Mr. Chair, I look forward to working with the Member over the next three years as we try to develop training that is both appropriate and cost effective. The trick is that we do want to respect and appreciate the Aboriginal cultures, but we also have to do that in the fiscal realities that we’re faced with, which is one of the reasons we are starting the eRecruit. We figure we could get the greatest amount of access to GNWT employees in all communities – Yellowknife included – at all levels, anybody that has access to a computer, so that is a starting point.

I don’t want anybody to think that is the only thing that we’re doing. Individual departments are doing things specific to the departments. Justice has a Corrections Entry Level Training Program. There are Aboriginal components in there, cultural awareness in there. RCMP have made a commitment to having their officers engage with the public and the communities that they serve. In smaller communities, get to know the chief and councils, and where appropriate, get out on the land with the members so that they can get a true sense of what’s going on in the communities and understand the people as much as possible.

Health and Social Services in their Community Health Nurse Development Program has a cultural component. So there are things that are being done out there that are a lot more specific and include getting more into the communities and engage more in the communities. This is a starting point. I want to stress that it’s just a starting point, but we want to get this one in place and make it work as an initial tool to develop awareness of the cultures and

from there we can build. So I look forward to building with Member Yakeleya.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. One final supplementary question, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister listed a number of other programs the departments are doing to increase the understanding of Aboriginal culture. I think it works both ways. That’s the beautiful part of reconciliation and healing. I think the Minister has listed some fairly good initiatives by some of the departments.

I do want to say that the Department of Education and Culture so far, for myself I think, has done an excellent job, because those teachers go out for one week on the land and spend a week on the land. It’s a directive by the Minister. For the teachers, you have to go out to the land. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You’re on the land for one week and our people really appreciate that in our communities. They come back and have fun, they laugh, and the teachers I’ve talked to say that’s the best thing they ever did in all the four years of university, where they learn the most. So I just want to remind the Minister that he’s got the power.

Fortunately the Minister of Education is sitting here as well, so he got to hear everything that you just said and I look forward to working with both the Member and the Minister.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Moving to our other speaker here and I’ll remind Members we’re on page 3-25, corporate human resources. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again I seek guidance. I’d like to speak to the failure of this department in the past to establish a Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission policy that resulted in fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars amounting and totaling to millions. Is that appropriate under the corporate human resources or would that be the next section on employee services?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the appropriate section. This is the section that that responsibility would fall under. The Department of Human Resources continues to lead the development of the GNWT Occupational Health and Safety Program. A work plan is currently being developed to improve health and safety practices within the GNWTworkplace.

Ultimately every department is responsible for their own occupational health and safety plan or program. We provide guidance and advice on what works in other jurisdictions as well as what works

well within some of the departments within the Government of the Northwest Territories. We’ve had, as a government, pretty good uptake in some departments. Some departments are still a little behind and still working on that, but yes, this is the section that is responsible for assisting the departments.

Thanks for that information. I know there is a sort of bifurcation. There are some responsibilities of this department and then there are responsibilities that accrue to each and every other department as well. So maybe I could get some clarity on what exactly Human Resources is responsible for, and if I could just save time a little bit by also asking if we know what the status is, have we received a fine, how much in the past year and are we anticipating further fines this year. Any crystal ball estimates there? Thank you.

I’ll start with the easy one first. We have been fined in the past and we are expecting to have a fine again this year. I can’t tell you what that total is going to be, but as soon as we know, we will certainly share that information with Members.

With respect to the role of the Department of Human Resources, we provide leadership and guidance. Ultimately it is the departments that are responsible for putting their committees in place and making sure that those committees are meeting on a regular basis and providing that occupational health and safety perspective within the individual departments. We are responsible for putting in policies such as the Duty to Accommodate Policy and whatnot that has some play here. When an individual is injured in the workplace, we do have a duty to accommodate them. So the policy was drafted by the Department of Human Resources in cooperation with input from other departments, but once again, when it comes to the actual implementation, we are a provider of information, best practices and recommendations based on policy.

Maybe could I just get what the amount was in fines for ‘11-12? We had been fined under two categories. So if it’s possible to break that out, that would be great.

Would the Minister maybe commit to keeping us updated when we know what’s happening this fiscal year in terms of that and maybe even an update on how things are going at some point with trying to seal this issue once and for all and get all of the departments responding appropriately? Thank you.

The Safe Advantage Program, there are two parts to this program. The first part of any penalty or any fine comes as a result of claims history and experience, and that’s based on a formula that the WSCC has put in place that looks at the government as a whole because they consider us one employer as opposed to many

employers. But they run it through the formula and we are assessed based on the number of claims in the government. If we’re over a certain threshold, we get a fine. If we’re at the threshold, obviously we don’t blow it; obviously we don’t. In 2010 and 2011 we were fined for $243,000.

There is a second part of the process that individual employers, the GNWT in this case, are put through a questionnaire process. So they’ll go to one division, section or department in the government and they will go through a questionnaire process. Last year the questionnaire was asked in the Department of Human Resources and we passed that. As a result there was no secondary portion of the fine, which is usually half of the claims fine. If we failed that, our fine would have been about another $120,000 higher. We passed it; we didn’t get that second portion, but we did have the initial fine of $243,000. Based on what we know of our claims to date, we expect that we will be over the threshold, assuming the threshold stays the same as it was in previous years. So we are expecting a fine once again.

The second part of the questionnaire would depend on how the departments, division, section or whatever went through the interview process, how they fared through that interview process, and once we have that data, we will be obviously sharing it with committee to let them know the status. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think that’s it for now. Thanks for that information. I’ll look forward to updates.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’ll direct committee to page 3-25, activity summary, corporate human resources, operations expenditure summary, $12.371 million.

Page 3-26, activity summary, corporate human resources, grants and contributions, contributions, $115,000, total grants and contributions, $115,000.

Thank you. Page 3-27, information item, corporate human resources, active positions. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. What is that new job in headquarters? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe this was brought up during the interim budget as well. There has been an increase of one position at corporate human resources. There was a labour relations advisor that sunsetted. We’re bringing it back. Is that correct? One sunsetted, we’re bringing it back, and then we’re

bringing back an additional one to help us with some of the workload in the labour relations division. So two there, one new.

Thank you very much. That’s good.

Thank you. Page 3-27, information item, corporate human resources, active positions.