Caroline Wawzonek

With respect to management positions or non-traditional positions, there are different designations depending on a person's status. Priority 1A is for Indigenous Aboriginal persons, so persons who are both born in the Northwest Territories and who have an Indigenous background, and female. Then priority 1B is the same categorizing of being Indigenous and Aboriginal but male. Number two is resident women. Number three is Indigenous non-Aboriginal persons or resident disabled persons. Last, there is no priority. With respect to all other competitions, again, that's the non-management...

Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 21, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, be read for the first time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That does involve both of those two hats coming together. The action plan that is going to be developed in response to the national inquiry is one that needs to, by the nature of what it is, involve a lot of engagement with Indigenous governments, with outside stakeholders, with members of the public, as well as members of the GNWT internally. As far as what will necessary be in that plan, that remains to be seen, subject to all that process.

That said, Madam Speaker, with respect to the corporate culture, the culture of the GNWT, absolutely. One of the goals of doing...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do have two returns to written questions, which I understand will be tabled by the clerk.

I could not agree more. It has to start from the top, and that includes, obviously, this House; it includes each Minister in their responsibility for their departments; and it includes each deputy minister within their departments. That is one of the hopes of the framework is that it will now create meaningful targets that are department-specific and something that can actually be followed and looked at so that we know that it's not just the Minister responsible for a public service who has to be responsible for this but that every department, every Minister, and every deputy minister is going...

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, Madam Speaker. I certainly would agree that there should be a meaningful appeal process. There are, indeed, staffing appeals. They are conducted by staffing review officers who are, in fact, outside of the government and appointed by me as the Minister responsible for the public service. That flows from the fact that, yes, simply put, I agree that there has to be a proper, fair, and neutral appeals process. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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...

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.

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...