Mr. Speaker, we do have people in trades that do monitor and also work with industry if there are employment opportunities. Certainly we need to be a partner in that, whether it be the trades or on-the-job training or even community-based training. We do have Trades on

Wheels now in Inuvik, and they’ll certainly be fully utilized.

Also, not only do we as the GNWT and the community level help, but also the federal government does offer assistance through the HRDA program, and with that, there are various career-focused skills links, summer work experience and youth awareness.

So we do work with the federal government closely, the communities, the regions and also the First Nations government at the community level. We do what we can as the GNWT to work with them and the same with the industries as well.

I thank the Minister for that. The Trades on Wheels I think is going to have some positive impact, but I think the point here is we have to insist to industry that we want these people trained, not just say we’re going to do it and then we’ll leave it up to you.

I’d like to ask the Minister if industry has ever offered money to ECE to run training programs through Aurora College.

Mr. Speaker, there has been some interest and also some true partnership funding through industry. Most of it was training in the community, in the region. Some industries were getting ready for their operations during the construction phase. They wanted to have qualified, trained people. So we have partnered in that area, and whether it be the oil and gas sector or the new mines that may be coming up, I’m sure they’ll probably go through the same process.

As the GNWT, we’ll be very interested in that area, where there is involvement of individuals from the community. That’s one of our goals. Certainly we need to highlight that to industries that are exploring or even during the construction phases in our backyard per se. So we’ll monitor those areas.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. Final

supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I asked that because I know for a fact that there was some money offered for training though one of the exploration companies up in Beaufort-Delta. My understanding is it wasn't taken advantage of.

I'd like to ask the Minister if Aurora College has the capacity to offer courses that are more likely going to be funded by industry. They just need someone to administer and deliver the course. Do they have the capacity to do that?

Mr. Speaker, I do believe that we do have the capacity. If we don't, we certainly are always looking for partnerships –– partnerships with the U of A or Calgary-based and so forth –– with Saskatchewan. The prime example

would be the teacher degree program, and also the nursing degree program.

So we are open to any opportunities that come to our doorstep. We, as the department, would like to jump on that. Even better, if they provide funding through the delivery of a training program, then by all means, we are open for that. If Aurora College doesn't have the capacity, then I'm sure they will jump on the opportunity to build the capacity. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. The

honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to follow up on the questions posed by my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen in regard to the Territorial Women's Correctional Centre.

I believe we heard the Minister state that there are 12 inmates in Fort Smith, but I wonder if the Minister could confirm that that's correct and advise how many women inmates we are responsible for in total within the Territories and in southern placements.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr.

Speaker.

When I gave the number 12, that was from April 2008. We are in June now, so I'm sure the number has changed.

I don't have the number with me right now, but I can provide that number to the Member, and also detailed information on the southern placements: how many exactly we have in the south. I can certainly provide that information as well.

I appreciate the answer from the Minister, and I would be happy to receive that information as soon as possible.

I'll ask the question anyway. I'm going to have to assume that he wouldn't have that detail here, as well, but can he advise the cost that we incur on an annual basis to house inmates in the south?

There again I can provide more detailed information, but I can use North Slave Correctional as an example, since I do have the previous numbers on that. It is based on the housing of inmates. I believe it was $186 a day, based on the inmates at the corrections centre.

It could be different in this area, but I can certainly provide more detailed information to the Member on that.

I would appreciate receiving that information.

In regard to the need for a new facility –– assuming that we will have a new facility with a capacity for 18 and assuming that that's what’s required and again looking at the amount of money that it costs us to house people in the south and the amount of money that it's going to cost us for a new facility –– I'd like to know from the Minister why there seems to be such resistance on the part of the Minister and the department to delay the project for one year.

Mr. Speaker, that was one of the proposals that we brought forward. There again, it's a 1960 building. I think what it comes down to is the minimal security that we have. We want to bring back those inmates from the south. I think that if we can house them in Fort Smith in the Women's Correctional Centre, that's part of the reason why we propose this new facility.

The facility is based on $320,000 for planning and another $6 million for the particular building. So that was part of the proposal: trying to invite those inmates back from the south, to be back home.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. Final

supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't differ; I don't disagree with the Minister that we want to bring our inmates back to the North and house them in the North, but given that there's been a deletion to the budget of this amount of money and that $186 a day is a lot of money — but still it's not $6 million –– I have difficulty in understanding why the Minister still seems to feel that this project should go ahead at this time. If he could give me that explanation.

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons, again, is that we have these inmates in RCMP cells as opposed to in a facility that we should have. At the same time, we send these inmates down south as opposed to having them in the North. That's part of the reason why we propose to have a facility in Fort Smith for women's correction. So instead of sending the inmates down south, we want to have them here in the North.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. The

honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to follow up on questions that my colleague from Kam Lake was asking the Minister of Human Resources on affirmative action.

In the Minister's response he indicated that the Public Service Career Training Program had disappeared. It was a program that was being utilized to help aboriginal people with technical skills but who lacked education transition into employment at officer- and management-level jobs. The program, the PSCTP, had an 84 per cent success rate and was graduating 30-plus aboriginal people a year into meaningful jobs in the public service. It’s gone, because in 1996 the budget cuts resulted in the elimination of the program. So we took a program that worked and eliminated it, and now we've been stagnant at 31 per cent.

Given that the program is successful, I'd like the Minister responsible for Human Resources to commit to conducting a review of the program that did exist and possibly re-implementing it in order to ensure that we have a tool that is there and available for aboriginal people in the North who have technical skills but lack education to transition into officer-level and management-level jobs in the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr.

Abernethy. The

honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Certainly we'd be very interested in getting the details of that program again, especially since it was a very successful program.

I think the government moved to training more people directly through Aurora College and so on, whereby people went into post-secondary education and were able to go into jobs directly with the Government of the Northwest Territories. I think it would be timely to look at the Public Service Career Training Program again.

Also, some other federal programs that were there have disappeared, as well, like the Northern Careers Program that was there. It's no longer around, but certainly I'd be prepared to look at that Public Service Career Training Program.

That's good to hear. I think the program is a very good program, and it was very successful in its day. Given that you've committed to looking at it, I was wondering if I could get a further commitment to get a timeline from you as to when you might be able to conduct a review of the Public Service Career Training Program, with recommendations to possibly re-implement it.

Our first step is to go back and find a copy of that program and find out what aspects of it worked. Then we would have to review it in line with the way we're organized as a government with regard to human resources and with how we would work with the departments in view of the fact that delegated authority for staffing is really the

departments’. I would expect it would take at least four to five months to get to that point.

In another part of the Minister’s response to the Member for Kam Lake the Minister talked about the Management Assignment Program. I was under the impression that the Management Assignment Program had actually stalled and that there hadn’t been an intake for at least a year or two. Can you just give me a quick update on the Management Assignment Program? Is it still up and running, or has it stalled out and died as well?