Debates of March 7, 2005 (day 50)

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of FMBS, Mr. Floyd Roland, with regard to affirmative action. Some of the few statistics that are out there, Mr. Speaker, are some 53 percent of aboriginal people were employed in January as opposed to 83 percent of non-aboriginals. That means that a heck of a lot of our aboriginals aren’t working out there and our government has an affirmative action program that is not working as well. How much of a priority is the affirmative action policy for our government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The percentage in 2003 from our own stats of aboriginal employees would be in the area of 32 percent, an average between all communities. The affirmative action policy is still something that we use on every position out there and it’s a consideration on any options we have to do hiring throughout the government. The affirmative action policy is in place and is used for positions that are advertised. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Supplementary To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the percentage, it is 32 percent, however, he doesn’t note that it has dropped over two percent the last few years. Can the Minister tell us, Mr. Speaker, what kind of targets our government is looking at? What is the target set by this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the affirmative action policy, we talk about a representative workforce of the population it serves. We don’t have a set percentage that each department has to achieve, but what we do is reference the population that we serve. So in the case of the Northwest Territories, we’re hopeful that we can see 50 percent of the workforce being of the aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories. In some cases, we are very close to that. Some departments are achieving that; in some areas they are not. The average we see now is at 32 percent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Supplementary To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can appreciate that some of the targets the departments are having difficulty matching is because of the recruitment skills or skill level. A lot has to do with education, but just in terms of our business planning, as we’re going through the business plans here in the Legislative Assembly this month, what I’m not seeing in our business plans is actual affirmative action targets or recruitment targets for northerners. Apparently it used to be in the business plans, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister why these targets are not in the business plans this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the affirmative action statistics information is provided to committee members through the process we go through. We do provide supplemental information. As we’ve seen, our main estimates documents have grown because we’ve added additional information in there and I guess the feeling at that time was, as we’re going forward, we do supply the information on affirmative action statistics to Members and felt it wasn’t necessary in the document itself. But we’ll take it under advisement if Members would like to see that changed again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Supplementary To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess our discussion here related a lot to hiring outside workers, but in terms of the Management Assignment Program, what are the targets? What is the government doing to increase the visibility of northerners in the management sector of our government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 556-15(3): GNWT Affirmative Action Policy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue around the MAP or the Management Assignment Program is something that we are aware of and I’ve started to look into that matter as the concern has been raised to me. There are no specific targets at that point. There are avenues for any employee within the government workforce to be nominated and move into that program, then they follow through a pretty rigorous assessment program and out of that we see who we can move up the process through the MAP. So there are no specific targets, but it is an issue that we’re aware of and looking to address. Thank you.