Debates of June 1, 2006 (day 3)

Mr. Speaker, as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I wholeheartedly think the communities know what is best for the communities. When it comes to recruitment and selection of staff, the same principle applies. That is why I feel small and remote communities should be able to directly participate in the recruitment and selection processes for jobs in their community.

The communities have raised these concerns because their residents are being alienated from local government jobs. They are wondering why, time and time again, local northern and aboriginal staff is being screened out and why certain irrelevant criteria are included in job postings.

In the past, various GNWT departments involved the community and the leadership with many of the recruitment and selection processes. This practice has dwindled through the years and is now nonexistent, Mr. Speaker. So I would like to ask why. People in the Nahendeh riding are feeling increasingly alienated and discouraged with their applications for employment and also how the hiring process is going with the GNWT.

Servicing our communities and having the reflective staff must be our number one priority. I have had numerous discussions with my constituents stating that true northern representation is not reflective in the GNWT workforce. Staff is still constantly being brought up from down south even when the position requires little or no skills, but our local residents are being overlooked. We all expect some feathers to be ruffled with the Human Resources department changes within the last year, but these changes seem to be more and more a concern to me and my constituents. In almost every community in the Nahendeh, local concerns are continuing to escalate. Chiefs, councillors, and others, and elders from the community must be allowed to participate in every aspect of the recruitment and selection processes of our government jobs. This government must be serious about hiring local people. This government was committed and must be serious about local capacity building through local staffing. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause