My questions are to the Minister Responsible for Human Resources and are a follow-up to questions I asked on Tuesday with respect to Arctic Winter Games and the volunteers.
Recently, in an effort to secure enough qualified volunteers for the 2010 Olympic Games, B.C. civil servants have been offered half their salary if they sign up to help out. The government felt that these are the kinds of programs large employers should be doing to create a positive work environment and good employee morale.
When morale is already challenged in the G.N.W.T., requiring employees to take lieu or annual seems a little shortsighted. The games are valuable. They’re going to add a significant amount of value to Yellowknife, a significant amount of value to the Northwest Territories as a whole.
Given the approach of other jurisdictions and our previous direction in 1998 in the last games, I would like the Minister to commit to reviewing their decision once again and modifying it so these employees don’t have to liquidate annual or lieu for volunteer periods of up to two hours a day.
We’re talking about the Arctic Winter Games. We’re not talking about the Olympic Games or the Canada Winter Games, as have been previously referred to. The government of the Northwest Territories is following a policy that has been in place for 40-some years. We think we’ve been more than generous with our leave policy for participants in the Arctic Winter Games.
Clearly the Arctic Winter Games aren’t as large as the Olympic Games, but for a Territory of 44,000-ish people, this is a very significant event. Yellowknife is going to have thousands of people in the community participating in the games. For a population of 19,000, having thousands of additional people is a pretty big deal, and they need volunteers.
You talk about our position. Our position has changed. As I said before, in 1998 we gave the employees the time off. We allowed them to take up to two hours a day, where operational requirements permitted, without penalty to annual or lieu. We are now rigidly applying policies and procedures that do affect staff and do make them question whether they’ll volunteer or not, or when they will be scheduled.
Once again, will the Minister look at reviewing their direction on this and being fair and equitable with employees?
If the Member wants us to go back to take the same position as we did in 1996, that would mean we’d have to look at the funding. We provided considerably less funding in 1996.
I just want to advise the Member that we have 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. I think we have to take a fair approach. Other communities in the Northwest Territories won’t benefit from reviewing this. We’ve followed leave policy, and we’ve expanded it to include head coaches and first responders. I think the government has been very fair in this regard.
Regardless of where the games are held, whether they are in Yellowknife or some other community in the Northwest Territories, I’d be standing here saying the same thing.
We’re talking about morale. We’re talking about helping the games be successful. My biggest concern is scheduling. They’ve got lots of volunteers, but the difficulty is scheduling the morning and afternoon 4-to-7 shift and 7-to-10 shift. People in the government aren’t stepping forward for those shifts as readily as they may, if they’re unable to get the times out without affecting their credits.
I would, obviously, like you to go back and review your policy and think about the image you’re sending and think about the image other jurisdictions are sending and rethink your position. So once again, can I get the Minister’s commitment to go back and review that policy and change it?
My expectation is that after the Arctic Winter Games have concluded, we would review the policy to see how appropriate that policy still is.
