Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present the Department of Human Resources’ main estimates for the fiscal year 2013-14.

The department is proposing an operations expenditures budget of $42.1 million. This reflects a decrease of $697,000 from last year’s main estimates, or a 2 percent reduction. The reduction is largely attributed to the transfer of specialized human resources programs, positions and associated funding aimed at health and social services professionals to the Department of Health and Social Services.

The department’s budget is proposing funding in 2013-14 for three new...

They are a requirement. Not every worksite has one yet or department has them yet, but they are required to have them and they are getting established.

There’s some overlap. We’ve got a department requirement but we’ve also got a worksite requirement. So there is some overlap with some of those committees. It gets a little complicated at times. But like I said, we’ve got the terms of reference that the individual committees can use to help develop their own and expedite that process. So we continue to work at the deputy head level with the departments, encouraging them to get this done, and at...

…(inaudible)…with strategy, it will include all the health authorities and the education authorities. I hear the Member’s comment that we don’t want to just target people for some entry-level jobs, but I don’t think we should forget those jobs as well. Some individuals can get into some of these entry-level jobs, and through hard work, perseverance and taking opportunities as they come, they can advance up through an organization to fairly high levels. Succession planning is important, and sometimes starting at an entry level and working your way up is reality, but we do have to recognize that...

I have no idea what the Member is saying. Could you maybe rephrase it for me?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Letter to Mr. Robert Hawkins dated February 12, 2013, regarding Written Question 12-17(3), Senior Management Salary Ranges – Amended Data.

To some degree, some of the employing departments are doing that, where the people are going to work, their employer, their supervisor, are introducing them in communities.

We do have some orientation programs that are available as well. But I’ll certainly ask that question. I’ll have my department talk to some regional staff about what they think is necessary. In Yellowknife we’ve had a group approach us who is interested in doing kind of a Welcome Wagon program to introduce people to the community. I think that might be kind of what you’re referring to but in the community sense. It’s...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The lead on dealing with the devolution is the Executive. There is a committee of deputy heads working with the lead deputy in the Executive to figure out what the organization is going to look like in the future, and what departments may exist, what departments may not exist, the roles and responsibilities of the individual departments. HR is providing technical advice on job description writing, organizational design structure, but it is being led by the Executive. We are providing solid HR advice and recommendations in that area.

When it comes to the number of...

I think that was the answer, Madam Chair.

The government is working and Cabinet has given direction to each of the departments to try and increase their numbers of Aboriginal representation. There clearly are some challenges. There isn’t a significant amount of turnover at the senior management level, which means there’s not a lot of people moving up. The Department of Human Resources has some expertise in succession planning and they’re happy to work with any department and they have made that offer to do some succession planning to move some individuals up through the system. We also have an Aboriginal Engagement Committee engaged...

I don’t think that’s correct. The program was intended to start in ’12-13 and straddle into ’13-14. That was capital that we did in October for the upcoming fiscal year, not the current fiscal year.