Paulie Chinna Sahtu

This year MACA did provide additional funding for our COVID response for communities throughout the Northwest Territories. It just lay within their hamlet and their council, how they were going to spend this additional funding throughout their community. I will follow up with the Member, as well, and I would like to take another look at their business plan and what my department has created with the hamlet out of that and looking to see what funding we could possibly be looking at. Once again, MACA doesn't have funding that is specifically provided for busing; 87 percent of our budget is distributed out to the communities, hamlets, charter communities, towns, and villages.

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Would the Minister look at just talking to her federal counterpart in regards to getting that funding and increase the budget for the hamlets across the territory? I know that everyone is struggling and trying to provide services due to influx of COVID monies from the federal government. Are they able to try to redirect that to the communities across the territory?

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Yes, we are in conversations with the federal government in looking at the additional funding for smaller communities. I just wanted to reassure the Member that the funding that Tuktoyaktuk receives annually, all combined together with the pots, is approximately $4 million annually.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the executive, I guess, that I will be meeting with next week to try to come to an agreement to work with the Minister, are coming to Yellowknife next week for meetings. I would like to ask the Minister if she would be willing to meet with the SAO and the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk when they're in town in the next two weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Unfortunately, I will be returning back to my riding, and we will be having a grand opening in one of the smaller communities for our seniors centre, but I will follow up with the Member for future dates that we would be able to meet with the Hamlet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has launched their annual summer student recruitment campaign. Last year, due to COVID, this was cut short. Many students were impacted. I am happy to hear that the Minister advised my colleague from Thebacha yesterday how it is moving ahead. My question for the Minister of Finance is: how is the government's Affirmative Action Policy incorporated into the government's summer student hiring process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Affirmative Action Policy applies to the summer student and internship programs, just as it does to all GNWT hires. Hiring managers are expected to be fully aware of all of those policies, certainly, and as I had referenced earlier, there are a variety of training tools, including an online tool kit for new managers as maybe needed so that they can employ that policy in this form of hiring as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

When a request is received to hire a summer student, is the hiring manager provided with information on the government's Affirmative Action Policy and how it applies to summer students?

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Yes. There is a database that gets created, which is why summer students are asked to register and interns are asked to register as part of the process. When a hiring manager wants to participate in that, they have to get access to the database. When they get access to the database, they are reminded that the hiring process does still need to apply the Affirmative Action Policy. That reminder is right there. Again, at this point, they really should be versed in those policies as part of their training as being managers.

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

I'm just going to go down to my next question. What mechanisms are in place to assisting hiring managers to ensure they are appropriately applying the Affirmative Action Policy when hiring summer students?

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

I sense the theme of where this is going, and really, all of the policies in the world are really only as good as the people who are applying them. I am conscious of that. We certainly talk a lot within the Department of Finance around making sure that training is available and accessible; that the drive to give employees time to take their training is there; and that there's a conscious awareness from the top down that, really, we want employees to take the training. We want managers to be abreast of their training. We want them all to have those opportunities to take the right training so that they can do the best to employ the good policies that we do have and raise issues if there needs to be changes.

I do gather the general direction of the questions here, but more specifically on this one, I will also say, if there are students who are looking to be hired who are not a priority 1 or a priority 2, it is expected that the manager will go back to human resources, will check back in with them before simply proceeding, and, indeed, if in the end there is a hiring that is outside of those priority candidates, they are expected to go through the deputy ministers.