Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Department of Human Resources centralized a number of years ago, but with that centralization, the staffing procedures and rules that the GNWT is bound to did not change. Those are consistent prior to decentralization. What may have been happening prior to that is some departments may not have been applying the rules as intended.

I hear the Member and I’ve seen many of the issues come across my desk and I do see a significant amount of frustration out there, which is one of the conversations I had with the Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee. What is happening...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Under the Maximizing Northern Employment, the total budget isn’t actually changing, where it’s located is changing. We have removed or, rather, transferred some of the health recruitment positions that were in the Department of Human Resources to the Department of Health and Social Services, and some of the Maximizing Northern Employment dollars go with those positions and those particular responsibilities because they were health-dedicated funding right from the beginning.

The HR planning developments and staff retention dollars, staff retention is a slight reduction...

Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the tools that we have put in place is the new Duty to Accommodate Policy that became active early in the life of this Assembly. That is a policy that is written by the Department of Human Resources on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. All departments have to apply that policy accordingly and are ultimately responsible for the results of those policies within their departments. It is a new policy and I have already outlined some of the successes we’ve had with it in the last year. We are seeing some positive results.

We are going to put more...

Madam Chair, I would like to thank the Member for his comments. I agree; we have a lot of work. We have a lot of things we need to think about as we move forward to try and engage both residents to convince them or encourage them to consider the GNWT as an employer. A significant amount of work has been done or needs to be done and is being done.

I have been in the House for five years. In those five years I have talked an awful lot about on-the-job training. When I sat on that side of the House, I must have made several dozen statements about training on the job and the value that it provides...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don’t think it is a question for this Minister. We pay what we are required to pay under the schedule that was established by the WSCC. If they change the schedule, we’ll pay what we’re asked to pay.

We pay a significant amount of money. Last year we paid $2.3 million. This year, at 79 percent, we’re going to pay 20 percent more than $2.3 million. So we’re going to be approaching $3 million just on our fees.

We already know that for 2012 our claims history has gone down noticeably. Last year when we paid $2.3 million, they paid out $1 million. I would say that we’re...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member is essentially right. Ultimately the responsibility for these things falls to the individual deputies. A couple of things have happened over the last couple of years that I think are going to help the process. One of the things that has happened is that WSCC, based on I believe it might have been questions raised by the Member in the 16th Assembly and I think myself as well, started providing us a breakdown of what the actual claims costs are by department. Originally we only got it as a government as a whole. That is helping to inform the individual deputies...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The WSCC has a requirement for us to report incidents. We report those incidents directly to the WSCC. If the Member wants it to go through the Department of Human Resources, we are just creating another step in a process which would take more time, which would probably result in more late penalties. When an injury occurs, an employee is supposed to fill out the form. The employer then fills out the form and they are submitted to WSCC.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Department of Human Resources provides technical advice to the departments as they are establishing positions. We also provide job description training when a position is created. We facilitate job evaluation to determine how the position or what the position will be paid.

As far as decentralization of positions, that is a direction that Cabinet has given to all departments, boards and agencies in the Northwest Territories, following up on the commitment of Caucus and the priorities of the 17th Assembly. Each department is responsible for looking at their own...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think definition of poor record is maybe not completely accurate. We have had some late filings. In 2009 there were 18 late filings; in 2010, there were 11 late filings; in 2011 – actually this might be better if I just provide just a touch more information. In 2009 there were 293 claims, 18 of them were late. In 2010 there were 343 claims, 11 of them were late. In 2011 there were 378 claims, 23 of them were late. In 2012 there were 279 claims; nine of them were late. So we’ve had a total of 61 late claims in the last four years and the total cost on late penalties...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m not sure I understand the question 100 percent. Sun Life is basically our insurance provider and under the insurance program we can claim back 80 percent of costs, and for medical medevacs we can claim back 80 percent of the costs in certain situations. We have to obviously fill out paperwork and add justification and then we’re able to charge back as part of our insurance.