Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Human Resources and are related to the Arctic Winter Games and the volunteers, G.N.W.T. staff in particular.
The question is very specific to a two-hour block — two hours maximum per day — where individuals would be allowed to volunteer without penalty against their lieu time or annual leave. So where operational requirements permit and where a G.N.W.T. staff is registered as a volunteer and is either scheduled from a 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift or a 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. shift, the government has said no. Basically, if you need that two hours at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day, you have to use lieu or annual.
It seems a bit short-sighted to me. It seems like we actually are creating a lot more work through entry into PeopleSoft — through entry or verification and approval in PeopleSoft. It would be better if the people who met those conditions, if we were just to say, “Yeah, you can take that time where operational requirements permit.” Unfortunately the answer was no.
Is there any way I can get the Minister to review and reverse that decision in order to reduce the paperwork, support our staff and support the Arctic Winter Games?
I too am looking forward to the Arctic Winter Games. We’re looking forward to having the most successful games on record. I understand that the Arctic Winter Games Host Society have reached their quota for volunteers and have shut off their requests for assistance.
I think I should point out that we have followed the policies of the government, and any employees who require time off have not been denied. We haven’t denied any reasonable requests. I think that as a government…. And we also have a commitment from our senior managers that we want to make the Arctic Winter Games a success.
We have provided time off, annual leave — or Arctic Winter Games leave, I guess I should call it — for athletes and coaches and also for chairs that have been identified by the host society. Senior managers are prepared to make flexible arrangements, or flex arrangements, with staff that require time off to go to the different venues and work out the arrangements so that our government operations can continue.
I happily acknowledge that the government is doing a lot for the Arctic Winter Games and that the commitments they’ve made are good commitments, but I come back to that two-hour block. You’re asking people to take lieu and you’re asking people to take annual. This volunteering is good for the community; it’s good for the public service. In fact, it can almost be viewed as a public service.
You talked about the fact that they’ve already got the 2,500 volunteers. Yes, but now they’re trying to schedule them. It’s proving to be quite difficult as people don’t want to work certain blocks because they can’t afford to take lieu and they can’t afford to take annual.
By allowing people up to two hours, which is, say, the equivalent that you’ve given casual time if they had a doctor’s appointment, you would be supporting the Games to a greater extent. You’d be showing the government’s commitment.
I didn’t hear any sort of reference in your response as to whether you would review the decision, rescind the decision and allow our employees a two-hour maximum. If they want to work longer, I could see lieu and annual. But I’m talking about a two-hour block at either the beginning of the day or the end of the day where Arctic Winter Games is having trouble filling schedules that G.N.W.T. employees would happily fill if they didn’t have to liquidate their own time.
We certainly recognize the considerable effort required to host the Arctic Winter Games, and also the significant volunteer efforts required to make the Arctic Winter Games successful. Our senior managers have committed that they will be very flexible. They will make flexible arrangements for those government employees who are volunteers for the Arctic Winter Games, such that if they have to leave for two hours at three o'clock on any given day, they can make arrangements to be available for Arctic Winter Games work.
In 1998, when the Games were last here, we had similar policies in place and the government’s decision at that time was, “Let the staff have the two hours.” I'm wondering why, several years later, we now look at the same or very similar policies and we're rigidly applying them. We are not seeing the value in having our staff work on the Games. We are not seeing the value in giving them the time they need without taking credit away from them. We're saying, “Yeah, do it, it’s great, but you have to use your own time,” whereas in the past, we've stood up for employees and given them the time they need to support this valuable community and Territorial event.
I want to point out a couple of things. First of all, I am familiar with the letter that the Member is referring to. We've reviewed this request on at least two occasions and have expanded the original ruling to make Arctic Winter Games leave available to the chairs of the various committees and to the first-responders.
This is an area where we have had some responses from volunteers who are not G.N.W.T. employees, who don't think it’s a good use of money when somebody working as a volunteer beside them is getting paid and they're volunteering their own time. We have to have a bit of a balance in this regard.
