GNWT affirmative action policy undergoing revision
| FACT FILE: Management positions | ||
| Number | % | |
| Aboriginal | 29 | 15 |
| Long-term Northerner | 23 | 12 |
| Women | 39 | 21 |
| Total management positions: | 185 | |
| Note: No statistical breakdown for the Department of Transportation. Statistics for Justice and the Public Works and Services are incomplete. Source: GNWT departmental affirmative action reports | ||
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
NNSL (Jun 08/98) - Changes are in store for the government's often criticized, largely ineffective affirmative action policy.
The newly-established office of corporate human resource services is now working on draft revisions to the nine-year-old policy.
The policy gives priority to aboriginals, women, long-term Northerners or candidates with disabilities.
A spokesman for the human resources office would not talk about the changes being contemplated.
"Because it's internal and we haven't really had any discussions with anybody about it, I don't think we're in a position to provide that information," said Lynn Cook, executive director of the new office. Cook said there is no scheduled for making the changes.
But if the latest affirmative action numbers are any indication, improvement can't come soon enough.
GNWT departmental affirmative action reports for February 1998 indicate only 14 per cent of GNWT managers are aboriginal -- a two per cent increase from last year.
Overall, aboriginal employment stands at 37 per cent, but the vast majority of jobs are those that require little training or education.
As impressive as it might sound, 37 per cent still falls short of a representative public service. The 1996 census found 62 per cent of the population of the territories are aboriginal.
It is more difficult to get a handle on how many long-term (non-aboriginal) Northerners are in the territories. They make up eight per cent of the territorial public service.
That the policy, or the implementation of it, needs fixing is not news.
A year ago this month a working group composed of ordinary MLAs submitted a report to the government outlining 20 changes that could be made to increase the effectiveness of the policy.
At the root of the report was the assumption that systemic discrimination exists in the public service.
Yellowknife MLA Roy Erasmus, who chaired the working group, said discrimination is more than an assumption.
"A lot of people don't get jobs just because they aren't the right color -- that's a simple fact," said Erasmus last week.
Though the executive director of the new human resources office would not discuss changes being considered, the working group's report points the way (see accompanying story).
Though statistics have born out the ineffectiveness of the policy, managers have faced increasing pressure over the years to meeting the unofficial hiring target of 50 per cent aboriginal employment.
Last year Morin said success at boosting target-group hires will be a key element of performance evaluations of deputy ministers.
"If I were a deputy minister I would be taking that quite seriously," he added.
Some have already taken it to heart, to the point where jobs are being moulded to fit affirmative action candidates instead of the needs of the department.
In June of 1996 a deputy minister sent out an internal memo advising managers that "it will not be acceptable to explain poor statistics by stating that there were no qualified candidates from the target group."
The memo continues: "Managers will be expected to come up with ways of delivering programs differently if necessary to utilize the skills and experience available."
A senior bureaucrat who asked not to be identified said the policy is not the main problem, pointing to the "piss poor" job the government has done of bringing members of target groups up through the ranks.
That is another thing the new human resources office will be addressing, said Cook.
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