Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of interns working for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Krystal Shaben, who is the Public Works and Services policy and communication assistant intern; Rebecca Dupuis, who is the Justice policy intern; and Harjot Sidhu who is the HR policy intern.

As I’ve indicated, this isn’t a GNWT document exclusively. This is a document for Aboriginal governments, community governments, Government of the Northwest Territories, federal governments, NGOs and industry. It will have recommendations that every organization and government can help to set their priorities for combating poverty. When we get the document finalized, it will come to the House for more discussion and hopefully we’ll see some of the activities begin to roll out through the business planning process. I couldn’t say when any individual activity will take place because, quite...

We had hoped that we would have something prior to Christmas for the Members to look at, but we are in negotiation with the working group right now, trying to discuss when exactly we might be able to get something to committee and to the public. As soon as I know that, and I will have conversations with the lead department on that, I will get that information to the Member. We hope to have something early or something draft-like for the Members to see prior to Christmas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been blessed this year with one of the best summers on record and I hope that everybody, although you’re really busy, had an opportunity to get out and enjoy it.

As usual, over extended periods of time there have definitely been some high points and some low points. On the low side, over the last couple of months we have lost some great northern residents. As such, I would like to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to the family of Theresa Crane. Theresa passed away this summer. I’ve known Theresa for a number of years and she was a fantastic lady. I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following four documents, entitled GNWT Response to Committee Report 1-17(3), Review of the NWT Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2010-2011 Annual Report; the GNWT Response to Committee Report 2-17(3), Review of Human Rights Commission 2010-2011 Annual Report; GNWT Response to Motion 12-17(3), Mental Health Court Diversion Measures; and Annual Report: Activities of the Rental Office for 2011-12. Finally, further to my Return to Written Question 7-17(3), I wish to table the following document, entitled Performance Bonuses Paid Out in 2011-12...

I strive to come up with new and creative terms. We will have the draft available. It will be shared with committee. We’ve also committed to taking this draft out to community governments, Aboriginal governments, sharing it with the NGOs, sharing with individuals who are actively engaged in trying to address poverty in the Northwest Territories. We will take that out in that way and have everybody give us some feedback before we finalize this NWT document.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve mentioned previously, we have a steering committee in place which consists of government and non-government NGOs and individuals who have lived in poverty. There is also a working group, which the Member has mentioned herself, which has pulled together and done two roundtables where they’ve had an opportunity to bring different information to the table. They all come with their own perspectives and program areas. They’ve had an opportunity to discuss the different program areas and set some priorities for an Anti-Poverty Strategy for the Northwest Territories.

Or...

Mr. Speaker, on October 10th the Government of the Northwest Territories was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2013. This places the GNWT among an exclusive group of Canadian employers who lead their industries in their commitment to employees and their ability to recruit and retain a committed and engaged workforce.

We are in good company Mr. Speaker. Other employers recognized include 3M, CIBC, WestJet, Enbridge, Proctor and Gamble and Manulife Financial. Employers being recognized for the first time along with GNWT include Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network and Shoppers...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government is committed to improving mental health and wellness services in the justice system and it’s absolutely going to take a partnership between the Department of Health and Social Services, Justice, as well as the other social departments.

We have followed up on the motion that was put forward in the 16th Assembly and also recommendations from Member Bromley and committee to move forward with this, and I have committed previously that we are going to move forward and come up with some decision points that can be reviewed by committee. But the first thing that...

Thank you. I believe last year we got about 280, 281, 282, somewhere around there. So far this year we’ve hired 241. I’ll have an update of numbers for all Members tomorrow. It continues to move. We hope to hire as many as we can. We’d obviously like to see numbers similar to what we’ve had in the past, but as we’ve indicated, there are obviously some financial limitations and the department will be hiring as many students as they can both afford and that there’s work for.