This is page numbers 3643 – 3682 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th 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 positions.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Bob Bromley Weledeh
I appreciate the Minister’s offer. I think we’ll take him up on that.
My last question is, just looking at the budget, it’s increased substantially, about 50 percent or more since 2012-13. I think we’re putting a lot more emphasis on employee development and workforce planning.
What is the evaluation of these investments, this additional 50 percent? What is the evaluation of the effectiveness of those investments showing? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe
That will require a bit of a detailed response. I will have the deputy minister provide that.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Bassi-Kellett
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. We track in a number of different ways how we look at the results, longitudinally over time with some of the programs we put in place. Very important to have the evaluation framework overall. Members may recall that each year the Minister tables a results report for 20/20, Public Service Strategic Plan, which describes the progress we’ve made in the past year in the five different thematic areas within the Public Service Strategic Plan overall, and that we table every spring and that gives an overall high level snapshot.
At the same time, the funding that’s in this area is used to implement a lot of things that are corporate in nature. For example, some of the funding that’s included in this budget, and part of the other O and
M, is the funding that supports interns across the organization. We have a pot of money that departments apply to us for to support up to $40,000 per intern per department. Departments then top up the rest.
We have funding for progressive experience and relevant experience programs for summer students, as well, that’s in this pot of funding, about $500,000. We also, out of this area, do a lot of the work, support the work for occupational health and training. We do our Leadership Development Program, which we have done in partnership with the University of Alberta, where we put a lot of people through this program to be able to develop overall leadership skills that will be useful to them as they progress in their career either within the public service or elsewhere.
We also have our Associate Director/ Superintendent Program as it was formerly referred to. We are now calling it our Aboriginal Management Development Program, which supports two year developmental positions for priority 1 indigenous Aboriginal candidates that departments apply to us for the funding. We provide that funding to the departments and they implement a very rigorous development plan for indigenous Aboriginal candidate to be able to step into management within the public service and into a permanent position after their two years.
We have other work underway like our Regional Recruitment Program and our competencies that are all covered through this and we are seeing long-term incremental development in each of these areas as we report out in the results report. Thank you very much.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Bob Bromley Weledeh
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are all the questions I had. I appreciate that information. I guess I would note some of these things are meant to be funded I think out of the vacant positions. Obviously, we have over 600 vacant positions to be staffed and inactive that are funded on any one day. That’s a lot of moola. We know that those dollars are being used for many of these things, so if they are funded specifically on top of that, as well, I think there needs to be some real clarity in reporting and evaluation on those fronts. I will leave it at that comment. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Comment noted. Committee, we are on 3-19, activity summary, strategic human resources, operations expenditure summary, $9.943 million. Does committee agree?
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
Thank you, committee. Page 3-20, information item, strategic human resources, active positions. Any questions?
Seeing none, 3-23, activity summary, regional operations, operations expenditure summary, $2.721 million. Does committee agree?
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
Thank you, committee. Page 3-24, information item, regional operations, active positions. Any questions? Ms. Bisaro.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
The Chair Daryl Dolynny
I will read it out again. Information item, regional operations, active positions. Any questions? Seeing none, 3-27, activity summary, labour relations, operations expenditure summary, $2.818 million. Does committee agree? Ms. Bisaro.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just have a couple questions here. I’d like to know from the department, at one point we had a great number of grievances and the department was diligently working their way through the grievances and trying to bring them down to a reasonable number. Between last year and this year, projected budget year, can I get some kind of an idea of whether the number of grievances we have had has gone up or down or has it stayed steady? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Bassi-Kellett
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. We have worked in collaboration with the Union of Northern Workers and the NWT Teachers’ Association very closely through regular case management meetings to really try to tackle some of the issues that come up to us through grievance. We recognize it’s in our mutual best interest to be able to work to resolve issues in a way that are going to make sense for both parties and for the employee involved.
Through the case management meetings, we’ve been able to bring the number of grievances down. I believe we have actually dipped under into two figures from three figures earlier this year. That was quite astonishing for us. A large part of that is due to having the regularity of the meetings and having the issues that are dealt with in a really relevant and timely way. Thank you very much.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to Ms. Bassi-Kellett for that. That’s good to hear. I hope it stays down there.
My other question has to do with the duty to accommodate. I believe the department has put a bit of a focus on the accommodation of employees who have been off due to injury or some for disability, but I am referencing generally injury. There will be times when a department makes an offer to an employee who is returning to work to accommodate them in a certain way and the employee disagrees. When there is a problem like that and the two parties can’t reach any kind of an agreement, is there any kind of an appeal mechanism for the employee to appeal somewhere, maybe to the Department of HR, I’m not sure, but is there an appeal mechanism for someone who feels that they have not been accommodated properly? If not, then what avenue is there for an employee who feels that they haven’t been adequately accommodated? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe
Mr. Chair, we have developed some positions specifically for this. We have two regional duty to accommodate advisors that we have hired to work with the existing advisor to manage the caseload. We have located those two positions in Hay River and Inuvik. There were over 150 active case files underway. As of the 15th of December 2013, it was 64 cases here and with the Tlicho, 50 in the South Slave and 42 in the Beaufort-Delta. We are trying to move to where the greatest volume is.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and other Matters
Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake
I’m not sure I quite understood the Minister’s answer. We have 150 people that we are trying to accommodate. I think that is what he told me. I appreciate confirmation to that if that is correct.
If there is someone who simply is not happy with the accommodation that has been offered and there have been negotiations back and forth and they simply cannot come to an agreement between the new department and the individual or the department where the individual is returning to work, I guess I should say, if that happens, is there an appeal mechanism for me as an employee? I don’t like what I’ve been offered, or I have been offered several things and I don’t like any of them, I have valid reasons for not accepting, what can I do at this point? The 150 that the Minister referred to, I hope those are not 150 positions or 150 people who are stuck. I hope these are just people that we’re trying to accommodate. I hope these are not people that we cannot accommodate or where we have a fight on our hands. Thank you.
Please only include contact information if you would like to hear back.
