Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to follow up on some remarks made by my fellow colleague Mrs. Groenewegen. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay. It’s in regard to his Minister’s statement that he gave earlier where he mentioned that mining has brought significant economic opportunities to our territory such as jobs in the mines. Then he goes on further and says that he wants to benefit all Northwest Territories residents.
Back in January we had a leadership meeting in Inuvik and he had mentioned and had some questions in regard to the recruitment process that some of the diamond mines came up to Inuvik, did some recruitment, did some promotion, however, we didn’t see much follow-up on that. I do understand that he’s in new MOU discussions with some of the mines. I just wanted to ask the Minister what progress has been made in those discussions or since the meetings in January in getting the people of Inuvik, who have gone through some training, getting them possible jobs at the mines.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s important that the benefits of mining accrue to all regions in the Northwest Territories. The situation right now in the Beaufort-Delta is such that people are looking for work. The mines have done some work in the Beaufort-Delta in trying to attract employees to work at the mines. As we move forward, this is going to be an issue and I want to let the Member know that as we work through whatever replaces the MOU, the opportunities for other people in the Northwest Territories, I’d rather see people living somewhere in the Northwest Territories working at our diamond mines than people flying in from the East Coast or southern Canada.
I want to follow up as well to a Minister’s statement made by Mr. Lafferty, ECE, directed to Mr. Ramsay. I just wanted to ask Mr. Ramsay, based on some of the results with the apprenticeship and occupational certification that’s done through ECE, the department has issued 23 certificates of qualification and eight certificates of competence to journeypersons in the Northwest Territories. Today there are 424 apprentices in the Northwest Territories. Has the Minister of ITI done any work with the Minister of ECE to ensure that once these guys get their papers that they’re not just kicked out the door, that they have a job and place for them once they’ve gone through their certifications?
I know a new subcommittee of Cabinet has been formed. It’s Economic Development and Employment, of which I’m the chair. I will be working closely with the lead deputy on that, Dan Daniels from ECE. I will certainly be working closely. We need to also keep in mind that as we move forward with devolution and we get more responsibility, we’re making decisions for ourselves, we’re growing our mining industry here in the Northwest Territories and the opportunities that that will bring, that there are going to be more jobs available. We need to ensure that our people are trained and we’ll have to make every effort to work with our colleagues in Nunavut and the Yukon to come up with a comprehensive mine training strategy for northern Canada, something that we will be pursuing in the future.
I just wanted one short supplementary question here to finish off. That’s in regard to the recruitment process that has gone up into Inuvik and the new deal with the MOU that’s being discussed. I don’t want this to fall onto a case in point where the diamond mines say they’ve come to Inuvik, they’ve done their consultation, and leave it at that. It’s in the agreements that they’ve done their consultations. I want to see follow-up. I want to see that in this new MOU that in fact the mines do hire northern people from these communities, regardless if it’s Inuvik, Fort Simpson or Hay River; that they are being looked at first for hiring in these mines, in these resources that we have in the Northwest Territories. In regard to the MOU, can the Minister of ITI give us an idea of when the MOU will be drafted or even finalized?
I understand the Member’s concerns. Obviously the MOU expired last year. We’re in the process of working on replacing the MOU and what form that takes is yet to be determined. I certainly will bring up the issue of exhausting all avenues for employment in all regions of the Northwest Territories to the mining presidents when I do meet with them again and we do get some formal correspondence from them on the next steps forward as we work towards a replacement for that MOU moving forward.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
