The groups have been involved from the earliest days, right from 2002 forward up until the protocol work we were doing. All groups were involved in that. We looked at the request from the Dene Nation, reviewed it to see how we could look at doing this work and reaching out, and the decision was to work with the regional approach that we put together at the start of this Assembly and we’re continuing to do that. We have contacted the Dene Nation and informed them our approach will be with the regional and community leaders.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again I’d like to ask the Minister, there’s been a lot of push by the Premier to go community by community. I think before you do that, you’re undermining the Aboriginal leadership by doing that and not recognizing that they are elected officials with just as much authority as we have. I’d like to know if we are undermining the Aboriginal leadership without having that dialogue with them first, before we go into the communities. The same thing applies to ourselves as MLAs and Members of this House. What are we doing to get those Aboriginal leaders, show them some respect, and treat them as real leaders in the Northwest Territories and quit ignoring them?

The Member continues to stand up in this House and, in a sense, show disrespect to the process that we have put in place through regional leaders. The Member has at least in his mail copies of the letter and correspondence that we’ve sent to regional leaders to say we are working with them going forward with the regional leaders, so the grand chiefs, the presidents and the community leaders, the chiefs from their

communities. We’ve invited them to give us times when they would like to meet and discuss how we proceed forward. So we’ve communicated on that behalf and await responses. In fact, we’ve acted on the first response we had from the Sahtu and the door is open for those who want to come forward and have these discussions on how to move forward.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Human Resources. It has to do with the promise that was made last year that Mr. Miltenberger stated May 18th . I want to ask

the Minister when the Cross-Cultural Awareness Training Program will be available to all GNWT employees as was promised last year.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately he never communicated that information to me. No, I’m just… We have been working diligently on developing a Cross-Cultural Awareness Training Program for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Our 20/20: Brilliant North Public Service Strategic Plan makes cross-cultural awareness and diversity awareness a priority for this government. We developed a framework agreement that promotes exactly that and we’ll be rolling it out in the new fiscal year, 2011-2012. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister when the department rolls out this cross-cultural training program, when, I guess, is the time frame in terms of dates as to when he thinks that it will be delivered in the Sahtu region.

We’ve awarded a couple of contracts so that we can develop a Cross-Cultural Awareness Training Program that can be delivered. We are working with communities and we are also involving Aboriginal governments, those that are willing to participate. We’ve written to all of them and invited them to participate. We also will be tendering and awarding another contract to develop a training curriculum framework for our e-training component of this cultural awareness program. My expectation is it will be early, probably the summer of 2011. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform me and inform the House if the ground-roots people from the Sahtu region, in terms of their unique cultural way of living, are involved in part of the cross-cultural awareness training the same as

the Gwich’in or the Akaitcho and the other diversity cultures in the North here. Is the Sahtu involved?

As I said, we have written to all of the Aboriginal governments inviting them to participate in the development of the cross-cultural awareness training. I would have to check to see if the Sahtu government has responded in the affirmative. But we are also developing a guide that would outline the training on the land or experienced-based training that’s available out there, and my expectation is that our Cross-Cultural Awareness Program that will be developed will involve people in the regions and elders and so on. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From experience, sometimes we find that some people are very well-expertised in putting together training programs, but they still don’t get it in terms of them facilitating or delivering a cross-cultural or any type of training program. How will the people in the Sahtu be in the forefront of actually teaching the program or putting the program together in terms of this cultural training that would be greatly received, hopefully, by the GNWT employees?

The contract has been awarded and we’ll address those issues. Our expectation is that all new employees that are new to the North, new to the government, will undergo the cross-cultural awareness and diversity-awareness training. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Those are the areas that we need to explore with each department. Each department has their own mandate. They have their own goals

and objectives to deal with the communities, whether it comes to apprenticeship or training on the job at the community level and also employment. So we need to gather that information. I can definitely share that with the Member as well. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to get the appropriate department, I guess, to start looking at employment rates. It’s very difficult to kind of place this issue, like the Minister responded, on one department. I’m also trying to find some sort of champion, I guess, from Cabinet to be able to lead something like this. Again, I want to ask the Minister if he knows, if the Minister or the department knows what industry needs for the demand of trades personnel are in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do have data. We’ve conducted a survey in the past and we also have an MOU with the mining industry and they’ve identified how many apprentices will be required, how many positions will be required, training programs and the local employment. Just recently the Rio Tinto Diavik, they’ve hired on I believe it’s nine additional apprentices. That’s above and beyond what they’ve committed to. So kudos goes to the team. But others, the corporations and the bands have identified what’s going to be required in the next five to 10 years down the road. We do have the information on that and we are working with that information as we develop a plan to move forward on identifying budget, within the budget, to allocate that funding specifically to the communities such as Fort Res and Lutselk'e in the Member’s riding and other communities as well. Mahsi.

That’s good news, Mr. Speaker. It sounds like there’s been some activity with the industry. Now, in as far as the department themselves go, the department of Housing, Public Works, MACA, ITI, and their needs for work to be done, just any sort of work that has to be done, most of that type of work, when there’s contracts and so on, there’s a requirement for trades personnel to be on-site. I’m wondering if the Minister has discussed any sort of plan with departments such as Housing, Public Works, MACA and ITI in as far as the need for trades labour goes for their work. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there’s always an ongoing discussion interdepartmentally, whether it be MACA, PWS, Housing, and within our Education department and other departments, as well, that may require whether it be apprentices or training on the job, and we do what we can as the department to assist in those areas because we do have the funding allocated under apprenticeship and an on-the-job training as well. Mr. Speaker, I’ll continue to work

with those departments and strengthen the working relationships that we have and identifying those key areas of interest that are out there in the Northwest Territories and in the communities that we need to push for. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.