Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, yesterday at the end of the day I asked the Minister or his staff to read into Committee of the Whole for public record, the number of employees in the South Slave. If the Minister could continue that? Mr. Chairman, what I'm trying to demonstrate here is trying to paint a picture. We have policies of this government, like harmonization, which have a negative impact on the smaller, non-tax-based communities. We have policies within Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and Education, Culture and Employment to try to encourage people to go to work. But if they don't have an option, what these policies do is treat people without integrity, respect and it's forcing people to stop using income support, it's forcing people to move to regional centres and territorial centres for employment opportunities. It's driving people away from our communities, their cultures, their land base. It's taking money away from their communities, because the way this government operates it's based on per capita. It will affect the representation in this House and the constitutionally-protected representation by population. If we don't create an economic base in the communities that's the result. These policies of this government are pushing people in that direction.

Now I want to demonstrate by the Minister or his staff reading into the record for the public how many employees of this government for this department work in our communities. Yesterday he mentioned a number of positions. In the communities I represent, so far he's mentioned 15 positions; 13 of those are seasonal. So if I could ask the Minister to continue with explaining where the positions are in the Northwest Territories. He started off with the South Slave, maybe he could move to the Deh Cho, Sahtu, Mackenzie-Delta, North Slave, et cetera. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

(Microphone turned off)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I imagine past governments and past members have asked for this information and received hard copies. The public never sees it, it's never written into the record. I just want to demonstrate where government employees are and how government policies affect the communities. If we're going to have the income support program and use that program to encourage people to go to work, then let's give them the option in the communities. What I'm trying to demonstrate here is that there is no option in most of these communities. We spend millions of dollars in this department on creating employment and business opportunities, but where are we spending the money? We're encouraging them to leave the community and go work in camps, but we don't create an economic base in the community. I'm just trying to demonstrate here by the Minister reading for the public where the government jobs are and where the social states are, and how one policy of one department affects another department. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I'm trying to get my colleagues and the people in the Northwest Territories to see where the jobs are. We know it but we don't seem to see it. We don't feel it. I'm trying to get us to feel it, maybe through a little bit of pain that might help. A little bit of patience here, maybe we could start feeling it. If we start feeling it, we'll do something about it instead of just giving lip service year after year, Assembly after Assembly.

Thank you. I'm not going to read out every single person where they are, because there are 486 of them. So what I'm going to do is compromise with my colleague, and say just the number in each community and maybe it might be faster.

In the North Slave region, Yellowknife regional you have 21 full time, 14 seasonal, two casual, for 37; the other one in the North Slave, Rae-Edzo has four full time and three seasonal, for seven, for a total of 44 in the North Slave region.

In the Fort Smith region, full time there are 47 in Fort Smith, seven seasonal, five casual. In Hay River there are 19 full-time, seven seasonal, one casual. In Fort Resolution you have two full time, 13 seasonal, for 15. Lutselk'e you have one full time. The total in that region is 102.

In the Fort Simpson region, you have Fort Simpson, 21 full-time, one part-time, 10 seasonal, four casual, for 36. Fort Liard we have three full-time, 14 seasonal, for 17. Wrigley we have five seasonal; Trout Lake we have six seasonal; Fort Providence is four full-time; the total is 68 in the Fort Simpson region.

In the Inuvik region, in Norman Wells there are 24 full time, two seasonal and one casual; Tulita, one full time; Fort Good Hope there are no positions; Deline there is one full time; Colville Lake, no positions; Inuvik, 26 full time, 17 seasonal, three casual; Aklavik, two full time; Fort McPherson, one full time, seven seasonal for a total of eight. There is no position in Tsiigehtchic. In Tuktoyaktuk there is one full time; Sachs Harbour there is no position; Holman, one full time; Paulatuk, one full time; for a total of 88.

For the Yellowknife corporate here in headquarters, there are 159 full-time, two part-time, 23 seasonal, for a total of 184. So the total is 486. I hope that is sufficient. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would argue that that clearly paints a picture where the government jobs are and where the government benefits are. This tells me that we are managing a welfare state in those communities. This tells me that all the dollars and promotional dollars that we give to the Department of RWED, all the business planning that they do, the business promotion, the promotion of diamonds, the promotion of oil and gas, et cetera, et cetera, is not being spent in those communities. People can't utilize those dollars in those communities if they don't have government people to deliver them. We know we have development corporations, but you have one or two staff who are totally overworked. You see a high turnover in those positions because of that problem. The way I see it, we're spinning our wheels here. We spend a lot of dollars on business opportunities and business promotion, tourism, the fur industry and the fishing industry, on the renewable and non-renewable sides. But if we're not providing people at the community level to understand these programs and services and to assist in delivering these programs and services, what are we doing it for?

In Fort Resolution they used to have a sawmill there. Under the NWT Development Corporation, that provided jobs. That provided an option other than income support. But we took that back because it wasn't making money for the corporation. It was badly managed by the government. There was assistance and recommendations and advice given by the communities, but the government decided not to listen. Under the mandate of the NWT Development Corporation, they don't go into these businesses to make a profit. They go into there to create employment. But that mandate obviously was forgotten when they took the sawmill away.

So I ask the Minister what is he planning to do in this fiscal year to ensure that there are people on the ground to help deliver the programs and services, and maybe create some employment in all those communities that he's mentioned, and help to create an economic base at the community level so that we are not just a social state for this government to manage from a regional and central location. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, aside from the list that I read out previously -- 486 positions -- there are other positions that are not on our list because they are contract crews, like the fire contract crews that some of the bands and some of the community corporations have been able to negotiate with us. There are a number of them. We also have a number of different community transfer initiatives: the economic development officer positions that we've negotiated with quite a number of the communities. We intend to look at those as well. I think that gives communities some community empowerment. Community governments have asked for EDO positions, and we're trying to comply with that. We'll continue to do that. That gives resources to the smaller communities to have their own people hired or an expert hired to help them out. We're going to be promoting the contributions that are available to help enhance the smaller communities as well. So the intention this year is to be aggressive in this area. We know there are requirements in our smaller communities. Even though we have programs and services, we want to make sure that these programs and services are delivered to smaller communities where it's required. Thank you.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed