Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
MLA YK North.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories attract Indigenous professionals with roots and relations in the Northwest Territories to take public service positions with the GNWT by creating an outreach campaign targeting Northwest Territories residents studying outside the Northwest Territories; offering incentives to returning students; and, requiring that hiring managers are aware of the campaign. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Is that a question? No, okay. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
MLA Yellowknife North.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories and all departments update the job descriptions of all public service positions to ensure the inclusion of value statements which affirms the importance of Indigenous knowledge and community experience; update job information section of all job descriptions to ensure that only plain language is used; ensure that each job information section provides an equivalency formula that is publicly accessible and demonstrates concrete examples of what education equivalencies will be accepted in place of university education; create a mechanism that requires offering qualifying priority 1 candidates who participated in a competition a training path into the position before submitting the job to a nonpriority candidate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is order. MLA Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, with this recommendation, a lot of people when you look at the GNWT's job descriptions, they don't make a lot of sense. They're not a lot of them are in plain language. You read them and somebody you can't meet the qualifications. Like, I don't like, it just seems like you just there's not a target that you can meet. So that's why with this one and then equivalencies. We talk about equivalencies in many job descriptions. But as somebody who's applied on jobs, I have never been able to understand how I measure up to an equivalency. And if that was built into job descriptions like, when you're creating your job description, you're creating what equivalency could be for this job, then at least when I'm applying I can say well, this is my equivalency because sometimes hiring managers and hiring HR, they don't use equivalencies and so you're not included into that competition because they only put the people that have the schooling criteria. And so this way it could be appealed, have another mechanism of appealing because you would be able to say I met those equivalencies and I didn't even get a job interview. So that is why those this motion is there and it's important because Indigenous people, you know, they need to feel confident when they're applying on a job. And women it's known that women will not apply on a job if they don't think they meet the qualifications statistically whereas men will apply on a job even if they don't meet all the qualifications. So Indigenous people are probably worse off because they already don't trust that they're going to get even an interview. So that's why this one is there. Thank you, Mr. Chair
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
MLA Yellowknife North.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories commit to transparent retention practices by requiring all departments to develop and follow succession planning guidelines; maintain and share internal position tracking; track and share information about transfer assignments, and/or promotions; ensure that departmental succession planning is informed by employees' goals and expectations by connecting with development goals expressed by employees in the annual performance appraisals; ensure that all Indigenous employees in senior management positions are well supported by their supervisors and are given training opportunities that are suited to their employees interests and can career goals; create a mechanism to ensure Indigenous employees/applicants receive preferred and priority hiring when replacing outgoing employees leaving the public service. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
MLA Yellowknife North.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories requires all departments to conduct exit interviews with all Indigenous employees, including interns and summer students; ensures exit interviews with Indigenous employees leaving a department are conducted by Indigenous staff of the diversity inclusion unit; and, requires that all public service annual reports include a section with an analysis of why priority 1 employees are leaving the public service. Thank you, Mr. Chair
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
MLA for Yellowknife North.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories work towards increasing participation of Indigenous students in all programs, grants and contributions focused on youth by advertising the availability for youth development and making it known in small communities; creating recruitment campaigns in small communities so youth can participate in existing programs and apply for positions; have an advocate for youth and students in each department; creating and tracking hiring targets in all communities for Indigenous youth seeking public service employment under programs such as SNAP, summer students, and internships; and further, that the Department of Finance restructure the summer student employment program to allow a more extended period for students to apply; require managers to hire priority 1s summer students and deplete the priority 1 candidate list before considering nonpriority 1 students; ensuring not to leave one priority 1 summer student without summer employment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried. MLA for Yellowknife North.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends to the Government of the Northwest Territories that all departments have in place support for Indigenous employees and look to the Indigenous patient advocates positions implemented by the Department of Health and Social Services as a model to how to provide support; work with the Indigenous employee advisory committee and the diversity inclusion unit to provide support; offer pathways to leave to access counselling and addiction services; and, apply traumainformed language and practices as a norm. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
MLA Yellowknife North.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories includes in the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework support in finding housing at the new job site for Indigenous employees who are relocating to take a government position or move within government; provide a moving allowance for Indigenous employees relocating to other communities; offer education leave to help Indigenous employees to finish any education that was not completed before employment with the guarantee to remain in the public service at a minimal return to the same job level; offer education leave to Indigenous employees to support their career goals and interests and help expand their opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is in order. MLA Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, with the second or the sorry, with the third bullet, the education leave to help Indigenous employees to finish any education. Sometimes we have Indigenous employees that get into frontline positions, they may have, you know, some education, and then when they apply to for educational education leave, they're denied because they say well, you're already in this job and you don't need any more education to do the job. And then education leave is denied. And so some and so, and then when we look at the next one, we have people that are in frontline jobs who maybe say if they start off as an office admin, and they want to you know, they want to move up in their career so they want to go back and get their business diploma, and then they want to go back and get their business degree, you know, as they come back, but they should have secure employment to go back to at least what they left. So that way they have the opportunity for succession planning within the department that they're starting in. This is a way we can grow our Indigenous, you know, staff, especially out in the regions. So, like, that's what this recommendation is indicating. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. In Nunavut, a beneficiary can apply at any time to a job that a nonbeneficiary has, and if they get it they remove that person. Committee didn't quite go that far. But we're thinking but we want the same level of planning with P1s, that if you have a nonP1 position in the government, the succession planning should be to put a P1 in that position and there should be a complete plan to make sure they have the education and they are trained and they are identified to get into that position. So thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
MLA Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
Mahsi, committee. Do you agree that you have concluded consideration of Committee Report 5119(2)?
Agreed.
Mahsi, committee. We have concluded consideration of Committee Report 5119(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on Indigenous Representation in the Northwest Territories Public Service. Mahsi.
Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.
