Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Madam Chair. We would like to consider Committee Report 3-17(5), the report on the review of Bills 1, 2, 3 and other devolution legislation and, if we have time, Bills 10, 11 and 14.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and move Committee Report 3-17(5) into Committee of the Whole for consideration today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the commitment from the Minister, and I would hope that that information would be made public because I’m sure the teachers want to know what changes are coming down the pipe for them as well.

One of the things that is required, and the Minister has referenced it, in terms of junior kindergarten, there’s going to be training required for some of the teachers who are going to be going in and teaching junior kindergarten.

I’d like to ask the Minister if the school boards have been provided with funds to do the training that is required for new staff or is the...

Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t hear a specific answer to my question. Apparently we have to wait for the action plan for the ERI Strategy to come forward. My understanding is that that’s going to be, I think I’ve heard May, I think I’ve heard June. That doesn’t leave much time for anybody to get ready for initiatives in a few short months.

I’d like to know from the Minister if he can tell me, if the action plan is coming out in June, are there expectations that programs or changes other than junior kindergarten that will need to be implemented in September of 2014? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now that I know that my friend Carmelita is up there, I’d like to recognize Carmel, a long-time friend and co-worker. I would also like to recognize Mr. David Wasylciw and Mrs. McLeod and Mr. Heppelle. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I don’t think the Minister understood where I was going. I’m not talking about a category in PeopleSoft; I’m talking about something that happens before the job ever gets to PeopleSoft. It certainly, I think, is well known within the government service that a job may be coming vacant and it’s not put into PeopleSoft, it’s not advertised because there’s somebody either within the department or, I hate to say it, somebody’s friend who they may want to get that job.

The Minister kind of led me into my next question and that’s the use of casuals. Casuals are a very common...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are addressed to the Minister for Human Resources. I’d like to follow up on some of the conversation that has been happening in the House and during the budget and during questions and statements in the last little while. I’m going to ask him some questions about jobs.

The Minister has advised us that some 15 to 20 percent of GNWT jobs are empty at any one time. So that is as of October of 2013, it was about 571 jobs that were apparently vacant. I’ve spoken before about the difficulty that I see people are going to encounter because they can...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning has reviewed Bill 3, Surface Rights Board Act.

The Surface Rights Board Act mirrors federal legislation, pursuant to the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement. The act provides for a Surface Rights Board to resolve disputes relating to terms and conditions of access to lands and waters, chiefly for commercial purposes. This includes disputes over compensation for access.

The act covers Gwich’in, Sahtu and Tlicho lands and waters as well as Inuvialuit lands and other lands in the NWT.

Alternatives...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning has reviewed Bill 1, Reindeer Act.

Pursuant to the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement, Bill 1 mirrors the Government of Canada’s Northwest Territories Reindeer Regulations as provided for in the Northwest Territories Act.

This act applies to all matters respecting reindeer that were previously governed by the federal Northwest Territories Act and Northwest Territories Reindeer Regulations.

Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 1 to the Assembly as ready for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Mr. Yakeleya for his remarks and thank the Minister, as well, for sounding very positive. I really look forward to working with the Minister to get this done.