NORTHWEST TERRITORIES LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 3rd Session Day 3 14th Assembly HANSARD Thursday, June 22, 2000 Pages 65 – 100 The Honourable Tony Whitford, Speaker i TABLE OF CONTENTS PRAYER..........................................................................................................................................................................65 MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS.............................................................................................................................................65 THE NEED FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (DENT)..................................................................................................65 DELIVERY OF GNWT HUMAN RESOURCE SERVICES (MILTENBERGER) .............................................................................65 GNWT JOB DESCRIPTIONS (LAFFERTY).........................................................................................................................66 SUPPORT FOR GNWT PUBLIC SERVANTS (BRADEN).......................................................................................................66 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY (MCLEOD)........................................................................................................................67 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION HIRING RESULTS (NITAH) ..............................................................................................................67 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY (LEE) ...............................................................................................................................67 TRAINING FUNDS FOR ABORIGINAL SENIOR MANAGEMENT CANDIDATES (KRUTKO)............................................................68 THE NEED FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (ROLAND)..............................................................................................68 THE NEED FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (BELL)...................................................................................................68 STAFFING PRACTICES OF HAY RIVER YOUNG OFFENDERS’ FACILITY (DELOREY)...............................................................69 RECOGNITION OF NORTHWEST TERRITORIES SENIORS (ALLEN) .......................................................................................69 RECOGNITION OF VISITORS IN THE GALLERY ..........................................................................................................70 ORAL QUESTIONS.........................................................................................................................................................70 WRITTEN QUESTIONS...................................................................................................................................................80 TABLING OF DOCUMENTS ...........................................................................................................................................81 NOTICES OF MOTION....................................................................................................................................................81 MOTIONS ........................................................................................................................................................................81 FIRST READING OF BILLS ............................................................................................................................................86 CONSIDERATION IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE OF BILLS AND OTHER MATTERS............................................87 REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ..................................................................................................................99 ORDERS OF THE DAY ...................................................................................................................................................99 ii June 22, 2000 NORTHWEST TERRITORIES HANSARD Page 65 YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2000 MEMBERS PRESENT Honourable Roger Allen, Honourable Jim Antoine, Mr. Bell, Mr. Braden, Mr. Delorey, Mr. Dent, Honourable Jane Groenewegen, Honourable Joe Handley, Honourable Stephen Kakfwi, Mr. Krutko, Mr. Lafferty, Ms. Lee, Mr. McLeod, Mr. Miltenberger, Mr. Nitah, Honourable Jake Ootes, Mr. Roland, Honourable Vince Steen, Honourable Tony Whitford. be taking money out of programs and services, where it could ITEM 1: PRAYER otherwise be spent. HON. JANE GROENEWEGEN: Oh God, may your spirit and Mr. Speaker, we are concerned the departments are not guidance be in us as we work for the benefit of all our people, for peace and justice in our land and for constant recognition of following staffing policies and guidelines in the recruitment the dignity and aspirations of those whom we serve. Amen. process, and that there is no monitoring of the process by the government. SPEAKER (Hon. Tony Whitford): Good afternoon, colleagues. I would like to make a little statement about We believe that an independent agency may be the only way to ensure hiring practices are fair throughout the Government of Seniors Week. As a “senior” Member, or at least the eldest MLA present in the House, I would like to take a moment to the Northwest Territories. acknowledge Senior Citizens Week. June 18 to 24, 2000, has Mr. Speaker, we are concerned with the lack of commitment been proclaimed Senior Citizens Week by the Honourable and progress in affirmative action hiring. Mr. Speaker, Vince Steen, Minister responsible for Seniors. aboriginal representation in the GNWT has not increased in the last five years. Aboriginal representation in management has It is a time to recognize and honour seniors in the Northwest Territories and all over. I would like the contributions of seniors increased only marginally. There is obviously a need for better and elders to be acknowledged and to promote positive coordination of public service career training funding with the government departments. A clear indication of this is that this attitudes towards seniors and elders. government has lapsed almost $1 million over the past three Activities for Seniors Week will be held throughout the years in public service career training, money that could have Northwest Territories this week. I encourage everyone to get been used to train and promote affirmative action candidates in involved in Seniors Week events in their community. Elders are the Government of the Northwest Territories. one of our most valuable resources. Let us celebrate them. Mr. Speaker, to deal with all of these concerns, we need a -- Applause Public Service Commission. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent. -- Applause MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 3, Members' ITEM 3: MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS statements. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Member’s Statement on The Need for a Public Service Miltenberger. Commission (Dent) Member’s Statement on Delivery of GNWT Human MR. DENT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today Resource Services(Miltenberger) as the chair for the Standing Committee on Accountability and MR. MILTENBERGER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Oversight. Mr. Speaker, members of the committee are concerned about how human resources functions are being over the past decade, there have been tremendous changes in undertaken in our government. We will concentrate on this the government’s approach to the delivery of human resource issue today during Members’ statements and question period. services. Mr. Speaker, we need a representative workforce where our In the early 1990s, all personnel were centralized in one department. A few departments had individuals who assisted employees are treated fairly and have the opportunity for advancement. The break-up of the Department of Personnel with human resource planning, but not many. This was a time was sold in 1992-93 as a cost-saving measure. However, when the government was involved in the equal-pay study, before the pay equity court case, and the GHRS, the indications are that we are probably spending more today on predecessor to PeopleSoft, was developed in-house. personnel functions than we were then. In 1993, the government began to dismantle Personnel, There has apparently been a 21 percent increase in human resource positions, from 114 in 1991 to 138 in March of 2000. moving functions like benefits, labour relations and job At the same time, there has been a 43 percent decrease in the evaluation to the Financial Management Board Secretariat. In early 1996, staffing and benefits were transferred to number of GNWT employees. Our employees have gone down from 6,133 to 3,481 over that same period of time. This means departments, along with the staff to do the work. Regional that the Government of the Northwest Territories is spending offices were dissolved. Over the next two years, many responsibilities were also transferred to deputy ministers and more money providing services to staff. To do that, we have to departments in areas like labour relations. Page 66 NORTHWEST TERRITORIES HANSARD June 22, 2000 In 1998, the new Hay system for evaluating jobs was Member’s Statement on GNWT Job Descriptions (Lafferty) implemented, along with giving responsibilities for evaluation to departments. In 1998, work began on the much vaunted MR. LAFFERTY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a PeopleSoft system, which was implemented in 1999. territorial government, we often say buy North