Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Seniors’ Society has worked with the Department of Health and Social Services for over 15 years to ensure dignity, independence, participation, security and fairness for seniors across the NWT. As the population of the Northwest Territories ages, the NWT Seniors’ Society is an increasingly important resource for elders across the NWT. It is the only volunteer agency representing the individual and collective interest of all seniors in the NWT.

Its first multi-year funding agreement with Health and Social Services was in 2006 to 2010 and helped the NWT Seniors’...

Thank you. Many good people come to the North to help contribute and what we’re finding is we’ve got engineers, teachers, even veterinarians who are stuck in these entry jobs and not getting the access to tap into their potential of what they could provide and contribute to the North, and I think they’d add to the fabric of who we are. Would the Minister commit to working with the nominee office to ensure that they expand both public education and service support to this type of community? That way when we do get them here, they can work and ensure that they’re being productive in the way many...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In listening to Mr. Bromley’s question, it ironically was quite close to a matter I dealt with this morning. I had a constituent who came to my office from I would define an African community, and they talked about how difficult it is and challenging here in Yellowknife when we have a Nominee Program and broader, larger efforts to attract new immigrants to the North, but they find that the service levels are quite low. Many of them have said that they’ve got approximately in the range of 200 people here from the African community, but many of them have left their...

On one hand the Minister says she supports this, but then on the other and she says she doesn’t. Mr. Speaker, administratively, would the Minister agree that it makes a lot more sense to have multi-year agreements in place rather than doing the same work year after year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about multi-year agreements and I highlighted the one between the NWT Seniors’ Society and the Department of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, multi-year agreements certainly outline and develop a stabilized funding source and it takes significant stress off NGOs, which should be doing the work that they always intend to rather than filling out long, protracted agreements year after year.

Under Minister Miltenberger, at the time, it was a great step forward for NGOs, and I had hoped that it would have been the hallmark...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, would the Minister commit to re-evaluating the support levels at the nominee office to see if they could offer the types of services I talked about and in turn what they would do is help support the transition and development of the credentials of the skills I talked about? For a fact, Mr. Speaker, a lot of people bring great training to Canada and to the North and I would hate to see it slip by and someone’s intended cherished career never gets utilized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Well, one of the problems that they’ve highlighted is that there’s no real service centre. Where once we’ve got them here, it’s, like, what do they do or where do they seek further training and education about getting jobs? I mean, it’s great to attract the immigrant community or even the new Canadian community to Yellowknife in the North, but many of them are finding it difficult to get jobs. So the challenges of training, education, support and even drawing family here to the North becomes a significant problem continually for them. Does the Nominee Program have a service centre...

Is the Minister able to provide a definition of what “in due time” means?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In reading the line under the directorate, and of course having the operations expenditure in front of us, I’m just wondering exactly when there’s a line that states the directorate does the capital planning for the department and Aurora College and other educational authorities. What type of capital planning has the Department of Education, Culture and Employment done for Aurora College in the last two years? Furthermore, what is budgeted for this particular budget year for capital planning for Aurora College?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the particular issues I’d like to continue on the early childhood education matter, and Ms. Bisaro was wading into the particular area of concern that I share as well, which is the stabilized funding. Has the department put a lot of resources in the sense of attention and identification as to why certain early childhood centres or, certainly, programming doesn’t succeed?

One of the constant complaints I hear, of course, is stabilized funding. I often wonder has the department taken an initiative to analyze the actual cost of what some of these centres would cost...