Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance. Given some of the answers and thinking of some of the programs that their department offers for managers in the training of exactly what I was talking about, hiring processes and things like that, are all managers given the management series program? And if not, who decides that they could take this course if they haven't and are in a management role? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, indeed, all managers do go through the management series program. That is mandatory. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I hope that they add a course with the new training or the new guidelines for equivalencies.
How many employees are currently taking the Indigenous Management Development Training Program right now? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 20212022, there were 13 employees who accessed funding to take Indigenous Management Training Development. And to date in 20222023, we have two applications pending to access this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Only 13 and only two, and we think about how our Indigenous in senior management and management is pretty low numbers. How much funding is allocated to this program, and is it being fully utilized? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Indigenous Management Training Program can support up to 40 grants at $10,000 per grant. So it is undersubscribed. And I would note, Mr. Speaker, it is actually under review right now for exactly that reason or that's one of the reasons, to help increase utilization.
I would note, Mr. Speaker, when we started this Assembly the Indigenous Career Gateway Program was also underutilized and is now oversubscribed. So I do believe we can get there with this one too. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake. Oh sorry, correction. This is your final. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you. Okay. Knowing that this program, you know, looking at it, it's for people who are working in the department, not necessarily in management roles, and so my question to the Minister is has your department will her department Minister have her department ensure now you just got me all flustered department to ensure that this program is raised with Indigenous staff and to all managers and senior managers to offer it to those interested into their departments or take an inventory on how many Indigenous staff are interested if there's lack of funding? And, you know, I was one of the first ones to start raising the Indigenous Career Gateway, and I'm going to do this with this program because we're going to oversubscribe it, okay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me give a qualified yes. Because the program is under review, we can certainly promote the program in its current iteration but it might be best to promote the program once it has had its review so that staff are, indeed, getting the very best that is available.
But at the same time, all departments are now expected to start increasing their Indigenous representation at all levels. Those levels are being looked at and monitored for the targets that exist in our business planning process, that were put in place as part of the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. It is in the interest of every department to be maximizing every training opportunity they have if they're going to hit their targets. So I'm confident we can get some messaging out to that effect. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
