Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is at least one layperson who is a member of the board of the Law Society.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I asked about the discipline hearing, so I'll continue with my next process, not the society itself. Would the Minister then consider or agree that there are certain minimum requirements that standards of conduct must be upheld and that the legal profession should have certain minimum requirements of an automatic statutory review when they break the law? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member may be interested to know that the Law Society is proposing amendments to the Legal Profession Act, and one of the requested minimums is that any lawyer practicing in the Northwest Territories convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced for a period of incarceration would automatically be suspended from the practice of law for that period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say that's actually good news. That really is good news. Mr. Speaker, my last question then sort of gets really pared down. Would the Minister engage to ensure that someone from the public sits on the discipline hearing side of the law society? Will he ensure that's possible? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will raise that issue with the Law Society and will get back to the Member on how the discussion goes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to get back to my Member's statement about the affirmative action policy and the human resource practices in our government, I guess my question is to the Premier in his capacity as the Minister of the Executive. I just want to ask if the Premier will agree to an independent, comprehensive, unbiased review of the current practices by human resource departments and staff in this government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question should be referred to the Minister of Finance, who has the responsibility for human resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member raises an issue that has been of concern to the Government of the Northwest Territories for many years. A number of reviews have taken place on the affirmative action policy, and with the work we are now doing on the regionalization and Human Resource Service Centre work that's ongoing, we're hoping that we can streamline how we get things done and the interpretation of the affirmative action policy itself. As well, we are undergoing a review and will hopefully have something to present to Members, probably by fall, around the area of affirmative action. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the results of that review. Just with what the Minister was talking about, the concern has been around for many years, there have been many reviews. Now we're going to have another review that's going to come out in the fall and I'm sure it's going to tell us the same story, that affirmative action is not working or we're not using it or we're just going to review it to death here. I know there are some human resource changes that are happening right now in FMBS and just to start there, I guess, in the human resources division and then carrying out through the various government departments. But even from that department when you start having problems in that department...

What's your question, Mr. Villeneuve? Do you have a question?

Can the Minister commit to addressing the problems that the human resource staff have with the affirmative action policy which is clearly not adhered to and how does he intend to make that policy

something that is going to have an end result in a representative government of the people? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Two questions there. Mr. Roland, you can answer one or both.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work we're doing right now in the Human Resource Service Centre program and reworking how we deal with the people we have working for us will allow us to better deal with the concerns we have as employers and how we deal with employees and the process of hiring and training and so on. So I can say that yes, I think that process will improve on that service, but at the same time with the work as we're going forward on this, we will be taking action on improving the commitment we have to having a representative workforce. I think if you look at the breakdown of region and communities, we have some regions and communities that are ahead on the percentage and some communities that we're behind on. We realize that and we're working to improve on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to get back to the root of this problem, before it snowballs through the whole GNWT once the human resource reorganization goes down to the human resource division, if the problem is blatantly clear in that department then it's obviously rampant all over the GNWT on how they practice their human resource reassessment and employee performance appraisals. In the criteria for that reorganization, the last item on the criteria requirements is affirmative action candidate or not. I think just based on that review this government does, as far as I'm concerned that should be a first criteria.