Madam Speaker, the Minister must be very firm with all of the senior management within the government to ensure that the Affirmative Action Policy is followed. Mechanisms must be put in place to address the gaps, and if not followed, there has to be a process of meaningful appeals with a neutral panel and very concise direction. Does the Minister agree? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I certainly would agree that there should be a meaningful appeal process. There are, indeed, staffing appeals. They are conducted by staffing review officers who are, in fact, outside of the government and appointed by me as the Minister responsible for the public service. That flows from the fact that, yes, simply put, I agree that there has to be a proper, fair, and neutral appeals process. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
The Minister must also be able to discipline those senior managers who are not following the policy. This should be done through job evaluations or disciplinary letters on their work files. Strong, decisive action must be taken to address this issue. Does the Minister agree?
I certainly would agree that every department, through its deputy minister, will need to take responsibility to help ensure that the GNWT continues to do better in terms of what we're doing to follow the Affirmative Action Policy. The goal here is to have a representative workforce. The Affirmative Action Policy is one of the tools that we use to achieve that. However, Madam Speaker, the way that we will do that through deputy ministers is by ensuring that there are some clear targets and a clear plan for each of them within their department that they can implement and that that can then be followed through on to ensure that they are then in turn each doing that.
The Minister has an ability to make a difference on this whole file. Leadership must be shown at the top in order to advance the Government of the Northwest Territories' affirmative action to its fullness. Does the Minister agree?
I could not agree more. It has to start from the top, and that includes, obviously, this House; it includes each Minister in their responsibility for their departments; and it includes each deputy minister within their departments. That is one of the hopes of the framework is that it will now create meaningful targets that are department-specific and something that can actually be followed and looked at so that we know that it's not just the Minister responsible for a public service who has to be responsible for this but that every department, every Minister, and every deputy minister is going to be responsible and know exactly what they are responsible for.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Madam Speaker, there can be no more gaps, no excuses, no nepotism, no conflicts of interest, no hiring our friends, no tailoring job descriptions to match certain people's resumes, only strictly professional, neutral decisions based on qualifications. Will the Minister commit to changing the way senior management and human resource superintendents apply the Affirmative Action Policy to accomplish its original intent? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
What I want to commit to doing is ensuring that every department, in the chain of hiring that goes through that department in cooperation and in conjunction with staff from human resources, is indeed taking responsibility to ensure a representative public service and indeed is taking responsibility to follow the Affirmative Action Policy but also to be conscious of their own biases and act in such a way that we are not relying on them. The point of human resources is to try to create a system and a process that is fair, that is open, and that acknowledges that human beings will naturally at times have to look outside of themselves and have to have structures and processes to help them act without bias, to help them act in a neutral way to accomplish exactly what it is that the Member is asking me. I am certainly going to commit to ensuring that, again, we have those processes, that clear target, and something that works and is applicable to each and every department throughout that chain. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
