Thank you, Madam Speaker. Prior to creation of the Affirmative Action Policy, the deficit of Indigenous Aboriginal hires within the public sector has been and continues to be a problem for this government. Madam Speaker, will the Minister of Finance confirm the percentage of Indigenous Aboriginal men and women currently employed within the GNWT public sector and are we moving in a forward direction? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have the numbers for 2020 as of March 31, 2020, in front of me, Affirmative Action statistics. That is, Indigenous Aboriginal females make up just under 21 percent of the workforce. Indigenous Aboriginal males, just shy of nine percent of the workforce. As far as change over time, Madam Speaker, I will look at those numbers and provide them. I do have them here, just not right in front of me right now. I don't think there has been significant change over time from my recollection of the numbers, Madam Speaker.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Will the Minister of Finance confirm the model used by this government to recruit and interview potential Indigenous Aboriginal candidates for positions within the GNWT?
I'll start even before the interview process takes place. What people may not realize is that there is actually quite a lot of information available on the GNWT's HR website about how to participate in an interview, how to prepare, how to submit a resume. There is also the opportunity for people to contact someone at human resources to assist them with the preparation of their materials before they apply and also to help them prepare for an interview. I think that's probably an underutilized and perhaps not even well-known opportunity that is available.
As far as once someone is in the actual interview itself, the Department of Finance human resources does use what is called behavioural-based interviews. The idea being that people are encouraged to tell stories and to speak about personal experiences rather than being asked more of the sort of answering questions in a more formulaic way or a more formalized way. Part of the idea there is that it is supposed to be an opportunity to create a better type of communication and dialogue for people in an interview.
Will the Minister of Finance confirm that Indigenous Aboriginal culture is incorporated into the recruitment and interview process?
I think I probably just answered that in my last description, but I may have misheard, I didn't have my earpiece in there. That's exactly the idea is to try to create opportunities for anyone that's applying and anyone that's within the application process and the interview process to be able to speak and communicate in a way other than just the traditional asking of a question and having to provide a correct or specific answer but instead be able to tell stories. Part of the reason there has been a change in the Indigenous cultural awareness training and sensitivity program is so that all members of the public service are themselves aware that there are different ways of communicating, aware that there are different backgrounds, aware that there are language differences, and that when they are engaging with someone and trying to recruit someone that they bring that awareness with them, that they become culturally aware, and that they are better placed to actually have engagements that are more meaningful and more respectful.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Minister of Finance confirm that all interviews conducted by the GNWT have Indigenous Aboriginal team members or at the minimum, are the team members provided training with respect to Indigenous Aboriginal culture to remove any bias and provide fairness? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I was just hoping to pull up the numbers for human resources in terms of number of Indigenous Aboriginal persons that are in human resources. I think their numbers actually are relatively good. Notwithstanding, I cannot say that every single hiring team has an Indigenous person on that team, but I am happy to say that, with the introduction of the cultural awareness and sensitivity training program that's coming out in the next few months, that that is going to be mandatory for all GNWT employees and that, once that is in place and once staff continue to go through it, it is certainly our hope that that is going to have a culture change and that it's going to change the way that people are interacting one with another in terms of our knowledge and our awareness and our sensitivity. I am happy to be able to at least confirm that that is on the horizon, and we are hopeful that it will be a program that will be really a leader in Canada. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
