Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I again spoke about employment rates in small communities. To get a feel for whether or not this topic is on the government radar, I’d like to ask the Minister of ECE if there is any dialogue between departments specifically on the low employment rates in the small communities.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular area has been discussed amongst the departments and through the Rural and Remote Communities committee that has been dealing with this particular initiative. Through that we have identified funding for small employment into the communities. That’s an area that we have targeted and we continue to push forward with that.
Over and above the money allocated for employment programs in rural and remote communities, what is the plan to address the issue of low employment rates in small communities as it pertains to this department and other departments?
The other departments probably have their own plans to deal with employment in small communities. We deal with apprentices, local employment and various GNWT NGOs in the different areas. Within ECE I can speak specifically to that information we have, that we do have regional training centres in the communities. Committees are being established to deal with those matters at hand. We’re identifying the priorities on the hiring and training where it’s needed based on community needs. These are the coordinators at the community level and regional level that deal with those matters. We do have a plan in place within our department to deal with the employment and training and so forth. We always promote career opportunities into the communities as well.
I’d like to ask the Minister if the government has done what’s referred to as a 360 evaluation to determine all the benefits that could be accrued by raising employment rates in the small communities.
This may have been addressed by the Rural and Remote Communities committee along with other departments. I can follow through within Education, Culture and Employment on what kind of dialogue has been transferred in that area and transpired in that area. I’ll have to get back to the Members on that. Specifically if there has been discussion on what the Member is referring to.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment have any documented objectives to address this issue of low employment rates in small communities?
I think we have goals and objectives to deal with employment in small communities. That’s the very reason why we have these initiatives on the way since last year and moved into this year’s budget. We’ll continue to address that matter. It is important to us to deal with the high unemployment in the communities. We’ll have to work closely with the communities, the regional training centres and the regional committees as well. It has to be hand in hand. They’re linked in all capacities, whether it be the band council, the corporations, the municipality, NGOs and so forth. There are a lot of partnerships that need to come into play.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
