Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about the Aboriginal content in the GNWT public service. Mr. Speaker, the Minister responded to one of my questions this week on the percentage of Priority 1 employees we have in the public service. His response was 32 to 33 per cent. I think the GNWT lead by the Department of Human Resources must develop a strategy that will see the public service get closer to the GNWT's goal of having a public service that is representative of the people we serve. In other words, try to get the public service to as close to 51 per cent Priority 1 as possible. Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that the current suite of programs, policies and initiatives the GNWT is working with can achieve that goal. Mr. Speaker, currently we have 51 per cent of our public service in Yellowknife. Of the public service that work in Yellowknife, only 16.5 per cent are Priority 1 employees. Mr. Speaker, if the goal is to have 51 per cent of GNWT as Priority 1, I would say that goal would be close to impossible to achieve. Currently only 18.5 per cent of the people in Yellowknife that are in the participation rate would be considered Priority 1 under the Affirmative Action Policy. I don't wish to go into the weeds too far with this. Having said that, we have communities where the participation rate of Priority 1 candidates is 60 per cent; however only 35 per cent of the public service is Priority 1. Mr. Speaker, if the government continues on as they are currently for the next four years, the numbers will not change. Our government needs to develop a strategy that looks at this objective community by community and department by department, because the holistic approach of trying to get to that number across the territories is not working. Mr. Speaker, it is my feeling that we can get as close as possible to achieving this goal by developing a good plan and having buy-in at the highest level of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Minister of Human Resources today in question period. Thank you.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Hay River North.
