Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've had a lot of conversation around this issue. We've taken it back to our ridings for sure. I've had conversations with members in my riding. It ranged from agnostic, where it doesn't matter, it doesn't work anyway, to we want to see Northerners first, it should be about Indigenous people, and I've had also some people who are P2s coming in, and P2s, I've had a conversation with who have, by the way, been gainfully employed because they allegedly have letters after their name where they've got the education, they've been working in the North a long time and, indeed, helped build the North and have been paid to help build the North, and have done quite well for themselves and are going to stay here and enjoy the benefits of living in the North. But for me, Mr. Speaker, this has to be about Indigenous employment, period. That, for me, Mr. Speaker is what it's about. It's about having a policy and, more importantly, following that policy. Some of our issues around affirmative action, as again, we've had this thing for 30 years. It hasn't really worked. We have a 1 percent unemployment rate in non-Indigenous and a 14 percent unemployment with Indigenous. So something is not working. So we need to make a change. Do I agree 100 percent with the -- you know, with the new Indigenous employment policy? No. And I've had several conversations with the Minister about that. She's been kind enough to sit down and answer some questions.

One of the concerns I did have in my riding was that it has to be northern Indigenous first. That's a change that was made and that was a change that was explained when we had our public hearing on that earlier this week. That was, likely for me, Mr. Speaker, the number one issue that I had heard in my riding, that it has to be northern Indigenous first.

I don't know if the new policy's going to be better than the old one. I do know the old one hasn't been working. And we have stats to show that. I don't think this is going to have a huge impact on non-Indigenous. Again, the stats don't lie. If you look at the unemployment rate, surely you can see that. I do think there are gaps in our system, and I'm -- you know, for me, it's about equivalencies. It's about people that are working in the government, Indigenous people working in the government that have been in roles for a long time -- and I've said this before -- have equivalencies, so have done the job, but yet not gotten that additional promotion to get them at that next level, the senior level. Instead you've brought in other people to do that job. May or may not have been from the territory, may not have worked out. Again, the person acts in that position for a long time, but the equivalencies aren't being recognized either because the policy's not being followed correctly or there's lateral violence, there's things that happens within the workforce. But people, there's that gap that people are sat there, that should be promoted, that are Indigenous people that aren't, and that's likely the biggest concern for me, Mr. Speaker. That's where I see a gap that has to be filled and has to be looked at.

Can the new policy do that? I mean, I hope so. For me, we have to try and do something different. And it's a policy, and I appreciate that the -- you know, the Minister has talked about a working group that we can work on this together with committee, with Cabinet, with the Minister's department, to find out, indeed, if this is working, if something can work better than the policy that we know hasn't worked for 30 years. I think everyone in this room has either mentioned that or agreed to that, that what we had has not been working. And so to try something different -- and if the new policy doesn't work, then we go back and we try something again. But, again, I -- you know, for me, it's about Indigenous employment. That's the goal here. It's what we're trying to do here. That's what I've heard in my riding, that people want to hear, it's about how do we -- and we're just talking in the public service here of course, Mr. Speaker, how do we increase Indigenous employment in public service. The policy we have hasn't gotten us there.

So, Mr. Speaker, I mean -- and, again, like, we need workers. I mean, listen, if -- to be a nurse or to be a teacher or to be a doctor or to be an accountant, to be a lab tech, you have to have those qualifications so it doesn't matter, you know, who you are, Mr. Speaker, you have to have that. We're not talking about positions -- and we need those in every jurisdiction right now. We know that. I mean, we're looking to bring people in. We're bringing agency nurses in. We're -- like, we need -- we need people. We have, you know -- so, again, for me, our focus has to be in the public service on Indigenous employment.

Mr. Speaker, as my friend from Monfwi had said, I'm willing to give this a shot, the new policy. I think committee needs to work with the government on this to ensure that if there's an opportunity in the IEP that we're taking full of advantage of that, that we're actually implementing and following up on the policies as they are presented. Because, again, I think, Mr. Speaker, that's been one of the things that we haven't done a good job within the past. So willing to give that an opportunity.

I appreciate what my colleague from Yellowknife Centre, Yellowknife -- Range Lake as well. I mean, yeah, and I've heard some of those -- some of those concerns in my riding as well. But the overwhelming thing I heard in my riding was that it has to be Indigenous northern first, and that's the change that the Minister has made, and I'm willing to give this a shot, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.