Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I recognize that the pandemic has been incredibly stressful for almost everyone. It has produced a lot of anxiety, depression, loneliness, especially for people who live on their own like elders. And we have provided services throughout. The demand for services is uneven. At this point, we are able to keep up with the demand for services, and so I feel confident that we're not facing anything that we can't deal with. Thank you.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Finance Minister presented budget 20222023 in which she stated that making "flashy announcements" and hoping new money would solve longstanding problems, and it goes on to state that the goal is to influence the path for the next five to ten years. And that's where it's concerning and it actually got me off my seat. Because there's a real issue that we see that's not being addressed is what I don't see in bold in funding is towards the Indigenous recruitment and training and retention. This is important as the Minister stating that this path is already being set for five to ten years, and we're not really addressing this. This has been an ongoing problem. Can the Minister address this longstanding issue? Mahsi.
Thank you. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I am more than happy to address this. We've done, actually in some ways, actually, this is exactly the kind of thing I was speaking to. We do want to be influencing where we are in five to ten years, and that does mean we need to be taking action today for Indigenous recruitment and retention. That is why we've moved forward on the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. That was released earlier or I guess a few months ago now, and we've had an opportunity to speak to committee about that and have public review of that alongside committee, and I was grateful for the feedback that we got at that opportunity.
We're also continuing to put forward a GNWT human resources plan so that this is, you know, really that the approach that we're taking to Indigenous recruitment and retention is one that is built into that plan and built into everything we do in the Department of Finance and with our human resources. So, you know, we already are doing a lot in this space, and it is exactly my hope that that's the kind of thing where we have that work, we are doing that work. We need to get word out about that work. We need all the departments to be working together towards that goal, because in five to ten years, you know and frankly, even before that, it would be pretty amazing to be one of the top employers in Canada for inclusion and diversity. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mahsi, Madam Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. Since the start of the 19th Assembly, many of us on this side of the floor have made the issue of Indigenous hiring and a review for the Affirmative Action Policy. I think the policy's goal was 50 or 51 percent. We're at 30 something percent and I think it dropped down to 29. So we're not even meeting our targets, and this government's been here for this is the 19th Assembly. You know, we're not putting our mouth where, you know, we should be putting the action.
I'm not seeing it in any of the projects that, you know, this issue is highlighted and budgeted for, and that's a concern. You know, we've always spoken about the geography of the Northwest Territories as the makeup is predominantly Indigenous and Inuvialuit and Metis. And we're always fighting that losing battle. We're always battling, battling the governments here. The government is fighting back with our people forever. And that's a big concern to us as Indigenous people and Indigenous leaders.
I highlighted the fact that I was an employee and had been interested in a program to advance myself, the associate director program. I no longer see it anywhere in the government website. So it's been wiped out. That would have gave me an initiative, a chance to work with an existing director job shadowing, you know, and the director was leaving. I never got nothing. I never got nowhere. My managers, you know, dismissed me. So I've experienced that. And that's the type of training we want to see back on the books is job shadowing onthejob training. It gives us a chance at these positions. We don't need, you know, highly, you know, the high degrees to be able to figure out what's just common sense within the workplace. And we need this government to start listening to us as Indigenous people.
I'd like to hear the views of the Minister on that, and I won't have any further questions, Madam Speaker. Mahsi.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I can't speak to the Member's personal or specific circumstances but there's a continual renewal of the kinds of programs and policies that are available. The Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework brings it under one umbrella and puts targets on departments and puts an onus on senior management as part of their performance plans that they have to deliver on this. So we're taking those things seriously because it doesn't need dollars; it needs people to buy in and to understand the importance. These people to actually at the leadership level and at this level, amongst Ministers and among deputies, to be in a position to say that this is something that we as a government value, that this is something that we are going to advance. And that's not about the dollars; that's about getting it done. Every department has staffing dollars. Every department already has compensation and benefits associated to it. When we spend those dollars on our compensation and benefits for public servants, we want every public servant to feel included, every public servant to be reflected, and to know that they have a future in the Government of the Northwest Territories. So while the programs might change their names, we do have still the Indigenous career gateway program. This is an opportunity to connect young people into the public service. We have the regional recruitment program similarly to identify openings that are recurring and to find folks in their communities who can fill those positions. And if they do, there's the building capacity within there's sorry, the Indigenous management and development training program to help folks who need a bit of a step up to make their career.
And one of the newer ones, Madam Speaker, that I think's really exciting, building capacity with Indigenous governments program. This is an opportunity to have secondments between Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, and the Government of the Northwest Territories so that we are truly all reflective of one another, that we better understand one another. So I'm glad that we keep raising the issue. I don't want to not have the chance to talk about this as I have been for the last couple of years because there is a lot happening, and we're at a really critical point. The framework is in place now. Those measurements are in place now. And we do need to be paying attention to seeing as they come to fruition. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about my desire to have paid sick leave in the Northwest Territories. So my question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is in the life of this government, will we bring forward legislation to introduce paid sick leave in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't know, maybe. The Member raises some very valid points, and sometimes I joke that he's just trying to chip away at the workweek with the more holidays and paid sick leave but the fact is this pandemic has shown us that when you're sick, we want you to stay home. But not everyone can afford that. So we are reviewing the Employment Standards Act in the upcoming fiscal year which starts not that long from now, and we are going to be going out and speaking with employers and asking them these questions, how they feel about it, and then speaking with the public as well. And the Member mentioned that in BC it's been shown to be a positive for employers. And so I want to say that nothing is stopping employers from implementing paid sick leave in their own businesses right now. So I want to thank the Member for raising that and maybe putting this on the minds of employers before we look at the legislation. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, and I thank the Minister for stating that. I've actually had a number of businesses reach out to me during the pandemic who have introduced paid sick leave. So I suspect the number of people who are actually left in the territory without paid sick days is steadily decreasing, and I would like to thank all businesses who have taken that step.
I'm actually wondering, though, if the department has any of those statistics of who in the NWT labour force or how many workers are presently without any form of paid sick leave? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
No, we don't have those numbers. When employers implement things like this, they're not required to inform employment standards. However, under the Employment Standards Act, I believe there's around between 15,000 and 19,000 employees in the territory who fall under that act, and I would imagine for the most part they don't have paid sick leave. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. I think it's important that we use the data that we have and that we understand the data we have and that we can use it to make change.
My questions for the Minister of Finance today are in regards to how the COVID19 is impacting public servants in the territory. Does the Minister know what percentage of GNWT employees are currently on stress leave? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there's not a category of leave that is specific to stress or mental health leave. We do, of course, track and are aware of general sick leave but the specific reasons that someone might be on sick leave is, for I suspect fairly reasonable privacy reasons, that's not something that we are tracking. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. That kind of changes, I guess, some of my questions. And I understand that this is a privacy concern between employees and supervisors. But is there a mechanism for, then, the Department of Finance to be able to blindly sort that information from NWT service providers or through, because I'm assuming that this is getting logged under shortterm disability instead or longterm disability, is there a mechanism from either insurance providers or healthcare providers where this can be blindly provided to the GNWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, that's an interesting question that I'll have to take away. It may well be that the vital statistics is tracking some information or receiving information more broadly about the impacts of mental health on mental health pre and postpandemic. It may be of some assistance or of some interest that interestingly GNWT employees, as I said we are tracking the total numbers and we're actually using less sick days, less leave without pay days than in prior fiscal years. Prepandemic, we were at 9.1 days in the 20182019 but current fiscal right now, coming to the end of it, we're at only an average of six. And I can also say, perhaps I'll provide the Member directly, I do have a list of the number of accesses to some of the various mental health programs that the GNWT runs and the numbers there. So I will provide that separately, and that may well lead to some more discussion. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Yes, thank you very much, Madam Speaker. And no, I thank the Minister for the willingness to have the offline conversation. And I think it'll be interesting as well to see that in the year or, the fiscal year we're going into now, now that public servants are back to their workplaces and we're coming to the potential end of the public health emergency, it'll be interesting to see how that has an impact on sick days going forward, and really if people being able to have the opportunity to work remotely has an impact on sick days that are being logged.
I know that in other workplaces, public health and safety, in addition to occupational health and safety, is something that a lot more employers are talking about. And so I'm wondering if this is a conversation that's currently occurring within the Department of Finance within the responsibility of an employer to monitor, support the psychological health and safety, especially coming out of a pandemic, of their workers and public servants in the territory? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm conscious of time on this one, I have to admit. Yes, I'm struggling with where to start.
So we have quite a number of programs that we do provide to employees, some that were introduced to as additional items in the course of the COVID19 pandemic. I think really, though, Madam Speaker, this is a much bigger issue. I can say that I had inquired with the department and the conversation around morale which is related perhaps in part, though certainly doesn't encompass everything that I know is specific to mental health but about that wellness of employees, the wellness of public servants, the impact of being asked to do more through a pandemic when they were suffering themselves at home and working through conditions that were not normal.
So I know that the Department of Finance is right now taking on the effort to bring that into our human resources plan, looking at some initiatives around new training that can help to better identify that wellness, that psychological wellness in a workplace. There's literally work out right now to try and see what we can bring in in that regard. So short answer is yes, the conversations are occurring, and I am hopeful that I'll be able to report back to this House some more information about what that's going to look for the future of the public service. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Can you put me back on the list for an additional Minister, thank you.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I got a question for the finance minister. I was just reviewing your 20222023 budget, and in the budget it talks about grants from Canada. And I'd like to ask the Minister if she's able to maybe talk about the grants from Canada and perhaps break it down further because I'd like to know how the money's coming in and how is it broken down. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there's different types of grants that we get from the Government of Canada. I mean, it's obviously a pretty excellent question here for budget session and being day 2 of having just received our the budget speech. So I'm trying desperately to find my summary of revenues, Madam Speaker. I have it in front of me now.
So the biggest grant we get from Canada, the territorial formula financing. That is really the backbone of what forms our budget. But there's others in there that I think perhaps don't always get the same attention and may be less well understood.
There is, of course, also the social health transfer. That involves a lot of the social programs over in ECE and health. And there's other health programs. The DIF transfer that also helps support a lot of what happens over at the Department of Health. But, Madam Speaker, then there's also all the infrastructure contributions. So when we get infrastructure contributions, that too comes into the revenues that we are seeing here in the operations budget, and that then goes to help pay some of the infrastructure projects we have on the go. And then there's no doubt many other smaller projects that come in that come in as grants and supports from the federal government.
So that's my two second breakdown, and I'll be happy to talk about that more. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Can the Minister also explain as the grants contribution comes in and it's broken down, normally you would have to do a reporting on those grants or contributions back to the Government of Canada. When that happens and we go ahead and spend the monies here in the Northwest Territories, we also put policies in place when we try and help our people in our communities. So if you could help me understand and explain how you report this back to Canada, and when you get this money from Canada is there policies attached to it when it comes to the Legislative Assembly? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And Madam Speaker, so individual departments, of course, will have the reporting obligations to their counterparts in the federal government. And as we go through the review department by department, starting I think later today, we'll have I would certainly encourage everyone in the House to engage exactly in that dialogue of, you know, what is that we have to report back to the federal government on, what is perhaps the nature of that reporting, and, you know, always open to having the conversation about whether we are providing enough information as is available publicly but also, you know, what is the kind of relationship we have with the federal government as will be reflected in the dollars that come in. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, thank you for that response. I was reviewing the budget for our riding, for the Tu NedheWiilideh riding, and this year our allocation for this year is about 3.4 million.
Madam Speaker, I guess I'm concerned about that number when we really need help in our communities, whether it be internet services, which is really slow in Lutselk'e, dustfree roads in the community of Lutselk'e. That's just to name a few. And then now, you know, I am hearing that we need to improve the winter road and barging season so we can provide essential services into the community of Lutselk'e. So I don't know how consultation's taking place with communities, and how did we arrive with these numbers? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, so the budget, of course, isn't drawn up on a per capita basis. It's not per 33 communities divided up by 33. There are occasions, for example with MACA's budget, where of course Members may want to ask about the specific dollars that go into a community. But for most departments, a lot of what happens is territorywide. So, for example, education or health is delivering services that may be regional. They may be delivering services that are, you know, done in a headquarters. There are services that are done planning communications that are done that benefit all of the territory and can't quite be divided out. You know, even some of the large infrastructure that we put into place, Madam Speaker, there's projects that benefit, you know, multiple regions or, indeed again, when we're talking about significant roadways crossing different ridings and indeed benefitting projects up in the Beaufort Delta help Yellowknife in that it grows the overall economy of the Northwest Territories. So the budget isn't drawn up riding by riding. But that level of detail, I'm very confident will come out over the next couple of weeks to understand what the individual benefits are to each and every community but hopefully to each and every member of the Northwest Territories as residents and as businesses. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Final supplementary, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I guess what I wanted to say is thank you for that response, and I'm probably going to spend the next few days probably to understand the budget that's been put before us here as well. But I want to look forward to work with the Minister of Finance as to how we could look at our budgets for the Tu NedheWiilideh riding, and I want to let her know that we have some big issues there. We want housing's a big issue. Affirmative action's a big issue. Hiring policies is something that's been talked about in our region. So it may be within the next day or two I would like to sit down with you, if we can, and just see what we can do to work together to resolve these issues. Thank you.
Madam Speaker, I don't know that there could be a better set of first questions, certainly not coming to me.
Applause
That's a statement about consensus government. That's how we do government here. We're going to sit down, and that's where the consultations take place, is that we sit down, we talk, we learn from each other, and I am very happy to do that. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Okay, question for the Minister of Health and Social Services, that the department tracks the NWT health profile of its residents to understand public health issues that impact the whole population. The information gather is to provide decisionmakers the information they need to take actions. With that in mind, can the Minister provide an update on action taken in Tlicho region to address the poor health outcome in my region? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member for Monfwi.
The provision of Health and Social Services in the Tlicho region is delivered by the Tlicho Community Services agency. They create their own budget based on their own process, and they submit it to me for approval. I've recently received the budget for the next fiscal year. I haven't yet reviewed it. But I certainly will be doing so. What I suggest is that the Member speak to the board of the Tlicho Community Services agency about how to address the needs that she has in mind to improve the social determinants of health. Thank you.
Thank you for the answer. She is the Minister of Health and Social Services, so that's why I was addressing.
Can the Minister report on any progress achieved to reverse the poor health trends in the Tlicho region since the report was tabled over two years ago?
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this is an unusual occurrence, but I'm not sure which report the Member is referring to. But if she can tell me which report, then I can certainly come back to her with a response. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. That is the GNWT Health Status Report that was published in fall of 2019 which I tabled two days ago, and that's their own report that I am addressing. So that's why I'm asking what are they doing to fix the problem. Do they have any action plan? Do they have any what do they have? What are they doing to fix things in our region? Or not just in my region but in other regions as well, and which we heard from other Members addressing their issues.
So Madam Speaker, if the GNWT was to allocate their budget based on need, we should be seeing improvements in health outcomes over time, but this does not appear to be the case for people in my regions and other groups as well, because the problem have been addressing Members have been addressing the problems here.
Can the Minister explain how a budget to address health outcomes are allocated? How is the department assessing the needs of community and responding with appropriate levels of funding to address those needs? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have a pot of money called the community initiatives fund. And what we ask communities to do is create their own wellness plan to identify the things they need in their community in order to be well and to be healthy. These wellness plans are on the Department of Health and Social Services website. They're funded annually. The funding can be carried over. The plans also are evergreen plans, meaning that they can change over time to meet the needs of the communities. And this year, we are going through an exercise where we are reaching out to each of the communities to have them assess their plan, whether it's working and if not, how it can be changed. Thank you.
Thank you. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Does the GNWT have a specific and unique plan to address housing, crime, education, mental health, and addictions in my regions, in Tlicho regions? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm not aware of a wholeofgovernment approach which would take in all the subject areas the Member mentioned, and we don't have a specific Tlicho plan. As a territorial department, we provide programs and services for the whole territory. We have quite a number of funds that are available by application from communities and Indigenous groups such as the ontheland healing fund, peer support, addictions and aftercare, suicide prevention, and so on. So there are a number of ways that communities can build up their own resources by making applications to these specific funds. And then in addition to that, of course, we spend the better part of our $600 million budget on healthcare that is for everyone. So that would include the health centres in the Member's communities as well as Stanton Hospital, the counselling programs I referenced earlier, specialist services, all the different components of health. Thank you.
