Thank you. Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is the division that does investigations and works with the UNW on resolving grievances and whatnot, so there is some travel and there's also a requirement to do some site investigations. Our positions and our employees are throughout the Northwest Territories so these individuals do have to travel. In reviewing the actuals, we did notice that this is one of the areas under travel where are numbers were higher than they were, say, in the Directorate, so we've had to increase it accordingly in order to accommodate the investigations and other work that this division is doing.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So if I understand this correctly, the actuals are…we're saying travel has been more in this area throughout the years because I mean I'm looking at actuals in 2014 at 38, they almost doubled in 2015-16 and now 2016-17 we're at another $18,000, so I'm seeing a steady increase in here. Is that just because of the work that's been involved? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.

Yes and we do see a rise in the number of investigations and complaints that need to be investigated which is driving our need to travel out and do worksite and workplace investigations and site inspections. So with the more investigations, the more travel.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson?

In regards to investigations, is there a reason for the increase in it? Is it just people more aware or is it better promotion on your guys' part or what's the rationale for this?

Thank you, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Minister.

There are a number of reasons, but the reason we think that we've seen the greatest increase is the Harassment-Free and Respectful Workplace Policy that we have put in has resulted in a number of files and investigations that we need to do increasing. It's a fairly new policy, new program, and I think we expected some ramp up as we're implementing it and we have seen that.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just with this policy, do you guys submit a report to committee on not the specific incidents but the number of incidents and what the costs are and what it involves? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.

I don’t believe that we have provided a report but there's no reason we can't so I will commit to providing committee with a summary, a written summary, and if you want to have a meeting we can do that, too, but I'll start with a written summary to committee.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Further questions. I see none. Human Resources, labour relations, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $3,310,000. Agreed?

Moving on, page 216, Human Resources, labour relations active positions, information item. Any questions?

Agreed. Page 218, Human Resources, management and recruitment services, operation expenditures summary, activity total, $4,734,000. Questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I heard a mouse in the Chamber squeaking something from over there.

---Laughter

I think the Minister wants to take an early weekend, but I think this is the place where I should be asking questions about staffing appeals. What I find difficult in this process is we've already been through the business plans, there has been some really good discussion back and forth, and then we get a completely different document that I guess is not really as detailed or well laid out as the business plans, but we're trying to probe and get some issues onto the table. It's not always clear to me where they arise in the main estimates, so that might be an observation I offer in my reply to the budget address. The issue of staffing appeals, it's my understanding that staffing appeals, the numbers have been going down, but also the length of time that an appeal can be filed has also been reduced in regulations.

There's a whole number of reasons why people are excluded from even appealing a staffing action, so I guess the issue is one of fairness. How is the department looking at the issue of fairness in staffing appeals, particularly by parties? How many may not be government employees because I think we want to make sure that we have a robust system of hiring folks and that people don’t feel that there's bias in any way in the hiring process. But if you're not even eligible to file an appeal or you have a very restricted right to file an appeal, people start to lose, or could lose, confidence in the hiring process itself. So I'm wondering if the Minister can just tell me how the department has considered these issues in the context of staffing appeals. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.