Mahsi, Madam Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. Since the start of the 19th Assembly, many of us on this side of the floor have made the issue of Indigenous hiring and a review for the Affirmative Action Policy. I think the policy's goal was 50 or 51 percent. We're at 30 something percent and I think it dropped down to 29. So we're not even meeting our targets, and this government's been here for -- this is the 19th Assembly. You know, we're not putting our mouth where, you know, we should be putting the action.
I'm not seeing it in any of the projects that, you know, this issue is highlighted and budgeted for, and that's a concern. You know, we've always spoken about the geography of the Northwest Territories as the makeup is predominantly Indigenous and Inuvialuit and Metis. And we're always fighting that losing battle. We're always battling, battling the governments here. The government is fighting back with our people forever. And that's a big concern to us as Indigenous people and Indigenous leaders.
I highlighted the fact that I was an employee and had been interested in a program to advance myself, the associate director program. I no longer see it anywhere in the government website. So it's been wiped out. That would have gave me an initiative, a chance to work with an existing director job shadowing, you know, and the director was leaving. I never got nothing. I never got nowhere. My managers, you know, dismissed me. So I've experienced that. And that's the type of training we want to see back on the books is job shadowing on-the-job training. It gives us a chance at these positions. We don't need, you know, highly, you know, the high degrees to be able to figure out what's just common sense within the workplace. And we need this government to start listening to us as Indigenous people.
I'd like to hear the views of the Minister on that, and I won't have any further questions, Madam Speaker. Mahsi.