3. Minimum Representation in Public Service and Agencies

Beginning on April 1, 2023, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Lands will amalgamate into the new Department of Environment and Climate Change. With this change, four assistant deputy minister positions will be transferred from the existing departments. Additionally, to align with the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework, senior departmental management decided to create a new ADM position, which will be a regional position, intending to be an Indigenous pathway position that supports Indigenous people moving into senior management. As an act of reconciliation, committee recommends this new initiative by the Department of Environment and Climate Change should be expanded and replicated across all GNWT departments.

Similarly, committee considers it vital that, wherever and whenever possible, departments should consistently staff all regional supervisor positions with Indigenous employees. This will ensure that Indigenous employees have at least one secured pathway into senior management positions within the public service.

Furthermore, committee is concerned and unsure whether the existing Affirmative Action Policy has been actively applied to public boards, such as the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, for example, or other arms-length boards and agencies. Therefore, to ensure that all NWT public boards and agencies have some degree of Indigenous representation, committee finds it necessary that all such organizations must establish a minimum level of Indigenous representation within the overall makeup of their board of directors.

Given this uncertainty about whether the Affirmative Action Policy has been actively applied to all NWT agencies, committee wants assurance that this is being done. Therefore, committee considers it essential to explicitly urge the government to direct all NWT agencies to apply the Affirmative Action Policy with all employee hiring decisions.

Recommendation 4: Committee recommends that the GNWT

• For the purpose of capacity building, make it a standard policy to ensure that an Indigenous person consistently occupies at least one assistant deputy minister position with all departments.
• Consistently staff all regional supervisor positions with Indigenous employees.
• Promotes and requires, where possible, that all public boards and agencies have a minimal level of Indigenous representation within the overall makeup of their board of directors. And,
• Requires, where possible, for agencies to invest in hiring Indigenous employees and follow the Affirmative Action Policy.

4. Attracting Indigenous Professionals to Return to the NWT

Committee heard that there is a general sentiment among many residents in the small communities and regional centres that there is a disconnection between the capital city and everywhere else when it comes to hiring Indigenous professionals into the public service. Many people said that the capital, as headquarters of human resources, must do a better job at outreach to the communities when filling job vacancies. People living outside of Yellowknife told committee that the GNWT must make changes to its recruitment practices in attracting and hiring Indigenous professionals from the small communities and regional centres.

Therefore, committee recommends that the GNWT create and conducts an extensive outreach campaign that targets all NWT residents who are studying outside of the NWT and encourages them to work for the public service. Committee wants to see more incentives offered to students who return to the NWT. All hiring managers should be made aware of this outreach campaign.

Recommendation 5: Committee recommends that the GNWT attract Indigenous professionals with roots and relations in the NWT to take public service positions with the GNWT by

• Creating an outreach campaign targeting NWT residents studying outside of the NWT.
• Offering incentives to returning students. And,
• Requiring that hiring managers are aware of the campaign.

5. Hiring Practices and Job Competitions

Submissions and feedback to committee included recommendations for the GNWT to review hiring practices and job competitions. Committee heard that the application of equivalencies in competitions seems arbitrary. Applicants do not know when equivalencies are used in screening and interviews. When equivalencies are applied, there is no known formula for how they are applied. Committee understands applicants with equivalencies like Indigenous knowledge and experience in the NWT communities have inherent value to the GNWT regardless of which jobs are applied to.

Many residents requested more transparency of the competition process, including transparency during a competition. The interview process was also mentioned as intimidating and non-transparent. Practically speaking, the government has far to go to meet its goal of removing system barriers by establishing appropriate non-inflated education and experience requirements across all job descriptions.

Recommendation 6: Committee recommends that the GNWT and all departments:

• Update the job descriptions of all public service positions to ensure the inclusion of value statements which affirms the importance of Indigenous knowledge and community experience.
• Update the "job information" section of all job descriptions to ensure that only plain language is used.
• Ensure that each "job information" section provides an equivalency formula that is publicly accessible and demonstrates concrete examples of what education equivalencies will be accepted in place of university education.
• Create a mechanism that requires offering qualifying Priority 1 candidates who participate in the competition and training path into the position before submitting the job to a non-priority candidate.

And, Mr. Speaker, I will now ask to pass it to Member for Kam Lake.