interviews conducted by the GNWT have Indigenous Aboriginal team members or at the minimum, are the team members provided training with respect to Indigenous Aboriginal culture to remove any bias and provide fairness? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I was just hoping to pull up the numbers for human resources in terms of number of Indigenous Aboriginal persons that are in human resources. I think their numbers actually are relatively good. Notwithstanding, I cannot say that every single hiring team has an Indigenous person on that team, but I am happy to say that, with the introduction of the cultural awareness and sensitivity training program that's coming out in the next few months, that that is going to be mandatory for all GNWT employees and that, once that is in place and once staff continue to go through it, it is certainly our hope that that is going to have a culture change and that it's going to change the way that people are interacting one with another in terms of our knowledge and our awareness and our sensitivity. I am happy to be able to at least confirm that that is on the horizon, and we are hopeful that it will be a program that will be really a leader in Canada. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I appreciate my colleagues' comments today and the Minister. I am confident that we will create targets in our departments and review the Affirmative Action Policy and make some progress on this. I think you have to recognize that this is a systemic problem that has multiple solutions and there are multiple tools. One of those which I believe we can use is the tool of secondments. In 2015, the Minister for human resources announced secondments to Indigenous governments and really brought this up as a win-win situation, and it allowed us to send GNWT employees into our communities to get them out of Yellowknife, to build capacity in those Indigenous governments, and hopefully, ultimately, devolve some of those powers. My question for the Minister of Finance is: how many GNWT employees are presently seconded to Indigenous governments?
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
[Micropnone turned off] …right now with Indigenous governments. Thank you.
Minister of Finance, can you repeat that? You didn't have the microphone.
I'm sorry. Eight, Madam Speaker.
I do view this as a tool that ultimately allows many of our public servants, the majority of which are in Yellowknife, to get into our communities to work with Indigenous governments. I believe partnerships could work the other way, where we bring Indigenous governments, employees into the public service. I think we in this House agree that self-government is the future, but we also need to build that agreement and understanding within both bureaucracies. My question for the Minister of Finance is: is she willing to put together something and reach out to our Indigenous governments and make sure they are aware and are willing to partnership on this tool we have?
That's an easy yes. I'm more than happy to continue that kind of engagement, and I say "continue" because there is already the building capacity in Indigenous governments program. It is an effort to do precisely what the Member is getting at, to support secondment arrangements with Indigenous governments across regions. There will be funding from the Department of Finance for up to 10 placements a year and then up to $40,000 placement. It is certainly my hope that that will be a successful program to encourage the exchange of knowledge, the exchange of experience, and the increasing of capacity across both governments.
Yes. I'm glad to hear that. I think part of my reason for talking about this is just so that everyone in the public service listening, knows that they can go to their management and asked to be placed in an Indigenous government for a period of time, that they can go into the communities and get first-hand experience because, as much as I think cultural awareness training is a step in the right direction, there's really nothing that replaces going to work for an Indigenous government and seeing their struggles. Is the Minister willing, as part of our whole public service renewal and a number of initiatives that we are doing, to set targets for secondments?
I'm inclined to say "yes," but I want to be cautious. That also requires ensuring that the Indigenous governments are prepared and interested and willing to be receiving, hopefully, all these many, many employees who want to go and participate in this program. What I will say is that I, certainly, want to see that the 10 placements that are available get filled. In and of itself, there's a target there, and I'll certainly commit to keeping that 10 placements as a target.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
No further questions, Madam Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Speaker. The Minister of Finance talked about HR cultural awareness training program. I certainly hope it's not a video training program. The Minister in her department has to engage an elder in the community. I just want to make that clear.
[Translation] Madam Speaker, I'd like to talk about how, in terms of hiring, our people are held back within the government. When the GNWT hires, especially the men, they are at the bottom, the bottom of the list. The Minister of Finance, I have a question for you. It's under the Minister of Finance. People are being hired under the Minister of Finance. [Translation ends]
The Minister of Finance, who is also responsible for HR, what special initiatives is the Minister of Finance targeting this group of young male employment within GNWT, the number is so low; young Indigenous males, specifically, to increase their success in a work environment? Masi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are not specifically targeting men with this program. The intention at this point is to target Indigenous Aboriginal Northerners with respect to the framework, and that would include everything from ensuring that we look at the recruitment front end of it. If there's more Indigenous Northerners applying, I suppose if there are more Indigenous male Northerners applying, then that is more opportunity to have them hired. Once they are hired, if they are again able to participate in lots of the different programs that are currently available, whether it's management, training, whether it's the secondment opportunities, if they're able to participate in those programs, then they're moving up in the programs. If every department has targets within their departments, then each one can be held accountable to ensure that those things are happening. All of that is part of the framework that starts from even before someone is hired right up to the point of succession to senior management. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I am glad the Minister brought up the target. I think it's very important to have each department have targets. When I talk about Indigenous male, eight, nine percent within GNWT. That is very low considering that 50 percent population of Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories, only 30 percent of our workforce is Aboriginal. Out of that, only eight to nine percent male. It is disappointing to see those stats. It's been there a long time now. I talk about decades. I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance if there could be established targets within each department to specifically hire those individuals within the Indigenous hiring; more specifically when I touch on male because we need to increase that number, as well.
Yes. The Indigenous framework that we are developing for the recruitment and retention framework is meant to have targets, department by department. That's really the answer to the question, Madam Speaker. It will have hiring targets. I have not been given any sense that men over women is going to be part of the targeting, but Indigenous affirmative action candidates will be part of those targets.
I'm glad the Minister is committed to providing those targets within each department. It's very important that we increase our Indigenous workforce within GNWT. Enough of talking about the 30 percent over the last 20, 30 years. Just put that into action. Within the life of this Assembly, I would love to see an increase in Aboriginal representation from 30 to 40, 50 percent, whatever the case is. I'm glad the Minister's committing to that. Our sister territory of Nunavut understands the problem of under representation of Indigenous male workforce, especially in the public service. That government had embarked on an aggressive strategy to empower young Inuit males to help them succeed in aspiration of a work environment. Is the Minister aware of those Nunavut government initiatives? Has she been paying attention to Nunavut approach to this issue, the challenge that we're faced with?
One of the first parts of the Indigenous recruitment retention framework action that's happening is, indeed, to conduct a jurisdictional scan to ensure that we are utilizing best practices from all jurisdictions, and Nunavut is certainly a core example, as is the Yukon. Both territories will be part of that, and we will indeed be incorporating best practices from those jurisdictions.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Speaker. I'm glad that the Minister will be taking those best practices into consideration. My question is: when can we see those adaptations into our current policy within the department or departments in the GNWT? Madam Speaker, masi.
The work is already under way, and it is my expectation that both the framework and implementation plans for departments will be completed within the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest were pleased with the new regulations on school admissions, though a few issues remain outstanding. First, can the Minister tell us why GNWT persists in its appeals of the two court decisions on refused admissions under the former ministerial directive? Why don't we just drop the cases? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have made public comments on this, so it's on the record. I have had frank conversations with the chair of the CSFTNO, and so we are both aware of each other's positions. I can have a frank conversation with the Member. However, as you know, Madam Speaker, Rule 24(g) prohibits the discussion of matters that are before the courts, and I don't want to offend the rules of this Assembly. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I am always up for a frank conversation with my friend across the Chamber. There is a proposal to renovate the current Garderie Plein Soleil daycare at a cost of approximately $1.2 million. When the first request was made, funds were available from Heritage Canada if GNWT matched the funds, but the project has been rejected twice by our government, even after Heritage Canada increased its potential funding. Can the Minister explain why the project has been rejected twice, even after Heritage Canada funding was increased?
The department worked closely with the proponent on the proposal to the federal government, but in the end, the cost was just too much for the GNWT. We have an Early Learning and Childcare Infrastructure Fund that is $500,000 a year for the entire territory, and our cost for this project would have been greater than that for the creation of six spaces. It couldn't be justified under our fiscal reality.
The reason why I'm raising this, of course, is the French daycare Galerie Plein Soleil is actually located in one of our schools, something that I think we're trying to aim for in ensuring that we make good use of our school spaces, as well, and collocate daycares. As I understand it, there was to be a dramatic improvement in the use of space in the current daycare. That would add six spaces, and then a second phase would add additional spaces. Of course, increasing daycare spaces is a priority of the 19th Assembly, and so I think we're missing out on this cost-shared opportunity. When will the Minister accept this proposal that will allow Galerie Plein Soleil to respond to the huge demand for daycare spaces for francophone children in Yellowknife?
It's not a matter of accepting the proposal. The proposal has been looked at, and as I stated, it was over half-a-million dollars for six spaces. It sounds like there was a second phase, which I'm guessing would have been more. There were additional improvements to the space. I understand that, but the fact is that we have limited resources. We have a lot of needs all over the territory, and there are competing priorities. I wish I could fund all the spaces and especially French-first-language spaces. I know that there is a limited number of those in the territory, but the numbers didn't add up in this instance. It's a shame, but we're still willing to work closely with the proponent and see what we can do in the future.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplemental. Member for Frame Lake.
