EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Under the objectives it also says your department is providing leadership and guidance reflecting Inuit societal values.
Maybe you can give us some examples of how you’re incorporating Inuit societal values when it comes to challenges of the work environment? For example, when we deal with disciplinary actions.
Mr. Chairman, within our Department of Finance HR section, we do have a group that will look after that area.
Can you please elaborate which group you’re talking about?
Since we’re going to get into the day-to-day operations of the department, I will ask my deputy minister to respond to that question.
Chairman: Thank you. Mr. D’Arcy.
Within our employee relations and job evaluation group, there is also a division that looks after workplace health, safety, and wellness.
Members will recognize that most of the people who are also responsible for the long-term service awards that we have been going around the territory looking after this last little while also assist departments with respect to Inuit societal values and any other interpersonal matters.
My next question is: what is the relationship between the department and the Nunavut Employees Union here?
Mr. Chairman, to my knowledge, the relationship between our Department of Finance and NEU is very good.
We have regular meetings with NEU.
In my capacity as minister, I have heard of no issues.
I’m wondering: in regard to the union, has the issue of the number of CSAs been raised by either party? That’s all.
Yes, the Department of Finance and NEU do discuss casual employees.
What kinds of concerns were raised in regard to the CSAs?
I don’t believe there were concerns as such.
There’s continuing dialogue between the Department of Finance and NEU.
Going on in your business plan, page 24, under Financial Operations, what oversight responsibility, if any, do you provide to arm’s-length organizations, such as BBDC or Nunavut Tourism?
The department itself does not provide financial oversight. There are contribution agreements between the Department of Economic Development and Transportation with organizations like Nunavut Tourism.
Under that contribution agreement, there are conditions in the agreement requiring the recipient agency to provide reports and financial accountings.
If there are any cases of mismanagement, let’s say, what would be the role of your department?
If the department who has the contribution agreement with the external group detects issues or have concerns, then they can request assistance to our internal audit services.
Ms. Angnakak: If the department didn’t raise it but the public did, do you feel that your department would have a role somewhere there?
If I responded to every rumour and piece of innuendo that is out in the streets of Iqaluit and across Nunavut we’d be a very busy department.
If a member of the public has a concern, they should first address it with the department themselves so that they are aware of it and then we can go from there.
Under recruiting and staffing, with the new Public Service Act coming into effect, what kinds of recruitment tools are you using to get more beneficiaries employed?
Our mute button isn’t working so I’ll respond.
High-tech doesn’t work all the time.
Mr. Chairman, under the Public Service Act it only passed last September. We’ve been quite busy since then.
I believe the department is working on a human resources strategy that will look at training for beneficiaries to get them into leadership roles. Identifying, for example, students; co-op training programs that could prepare them for work after they graduate from high school or post-secondary.
We do have people who are attending job fairs, career fairs, to encourage beneficiaries to consider government as a career.
We provide everybody with opportunities for training on the job. We have the intern program. We do have the shorter courses, the three- to five-day training courses for all employees to identify in their performance appraisals so they can gain the skills necessary to do their jobs and other jobs.
There is a fair amount to encourage beneficiaries and also to provide them with support and training. Of course, people have to take the training, you’re not going to learn if you don’t sign up for courses or attend courses.
I would like to go on to the staff housing policy and your department’s work around that.
How involved is your department in regards to staff housing allocations?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Mr. Chairman, thank you to Ms. Angnakak for the question.
We do sit on a committee but Nunavut Housing Corporation has the lead role in the staff housing allocations.
I’m asking about the staff housing policy because it’s right in their business plan.
It says they work with Nunavut Housing Corporation. Another thing it says in their business plan is that they work with NHC to finalize changes to the Staff Housing Policy and that’s why I was asking that.
I’m wondering if they can tell us what kind of changes were made to the policy.
That’s page 25, second bullet.
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate Ms. Angnakak’s question.
I know it is an item in our business plan. We have had one meeting, but again, it’s very early in the mandate of this government, it’s very early in this fiscal year.
The work is beginning and will continue.
The priority for positions is decided by the interdepartmental committee, of which we’re one of the members.
I appreciate where the minister is coming from, but is the representative on the board at the DM level?
It’s at the staff level, so it would be a member from our staff; it’s not the deputy minister.
I’ll go on.
It says in your business plan on the same page a few bullets down, “Review and revise the existing staffing manual to support the delegation of staffing to departments.”
Can you explain what this means using an example of an actual circumstance where this happened?
An example would be the Department of Health, where we delegate the authority to hire nurses and, under the Public Service Act, they would receive a letter.
As minister, specifying what they can do and what they can’t do in terms of hiring nurses, I don’t have the exact clauses in the public service agreement, but I think the sections have to do with probation and discipline.
There would be examples of where I delegate the authorities to Health.
On page 26 of the business plan, it says, “Work with stakeholders on programs to develop Inuit youth employment opportunities and ladders within the government…” Can you elaborate on this statement and what about non-beneficiary youth who might work in the government?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Ms. Angnakak for the question.
We do have the summer student career employment program.
For kids in high school, at least grade 10 and students who are in post-secondary, the government would offer them employment within various government departments, and meaningful employment where there are work plans so that they can gain the skills necessary to continue in that particular job.
In future years, they could come back.
There would be year one, year two, year three, almost like a core program where they learn skills so that when they do graduate from high school or university or college or tech school, they do have some employable skills. That’s the summer student program.
Of course, we do have students who do come into the government after they graduate from high school or university.
As I said in an earlier question, we do provide ongoing training.
If the student wanted to become a CGA or a CMA, we would offer training in that area and give them time off to study and write exams.
That sounds very good. The only thing is I’ve heard some, and I think my colleague Mr. Hickes has brought this up before, where we have people who, for example, are studying nursing and then they have summer employment at Community and Government Services behind a desk or something. I think there’s some work that needs to happen to make that program a little bit more relevant to some of the career choices that students are making.
In regard to summer students, I see under employee benefits under the business plan on page 27 it also talks about under that funding that summer student employment equity program is out of that. I’m wondering what portion of this funding is allocated to the summer student program and are all the funds expended each year? And if not, how much is left?
The centrally administered funds, I think it’s covered under C-8.
Thank you, Ms. Angnakak, for that question.
I don’t have the precise number with me. The number that comes to my mind is $985,000 that we make available through the Department of Finance, approximately, for departments to hire summer students.
Of course, departments are also able to use their own resources to hire summer students and we do put a freeze the department’s hiring casual employees between the period of April 1 and mid-August so that they can hire summer students.
Again, to go back to Ms. Angnakak’s question about summer students, we do our best to try and match students with a job that matches the education or degree that they’re seeking in university.
Chairman: Thank you. The next name on the list, Mr. Joanasie.
I first want to ask, going back to 2012-15 business plan of the Department of Human Resources, which the minister has now taken over.
In that plan it indicated that the Government of Nunavut’s attendance management directive is being finalized and that information sessions have been initiated with departments.
I’d like to know, as of today, what is the absenteeism rate across the Government of Nunavut? Is it increasing or decreasing from previous years?
I thank Mr. Joanasie for the question.
Mr. Chairman, leave and attendance currently is, at the departmental level, is all manual. We as a department we don’t have that capacity at this time to provide that level of detailed information.
I’ll move right along then. The 2011-12 Public Service Annual Report indicates that Government of Nunavut-wide turnover rate for employees is approximately 15 percent.
Are you able to provide, according to the information that departing employees when they complete exit surveys and interviews, what is the main reason for people leaving the public service, the Government of Nunavut?
Hon. Keith Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. Joanasie for that question.
I always like to answer questions and give some information, but Mr. Chairman, I just don’t have that information with me.
Mr. Joanasie: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation) I’ll stop there for now. (interpretation ends) Thank you.
I have a number of questions with respect to personnel.
Let me first ask: are we on page C-7?
Let me get clarification. On December 31, 2013, there were 4,350 positions in the government, of which 1,041 were vacant.
Can the minister provide me with a definition of what constitutes a position deemed to be vacant? Let me say it in English, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) What constitutes a position being deemed vacant?
Mr. Chairman, I believe the definition would be that there is no one hired into that position.
There are decentralized positions and I think there are 12 of them.
Even though there are jobs in the communities and even though the position is deemed to be in the community, because of the time it took, a lot of times, those positions are based in the capital. They have been leaving their original positions and then seconded to positions in the capital.
Do you have a policy in relation to the length of time those kinds of employees can leave their original positions? Those positions are supposed to be based in the community, but it is being taken over in the capital when it’s supposed to be in a decentralized community.
Is there a time limit, such as within a year, when you can say that that position is now vacant?
I thank Mr. Enook for the question. I appreciate where he’s coming from.
I live in a decentralized community as well and we always appreciate the positions being based there.
In any community that has decentralized positions, if a department wants to transfer them to another community or to Iqaluit, they would have to get cabinet approval. That would be the first thing.
There is a mechanism that they can use and that’s a transfer assignment for someone to a position somewhere, but it would be up to a maximum of three years.
That’s usually in a situation where the department had identified a person with certain skills that they can use elsewhere for a short period of time or for transfer assigning someone where they can gain some experience and knowledge in a new position.
The decentralized positions would remain assigned to the community that they were originally assigned to unless cabinet was presented with a request for decision and made a decision to approve the position to be moved elsewhere.
I’ll use a number then.
An employee who works in a decentralized community.
For example, within a year if he spends about 50 percent of the work year working in the capital can you state that that decentralized position is now vacant? Based on this percentage.
The position itself would stay where it is assigned to that decentralized community.
It’s up to the department itself to decide where the work will be done. If it’s on a transfer assignment… I think we had this discussion last year and I’m trying to remember the details.
I’ll just end there for the time being, Mr. Chairman.
In the absence of a transfer agreement then would the employee who has been assigned to some other community within the same year and has been gone and would be gone for more than half of the time.
Would that position that is vacant, would that be considered to be fully vacant?
If I understand Mr. Enook’s question correctly then my answer would be no.
So let me dig a little deeper in relation to Pond Inlet.
In our community, if there are employees and you send an employee based in Pond Inlet and it doesn’t matter to you if that position who is supposed to be working in Pond Inlet is working elsewhere about 50 percent of time and yet it doesn’t matter to you.
I’m thinking perhaps that position is supposed to be assigned to the community of Pond Inlet.
But it turned out that you are doing otherwise.
Without knowing the details or specifics of the particular situation in Pond Inlet.
If there’s a position in Pond Inlet, the individual that is assigned to that position should be in that position and live in Pond Inlet.
However, there could be mitigating circumstances.
The position itself could be one where the person is required to do a lot of travel to different communities in Nunavut to do their job and/or they could be in an acting position where they have to come to Iqaluit to participate in meetings and management decisions required to run a department.
And the minister added he thinks he knows where I may be coming from.
I was just using that as an example because that’s all I know. I think I would know that other decentralized communities probably have the same situation.
I am therefore trying to ask, even if those people are spending a lot of time outside of their decentralized community, up to half the year, it matters not one bit to you when that position is supposed to be assigned to that regional centre.
It doesn’t matter if that person has been absent for so long because it’s not technically correct that the person is based in, for example, based in Pond Inlet.
That’s the way I understand it. It’s just a word. It doesn’t really mean anything.
I thank Mr. Enook for sharing his concerns.
Mr. Chair, it does concern us.
When I say I know where he’s coming from, I do live in a decentralized community. At the same time I do see a lot of people in my decentralized community have to do a lot of travel throughout the Kitikmeot and throughout Nunavut, especially inspectors.
It seems like they are on planes all the time.
Mr. Chairman, it’s up to the deputy ministers in each department to manage their departments. The Department of Finance doesn’t manage the deputies. It’s their job to manage the department, manage their human resources and their financial resources to the best utilization that is required of the government.
There are positions in decentralized communities… they have to ensure that the positions are providing the service as per the job description.
I don’t know what the particular details are but if Mr. Enook wanted to provide them to me privately then we can assist in that way.
I wasn’t trying to talk about one job or one community. It was not my intention to create an impression that I was. However, if it’s the case in Pond Inlet then there is also a case in Igloolik and you state that the same situation happens in Cambridge Bay.
So that is what I’m saying in general.
However, regardless of that, I don’t think I’ll get a clearer answer on this. Decentralized communities, there are about 460 jobs that were decentralized.
Do you have a policy in relation to those jobs like do you have a breakdown on the maximum days in the year that they could be away from their assigned desk in a decentralized community, regardless of any reason? Is there a limit? Do you have checks and balances in terms of how long a person can stay away?
The Department of Finance does not have a policy itself, but as I indicated in my earlier answer, we expect the deputy ministers and the directors within the department to manage their human resource, so they should be on top of that, ensuring that people travel for their jobs.
If they are away for 150 days a year, I can’t even begin to imagine what job that is, but if they’re travelling for 150 days a year out of their community to do their job, it’s considerable wear and tear on their body because we all know what it’s like to travel in Nunavut year-round.
Mr. Enook (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I think, hon. minister, I can assure you that I don’t think it would only be wear and tear on the body; I think it would also be wear and tear on their budget, let alone the body.
Nobody does any of this stuff for free.
Let me move on, if I may, Iksivautaaq.
I want to ask a quick question on job descriptions.
Mr. Chairman, rule me out of order if Minister Peterson is not the proper minister to be asking the question to, but sometimes I find it very confusing as to who to ask questions to, especially when it comes to human resources because every department has their own and it seems like it’s very easy to “pass the buck” before they answer the question.
Mr. Chairman, would I be incorrect... ?
First of all, when a job is advertised, there’s a job description, obviously, and some job descriptions for the job that is advertised sometimes seem unreasonable, where I might almost say that some job descriptions are “plumped up.”
In a case where a job becomes available, is it each department’s own to do the job description?
Yes, each department would be responsible to develop the draft job description. Presumably, the subject matter experts know what duties, experience, and education requirements are for the position, but then they would submit them to the Department of Finance or the human resource section and then we would review them.
Next on the list, Mr. Joanasie.
Mr. Joanasie: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for recognizing me again.
I have two, maybe three other questions that I wanted to ask too and I’m not sure if the minister is there, the appropriate minister to be asking.
However, my first one is: does the GN have employees outside of Nunavut?
Yes, the Government of Nunavut does have employees outside of Nunavut.
Mr. Joanasie: How many, Mr. Chairman?
There are 23 outside of Nunavut.
Out of those 23, is the minister able to say where those positions are located and what positions are they?
One is in Yellowknife, seven are in Winnipeg, nine are in Churchill, and six are in Ottawa. I cannot go into detail what positions they are… I cannot provide that right now.
Chairman: Thank you. Mr. Joanasie.
Mr. Joanasie: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the answer.
The other question I had, I am not sure if it is covered under this line item, but how much does the government spend on relocating staff from outside of the territory?
Relocation, approximately $1 million for 2014-15.
Chairman: Thank you. I have no more names. Branch Summary.
Finance. Comptrollership. Total Operations and Maintenance, to be voted, $25,566,000.
Chairman: Going on to the next page. Finance.
Branch Summary. Centrally Administered Funds. Total Operations and Maintenance, Mr. Savikataaq.
My questions concern the department’s budget capital lease. On page 27, it indicates that you will spend just a little over $10 million in 2014-15 fiscal year on capital leases for buildings that were acquired as part of the Nunavut Incremental Infrastructure Program, as well as Arviat Health Centre and Winnipeg Boarding Home.
Can the minister clarify how much of this is provided from the federal government for the lease of these buildings, currently?
One of the buildings is on here, but I will state it, it’s on its own, it’s the Legislative Assembly building itself too?
Can the minister indicate how much of this is federal funding?
For the capital leases related to the buildings that were leased from the Nunavut Construction Corporation, the total annual leases are $9,373,000, and we receive that funding through the territorial formula financing agreement we have with Canada, and we do have leases with NCC and that funding goes to them.
Mr. Savikataaq: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When is this funding agreement for the leases to expire?
The funding we get under that program is rolled into our territorial formula financing arrangement with Canada, so we will continue receiving that level of funding, but the leases for the NCC buildings expire in 2019-20.
CGS would be the department that looks after the leases when that period in time comes for renewal or whatever happens when the leases expire.
This might be a CGS question, too. When the leases are done, obviously, there will be an option to renew, which would be CGS.
Would the option to purchase, if it’s there, is that with CGS too?
I thank Mr. Savikataaq for the question. It’s a good question.
It’s something that any tenant should take into consideration when a lease goes to expire; whether to renew or to purchase.
In this particular case, I do not know if there is any clause in the agreement with NCC to permit purchase of the building, but it is something we could discuss with CGS.
I have no more names. Finance. Branch Summary.
Centrally Administered Funds. Total. Operations and Maintenance, to be voted, $46, 618,000.
Chairman: Go back to page C-3.
Department Summary. Finance. Detail of Expenditures.
Total. Operations and Maintenance, to be voted, $84,648,000.
Chairman: Are you in agreement with Department of Finance is concluded?
Closing comments, Minister Peterson.
I would like to thank you and the committee for your excellent questions.
I have heard a lot of concerns, not only in Committee of the Whole, but also during question period and in conversations with regular members about the human resources. We are going to continue to work very hard on addressing a lot of the issues in the human resources, and, of course, we will continue to work hard to balance our budgets and manage our finances.
I heard Mr. Enook’s comment about how 150 days of travel could be hard on our budget.
We will continue to work with our colleagues in the different departments to ensure that everybody is aware of the Financial Administration Act, our FAM directives, and our human resource manual, and also the provisions of the public service act so that we could continue on this mandate to strengthen and improve our finances, and to strengthen and improve our human resources section.
I would like to thank my officials who have appeared with me on Friday and today, and also other departments who have worked with us to prepare the main estimates for this spring sitting.
I have to point out, Mr. Chairman, it’s been a hard condensed period of time since January. We have worked on the interim appropriation and capital estimates in the winter sitting.
We’re working on the main estimates and we’re also working on the capital estimates for the October sitting.