CabinRadio: Multi-year plans to increase Indigenous representation in the NWT government are set to be made public by the end of March.  

Each GNWT department is expected to create plans that set three-year, five-year and 10-year targets for Indigenous recruitment and retention, part of an overarching initiative introduced in November last year. Senior staff at the Department of Finance – which is overseeing that initiative – said plans will also aim to ensure Indigenous employees have fair access to senior management positions and support in those roles.

The territory’s latest figures show 29 percent of the GNWT workforce is Indigenous. Three in every four identify as female. Comparatively, about half of the territory’s population is Indigenous. As of March 2021, 20 percent of senior management positions at the territorial government were filled by Indigenous people and 20 percent by non-Indigenous residents born in the territory or who have lived here for more than half their life.