This is page numbers 6687 - 6724 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 6th 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 students.

Topics

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister inform the House how many of these summer students have come on board with the Department of Transportation or PWS such as engineering or bridge construction or any other fields that the department is working in?

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

I’d need clarity to that question on whether he’s referring to this year or since the start of this government, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Now, the Department of Health and Social Services has made a significant commitment in the past to employ northern nursing and other allied health professional students every summer. To this end, they have implemented a Related Experience Program to help the authorities hire these students. Last year the authorities across the Northwest Territories employed 45 students who fell into this category: two in the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority; 13 in Yellowknife Health and

Social Services Authority; 12 at Stanton; six in the Beau-Del Authority; six in Fort Smith Health and Social Services Authority; five in the Deh Cho; and one in the Sahtu. This year the numbers don’t seem to be what they were last year, Mr. Speaker. We have heard from nursing students that they haven’t been having any luck, or at least limited luck obtaining related experience employment.

Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister is: does the Related Experience Program still exist and will the Minister commit to working with the authorities in the Northwest Territories to ensure that at least 45 -- preferably more -- students who qualify for the Relevant Experience Program are hired again this summer? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will commit to meet with the deputy before the end of session tomorrow to get a better understanding of the numbers on a comparative basis and be able to speak more fully to that to the Member. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I thank the Minister for that and look forward to receiving that information from him.

The second question I’d have is: inside the Department of Health and Social Services, last summer it looks like they hired 10 summer students and this year, again, the numbers don’t seem to be what they were last year. It’s already almost the third week in May. I’d like to ask the Minister how many summer students have been hired within the Department of Health and Social Services. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you. My list tells me there was seven that have been hired for this year, keeping in mind that every authority and the department, every department of government has been asked to manage their dollars in the most efficient way possible and it reflects some of those pressures, but seven is on the list I have here. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister, the Department of Health and Social Services hired 10 summer students last summer. I’d like to ask the Minister, is the department committed to again hiring 10 summer students this summer. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you. We’re committed, as is ENR, to hiring all the students we can with the resources we have available. I can’t commit specifically to the number 10, but I can commit to that fact. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and again I thank the Minister for that. I’d like to ask the Minister when the Department of Health and Social Services began planning for the requirement for summer students where they fit inside the department, when did that planning start?

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you. There’s a common planning process. The Minister of HR laid it out. It’s tied to our business planning process, the funds that are going to be available, the means to look at this particular piece of work that’s done in addition to all the other program demands and getting the information out so that students are encouraged to in fact file and put their names on the system. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Justice, and it’s no surprise there’s a bit of a theme going on here. My questions are also related to summer students. It’s well known that summer students can start to submit their resumes anytime, basically anytime after Christmas and into January. So I would assume that there are an awful lot of students who are well prepared and who do have their resumes in in January, February and March, but at this point in the year we’ve only hired about maybe not quite two-thirds of what we hired in total last year. It seems to be a very, very slow machine. I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice when the first student that is currently employed for summer of 2011 was hired by the department. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Within the Justice department we’ve been working closely with the Department of Human Resources since December to identify those students. We try to keep track of the students that have potential to be lawyers, or in that capacity. So of the students that we have, there are approximately eight students and some of them have started. I don’t have the specific dates of when they started, but we want to get those students on board, all of them, as soon as possible, if they’re not on board already. Mahsi.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister, he mentions that there are eight students that are hired at the moment. He also mentioned that the department tries to get students on board as soon as possible. I really appreciate that attitude on the part of the department and I believe there

was a previous Minister who indicated that they have most of their students hired already.

Students, when they’re coming out of university, have four months to try and make some money to get them through the next university year and the sooner we can hire them, absolutely the more money they’re going to make and the better off they’re going to be. I’d like to ask the Minister, if there are eight students hired at the moment, last year the department hired 11 -- and to use what, according to my colleague Mr. Menicoche is my favourite phrase -- I’d like to ask the Minister if he can meet or beat that number of 11.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

Mahsi. Our goal has always been to either meet or go beyond that maximum target that we have, with the resources that we have currently. Mahsi.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister. So with the resources that you currently have in the Department of Justice, I’d like to ask the Minister, will he be able to hire the 11 students that they hired last year. Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

Mahsi. Currently, we have eight students that will be working within the Department of Justice. So that’s the resources that we have. If there are additional resources, by all means, we need to work within the framework or the budget that we’re going to have for summer students. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I have to take that as a no. So I’m really disappointed in Justice if they can’t meet or beat their last year’s goal. I’d like to know from the Minister if he could give us an idea of the number of students, out of these eight students, how many of them will be working in Yellowknife and how many will be working in communities outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

Mahsi. The information that I do have is eight students will be working within the Department of Justice. I don’t have the breakdown of where they’re going to be working, but I can provide that information to the Members. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.