Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I am going to talk about the NWT summer student program. Last year, the Government of the Northwest Territories hired far fewer summer students than they normally would in an average year. Last year, however, was not a normal year, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced the government to re-evaluate its hiring practices and partially restructure their human resource procedures. In essence, the government needed more time to prepare itself to operate under pandemic conditions. Therefore, the government hired fewer students so they would have a smaller workforce to oversee during COVID-19.
Mr. Speaker, the government has had only one year now to prepare itself for the large influx of incoming summer students. By now, I expect the government to have a concrete plan in place for the Summer Student Employment Program for 2021. During Committee of the Whole the other day, the Finance Minister mentioned that some job offers have already been sent out to potential summer student hires. This is very promising news for our students.
As I said in a Member's statement last May, COVID-19 or not, our students need to continue to be supported with employment opportunities and work experience. I realize that working in the public sector is not a shared goal for every summer student, but regardless, these summer student opportunities offer some level of employment choices for students in the NWT. Our students deserve every opportunity they can in order to find work to support their studies and transition into full-time employment within our workforce. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I strongly hope that our government will maximize the number of summer students hired by the Government of the Northwest Territories for 2021. We must signal to our students that they are not forgotten and they are valued. I will have questions for the Minister responsible for human resources later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.