Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are government employees who feel that they have been discriminated against because they are not being given fair opportunity for advancement, and they can file grievances. I want to know if this area also looked after grievances.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. While it does not come under this fiscal category, we are discussing right now, the FMBS has a responsibility to look after grievances and I believe it will probably come under labour relations, human resource management, which is the next activity we will hopefully approve.

I will follow up later on. If there is no one else who wants to ask a question, I have a question in another area.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The budget for the Directorate, total operations I see, is $24 million. How many aboriginal people are employed in the Directorate?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Fort Simpson, we have five employees, four aboriginal, one non-aboriginal. Fort Smith, we have 12 employees, eight aboriginal, two indigenous non-aboriginal, two non-aboriginal. Inuvik, 11 employees, nine aboriginal, one indigenous non-aboriginal, and one non-aboriginal. Keewatin, 10 employees, five aboriginal, three indigenous non-aboriginal, two non-aboriginal. Baffin, 11 employees, four aboriginal, one indigenous non-aboriginal, six non-aboriginal. Kitikmeot. Nine employees, six aboriginal, no indigenous non-aboriginal, three non-aboriginal.

In the Directorate, we have ten employees, one aboriginal, two indigenous non-aboriginal, seven non-aboriginal. In accounting, one aboriginal, six indigenous non-aboriginal, 24 on-aboriginal. No accountants I guess.

In budget and evaluation, four aboriginal, two non-indigenous aboriginal, and seven non-aboriginal. Labour relations, three aboriginal, nine indigenous non-aboriginal, and 22 non-aboriginal.

A total complement of 177 employees, we have 47 aboriginal, 27 indigenous non-aboriginal, and 103 non-aboriginal.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think I forgot the question as well. Just one final question. How many appeals were actually made last year.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not have that number at my fingertips. Just give me a moment, and Mr. Voytilla will check the records. We might have it there, and if not, I will provide it to my colleague and to the House.

Thank you Mr. Chairman, I have a total appeals in the year 1995 of 69 appeals.

And I quote 1995 because those are the numbers we have, and we are just putting the numbers together for 1996. We have to do a report, a public service annual report every year. I would imagine it would be in the same area, but it was 69. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. How many of those were successful?

Appeals upheld were 19, appeals denied were 50.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I think it is important to point out that when we give a severance package to our employees it is part of the deficit elimination strategy in some cases, in other cases it is not. It is part of their past performance with the government. In other words there is a policy in place that says you get this if you have been around for this long and for this reason. It is important to stress that, okay. It is for the past performance, and in keeping with the past performance of this government.

So, for an employee that has been around for 20 years agrees to a severance package as we move forward and try to down size government, we are obligated through our arrangements and policies, to provide him with the appropriate compensation package.

It is important that after leaving office, that senior officers may not own, operate, control, or be employed in any business enterprise after leaving the government, if, and this is important, there is an opportunity to unduly exploit the knowledge they have from previous government employment. That is, it is clear. Mr. Chairman, I do not see it as an issue, with all due respect to my colleague.