Wendy Bisaro

Thank you. Just one last question. What is the work going to be of the Aboriginal consultation unit?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did want to ask a question here with regard to the money we’re spending for access to information and privacy... I forget the whole title. Protection of privacy. We’ve been receiving a lot of requests, I gather, over the last couple of years relative to residential school investigations and so on, and I understand that there’s an increase in funding for ATIPP. I think if I remember rightly, there is an extra position in this budget. Could I get an explanation as to if that’s correct and why we need to increase. Are we still getting residential school inquiries or is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to highlight the Yellowknife Association for Community Living, commonly known as YACL. They are a non-profit, non-government organization that supports NWT residents, families, children, youth and adults with intellectual disabilities. The goal of the association is to ensure inclusion for their members in community life and also to provide them with an opportunity to contribute to the community. In the 30-plus years since YACL was started, they’ve met that goal time and time again.

The association provides seven different services and programs for persons...

Mr. Chairman, maybe I could get a bit of an explanation from the Minister as to what this policy would encompass. I am not exactly following, I guess, why it couldn’t be done in conjunction. What would a self-government policy describe for us? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. A couple of questions here. During business plans and actually I think it was actually a year ago, but in discussion with the department at one point we talked about a document called the Key Features of Western NWT Society. I believe it was during a presentation. At that time, there were some comments from Members that that document needed to be updated. I just wondered if I could get an update on whether that’s been updated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question with regard to the section on corporate communications and protocol. I believe it was in the business plans that I read that the department was doing a review of the GNWT communications standards and practices. I’d like to ask the Minister, the DM, if indeed that review was done and what the results were, can we see that report, all those sorts of questions.

Mr. Chairman, I think maybe I should thank the Minister for his example because he pointed out that the need for a focal point for NGOs in the voluntary sector by saying that when there is a problem, then the Executive has to go to the department the NGO has the contract with and work with them. To Mr. Abernethy’s point, if there is the focus of the Department of Executive for NGOs and for voluntary sector, I think there might be a little bit better efficiency in our operations.

That is all I have at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s not ever asked, but I will ask on this page: what are the numbers for persons with disabilities in this department? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I bring this motion to the floor in my continuing effort to improve the prospects of persons with disabilities for employment within the GNWT.

At the moment, as I have stated, the known percentage of persons with a disability in our territorial government workforce is just 0.5 percent. It is quite likely that that number in actually is much higher, but, as is often mentioned by the Minister of Human Resources, our statistics rely on GNWT employees self-identifying as a person with a disability. The first action of this motion seeks to change that. It seeks to establish a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we’ve been going through this department we’ve been struggling to try and find some way for our Aboriginal government partners to come to the table. They say they need money. We say they can’t have it until they sign the AIP. Yet I’m looking at $350,000 here which is in the budget for this next fiscal year. I’d like to ask the Minister, can this money going to Aboriginal government organizations not be used to get them to the AIP devolution agreements discussion table?