This is page numbers 3501 - 3522 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was communities.

Topics

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Minister of Public Works and Services

Mr. Speaker, the deficiencies are going to be all completed by the end of November. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would certainly like to see that done by that time, because the community is certainly looking forward to having a full opening ceremony for the building. If we can do it by December, I’d be pleased to see that; even January, Mr. Speaker. But I think the whole thing is our government has to take the time to correct the deficiencies in that building. So once again, I’d like to ask the Minister that we must get the contractor to complete these deficiencies. Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Minister of Public Works and Services

I’ll certainly convey that to our officials, that this building better be done by the end of November. I should point out, though, the building is still usable and the community certainly can take advantage of it. We are very aware that they were very frustrated with some of the issues that came forward, but we’re working very hard to get it all addressed, for the most part. Except for the floor, I think everything’s done and we will ensure that it’s completed by the end of November. We will inform the Member that we want to move forward and have an official opening at some point. We already deferred it on several occasions, so we’d like to see that happen also. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address my questions to the Minister of Human Resources. I’d like to follow up on his statement from yesterday and some of the questions that I asked the Minister yesterday. In our exchange, I referenced the Employability Working Group and asked the Minister what the group had accomplished. In the results that he mentioned to me, he mentioned a number of things. One of them was that the department has consulted with a number of other different jurisdictions; another one was that they have implemented some sensitivity training. I’d like to know from the Minister what impact this past work has had on the number of persons with disabilities who have been hired in the last little while. How many more persons with disabilities have we hired since the Employability Working Group was established in June of 2008? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated yesterday, it’s not something that we change overnight. It’s a process that takes some time and it’s a matter of working with partners and it’s a matter of changing the culture of an organization. Anecdotally, I know of at least two additional people with disabilities that have been hired, at least one of them has self-identified as disabled. So it’s our expectation that it’s an ongoing process and it will take some time to have some achievable results.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

I understand that change takes a while for it to be processed. It’s good to hear that we have at least two more people hired who are persons with disabilities, but that still doesn’t bring our percentage to any kind of a limit that is representative of our workforce.

In June of 2009 the Minister made a statement and he talked about the development of a recruitment strategy as a long-term goal, and this is a recruitment strategy for persons with disabilities. The percentage of persons with disabilities in the GNWT workforce has been at about .4 percent for quite a number of years. I’d like to ask the Minister how this long-term strategy is going to assist in increasing the number of persons with disabilities now and prior to the end of this fiscal year. Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Minister of Human Resources

I get the impression that the Member has some issues with self-identification. The Member is correct; .4 percent is the number that has been on our records for the statistics for employing people with disabilities. We have undertaken surveys with regard to our Human

Resource Strategy, and of the 1,200-plus people that have identified, at least 1 percent have identified themselves as being disabled. So that would be approximately a 60 percent increase in the number of disabled people within our workforce.

Having said that, we are taking a very logical approach to increasing our statistics. We are looking at what others are doing. We’re working very closely with partners, we’re setting up committees that can ensure some real change, and we’re working with our management teams so that they are sensitized and that they make real concerted efforts to hire people with disabilities. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

I thank the Minister for the answer and I understand that, again, as I say, I know that change takes time and I guess to the Minister’s comment that I’d have a problem with self-identification, I do, but I think perhaps we’re on opposite sides of the fence on what the problem may be. If we look at .4 percent of our workforce as being persons with disabilities and if we consider that it is the policy of this government that our workforce should represent our general population, we should, therefore, have about 15 percent of our workforce be persons with disabilities. So the Minister says we’ve had an increase, and yes, I agree, but a .2 percent increase is not enough.

Yesterday the Minister talked about the strategic plan and goal number two. I’d like to know from the Minister how the Employability Working Group and the actions that it has done go toward the accomplishment of goal number two of the 20/20 brilliant plan. Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

I’ll just clarify that I think our objectives are the same when it comes to increasing the employability of people with disabilities and, again, you know, somebody said there’s statistics, damn lies, but I’m probably misquoting it.

The statistics, if you look at the workforce for the Northwest Territories, it should be around 8 percent, and I think that’s something we can probably reach agreement around what percentage we should be working towards. But nevertheless, I think what we’re setting in place with the Employability Working Group with looking at best practices with sensitivity training, working with groups that directly work with persons with disabilities, I think we will identify different jobs that could be made available and then we would identify people that could step into those jobs. So I think that’s where we see us going forward. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I appreciate that the department is doing things. What the department is doing is long term and it’s

not going to assist us right now in increasing the percentage of persons with disabilities in our workforce.

I talked yesterday about priority lists. I’d like to ask the Minister what priority does he put on the increasing of persons with disabilities in our workforce. Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you. I could answer that and give my own opinion, but this is a government and we deal with the government policies. So right now, P1s, or affirmative actions, are the top priority. P2s, people that have lived more than half their lives in the Northwest Territories, are second priorities, and then we have P3s. I think that what we’re reviewing is what would it take to give persons with disabilities a higher priority in our Affirmative Action Policy, and that’s what we would be looking at. We are looking at ways and then, at that point, we would bring it back to see if we could change our policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today was adequate resources to counsellors in every community of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, given all across the Territory community governments and organizations are saying the same thing, that the communities’ number one problem is not enough counselling and support, will this government commit to a small, fully functional, around-the-clock, fully equipped addictions centre or just assisting the communities in what they’re trying to do to try to help their own people, instead of the communities taking all this on themselves? Hopefully the government will come on side and help us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the government does support communities. The Department of Health and Social Services is currently in the process of conducting a review of mental health and addiction services across the NWT. The purpose of this review is to examine the services offered in various regions and communities and how well they fit the needs of the residents. The Department of Health has also been working closely with aboriginal organizations to establish community-based, culturally relevant addictions programming options in the Beaufort-Delta region. These pilot projects will be offered as

a part of a continuum of services, which includes regular program, Community Counselling Program, and residential addictions treatment, both northern and southern. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, community leaders are identifying the lack of professional and social support as one of the most serious issues in the communities. People are very passionate about this issue; they have a lot to say. As a government, we must listen. We must act so that the government is to review the current territorial strategy on addictions and other counselling programs to conduct a comprehensive community-based decision to develop a go-forward plan.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Yes, we are listening to the community leaders and communities. We agree that it is time to act and this is why we are doing a review. As well, Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned previously, I will be releasing the Foundation for Change Action Plan next week, which includes a number of actions related to mental health and addictions.

So, Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member and I am listening. This is an area that we need to focus our energy on and work hard on, and I look forward to working with the Member to advance this. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Just to go back to what the Minister said, too many times, as a government, we go on too many reports and audits and different things. What we have to do is we have to act on it, and I’m happy to hear her say that, but again, I’m going to invite the Minister to my communities as soon as it’s convenient in the next few months. Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Yes, I want to let the Member know that I am available most of November and December, except for the holidays, to visit Tuktoyaktuk and his other communities, because I have not been able to get there with the Member.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to assure the Member that this is a priority for the department and for the government. We understand that we need to do things differently in delivering mental health and addictions programming, and I commit to the Member that we have an action plan in place and we will work on those. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Premier and it gets back to my Member’s statement. Here in the Northwest Territories we’re on the verge of some

pretty substantial undertakings. I know the JRP report is due out soon, we’re also talking now about an extension of the Ingraham Trail -- that’s the seasonal overland route into the Slave Geological Province -- which gets me to thinking, the last time I saw the numbers that the Government of Canada took out of the Northwest Territories in terms of resource revenue is somewhere near $300 million, and projections once the gas is flowing down the Mackenzie pipeline, once its constructed, is going to be over $1 billion. Now, if you add into that potential mine development in the Slave Geological Province, it’s a tremendous amount of money.

I’d like to ask the Premier today, what is the current state of negotiations on a resource revenue deal for the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.