Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document titled Building a Path for Northern Science, Government of the Northwest Territories Science Agenda.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly those areas of discussion we can certainly have within my department, “G” Division and the municipalities of the Northwest Territories to strive towards trying to get more access and also resources and federal funding, and then also strategic thinking of territorial government funding in this initiative. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of opportunities and those opportunities, certainly, we can work with. We have agreements with the RCMP “G” Division through the federal government and working with municipalities in the communities such as bylaw enforcement. So there are agreements in place already, but going beyond that, having foot patrols into the communities, we have to keep in mind that this is a territorial-wide initiative and we need to focus on all communities. That’s why we’re aggressively approaching the federal government to see our uniqueness, our remoteness, our geographic challenges...

Mr. Speaker, yes, the auto reply, whether by e-mail or phone call, is a standard procedure that we use in our office, whether it be Yellowknife or other communities. If it’s not being used, certainly those areas need to be looked at. Mr. Speaker, the procedure is in place and it’s just a matter of following through with that. So I’ll certainly make a commitment again to look into those areas. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we currently do not have a written policy specific to those individuals if the client service officer is away. But we do have a backup plan where in a larger centre such as Yellowknife, we have an on-call duty officer that takes those calls. If there are inquiries, then that individual follows through with that. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, that on-call duty officer also takes calls and is accessible any time, even without appointments. But in those communities outside Yellowknife, certainly we have client service officers going to the communities from a regional perspective. They...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document titled Annual Report on Official Languages 2008-2009.

The discussion that we are having at the community level, that can certainly be brought forward to my department. We can certainly present it to a standing committee, if we need to, on the status of our discussion. So, certainly, we can do that, Mr. Speaker. I will make a commitment to gather the information from my department meeting with certain groups and education authorities and meeting with Municipal and Community Affairs and different departments what we’ve gathered. We can certainly share that information. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this area has been brought up in this House and I did commit to looking into it even further with PWS and other departments on a going forward basis. We do have some old buildings that don’t have suitable gymnasiums or other sports activities in the communities, but we are working closely with local education authorities or education councils to have some sort of agreement with them to deliver or transport students to specific areas so they can be actively involved with physical recreational activities, whether it be soccer, volleyball, hockey or other...

Those are the areas that we can certainly look at. I believe we have looked at, as a department, how we can get around where a caregiver is looking after a grandma or a grandpa or a parent so we don’t penalize the household based on their income, but we have to reassess the household where what kind of income is coming in, how can we exempt in certain areas. So those are the discussions that we’re currently having. Certainly there are going to be changes. We’ll certainly notify the standing committee. If it’s going to be a positive impact in the communities with the seniors, certainly we’ll...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly the subsidies for the cost of home heating fuel for winter months for resident seniors aged 60 and older who own their own home and meet the income tests is one of the criteria. It provides an income scale and fuel scale depending on the length of the heating season. Community income threshold and fuel scale divide into three zones depending on which communities they are from. So those are the areas just capturing some of the policies that we follow through the program that we offer. Mahsi.