Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about the GNWT Human Resources. For many years, this government has tried to employ a public service that's representative of the population it serves. However, Mr. Speaker, I think the approach is wrong. I think the reason we have no reasonable success is that we cannot achieve our objectives by looking at the entire NWT as a whole. We must start looking at representation by population on a community-by-community basis.
Firstly, the goal of the Affirmative Action Policy is 51 per cent priority one employees in the GNWT. Yet, in 2014 the number of people who would qualify for priority one status is 46 per cent. Therefore it becomes a little more difficult than at the onset of the Affirmative Action Policy in the 1980s. Mr. Speaker, I am speaking of people over the age of 15. That is a much better statistic to work with. It's referred to as the "participation rate."
The second point is that it makes application of this policy difficult in Yellowknife. Fifty-two per cent of our public service resides in Yellowknife, yet only 17 per cent of the GNWT public service is priority one status. Mr. Speaker, this seems to be a low number. However, only 19 per cent of the population of Yellowknife would qualify for a priority one status under the GNWT's Affirmative Action Policy. That is about 50 employees, and that would be easily achievable if we were to use that target.
Mr. Speaker, the government must take a proactive approach to affirmative action and start developing plans within communities where there are larger concentrations of employees, and work with the regional management committees to address this issue. It is easier than you think, when you consider that 21 communities have a rate of 45 per cent priority one status or higher. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted