Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week and earlier this week there’s been a lot of talk in the House about northern students, particularly in the areas of nursing, teaching and social work, and the grad placement programs that are in place. I believe these programs are funded out of a fund called Maximizing Northern Employment which is part of Human Resources. I’m wondering if the Minister can confirm whether that funding is going to continue to exist in 2011-2012 and where that funding comes from. Is it federal or GNWT funding? Are there any plans to cancel the program in the future or is it fairly secure at this point?
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Maximizing Northern Employment program still exists, I’m happy to say, and I expect it will continue for some time. We’ve had this program for quite a few years. It’s gone through a few iterations but it’s probably one of the most successful programs that we have. It provides students and graduates with work experiences within the government. We have three principal programs within the Maximizing Northern Employment program: the Graduate Internship Program; the Graduate Placement Program, which is focused primarily on teachers, nurses, and social workers; and of course the Summer Student Program. My expectation is that we’ve been very successful so it’s going to continue for some time.
To the Minister, thank you so much for that response. I think it’s important that people know that this program is going to continue to exist. I know there are a lot of people who are accessing this program who are very pleased with the supports they’re getting. Could the Minister tell me how much the program is and how it’s administered within the Department of HR?
Human Resources administers this program and some of the programs are funded by Education and Health and Social Services. We work very closely with those programs. In total we spend $1.85 million for the Maximizing Northern Employment program. Just to give you some of the details of what makes up the Maximizing Northern Employment: the Graduate Internship Program has $1.3 million; the Graduate Placement Program for teachers, $125,000; Graduate Placement Program for nurses, $640,000; Graduate Placement Program for social workers, $200,000; the Summer Student Program Progressive Experience Program for non-health students is $200,000. The total is $1.8 million, of which the Department of Health contributes $1.04 million.
In addition to that we spend $594,000 to support the Graduate Placement Program and $110,000 to promote the program, and approximately $2.6 million to place the graduates and students. Thank you.
It’s a great program and thanks for that information. The last question I have relates to some questions that were asked earlier this week and last week. A lot of this program depends on some promises that were made by a previous Premier, that all northern graduates in teaching, social work and nursing would be guaranteed an offer of employment. Is this government still committed to that promise and can the northern graduates in nursing, social work and teaching continue to expect that they’ll have some support to obtain employment in the Northwest Territories upon their graduation? Thank you.
For both nurses and teachers, this government guarantees an offer of employment to all northern graduates. I should also indicate that if a job offer has been made and it has not been accepted, then we consider the guarantee as being fulfilled. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
