Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past Tuesday, the Government of the Northwest Territories shared its plan to address changes to the Affirmative Action Policy. In their announcement, it states the government's intention to replace the existing Affirmative Action Policy with two new policies in its place. The Indigenous Employment Policy and the Employment Equity Policy.
The Indigenous Employment Policy would prioritize hiring persons who are descendants of Dene, Inuit, and Metis people who are Indigenous to the present-day boundaries of the NWT. And the Employment Equity Policy would provide preferred hiring to Indigenous Canadians, rationalized persons, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, and longterm Northerners.
Well, Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of new ideas in there, some of which I agree with but some that I do not.
I do agree with the Indigenous Employment Policy which is nearly identical to the existing Affirmative Action Policy. And I do agree with providing priority hiring to longterm Northerners, whether Indigenous or not. However, I don't agree with them doing priority hiring to all Indigenous Canadians at large. To be clear, I have no issues with Indigenous Canadians who are not born in the NWT being employed by our public service. I just take issue with that group of people getting the same affirmative action status as the Dene, Inuit, and Metis people born in the NWT. To me that does not solve the issues with the Affirmative Action Policy. It just widens the net for who qualifies as priority one hiring, which I'm sure is not what the majority of the Dene, Metis, and Inuit people of the NWT wanted to hear. I seek unanimous consent to complete my statement, please, Mr. Speaker.
Unanimous consent granted
In addition, Mr. Speaker, I don't know how the government is unveiling these new policies. Before announcing this to the media, Cabinet should have first come to Regular Members for input and feedback. Cabinet also should have taken these proposed changes to the Intergovernmental Council to consider the input from the Indigenous governments who are part of that council.
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, on the news release on these policies, the Government of the Northwest Territories announced they will be hosting public engagement sessions in various communities across the NWT. I am concerned that Fort Smith was not on the list for the public meeting; however, I since emailed the Finance Minister about my concern and she has assured me that Fort Smith will host a public engagement session on March 28th, 2023, which I'm looking forward to. I will have questions for the Minister of Finance at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Members' statements. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
