Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Both. So currently we, of course, have the Integrated Case Management Program that is service to residents from multiple departments through a single point. Of course, there's government service workers -- or government service officers in communities. So that work is happening. And it's been happening for years in the GNWT in other ways as well. But particularly flowing from this, those are some of the prime examples.

In terms of policy work, we are already seeing changes to information sharing policies. Across Canada, we've seen privacy legislation grow in importance over the years but some of that growth has resulted in putting up barriers for ourselves in our ability to deliver programs. So we are working to adjust our policies so that we don't need consent from an individual to provide them government services from multiple departments, which is really our problem, not the person's problem. The person wants support, and how do we give them the support? We have to adjust our policies to properly serve them.

So those are a couple examples of the things that we're doing. We are working between departments to review the referral process and ensure that -- and so we -- departments meet to talk about individuals and individual cases, and they also discuss the programs and perhaps some of the barriers that a person is facing in accessing those programs and then policies are being adjusted based on those conversations as well.

We are looking at co-locating certain positions so that a person can go to an office and receive support from multiple departments. And perhaps it's not a full-time co-location, perhaps it's on a rotational basis. So these are the types of things that are happening. They're operational, and they're policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm really glad that the Minister brought up the case management -- or the integrated case management group. It's definitely something that -- or a group, sorry, that has seen a lot of success over the course of our term, and one that I know has been recognized by my colleagues, especially colleagues from outside of Yellowknife who see the value in having a program like that.

In June of 2020, the Integrated Case Management Social Return on Investment Report was tabled here in this House. This document identifies barriers of GNWT social programs. And so I know that the Minister acknowledged that they're working on changes to policies, but are the recommendations specifically from this report being addressed incrementally as part of integrated service delivery and is the Minister able to speak to which ones? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You bet. Continues the Integrated Case Management Program was one of the recommendations. That one's done.

There were recommendations related to income assistance and in my other portfolio, we are doing a review of income assistance and those are being looked at specifically so we can address those. I mentioned co-location. That was one of the recommendations. A dual contact system so that those people who are not clients of the integrated case management system can still receive some fashion of support while they are directed to the appropriate service provider.

So yes, we are -- we've done some of them. We're doing other ones. But like everything, it takes time. So when we get down to the real -- the real foundational change that that report was really getting at, we are working on it and we will get there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering what mechanisms the Integrated Service Delivery Working Group has developed to ensure interdepartmental relationships are effective to serve Northerners where they are at?

One of the most common ones that I hear from my constituents that they would like to see is an effective relationship between housing and income assistance. So I'm wondering if the Minister can let us know what mechanisms have been developed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So one of the first things that we are doing is drafting principles and standards of practice. Right now, we have a number of different departments offering services, and not all departments take the same approach. And so when you try to integrate two departments or a number of departments doing things differently, it can cause tension and it can result in things not working as smoothly as they otherwise could. So by creating these standards of -- principles and standards of practice, we are going to be able to ensure that there is some consistency across departments in how services are delivered and what people can expect. And that is going to facilitate, you know, some of that collaboration and cooperation across departments in terms of delivery and in terms of policy. I've been speaking a while; I think I'm going to leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that good change takes time. I also know that integrated service delivery is not a new term coined by this Assembly. It was one that was previously discussed in this House through previous Assemblies. So I'm wondering what is the Minister doing to increase the speed of the Integrated Service Delivery Program during this Assembly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Slow and steady wins the race. And I will say that the Member's correct, this wasn't something that was created by this Assembly. There are people in government, divisions in government, who have been doing this for years. And so we can learn from them. But I want to, you know, highlight the fact, and I say this every time I talk about this, this is a foundational shift in really how we do business, how we approach service delivery, how we approach the drafting of policies and even legislation. And so it does take time. So we are going to continue to chip away and make these incremental changes. But we will get there. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do fortunately think that -- I mean, not knowing exactly what is envisioned by the MLA's description, but that there's already a lot of that happening within the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework.

So just by way of example, Mr. Speaker, action 2.5 is to improve development and training options and opportunities for Indigenous employees' career advancement. So it's identifying -- and, again, not disagreeing at all, but identifying, in fact, that there does need to be a formalized structure that helps direct management to doing exactly this, to having things in place. So, for instance, having on-the-job training being part of an employees -- of a senior employee's job description. What that means is that it's their job to make sure that those who are within their management sphere are getting on-the-job training, are being trained up to the right positions, that they are delivering on that mentorship. And similarly, an obligation on the part of Department of Finance on this action item to create the resources for those employees to have career pathways, to have their training needs as a part of a learning and development plan that they can take ownership of. And then that, again, that their manager is responsible to deliver on. So, Mr. Speaker, I do believe that we are in fact going to be doing something very similar to what the MLA has been suggesting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Minister of Finance for your response. Just making reference to the Affirmative Action Policy.

The Indigenous Manager Development and Training Program was launched to advance Indigenous employees within the GNWT. This program provides partial funding for employees to obtain skills, training, or work experience where necessary for a career advancement. Can the Minister provide details on the uptake of this program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I most certainly can provide those details. I don't have them -- I don't have those numbers in front of me here today but would be more than happy to get them and to provide them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Indigenous Management Development Training Program can take up to 40 employees per year,but in 2020, only nine employees participated in this program. Can the Minister explain why the uptake is so low? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I'm glad -- Mr. Speaker, it sounds like maybe we already have the answer to the second question here. So as far as why it -- it's not getting the uptake it needs, Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier I was speaking about the Indigenous Career Gateway Program. That too was undersubscribed for years and now it is now oversubscribed and still being utilized to achieve its purpose of bringing new employees into the public service, new Indigenous employees to the public service.

So Mr. Speaker, a lot of what we do and want to do within the recruitment and retention framework is work, for example, around ensuring that we're dealing unconscious bias, ensuring that we are connecting opportunities that we know exist within the GNWT to the employees who might be able to take those opportunities on, to review our job descriptions so that, again, we're connecting the actual needs of a position to the qualifications that people of the Northwest Territories have, and then to match up when there are other opportunities that we know -- there's succession planning opportunities that we know there's openings, to match those up to potential candidates through, exactly as the Member has mentioned, the Indigenous Management and Development Training Program.

So Mr. Speaker, there's -- and I should also mention, Mr. Speaker, there's very good work happening within the Indigenous Employee Advisory Committee, and they are going to be relied on significantly in this program as well. They'll know well what barriers exist. We know that there are systemic barriers. This is going to be a great resource to be able to utilize this committee. And Mr. Speaker, also exit interviews, something I know has been called on before, now wanting to use that. So all of these things together, Mr. Speaker, will root out why this hasn't had more uptake and ensure that that is not the way that this continues going forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, finance minister. Can the Minister explain when we can expect the 40 Indigenous employees who go through the program each year? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, Mr. Speaker, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework has rolled out last year, targets were set for departments in the last round of business plans, targets get reviewed every three-year cycle, but of course, right now, as I've been mentioning, the achievement of those targets is something that's going to, no doubt, be reviewed in the course of every year's business planning process and in the course of looking at the performance of our senior management.

So if we have, in fact, not been utilizing this particular tool to its fullest, well then that may well be a part of a bigger picture as to why we're not seeing the achievement that we want to in having greater succession planning for Indigenous employees.

So, Mr. Speaker, this is a good opportunity to promote this program so that all of our managers and hiring managers are aware of it and can make full use of it so that we can bring Indigenous employees up into the leadership of the GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have some questions for the Premier regarding something called the transglobal car expedition. There's a lot of -- I've had a lot of curious Yellowknifers contact me about this expedition. So can the Premier tell us what is going on with this expedition and whether our government was consulted? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government was not consulted on this expedition. I do -- my understanding is that they did perhaps -- they filed social isolation plans previously. But those isolation plans are not -- also not shared with government, Ministers, the Premier. They're confidential documents. So the first time we got notice was when the public did, when Minister Archie found out that they were at our airport. It was the first time we got notice that they were in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Premier for that. It appears this group has a bunch of vehicles that are being assembled somewhere in Yellowknife and that they're going to try to drive overland into Nunavut somehow. It's not clear whether they have a scientific research licence, whether a land use permit is required under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, or other kinds of authorizations. So I'd like to ask the Premier whether this group has obtained any licences or permits for this expedition? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.