Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2019, Canadian women aged 15 years and older represented nearly half or 47.4 percent of the labour force compared to 37.6 percent in 1976. Canadian women over the age of 15 accounted for 61.4 percent of the national workforce in 2019. In January of this year, according to the NWT Bureau of Statistics, the Northwest Territories recorded the lowest unemployment rate in Canada at 5.9 percent. Conversely, our employment rate increased to 65.8 percent, the second highest in the country behind the Yukon with the largest growth being seen in the public sector.

With all of these new jobs created, I can't help but ask myself, "How many of these jobs are going to priority hires such as women or Indigenous Aboriginal employees?" Employment of Indigenous Aboriginal people, or P1s as they're designated in the GNWT's Affirmative Action Policy, has been stagnant at around 30 percent for decades. When compared to the 2016 census statistic that shows 50.7 percent of our population is Indigenous, it is clear we still have a lot of work to do.

There are programs in place to ensure the success of northern hires such as the Indigenous Career Gateway Program, the Regional Recruitment Program, and the internship program. However, how effective are they? Are we seeing an increase of Indigenous employees in the public sector? Are we seeing more women? What are the metrics in place to measure the success of these programs? Are we even looking at the barriers to accessing them, or do we simply pat ourselves on the back for offering them, without determining if they're really effective?

Sometime soon, we are anticipating the rollout of the GNWT's new cultural awareness and sensitivity training. This mandatory training for all GNWT employees is very timely, given the recent increase in hiring. It is my hope this training will help to remove some of the barriers to advancement for Indigenous people.

While the promotion of women is near to my heart, no surprise to anyone in this room, we cannot have a conversation about employment in the Northwest Territories without discussing how our economic downturn is also hurting Indigenous men. Industries that are traditionally male-dominated such as recreation, forestry, fishing, mining, and oil and gas are all experiencing a sharp decline due to the impacts of the coronavirus. Employment for men in the NWT has dropped by about 200 positions. What are we doing to ensure that men have equal access to employment in both the public and private sector? How do we not fail them while raising others? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.