Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of discussion about affirmative action in the GNWT hiring practices during the life of this Assembly. We are awaiting the results of the affirmative action review carried out by the government in 1995. I think we are wasting our time and energies on this policy. Despite efforts over the past 11 years, we are not much further ahead than we were in 1985, the year the Native Employment Policy was put into effect. About 30 percent of GNWT staff, at that time, were aboriginal. The latest figure, at 36 percent, shows very little improvement. Certainly nowhere close to the government's 50 percent goal.
Mr. Speaker, I believe we all want a public service that is competent and, if possible, reflective of the population it serves. The first goal of a hiring policy should be competency because the taxpayers deserve the best value for their money. Industry succeeds when it hires the brightest and best people. We should expect no less from our government. In a perfect world, our public service would be both competent and representative of the population it serves. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, we do not live in a perfect world.
Why has the affirmative action policy not worked? I believe it has not worked, nor will it ever work, as long as 60 percent in our target group have less than the grade 10 education required for entry level to most government jobs. Even now, aboriginal people are over-represented in government among those who have Grade 10 education required for government jobs.
Mr. Speaker, the only way we can increase aboriginal employment beyond the current 36 percent, and maintain competency within the public service, is to increase education levels among aboriginal people. This is not going to happen overnight. Let us be realistic. I believe the affirmative action policy is doing little to help aboriginal people meet the government's minimum hiring requirements. The problem is not that the hiring system works against aboriginal people, but rather the government, and previous ones, has assumed that aboriginal people, who have successfully worked off the land for generations, are motivated to take government jobs and assumed they will be instantly successful in making the transition to an office, administrative environment. These jobs require different skills and many aboriginal people are still gaining the skills necessary to be successful in the office environment.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.