by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 28/97) - The territorial government's affirmative action plan was attacked from all sides this week by three Yellowknife MLAs.

And all three have different solutions.

The eight-year-old policy should be scrapped altogether, says Yellowknife South MLA Seamus Henry (left).

"I think it's derogatory to the people it's supposed to help," he said. "It says to people, `You're not good enough on your own, we're going to help you.'"

The policy duplicates the flaw of its predecessor, the native employment policy - a flaw highlighted in a 1989 Inukshuk Management Consultants study, said Henry.

"The policy assumed the culprit was systemic and attitudinal discrimination within government," Henry quoted from the study.

"But ... the real reason for the lack of representation was, and still is, the lack of native candidates ... with the necessary qualifications."

Meanwhile, Yellowknife Centre MLA Jake Ootes questioned the government's affirmative action figures. The policy has a target of 50 per cent employment at all levels of the GNWT.

"It's my understanding we have 36 per cent aboriginal employment, but that we also have another eight per cent long-term Northerners," Ootes said.

Ootes noted the target has been exceeded for clerical and labor jobs, which report a 70 per cent level.

Under the policy, Northeners who have spent at least half their lives in the North enjoy the same preference as aboriginals.

In job competitions, the premier has explained, such qualified candidates who have satisfactory job interview will be hired ahead of others with superior qualifications.

But in defending the recent hiring of an assistant deputy minister to run the community empowerment program, Community Affairs Minister Manitok Thompson said a B.C. resident was chosen "because he was the best person for the job."

Yellowknife North MLA Roy Erasmus said he believes nepotism is more of a driving force than policy or merit. "People get hired into senior management and get their friends and family jobs," said Erasmus.

But in a statement in the house Wednesday, North Slave MLA James Rabesca defended the policy, saying, "It is important that the government realizes the need to have a competent, home-grown public service."