Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I just want to acknowledge Pink Shirt Day. I'm glad to see we're all wearing pink today and talk about mental health a little bit. I want to say that kindness, love, and support must shine through to fight these issues. I just heard a couple of my colleagues talk about crime and whatnot, so I'm going to segue into that.
Mr. Speaker, I last spoke about the Affirmative Action Policy and the hiring practices in November. At the time, I spoke of policy shortfalls, specifically Ministerial appointments, GNWT hiring practices. Today, I'd like to talk about individuals with criminal records and how they need to be given consideration when being hired. Many of us in this room are aware there are very high crime rates in the NWT, and it's even more magnified in our smaller communities.
Mr. Speaker, in my time working in the diamond mines, I was involved in community work, public relations, and worked with Indigenous governments. I worked closely with HR personnel promoting the product and actively seeking out any potential people interested in working at the time. One common barrier that we saw is that many of the interested candidates had criminal records.
Mr. Speaker, many industries that work in the North now know that our small population limits the available talent. As such, many skilled workers come from south of the border. One common-sense approach I observed was individuals who had a criminal record were assessed on a case-by-case basis by an HR team. These teams use their discretion before we had to make sure that there were no serious crimes against the person or serious property crimes.
Mr. Speaker, sometimes, we had to work with individuals who worked in smaller communities to help them get pardons for past offences. It should not be a barrier if one wants to work in the public service. I do support firm rules, though, when it comes to working with our vulnerable populations, and I don't expect that we stray from that. I fully support anyone who has paid their debts to society who are genuinely trying to make strides to better themselves. Everyone deserves a second chance. Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker, and I will have questions for the Minister of Finance at the appropriate time.