Jackson Lafferty

I do believe there is a plan to have a meeting soon. I will be getting back to the Member on the dates of the meetings, if it’s going to be quarterly or monthly. Activities are happening as we speak. Preparation for the various training initiatives will be taking place. Those are areas that I will be instructing my department to work very closely with the Sahtu region; more specifically, the regional representatives that are on the steering committee to establish those meetings. I will be sharing that with the Member.

Most definitely. We need to work with all Members on this particular work, because it does impact across the Northwest Territories, the 33 communities, the DEAs, the NWTTA. If there is a push back, then I need to work with the Members.

With my department, I’ve just got a note that they’ve been in touch with the superintendent to try and find the background of the situation itself, so we are trying to find a remedy towards this particular area. As you know, we want every athlete to be successful, so that’s an area that we need to tackle. This is a GNWT policy and NWT Collective Agreement policy as well. There are several areas that we need to deal with and develop guidelines towards that. Again, I need to work with HR and the DEA. They’re getting a clear message now. My department has already been in touch with the DEA, the...

Mahsi. Obviously, that will be taken into consideration, as well, and I want to hear from the employers, the employees and the representatives, not only my staff telling me this is good. I want to hear from the general public. So that’s why we’re establishing this committee. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The recommendations will be brought to my attention to factors in setting up a minimum wage for the NWT. As you know, we increased our minimum wage in April 2010, another one in April 2011 and we’re still working on 2012. So those are just some of the areas we’re currently exploring. The people that will be part of the standing committee, I don’t have the actual list in front of me, but I can provide that to the Member once they’re established. Mahsi.

This Assembly wanted us to set up a mechanism to reflect on the wage incremental on an annual basis, a wage increase. We’re trying to establish that through our networks, through our research, through various discussions with employers and employees, and also the representatives of the Northwest Territories. That’s what we’re embarking on, and we’re going to be establishing a committee to deal with that.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When we first introduced the minimum wage increase, there has been a very positive vibe in the Northwest Territories. Although it’s just a small increment, at the same time, we’re trying to be compatible to other jurisdictions. We have been working on this incremental comparable to other jurisdictions, as well, what kind of mechanism do they have in place, so we’ve done our research in that area. The standing committee also provided some suggestions to the department on the recommended method. We are working on that and also working with employers and employees, just...

Mahsi. Once the committee is established, they do their work and get their recommendations to me, I’m hoping that either the spring session or early this year I want to reintroduce that to this House. Mahsi.

Mahsi. This particular committee, obviously, will be established. Definitely we’ll have some staff on there because we deal with the minimum wage, cost factor and so forth. But we have to minimize the hours, the costs towards the committee.

Again, I don’t have the detailed information because this is all new. We’re just establishing the committee in the spring, within the next couple of weeks. So once I have all of the information, I will be providing it to the Members. Mahsi.

When we talk about committee, we want to be cost efficient and effective, as well, so just a small group that we can move forward and we can make decisions right away, part of the recommendations that will be brought to my attention. I want this to be, of course, a small cost to our department. We have to use it internally. Those are just some of the factors that will come into play. We want a small group that will provide recommendations to us that represents the Northwest Territories as well.