Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I talked about the hiring practices of the GNWT and how it places a higher emphasis on education and less on equivalencies and experience. I have a question for the Minister of Human Resources.
Mr. Speaker, almost all of the GNWT job ads have the “equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.” If you ask an aboriginal applicant who does not have a degree or a masters but has years of related experience, they would say that equivalencies are not taken into account. I’d like to ask the Minister: how does the department assess the value of equivalencies and/or experience when reviewing job applications? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to assure the Member that the Government of the Northwest Territories uses equivalencies in almost all of its competitions except for those competitions where there’s a statutory requirement to have certification; for example, medical positions or legal positions. Usually it’s a combination of related work experience and years of service. It’s something that we review on a regular basis for all of our jobs that we have in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, many applicants do not possess a bachelors or a masters degree but do possess diplomas or certificates and certainly possess the experience, and they live in the smaller communities where they plan to live for years to come. Can the Minister commit to placing a greater emphasis on equivalencies and experience, even some emphasis on the ability to communicate effectively with aboriginal communities? Thank you.
This is an area that we’ve obtained some funding in for this year, where we’re working much more closely with not only aboriginal governments but also municipal governments. I think that this is something that we want to advance quite a ways in. Under normal practices, we are trying to develop processes, working with our Aboriginal Employment Advisory Committee, to find ways to increase aboriginal employment. But certainly looking at a combination of training and under fills and equivalencies, we are looking to give a much greater focus to hiring aboriginal people at the local level. Because what we’re finding is unless we can find Northerners to put into jobs, there are other issues that become involved such as housing and so on. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to looking at options for increasing GNWT positions in smaller communities, whether it be by creating, replacing or reallocating positions so that these jobs can be filled by aboriginal people and increase aboriginal content in the GNWT? Thank you.
We’ve looked at this a number of times. Our government has looked at this a number of times over the years through the process of decentralization and I think that working through Refocusing Government this way we can look at the possibility of moving jobs around. The problem with increasing positions or moving positions around is that there are winners and losers in terms of communities, so that is where the problem comes in. I think, when it comes to looking at new positions that are created, this is certainly something we can look at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister agree to, in order to increase the content and allow these positions to be in the smaller communities, customize jobs in smaller communities with the end result of assisting people in smaller communities to work better with government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, over the years, we have done that on a number of occasions where we have found we had the greatest success in training Northerners to fill northern jobs. We identify the important elements that we can work with Aurora College so that we can train people up to take these positions. We find that we have been very successful in doing that. This is an area that we are prepared to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
