This is page numbers 6259 – 6290 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 work.

Topics

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I have a fairly decent relationship with the NWT Disabilities Council. We meet on a fairly regular basis to talk about the different programming they are providing and how we can work together, and we have been able to work together on many fronts. I also know the

department monitors and follows up on the contributions they are providing, to see if the services are being met. All this information is going to be important moving forward to enhance this pilot to see how we can actually move out to the communities where we aren’t getting the respite services the Member is describing. We do need the time to complete this pilot and we’re looking forward to moving forward with that pilot. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I mentioned we also need support for the support workers. I also mentioned in eight communities we don’t have nurses, which is a big challenge for elders and people living with disabilities.

So, I want to ask the Minister, what is his department doing in the recruitment and retention of home care staff that we have in the Northwest Territories right now? Is he looking to recruit more home care workers so they get a break as well? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

It’s no surprise we suffer some challenges around recruitment and retention of health professionals on all levels of the Northwest Territories. We’ve recently developed the NWT Health and Social Services Strategic Human Resource Plan to help us increase our effectiveness of recruitment and retention of health professionals.

We’re also supporting training of resident care aids and other positions for things like the Norman Wells long-term care facility so we can get more people into communities. This training is something that could be used for other positions as well. We wanted to continue to find ways to train local people, support local people, but in those communities where we don’t have nurses, we also do send nurses in on a fairly regular basis to do assessments on seniors and other people in the communities to ensure their needs are being met. We will continue to actively recruit and train, where appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement today with questions for the Minister of Human Resources. I would like to ask questions about new and innovative solutions for the recruitment and retention of employees for our civil service.

Is the Minister aware of the common interest in reduced work time and job sharing amongst many employees, such as interest in three-quarter time or two-thirds time, half-time, flex-time? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a job share policy in the government. Currently, the boards and agencies and the departments are allowed to hire and put two persons into one position and they share the one job. That is currently allowed in our system. Thank you.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks to the Minister. It’s that sort of straightjacketed model that I’m saying needs to be blown a little bit wide open with some innovation.

Currently, the vast majority of jobs in the NWT are traditional full-time, 8:30 to 5:00, five days a week model based on one PY. Many people would be happier seeking employment based on a different model. In fact, there is no reason in the world why a job should be one PY. Jobs vary highly. It’s how we categorize. Let’s put some imagination to that.

What proportion of our jobs would the Minister know vary from the typical 8:30 to 5:00 one PY model? He mentioned there is some job sharing. How many half or three-quarter positions do we have? How many jobs are job shared and are they simply half time or do they recognize actual job requirements, as I mentioned, recognizing what the job actually requires of a person in terms of time? Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

I don’t have the information of how many of those jobs are shared, like how many positions in the GNWT are half time or three-quarter positions. However, we do try to accommodate most requests for a flexible work day, compressed work weeks and so on. So, we do try to accommodate individuals in the various ways with time, and I can get that information on the amount of positions that are actually advertised as a job sharing position, as a part-time position and a second job is advertised with that same PY as another job sharing position. I didn’t request that particular information. I just asked whether that was allowed at this time. Thank you.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate the commitment. The more flexible suite of job models would give people who would like to pursue local economic initiatives, for example seasonal land-based activities, more family time and opportunities for volunteer service in our communities and the freedom to do so. I can attest that, based on the number of people who are coming to me with this, that’s come up in our recent Local Economies Forum, people have a strong interest in this. Building stronger and more

welcoming and nurturing communities, and retaining current residents and attracting newcomers would also be, obviously, a desirable result.

So, would the Minister survey our employees to measure interest in different employee time, such as he and I have discussed, and what benefits or disadvantages they would see in having these options? Mahsi.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

We can do that survey of people to find out if what we are offering is something they would be interested in. That would be the various things like working flexible hours, job sharing and so on. We do employee satisfaction surveys across our government, so it is something that we could perhaps add to the survey. The next survey that is coming up, perhaps we could ask those key questions about whether the employees think that accommodating them with this option is something that they would be interested in and get a feel for how many employees might want to job share or take a differed leave year and so on. But we’ve never gotten into it. We can do that, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister. Given the benefits the new models will bring to our residents and communities, allowing people to pursue traditional seasonal land-based activities and so on and becoming more involved in community and family building, and if the results of the Minister’s survey indicate high interest, will the Minister commit to the pursuit of a more flexible range of job options within the civil service for the people of the Northwest Territories? I see this as a nicely contained thing that can be done before the end of this Assembly. Mahsi.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

There are two things that we have to look at before we can make any commitments, before I can make any commitments on a forum that is operational requirements. Number one, the fact that the majority of our civil servants are in the union, so we would have to discuss this with the union, and also, it becomes very important for operational requirements that all the positions that are needed in the key times and areas are there, and I couldn’t make a commitment to do that without checking those two things first, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Justice under the

Auditor General’s Report of the Correction Facility of 2015, recommendation 42: “The Department of Justice should identify the needs…of its inmate population.” More importantly, I want to underline, “assess its rehabilitation programs…ensure that inmates have access to rehabilitation programs that reflect their needs and their risks.”

I understand that the department is initiating reviews of the directive that guide programs access and delivery, to be completed by the fall of 2015.

I want to ask the Minister, are wilderness camps and on-the-land programs part of this initial review through the directives that would support the on-the-land programs by this department?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question. We remain committed, through the Department of Justice, to establishing the wilderness camps and the benefit to having those camps here in the Northwest Territories. I should state that in the budget, currently we have $787,000 earmarked. We’ve had some difficulty in trying to identify proponents that can deliver the on-the-land program that we envision. In the meantime, we continue to work with other departments that are involved and trying to find somebody in the Northwest Territories that we feel confident can deliver the type of programming that the Member talks about, and we fully intend on doing that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Also in the Auditor General’s report, under point 41 it talks about the closure of wilderness camps and it also talks about, at the same time, the expression of interest that Mr. Ramsay has indicated is provided as potential to reopen these camps in the Northwest Territories.

I want to ask the Minister, would he direct his department staff to try harder, with a winning attitude of yes, we will do what we can with our best capabilities to open these camps and look at the areas that need to be expanded to make sure that these camps are a success by providing the resources to these camps, rather than to say no, it won’t work here? Could I get that commitment from the Minister?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I’ve given that commitment in the past and I’ll give it again today, that we are committed to seeing the wilderness camps established here in the Northwest Territories. We’re going to continue to work with folks to ensure that that happens.

We had intended to issue an RFP this month, but after the expression of interest process and the discussions that we’ve had with respondents to that process, further changes to the design of the program is what are needed and what are required, and we’re currently working toward that. From the

discussion with interested groups, we concluded that the Wilderness Program needs to be more flexible so that different community groups and organizations can be successful in providing that programming. Not everyone is in the same place or has the same interest when it comes to wilderness programming.

We also want to make changes to the approach in order to encourage more communities to become involved in this, recognizing that wilderness programming can help offenders prepare for a successful return to their home communities upon release. We will continue to work with the communities and leadership in those communities to build a program that reflects the needs of the participants and the program partners, taking the time to do this properly – and I’m a big proponent of that; if you’re going to do something, you have to make sure it’s done right – that we will have a successful program here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

I want to ask the Minister if he would clearly state and entrench within this department that this is what needs to happen at his highest officials, to make the on-the-land programs a success and provide them with strong resources to make it, and look at the flexibility of having these programs, these camps in Fort Good Hope, Fort Smith, wherever their interests are.

I want to ask the Minister, as part of the review of these wilderness camps, is his department willing to look at providing training courses for these operators, because it certainly would be conducive to what they’re going to be doing in these wilderness camps.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We’ll continue to move on that path of getting a wilderness camp established here in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with partners, communities, leadership in the communities, as I mentioned earlier. I am committed. I know the department is committed to seeing this happen. We will find a proponent. The Member talks about training. We’ll work with somebody. We just have to find the right fit for the department. There are a number of safety and liability concerns, things of that nature. We have to ensure that it’s going to be done right, and we have to find the right fit for the department in a proponent.

We still are trying to make that fit and make that match, and hopefully soon we will have accomplished that. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

The Auditor General’s report, again, states that point 41 of the recommendations…the department said they will review the records, and that’s their marching

orders. So, I wanted to state clearly that the directive, that the Minister would, through his review, look at the cost of camp operators, camps that pay a daily rate for the inmates. It has to be reasonable. They have to eat, also. You know, they’re up against a facility that also covers… You know, it’s a different operation at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre. So, I want to make sure that the camp operators, if they’re going to go through this agreement, they need to be sure that it’s going to be a success and that there’s a strong commitment from this Minister to make it a success.

Will the Minister ensure that his officials strongly get the marching orders that these camp facilities would be a success?