Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the hiring practices of this government, with reference to the hiring of aboriginal people. After serving on the Standing Committee on Finance for the past year I have seen first-hand the pitiful performance of many departments of this government in employing aboriginal people. Although some small progress has been made towards increasing the number of aboriginal people in entry level positions within some departments, the progress in hiring aboriginal people in middle and upper-management has been inadequate to say the least.

Members on both sides of this House have spoken many times about making the public service more representative of the people it serves. It seems we are not doing enough to realize this goal. I am quite concerned that we have not only failed to realize this goal, but we have discouraged qualified aboriginal people from applying for positions within the public service.

Recently I was informed of a case where a young aboriginal women had become totally discouraged with the prospect of obtaining employment with the Government of the Northwest Territories. I will not deal specifically with her case in the House, but I will raise it with the Minister later. However, I do wish to use this as an example of the problem. This aboriginal person was born and raised in the Northwest Territories and is highly educated. She has completed her Bachelor of Arts degree and is unable to obtain employment with this government even at entry level positions. It seems to me that this is the type of person which this government should be looking at hiring, and perhaps even specifically recruiting and targeting for certain positions.

Mr. Speaker, it is time that we stopped paying lip service to hiring aboriginal persons in this government and simply go out and do it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause