Mahsi, Madam Speaker. The geography of the Northwest Territories is made up of the different representative land areas of First Nation, Metis, and Inuvialuit groups. This demographic representation should dictate how the Northwest Territories is governed, and for that matter, the workforce should be representative of the people the public service serves. My question to the Minister of Finance is: what commitment can the GNWT make to increase representation of the majority demographic of the Northwest Territories into the public service and, most notably, into senior management? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. There are quite a number of programs already in existence that are meant to support and encourage applicants to the public service and growth within the public service. One of the newer things that is being rolled out imminently is a framework that will address exactly the question of the Member, which is to create some targets department by department, including into the management ranks. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mahsi to the Minister for her answer. I just want to say this with no prejudice or disrespect to my Yellowknife colleagues: what is noted is that the majority of the public service jobs are in Yellowknife, and the many new positions that are being created are being located in Yellowknife. Can the Minister explain why this arrangement continues with no regard for the outlying communities?
One of the other commitments of the 19th Legislative Assembly, of course, is to increase employment in regional centres. That is a commitment of the 19th Assembly and of this government and is certainly one that the Department of Finance also plays a role in. There are ongoing efforts to ensure that, when new positions are being created, efforts are made to consider whether they have to, in fact, be centralized in the capital, which sometimes is the case, depending on the nature of the work, depending on the nature of the role to be played. If it is not the case, then it need not be centred here. For instance, recently, ISSS had some positions created within the last year, and they were all located in Fort Smith because it was recognized that they did not have to be located in the capital. Those efforts are ongoing.
Mahsi to the Minister for that. I didn't hear of any positions going to the small communities. I recall a program in the GNWT that is to promote residents, or I believe only current employees, with an option to move up in the ranks. The program is the associate director program, where an employee can job shadow an existing director for two years to eventually take over as director. I believe it's in the event the director is planning on leaving the GNWT workforce. The program had real ambition as a succession planning success story. Can the Minister review the number of directors' positions in the GNWT and how many are actually First Nations?
I certainly do have those numbers and can provide those numbers to the House and to the Member. I don't have them at my fingertips, as I wasn't expecting to be called on to give those numbers here, but I would be more than happy to provide that. I just would note that, certainly, succession planning has been and remains a challenge for many organizations, and the government is no different. I certainly appreciate bringing some attention to the need to continue our succession planning here in the GNWT.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Madam Speaker. I know first-hand, working for the GNWT for over 11 years, that this program was in place. As an employee of the GNWT, I had a problem even gaining access to this program. Nobody wanted to recognize it. There may be many succession planning documents out there. The last one, I think, was the 2020 A Brighter Future, which probably expired this year, and no actions have ever been taken for any planning documents. Where I was getting just lip service -- and I'm telling you first-hand that I had problems even trying to move up within the GNWT. I wonder if the Minister can commit to reviewing the associate director program and ensure that these will be filled by First Nations residents of the Northwest Territories? Mahsi.
I will certainly commit to reviewing the succession planning that is under way within the GNWT. As I have indicated at the beginning of the Member's questions, the direction right now is to develop the Indigenous framework, have that go department by department, and create some targets that will then be applicable to each department. Within that, of course, it includes the need for succession planning, the need for those targets to include management, so I will make the commitment that we are going to look at those targets. I want to provide some flexibility that we aren't necessarily doing that with a succession planning program that may no longer, as the Member has pointed out, be the one that is at the forefront. Yes, again, the commitment is to make sure that we're putting the right targets in and that the targets include senior management. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
