Debates of January 21, 2004 (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are going to be directed at the Minister of Justice and they centre around the issue of staff morale at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre. It's something the Minister is aware of; I spoke with him before about this issue. I know yesterday, my colleague, the Member for Range Lake, had questioned the government action towards the arbitration decision that was handed down last week, and I echo her sentiments exactly, that I think the government should do the right thing. Whether or not that improves the morale at the Correctional Centre who knows, but that's something the government should take up, and take it up soon.

My question for the Minister today is in the past 18 months, have leaves of absence, sometimes referred to as stress leave, been on an increase over the previous period of 18 months? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories does not record stress leave. Sick leave is provided to employees, but there is no requirement for employees to disclose the reasons for their absence. This would be an unreasonable invasion of the employee's privacy. This is well established through labour relations law and it's not permitted under the collective agreement. So I can't answer the Member's question. FMBS has advised us that we're not able to collect that information, much less disclose it.

Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 11-15(2): Staff Morale At North Slave Correctional Facility

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A supplementary question to the Minister of Justice, and I can understand where the government is coming from with this, but I find it hard to believe that the raw data can't be provided. If it can't be provided for YCC, perhaps raw data from department to department. I find in today's day and age of PeopleSoft that the Minister and the government can't come up with some raw figures at the very least, and I question the Minister again whether or not I could get access to raw data, figures of extended periods of leave for the Department of Justice as compared to the other departments of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 11-15(2): Staff Morale At North Slave Correctional Facility

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, in fact we could probably collect that kind of data, as long as it was for the department as a whole. The problem is that if we released it for one single unit in the department, like YCC, it would make the figures too small so that employees could likely be identified. I can tell you that we could collect that kind of data for the department and offer comparison data to other departments in the Northwest Territories for the Member. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 11-15(2): Staff Morale At North Slave Correctional Facility

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for that, Mr. Minister. I'm wondering if the Department of Justice recognizes this as an area of great concern and perhaps the Minister can address that question. I know it's an area of concern. I've heard from a number of constituents and a number of individuals that it is a concern, and I'd like to hear from the Minister that it's a concern of this government: the instances of extended periods of leave at YCC in particular. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 11-15(2): Staff Morale At North Slave Correctional Facility

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't answer that question directly without in fact appearing to release information that I said I couldn't. Therefore, I will say that any time we hear concerns about morale among employees, it is an issue that we want to address. The Member has raised the issue with me. I listened carefully to Ms. Lee's statement yesterday, and I think that as early as tomorrow FMB will likely deal with that situation. I hope that overall we will be able to deal with any issues of staff morale that we may have within the department, but we can't confirm that it's seen as an area of concern right now.