Thank you, Madam Chair. We certainly do track the timeliness of hiring processes across departments. I don't have that data in front of me, and it hasn't appeared in my eyes as I'm sitting here. So I will commit to get back to the Member with that.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under the Finance human resources? Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I know, this is further to what my colleague just said. In the past, in our region, TCSA and other GNWT departments, had power to work through human resources process to support our residents in the communities and now these functions have been centralized to Yellowknife office and our region do not have the flexibility to recruit and attract, you know, outside especially with the health department, to recruit more health nurses, you know. We have a lot of vacancy just like Minister Green said, that there's 40 percent vacancy. We have problems recruiting nurses, speech pathologists, CYCC and all that. But in the past when the department were doing it, the agency and other GNWT were when they had their own human resources office, I don't think there was as much problems or there was any a huge vacancy rate at that time. So I'm just wondering, will the Minister decentralize some of the human or the human resources power back to the regions to small communities to do their own hiring as we have done in the past?
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, certainly I would note for at this moment, there is a junior officer, I think a human resources officer and an assistant in the Tlicho based in the Tlicho region. I certainly can appreciate, you know, feedback from the Member. It is difficult to necessarily draw a conclusion about the state of hiring or vacancy rates in a context right now given the labour market shortages across sectors and across Canada and whether or not that is related to a shift in how human resources was structured many years ago as compared to the circumstances we're facing today. There is no immediate plan to reorganize fundamentally how human resources is operating. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Well, that is a disadvantage for us because our vacancy rate is growing in small communities, and we are at risk of losing staff, particularly in the health care field. So I just wanted to ask the Minister can the Minister tell the House how the health care recruitment plan will support our small communities in attracting and retaining health care professionals?
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that's a large and complex answer. I'll try to be brief. I'm mindful of the ten-minute time, but I'm happy to take more questions either in the House or in writing.
There's two parts to it. And firstly there is the work that's happening under the health recruitment unit, and in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Services, to really look at everything from the labour market supplement, for example, to other initiatives that were announced earlier last year, you know, such as travel with with travel incentives to bring family up. But on the other side of it, Madam Chair, I'm live to the fact that the population demographic outside of Yellowknife and outside regional centres tends to be a very dominant Indigenous population, and there are a number of recruitment efforts in that space to try to support a more representative public service. Everything from the Indigenous the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework speaks to them. And, again, mindful of time, I don't list them. But I would say that that is probably somewhere to start looking as well in terms of recruiting specifically from within communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Yes, thank you. Okay, I know that work is being done to support the recruitment. But I need to know how or if our community how our community are being thought of in this whole process. Can the Minister explain how the headquarters empowers our region to attract and retain health care professionals?
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the health recruitment unit does work both with or in three parts. There's health and social services, NTHSSA, as well as the Tlicho services or social TCSA, Madam Chair, to form working groups that are meant to have the human resources expertise on the one side but also then the TCSA expertise on the other side so that they can then develop together and identify together what the gaps are and how to respond to them. So I would certainly commit, Madam Chair, to perhaps getting some notes or some background as to where that working group is at from the with the TCSA. I do get regular reports in a general sense as to what's coming back from HRU. But I and I would certainly suggest that some specifics from the working group might be the best answer and more helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Well, this is just in general too as well. You know, like, so I just wanted to know how GNWT is working with agency and other GNWT departments and Indigenous governments to support recruitment efforts of health care professionals in many of the small communities? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Well, Madam Chair, perhaps more broadly then, I'll take a look at the regular reports that I do receive from the health recruitment unit and see if we can provide that so that Members have a better sense of what the work is that they are accomplishing.
I would say, Madam Chair, that they actually have seen some successes in terms of their hiring and some reduction in overall vacancies. However, of course, the market remains challenging so that's not to say that the situation is solved but it would be worth an update from them, and we'll provide that. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. The health care recruitment team, I'm just wondering where are they actually physically located? Are they in with everybody else from HR or do they actually are they over with health and social services staff; how does that work? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So it is an initiative that comes out from the department of human resources, so Finance, and obviously is a headquarters functions but then beyond that, this is, again, the eight positions that we were just describing here in the main estimates have locations beyond Yellowknife. There's human resource officer positions now being added to well, I'm going to get it wrong now. To Inuvik and Smith, with a view to being much more closely to where those positions would be required. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, thanks. Well, let's just focus then on the positions in Yellowknife. And, you know, I presume that there's not warm bodies there right now but where are they actually going to be located? I guess where I'm going with this is it might be better if they're actually located closer to the health and social services staff and the workers there as opposed to just being kind of lumped in with all of the rest of the HR people. And, look, I don't even know where they are in Yellowknife, what building they're in. But I guess if I could get some clarification from the Minister. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Yellowknifebased staff, I understand, are based in Yellowknife or in the YK Centre. Madam Chair, it's part of recruitment services. So, I mean, they can be embedded with other professionals who do recruitment as a day to day, or, I mean, embedded with health care professionals. To be honest, Madam Chair, I would expect that professionals in this sphere, and given the nature of their work, are expected to engage directly and regularly with their counterparts, whether it's the professionals on the recruitment side or whether it's those who are within health and social services, so yes. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, okay, well I tried. So I'm just wondering whether the folks on the HR side ever talk to UNW, not about wages, anything like that, but about recruitment and retention. What work, if any, could be done or should be done with UNW to try to make sure that we can keep those positions staffed? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there is a health working group jointly populated by the UNW and human resources, or Department of Finance. And there are regular meetings a variety of regular meetings between the Department of Finance and UNW and I am told that it's at an officials' level but that that is a standing item specific to the idea of recruitment services, health recruitment. It's a standing item at those meetings. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
No, okay, that's I just wanted to raise that and it sound like there's a collaborative thing going so that's all good by me. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under human resources? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to echo a little bit of the concerns from my colleagues around the decentralization of the human resources function.
As I've moved through some of my own health stuff at the hospital and talking with technicians and things there, there is a perceived notion, and I don't know how accurate it is, that the holdup on some of the recruitment is the department of HR and not the department of health and that, you know, as it was put to me, the job description, etcetera, had already been put in long ago to the Department of Finance, and nothing had moved. And so I just wanted to echo that that is a concern that I hear. I do recognize that, you know, everybody is struggling for employees at this time, but it sounds like we are a bit bogged down at times in our process. So I don't know that I really have a question in that but just more that, I do hear the same things as my colleagues, and particularly in the more specialized hiring areas, that perhaps some of that control needs to go back to the departments.
But my question is a bit around Indigenous representation, particularly Indigenous men. I think it's still stagnant at the 8 percent representation. And as a government we do very well with hiring of women, generally. So I think that there is a real lack here, or something is obviously very flawed if Indigenous men are only 8 percent. So I also hear stories of tokenism and such, or where people are hired but only then to be sort of that face but not really advancing or having the opportunities for training. So I guess I just want to hear the Minister speak a little bit more about how things are changing to increase the representation of Indigenous people within the GNWT and particularly Indigenous men? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Department of Finance doesn't believe in tokenism. There is, of course, a number of efforts, as I know the House is familiar with respect to Indigenous recruitment and retention generally. So, again, Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework, which was introduced now a couple of years ago but which is starting to roll out and I believe will be bearing fruit. So one of the things is that individual departments now have specific targets. I think that's a big deal, and it's worth focusing on a little because if you don't even have a target you could just say you're working on something without actually having something to work towards or to be measured against. So with those targets now in place and they're individualized because different departments have different types of work available to them and therefore can focus on different types of recruitment strategies or different kind of training to ensure that people are moving up through the ranks depending upon the nature of the jobs.
Now, so that should apply regardless of someone's gender. I would agree that we do right now in some in some positions it's actually men who need to be supported perhaps more to achieve parity than women. Madam Chair, I'm going to give a bit of a plug to the review we're doing right now, the affirmative action policy, which really doesn't have necessarily that kind of look at what's happening in the labour market. It is simply a policy that applies based on one's identity feature rather than an equity policy that looks at the gap between what's happening in the labour market and who we actually have working for us. So that's just one more reason that we're looking to look at how we're actually hiring and who we're promoting. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure nobody likes tokenism but maybe lip service is another phrase that we can throw out when it comes to this conversation. I mean, I get that there appears to be an intent and a want and to hire and increase representation, but I just don't see it translating to people on the ground. And I recognize that there has been some key hires in senior management even that I think are really good and are, you know, leading the way and a good example. But when you look at just, you know, movement within departments, I can think of within the housing department, a longterm Indigenous employee that was, you know, recently passed over for a settler, for lack of a better word; somebody who had moved up from the south. I hear this constantly. We all I think everybody on this side probably knows at least one or two people that we could think of right off the top that, you know, should have been advancing within their departments and they're not. So I guess just more of a comment.
I recognize it's a very difficult thing, especially right now where we are wanting to we're so desperate for employees in general that, you know, we can't always be looking at imposing all of these sets of criteria however it does need to be addressed. And I guess obviously through training and ensuring we have a good supply. I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for your comments. Are there any further questions, comments under human resources? Seeing none, Members, please turn to page 158.
Finance, human resources, operations expenditure summary, 20232024 Main Estimates, $22,689,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Please turn to management board secretariat beginning on page 161, with information items on 162 to 164. Are there any questions or comments under this section? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. So on page 161, the Whati Fibre Project is listed. Can someone explain to me was that just, like, put out to tender, or how was that project undertaken? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That project is led by the Tlicho government. So the funding that you see there back in 20212022 was to help them in terms of supporting their design and planning services. But then beyond that, it is a project led by the Tlicho government. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, thanks. Who actually owns the infrastructure then at the end of the day? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand it is the Tlicho government that would ultimately own that. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, thanks. And then we don't have any residual obligations for O and M or and so on, is that correct? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
