This is page numbers 5695 - 5762 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.

Topics

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you. No, that's for all of the North Slave. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Did he say it's for all of the Northwest Territories or North Slave, the two position that I'm talking about?

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

It's for the North Slave, and it's the water resource officers. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Yeah, North Slave consists of Yellowknife and Lutselk'e consists -- Fort Resolution, Dettah, N'dilo, and Tlicho regions. So what I would like to see is something specifically for Tlicho because we're not part of Yellowknife, and I keep saying that. So I just wanted to know if in the future, you know -- I know people do change all the time, so I would like to see more position transferred to Tlicho region. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you. So right now we are not looking at relocating those positions specifically to the Tlicho. It's the North Slave, and that's where those positions are based right now in Yellowknife. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. Well, I mean, you know, it's -- it's doable; we can do something about that. So, yeah, that's -- I was really concerned about that because contaminated sites, people are still talking about. Still talking about the effects of the Rayrock that's in our backyard. Now there's other -- there the Fortune Minerals too as well, so. And with the diamond mine expected to close, so this funding, it would be nice if there were more positions in the small communities who are impacted by the -- who are affected more by the contaminated sites. So that's what I would like to see is that more be invested in the small communities to monitor these contaminated sites by bringing in more jobs to the small communities. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Yes, I think we need to -- I'll ask the deputy minister to explain what these positions are. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Deputy minister Kelly.

Dr. Kelly

Thank you, Madam Chair. So the regional positions that you're seeing here are water resource officers. They're not people that are working specifically on contaminated sites. So their role is to go around and do inspections at industrial sites, and they're housed in Yellowknife. Two of them are housed in Yellowknife right now, and they're in the middle of where the sites are to go and do this work.

The other -- there's a couple other regional positions in here that are environmental protection officers. None of them are directly related to contaminated sites although they do contribute to contaminated sites work. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

I would think they are related to, you know, to those specifics. But it would be nice to have more of those positions transferred to the regions. Even like with here, there's five assistant deputy ministers on page 70, and there's a superintendent for North Slave. Is that position in Yellowknife, or is it -- where is this job located at? And there's -- you know, a lot of these positions here as identified, there's five assistant deputy minister. A lot of these -- in the small communities where they settled land claims, these positions will be beneficial to help our land claim groups. That's why I'm asking that, you know, it -- what this department should do is that -- so they keep talking about having a good working relationship with Indigenous government. They should transfer some of these jobs where the Indigenous government or those with the settled land claims can really benefit from these positions. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I'll start, and then I'll turn to the deputy minister. So 60 percent of our jobs are in the regional and 40 percent are in headquarters. So I'm very happy with our numbers. We got 60 percent. I need to stress to the Member 60 percent is there. But for further detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Deputy minister.

Dr. Kelly

Thank you, Madam Chair. So we certainly look at positions -- at putting positions into regions. There's a renewable resource officer in Whatì that's looking after the Tlicho All-Season Road. We have a position for an officer that's in Behchoko for Dinaga We'ehodi as well. And I think that I expressed earlier there's an ADM position that we're -- the new ADM position that will be a regional position and will be wherever there is someone who has those skills in the region. We're certainly looking at opportunities to ensure that there's opportunities in regions for these positions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Yes, and there's nine positions in Behchoko. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Thebacha.