A city councillor is calling for a SA国际影视传媒渇irm commitmentSA国际影视传媒� from the Giant Mine Remediation Project Team to ensure northern contractors are benefitting from the clean-up effort set to begin this summer. 

Coun. Cynthia Mufandaedza said that she recently had been led to believe that a representative from Parsons SA国际影视传媒� the main Giant Mine cleanup manager SA国际影视传媒� had said that, generally, Parsons does not engage local contractors because of a lack of capacity. 

SA国际影视传媒淣or do they hire local labour, because of capacity and that, in most cases, the point of hire for the team is Calgary," Mufandaedza said during Monday's Governance and Priorities Committee meeting, adding that other contractors during the meeting received the same information. 

Natalie Plato, deputy director of the Giant Mine Remediation Project, and her team said this messaging came as a surprise given the teamSA国际影视传媒檚 overall commitment to NWT business. 

SA国际影视传媒淥ur number one goal is to maximize local, regional Indigenous capacity,SA国际影视传媒� Plato said. SA国际影视传媒淪o we already have set our key performance indicators and targets to reflect that.SA国际影视传媒�

Andrei Torianski, socio-economic manager with the Giant Mine Remediation Project Team, said it was the first he had heard of the information. He had explained the team's socio-economic strategy and implementation plan during the meeting and added that Parsons has two offices in Yellowknife SA国际影视传媒� one on the Giant Mine site and one downtown Yellowknife SA国际影视传媒� where staff members are tasked to try to enhance socio-economic benefits for northern businesses. 

SA国际影视传媒淭heySA国际影视传媒檙e responsible for reviewing contracting performance and putting together work packages to make sure they incorporate the procurement tools,SA国际影视传媒� Torianski said. 

Coun. Niels Konge, who owns Konge Construction, provided a different perspective. He said he had been contacted by Parsons to ascertain what kind of services his company could offer at the site. 

SA国际影视传媒淚 appreciated that phone call for sure,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淗opefully, Parsons can continue to reach out to local businesses to see what types of services that they offer and see whether or not there's anything that I can help out with over there."

Konge agreed that northern residents do need to benefit.

SA国际影视传媒淲hat is a local company? A local company is somebody who has local people who work for them," he said. "And those are the companies that I would hope can have the most benefit over at Giant Mine.SA国际影视传媒�

Mayor Rebecca Alty said the question raised is an important one for the city.

"I know the socio-economic benefits are a key thing we all want to see, and because Giant Mine has a pretty tough environmental legacy, we want to make sure cleanup, at minimum, brings benefits to Yellowknife," Alty said.

"ISA国际影视传媒檓 hoping the team will follow up to get more information on that comment and make sure that all RFPs (requests for proposals) are really actively getting to northern businesses and arenSA国际影视传媒檛 written off where anybody can be doing any of this work. 

"ISA国际影视传媒檓 glad Coun. Mufandaedza raised it and it is important the project team follows up on it, based on their comments that they hadnSA国际影视传媒檛 heard about it. Because that is not the direction that the project should be going."

Ren茅e Comeau, executive director with the NWT Chamber of Commerce, said she believes there is some capacity for smaller contracts if some of the large ones are broken down a bit more.

She added that Parsons could take advantage of the GNWT's to "start creating capacity as the remediation sector has the ability to grow significantly, not only in mine remediation but also the clean up and remediation of the DEW line and military sites. 

"This all being said, Parsons has participated in our Reverse Trade Shows, where businesses are the attendees and they meet with companies such as Parsons to introduce themselves and see what procurement opportunities there are with Parsons, and other companies," Comeau said.