Glen Abernethy

As for the contract awarded to the successful proponent, 55.1 percent of the work is going to be done by local people in Inuvik and 3.2 percent is going to be done by NWT outside of Inuvik. I will confirm to get some additional numbers to the Member, but I can confirm to the Member that there are 50 local Gwich’in residents who started the training required for the Hazmat removal. Of those, 30 local individuals in Inuvik were hired to actually do the Hazmat removal. Most of those remained employed until recently, as the Hazmat removal has actually come to a conclusion to get ready to drop the...

Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes. We have already taken those steps, lessons learned from the demolition of the Samuel Hearne. We have the original contractor who did the Hazmat assessment of SAMS was the same one who did Samuel Hearne. Since we got back the information on Samuel Hearne, we have actually gone and got a secondary Hazmat assessment done. But in the contracting of this next school and any future projects, we will provide a complete up-to-date Hazmat. We are also going to require contractors who wish to submit to go through the school or go through the area that we are going to do a...

The Member, in his opening statement, made reference to the training program that he went through, and the government used to have a number of training programs from entry-level and officer-level positions. We don’t have that per se today, but it is one of the things we’re looking at through the Regional Recruitment Plan. The Regional Recruitment Plan will be put in front of committee in short order here. One of the things that we’re talking about in that particular plan is on-the-job training programs that will help individuals obtain employment with the Government of the Northwest...

Mr. Speaker, for the Internship Program, the northern students are given priority as outlined in the Affirmative Action Policy, because the internship programs are just for returning students so it is offered to them only. Summer Student Employment, the program is in place to help summer students get jobs for the summer months. Once again, the Affirmative Action Policy applies. For graduate placement for nurses and social workers as well as teachers, once again affirmative action applies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 18, Apology Act, be read for the second time.

This bill provides that an apology made by or on behalf of a person in relation to any civil matter does not constitute an admission of fault or liability by the person or a confirmation of a cause of action in relation to the matter, and does not affect the insurance coverage available to the person making the apology. The bill also provides an apology is not admissible in any judicial or quasi-judicial civil proceeding and may not be considered or referred to in relation to fault or...

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Justices of the Peace Act, be read for the second time.

This bill amends the Justices of the Peace Act to provide justices of the peace with protection from civil liability so long as they do not act maliciously and without reasonable and probable cause. The bill also includes a number of non-substantive amendments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, late last fall I met with my Justice counterparts in Regina. One of the items that we addressed was this very issue. We talked about how we could do more to help support those who have had their intimate photos shared on social media sources without their consent.

While the Internet has brought positive emotional, economic and social benefits to society, it also provides some users with a weapon to inflict real harm. We have seen those results in several heartbreaking cases over this past year. Typically, the destructive actions start with someone sharing intimate photos...

Mr. Speaker, it varies from year to year, based on which departments submit applications for internship positions. Not all of them are in Yellowknife, but they vary from year to year so it could be different next year from this year, depending on where the departments decide or are interested in actually setting them up. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the one program that I think the Member may be referring to is the Graduate Intern Program, which is a program that is administered by the Department of Human Resources. Our problem is not that we aren’t administering the program correctly; the problem is that there are limited funds. This year, by way of example, we had 65 applications for 33 positions. So given that there is a huge number of students who want support from the program and a limited number of seats and/or funding, we are not able to hire every student into an internship program every year.

When it comes to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a long question or a question demanding a long answer, but I’ll do my best to do it in a short period of time. The northern allowance is a negotiated benefit and it cannot be unilaterally changed or reduced or eliminated by the GNWT.

Many, many years ago – in the ‘90s – we used to have a housing allowance and a vacation travel assistance allowance. Those were eliminated as part of a negotiation. As a result, housing was rolled into the salary. At that time, there was a significant increase in salary, whereas VTA wasn’t. VTA became part of what is known as the...