SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A special committee with the goal of increasing the number of aboriginal people working in the territorial public service has been set up, focusing in particular on senior management positions.

Clara Sabourin and Alfred Moses, First Nations and Inuit tobacco co-ordinator, with the Department of Health and Social Services. The GNWT is looking to attract more aboriginal employees.

"You want to have a representative workforce," said Tom Williams, co-chair of the Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee.

Williams, the associate deputy minister with the Department of Human Resources, said the ideal would be to have aboriginal people filling 50 per cent of GNWT positions, which would match aboriginal representation in the NWT population.

Currently, the percentage of aboriginal employees with the GNWT is 31 per cent, he said. "It's kind of been flat-lined at that for a number of years."

There are even fewer aboriginal people in middle management (20 per cent) and senior management (14.6 per cent).

The GNWT has had an affirmative action program for aboriginal people since 1989, and Williams said there has been some growth over the years.

The committee co-chair recognizes the committee and its eventual recommendations may be controversial

"We've got a lot of naysayers out there who say, 'Why is another committee needed?'" he said.

As for possible concerns about how the committee's work may affect non-aboriginal employees, Williams pointed out there are more than 4,000 positions in the territorial public service.

"I think there's always plenty of room," he said.

Williams said the GNWT appears not to be as attractive to aboriginal people as it once was.

"We've lost some ground as the employer of choice," he said, adding there is more competition for workers from aboriginal governments and diamond mining.

Some would prefer to work with aboriginal governments in their home communities rather than seek senior management positions - many based in Yellowknife - with the GNWT, he added.

"I think we have to make the extra effort to make it more attractive," he said of the opportunity to work with the GNWT.

Williams said increasing the number of aboriginal public servants is one of the goals set by the 16th legislative assembly.

Among the things the committee will likely look at are the effectiveness of the GNWT's affirmative action policy - although not a full review - and other strategies to get more aboriginal people into the territorial public service.

The possibilities include more career training, cross-cultural awareness training, internship programs and a look at the recruitment process.

"It's really providing opportunity that doesn't exist today," Williams said.

The committee may also look at career counselling in schools.

"It's providing the tools people need to get a job," Williams said.

The committee will seek input from the grassroots, including through ad hoc committees in each region.

However, Williams said the committee is an employees' group and there will be no public meetings.

The Union of Northern Workers, which represents about 3,500 unionized territorial workers, will be one of the interested observers of the committee's work.

"We're well aware of the lack of aboriginal representation in the GNWT, particularly at the management level," said Gayla Wick, the union's first vice-president. "We will be watching to see what recommendations this group makes. Overall, we view this move as a positive one."

The union has not heard any concerns expressed by non-aboriginal members about how the new committee may or may not affect their chances at advancement in the territorial public service.

Wick said the union will wait and see what the committee does.

As for the existing affirmative action policy, she said, "Obviously, it hasn't been working very well because the numbers haven't come up in the management area."

Bill Erasmus, the national chief of the Dene Nation, said the establishment of the committee is a good move.

"It sounds really quite encouraging," he said.

Erasmus believes aboriginal people should have representation in the territorial public service that matches their percentage of the overall population.

"But clearly it isn't. It's not nearly where it should be," he said.

He also said aboriginal people have good representation in the legislative assembly and the territorial cabinet.

Along with two co-chairs, six GNWT employees from around the NWT were selected to sit for two-year terms on the all-aboriginal committee.

They were chosen from 30 employees who volunteered to serve.

Along with Williams, the committee is co-chaired by Gary Bohnet, deputy minister of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Williams said the committee will be ongoing until its goals are achieved.

The six members of the committee are Leone Erasmus for the Yellowknife/North Slave region, Roger Fraser for Yellowknife, Sabrina Broadhead for the South Slave, Greta Sittichinli for the Beaufort Delta, Pamela Lennie for the Sahtu and Connie McNab for the Deh Cho.