Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government will work with the Seniors' Society to determine what is appropriate in each community and see how quickly we can move forward with that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If we could end question period right now, we could meet right now.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government already has a 1-800 number that is delivered in conjunction with the Seniors' Society in order to make sure that seniors are able to access clear and concise information about programs that are available. As I have said, over the next few years we expect that this government will move to ensure that all of its front-line services are delivered through one-stop shopping in the communities. So I can commit to the Member that moving in that direction will be a priority for this government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, during the hiring process, different weight can be put on different aspects and it's not uncommon for the people conducting an interview to recognize that an interviewee may be experiencing some difficulty with the interview and ask whether they would like to do it again or do it at a different time or handle it in a different way. So the government does make attempts to modify the process to work with applicants to ensure that we are not screening people out simply because they are having a bad day at the interview. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it’s the last day for oral questions for me in this House. Can you hear the sigh of relief?

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Mr. Speaker, the last day as I work in this House I would like to reflect a bit on the past 16 years and first of all, though, pay tribute to my role models, and I had two; they were my parents. Both were very politically active. My mother was a tremendous organizer and backroom strategist; while my dad was the politician. I learned from them. I learned the importance of applying common sense, listening to constituents and the public, and communicating. They...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's interesting that the Member says he's hearing about a difference in how the affirmative action policy is being interpreted by human resources officers. In fact, what I've heard more often is that since the centralization, that there's been more consistency in how it's applied, because each department often had an interpretation in the past. There is one policy around affirmative action and our staff are regularly updated on how to apply that. So I'm quite confident that we are seeing more consistent application of that policy across the Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've already committed that we will review the human rights legislation and ensure that our policies are in line with that legislation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm obviously not a labour lawyer or qualified to interpret the legislation as it might be done before the courts, but I will assure the Member that we will have a look at the human rights legislation. We'll have a look at what the requirements are and ensure that this government is in compliance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we’ve contracted for a review of the Apprenticeship Program in the Northwest Territories earlier this year and we’re expecting to see a draft of the report in late September. So by this fall there should be a thorough review that will be available to the new government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our policy refers only to the employees themselves. So according to our policy, the duty to accommodate wouldn’t automatically extend to another family member. However, the government does have in its human resource policies the opportunity for flex time and, depending on operational requirements, the supervisors are able to work with employees and, if their operation will allow it, can…We can see employees are given different shifts or different hours in order to accommodate. So that is something that is already accommodated in our policies, but it has to depend on...