Aboriginal job growth stagnant: minister
Stuck at 32 per cent despite direct appointments, affirmative action
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 8, 2014
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
The percentage of aboriginal employees with the GNWT remains stuck at 32 per cent despite government efforts to ensure job figures reflect the aboriginal population of the territory, says Human Resources Minister Tom Beaulieu.
The territory's population is 51.4 per cent aboriginal, according to the latest figures from the NWT Bureau of Statistics.
"Human Resources has been a real challenge for me trying to increase the number of affirmative action candidates in the GNWT," said Beaulieu while speaking at the Northwest Territory Metis Nation annual general meeting in Fort Smith, Nov. 21.
"It has held consistently at about 32 per cent for about 10 years."
Beaulieu said some government departments and regions are doing better than others.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has more than 47 per cent aboriginal employees, while its senior management is almost all aboriginal.
"Eighteen per cent of the (territorial) public service in Yellowknife is aboriginal, but 23 per cent of the population is aboriginal," Beaulieu said.
"So a goal that I set myself is to say we want to be able to achieve at least representation by population in the city of Yellowknife. That would be significant. In the South Slave, the numbers are quite good. Fort Smith has 50 per cent."
Beaulieu noted there are about 1,100 vacancies in the GNWT - many of which are filled by casuals, term employees or contractors - and a turnover of 500 positions each year.
Turnover creates a limited number of opportunities to increase the number of aboriginal people working for the GNWT, since of the 500 positions that are turned over each year, around 300 require a university degree or higher, said Beaulieu.
"We looked at our aboriginal people that are available in the pool in the territories to determine whether or not these 300 positions could be filled with Northerners," he said. "One of the things we quickly discovered is that 98 per cent of all aboriginal people that have university degrees have jobs."
Beaulieu said he gave direction just prior to the last session of the legislative assembly that the 200 to 250 positions that don't require university degrees or some specialization be targeted for priority-one candidates.
One of the methods to fill those positions could be direct appointment, which has been very successful, he said.
"This government has direct appointed on average since we started this assembly two persons per week," said Beaulieu.
Direct appointments are made by ministers, but require cabinet approval.
When contacted after the meeting, Beaulieu explained direct appointments can be done in various circumstances - when people have served in a position for a long time as a casual, for hard-to-fill positions, and sometimes as an advancement opportunity for priority-one candidates.
Beaulieu said while direct appointments can be used to support aboriginal employment, it has not been totally effective since the percentage of aboriginal workers in the GNWT has remained steady.
At the Metis Nation assembly, Beaulieu heard support for his efforts, but some wondered about aboriginal people in senior management.
Allan Heron, a delegate from Fort Smith, said some very good jobs in the GNWT always seem to go to someone from the south, and aboriginal people are left behind.
"That's been going on for years," said Heron. "I think there's got to be a mentorship program for people that are interested in advancing within their own departments."
Beaulieu said there are nine departments with less than 20 per cent of aboriginal people in senior management.
"So we are actively going to begin to pursue an increase, trying to get all the departments to have a minimum of 20 per cent priority-one candidates in senior management right across the entire GNWT," said the minister.
