Our current policy, Mr. Speaker, is a total failure, both for aboriginal people and for non-aboriginal people. As Mr. Whitford pointed out yesterday, we have only increased by three per cent, the numbers of aboriginal employees in this government over the past five or six years. In the process, we have created serious racial tensions.
Mr. Speaker, the situation for summer student jobs last spring was boiling over with tensions which had been building for several years. Mr. Speaker, every single person with whom I have discussed this issue agrees; the ethnic make-up of the civil service should reflect that of our population. Mr. Speaker, no one I have spoken to disagrees with that. It doesn't now and, Mr. Speaker, that is shameful. But, Mr. Speaker, the current policy is not addressing the problem. I have to confess, Mr. Speaker, I don't know the answer. That is why I say I sincerely hope that the current review can produce an innovative solution. I will contribute one observation though, the one area in which we seem to have had some success was when we actively targeted one specific area. I am talking about our success in increasing the numbers of aboriginal teachers in the north. Perhaps the success seen in more narrow targeting provides some clues to a new approach that we need to take a look at.