Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has the goal of employing a public service that is representative of the general population that it serves. The NWT's population is almost exactly 50 percent non-Aboriginal and 50 percent Aboriginal. This means that 50 percent of the GNWT's public service should ideally be composed of Aboriginal employees. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

According to the GNWT's 2018 Public Service Annual Report, only 30.5 percent of the territorial government's workforce is made up of Indigenous Aboriginal people, who are defined in the policy as people of Dene, Metis, or Inuit descent who were born or have lived more than half of their lives in the Northwest Territories. I agree with my colleague from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh that the Affirmative Action Policy has failed many Indigenous Aboriginal P1 candidates. The government has to make a commitment to turn this around now, not to leave it to the next Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, there has been no change to the policy in the 30 years since it was established. It still contains a commitment to do a policy review in 1994. The language is outdated, as well. In the policy, "Indigenous" means everyone who has lived half of their life in the NWT, whether they are Aboriginal or not. Everywhere else, the GNWT uses the word "Indigenous" to mean Aboriginal only.

The GNWT needs to get more jobs into small communities to bring the jobs to the people, instead of requiring people to abandon their families and their traditional lands to take jobs elsewhere. Most summer employment opportunities for post-secondary students are in the headquarters and regional centres. DMs, or deputy ministers, in every department should be challenged to ensure that students from small communities can get GNWT summer jobs. Their tenure and bonuses should depend on it.

Some departments are doing better than others. ENR has the highest rate of Aboriginal employees, at 45 percent, followed closely by Executive and Indigenous Affairs, at 44 percent. Departments at the bottom of the list, like Lands and Health and Social Services, at 22 percent each, need to prioritize this. I would like to see the Minister of Finance establish a firm commitment that Aboriginal residents of the NWT from small communities make up at least 75 percent of the GNWT workforce.

Human resources staff in the Department of Finance should be working hard to remove systemic barriers, not create them. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted