New GNWT employment policy prioritizes Indigenous hires

The NWT government has a new hiring policy designed to increase Indigenous representation in the territory’s public service.

The Indigenous Employment Policy will take effect on April 1, 2025, replacing the current Affirmative Action Policy.

NWT officials said the major difference is the new policy exclusively focuses on Indigenous recruitment, retention and career advancement.

That means the GNWT will prioritize Indigenous applicants from across Canada when hiring and will no longer prioritize groups such as women, non-Indigenous northerners and people with disabilities.

“The goal of this policy is to help ensure opportunities for Indigenous employees to grow, thrive and take on leadership roles within the public service,” finance minister Caroline Wawzonek told reporters.

A copy of the new policy was not made immediately available to Cabin Radio.

Wawzonek said groups other than Indigenous people will still have protection from workplace discrimination under the NWT Human Rights Act. The territorial government said it maintains a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Indigenous northerners account for 29% of GNWT

Figures recently published by the NWT government show the proportion of Indigenous employees at the GNWT dropped to 28.7 percent in the past year, the lowest on record.

Meanwhile, Indigenous people represent 49.6 percent of the territory’s population.

Wawzonek said the Affirmative Action Policy, which had not received a major update since it was introduced in 1989, failed to address systemic issues contributing to the underrepresentation of Indigenous people at the GNWT.

The current policy has been criticized by residents who called for the territory to do more to attract, retain and promote Indigenous employees.

NWT officials said the new policy was developed based on public engagement, consultation with Indigenous governments and organizations, and feedback from territorial employees.

“A clear message we heard from all of this consultation is that we should have a policy that’s focused clearly on Indigenous people and geared towards ensuring the Indigenous population is reflected in the GNWT,” said deputy finance minister William MacKay.

Beyond the new policy, the NWT government said it will offer mentorship programs, leadership training and succession planning.

Wawzonek said the territorial government has also been reviewing job descriptions across the public service to determine the qualifications actually required and identify equivalencies to address potential barriers.

Testart, Hawkins criticize policy

Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart and Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins both used social media to lambast the new policy on Tuesday.

They were particularly critical of the territory’s decision to scrap the prioritization of hiring northerners, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

Testart wrote that “hiring a bunch of Indigenous southerners instead of non-Indigenous southerners isn’t going to solve our problem.”

MacKay, however, said legal reviews suggested “a strong sense” that prioritizing non-Indigenous northerners conflicted with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and was likely to be non-compliant with the Canada free trade agreement and international trade agreements.

Both Wawzonek and MacKay said the finance department is instead looking at “legally permissible” ways of encouraging northern hiring, such as including a requirement of northern knowledge within job descriptions.

“It’s certainly not our intention to give a disadvantage to residents of the NWT. We want to make sure that they have every opportunity to access these positions,” MacKay said.

The deputy minister added the government does have more “blunt instruments” at its disposal to encourage local hiring, such as restricting competition to a community or region in the NWT.

‘That would be a good problem to have’

When it came to concerns about the potential hiring of more Indigenous people from elsewhere in Canada, Wawzonek said “in some ways, that would be a good problem to have.”

The minister said she had heard from communities that someone raised as an Indigenous person in southern Canada may have a better understanding of Indigenous challenges and worldviews than a non-Indigenous northerner.

“The boundaries of the Northwest Territories are ones that were imposed upon Indigenous Canadians through colonialism and they do not reflect people’s cultural ties or language ties,” she added, noting, for example, that the Affirmative Action Policy excluded Nunavummiut from priority hiring.

MacKay said the NWT government plans to educate residents on why the policy was changed and ensure managers and employees are trained on the new policy.

A town hall on the new policy will be held for NWT government employees on January 28, 2025.