Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, the town, like many of community governments, is being punished for their strict discipline and fiscal responsibility. So what’s the message we are going to give our communities? Be prepared to pay? Not all communities are equal and yet our government is looked upon to help communities and help with the extraordinary, unplanned circumstances beyond anybody’s control.
Mr. Speaker, while the Town of Norman Wells appreciates the immediate support by the GNWT department to examine long-term solutions to their shortage of the natural gas issue and an offer to cover for personnel to help with the current issue due to the broken lines in the pipeline, it falls short of their request to cover the larger bill to recover the cost of keeping the power on in the town of Norman Wells at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honour the graduating class of Deh Gah Elementary and Secondary School. It gives me great pleasure to announce the Fort Providence 2011 high school graduates. They are: Ms. Megan Antoine, who will be attending Vancouver Island University; Ms. Veronica Bouvier, who will be attending Dawson Creek College; Ms. Shiana Sabourin, who will be attending Camosun College in Victoria; Ms. Kristy Tanche, who will also be attending Camosun College in Victoria; and Mr. Ben Vandell, who will be attending Vancouver Island University.
Mr. Speaker, I also congratulate the families and community for their contribution to the success of these students. We all know it takes hard work, commitment, and perseverance to finalize this first milestone in a youth’s life. Youthfulness can bring many things such as distractions, both good and bad, and without family direction and community support, this can be a challenging task at times.
Ms. Veronica Bouvier knows this firsthand as an adult returning to school. Recognizing the value of a good education, she chose to return to school to complete her grade 12. This graduation is a testament to her commitment, and demonstrates to others the value of a high school diploma. When the task is shared between family, friends, and community, the goals achieved can be very rewarding, as proven by the achievements of these students.
Mr. Speaker, to the Deh Gah graduating class of 2011 I offer this: Celebrate this special day with pride and a sense of great achievement, knowing that many people share in your desire for a future filled with happiness and success.
Mr. Speaker, the community is holding the graduation ceremony today in the community hall and will be followed by a feast, a grand march, and a dance. It is with great regret that I won’t be there on time to take part in the festivities, but certainly will be around to personally congratulate each graduate over this weekend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Mr. Ted Blondin, who is the chairperson of the Tlicho Community Services Agency and who is here with us in the gallery. Welcome.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two constituents of the Great Slave riding: Andrew Wiley and Karen Wiley. Welcome to the gallery.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to mark this occasion by recognizing Ms. Emma Ouellette, who is paging in this Assembly while we’re in our final sitting. To make special note, she is the daughter of Darrin Ouellette, who once was a table officer who now works for the Assembly as the director of corporate services. Welcome.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As indicated in my Member’s statement, I have questions for the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
I’m sure the Minister is aware that we have a full-time fire chief in Hay River right now and part of his mandate is to perform some of the duties that would normally be performed from the office of the fire marshal. So when there were inspections or work required in Hay River, it would require the fire marshal to travel from Fort Smith to do that work, and so the government is obviously saving some money there. I’d like to know if that correlates to a contribution of any kind to the Town of Hay River for the support of this full-time position undertaking these duties.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding allocation is to the communities and the communities will decide how to allocate that funding and how to budget for them, and if they feel that they have the adequate funding to budget for a fire chief, which in this case they did, they bring on a full-time fire chief, and I commend them for that. But as far as correlating to extra funding to the community from our department, we have pretty well a set figure. I can advise the Member, though, that we are working on a review of O and M funding for the communities and we’re hoping to have that work done, working with LGANT and NWTAC to see if there are many changes, if any have to be made, to the way we fund communities. Thank you.
I would like to ask the Minister if there are any precedents in the Northwest Territories for communities that would find themselves in the same situation as Hay River where they would have a full-time fire chief on the municipal staff, if there is any specific funding earmarked to support that position in view of the tasks that person can take on that relieve pressure on the fire marshal’s office. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have a few communities that have full-time fire chiefs and they’re paid for by the municipality. Again, as far as them taking up some of the duties or doing some of the work that would normally be done by the assistant fire marshal, once we do the review of the O and M if we find that there’s some merit to that, then I’m sure it’s a situation that the department will have a look at. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, if the Town of Hay River could quantify a certain amount of work of that nature that is being done and were to submit a proposal to MACA for an offsetting contribution to support this position in Hay River, is that something that Municipal and Community Affairs could support? I’m just thinking it would be more information if there were an actual detailing of that type of work that’s being done that would normally fall under the mandate of a territorial government employee. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m sure all the communities come forward and make their case to MACA on the amount of funding that they receive, and if the communities make a good enough argument for funding for a position such as the one the Member is speaking of, I’m sure the department will be more than happy to have a look at it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to ask the Minister if he sees this as a good model. We see this in other areas such as economic development where a municipality or a community will hire an economic development officer and it will be funded by the territorial government to work… There will be a contribution from the municipality and a contribution from the territorial government for a position like that. I see this position of a full-time fire chief as similar in the sense that this is work, a lot of the work that could fall within the mandate of a territorial government employee. So I see it as a cooperative and joint effort with communities. I think it deserves special recognition in that way as a special category of funding and I’d like to thank the Minister for considering a proposal of that nature. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, communities that do their budget, they will budget if they want to bring on a full-time fire chief or whatever other staff they want to hire in the community. As I assured the Member, we are always working with communities, LGANT, and NWTAC just to see how we can improve services that we provide to the community. Again, the whole O and M funding process will be reviewed to see, working with all these different groups, if any changes need to be made. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions follow up on my Member’s statement and are directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I’m sure the Minister is aware of the critical importance of early childhood development and I want to explore how this has been recognized in the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative review.
The early childhood development research I’ve cited comes from a presentation to the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education by world renowned early childhood expert Dr. Fraser Mustard. I’ve recommended Dr. Mustard’s work and even his participation in the ECB initiative to the Minister.
Mr. Speaker, how has the Minister assured recommendations in the ASAI report reach all the way down to consider prenatal and preschool measures? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular area is of great interest and also a priority of this government. Early childhood development and childcare has always been a priority of this government. We all know that learning starts at early ages. Part of the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, the first priority is the early childhood development and childcare.
We’ve heard over and over from the regional forums, the people of the North, the educators, the parents, that this needs to be at the forefront, the first priority. We have initiated that. This will be part of the document I will be tabling in the House today, later today. It will specifically highlight what we’ve heard, what the priorities are, the implementation stages for the next government to proceed. Mahsi.
I’m very pleased to hear those comments from the Minister. The scientific information is obviously too powerful to ignore here. If foresters growing trees had similar information, for example, they wouldn’t wait until seedlings are five years old to get the best yields. They’d pour on the fertilizer the moment the seed is planted and we must do the same with our most precious resources.
Given the Aboriginal Student Initiative work will be incomplete without full inclusion of early childhood development considerations, and yet the ECE review is ongoing, how will the Minister ensure that results of the early childhood development review, which will be completed next Assembly, will be immediately incorporated into the Aboriginal Achievement Initiative work? Mahsi.
We take the same example as the fertilizer on the early seedling. We’ve heard in communities that even focussing on those babies that are not born yet, they talk about that and how the parents and the grandparents should be talking to their unborn child because that’s the most important step. I believe in that as well. We need to spread the news. We need to start initiating our discussion, talking to our children, even though they’re not born as of yet. At the same time even little ones.
Mr. Speaker, this particular Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is a working document. Any document that we produce, there are always changes that reflect on what we’ve missed out from our previous forum discussions. You know, we may have not captured everything that we wanted. That’s the purpose why we are here today in this House and question period. Sometimes we miss out on things, and we can certainly capture that as we move forward.
So this particular area of early childhood development is of importance for this government and will continue to pressure them as we move forward into the next government. Mahsi.
Again, I appreciate the Minister’s remarks. I referred earlier today to the scientific information on how the building blocks of language development are laid even before birth and are best developed before the age of three. This government devotes a lot of energy to preserving and promoting Aboriginal language, and rightly so. The science shows our best prospect of success isn't in the formal school system. They begin when the child is still in the womb.
Again, how do recommendations in the Aboriginal Student Achievement report reflect these understandings? In other words, what actions? Can the Minister give some examples of what actions are proposed to support parents in their home and community during prenatal and initial years of their children’s lives? Mahsi.
Most of the discussions we’ve heard at the regional forums are specific to that area of dealing with the ongoing child and even the two and three year olds, focussing on them because they have to start early. That is planted into the document that is going to be tabled. It does highlight the importance of starting early and having parents and educators involved and also the leaders. This is a shared responsibility. We have to do it together. Even the grandparents are involved. So, Mr. Speaker, I will be tabling the document that will highlight all the specific key points that we’ve heard, particularly early childhood development. This is an important document that will be tabled in this House. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of the Housing Corporation with regard to my Member’s statement and looking at alternatives and options to work with tenants that are finding themselves in situations of either being evicted or having arrears and finding ways. As the Minister should know, in most of our communities we have 45 percent unemployment. There are very few jobs to go around. I think as a department you should consider looking at what you can do to help these individuals work off their arrears by either simply cleaning, painting, or in some cases, like I mentioned in Tsiigehtchic where they demolished housing units which were going to be demolished anyway, and allow those individuals to take on some training and give them some opportunity to get some work experience, but more importantly, pay down their arrears with 50 percent of the income that they arrive at.
Has the department looked inwards of the Housing Corporation and the housing authorities of how they can work along with their tenants to pay down those arrears? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing is always looking everywhere to see how we can help those folks pay down their arrears. Part of it was allowing people to get into a repayment plan where they pay X amount of dollars. In some cases, one case in particular, a lady paid for five or six years until she managed to pay it all. It was very small amounts she paid each month. But the Member has a point, though, and it was an innovative solution that was reached in Tsiigehtchic. That’s one thing we try to encourage our department and all our folks out in the front line to try to come up with innovative ways that we can work with these residents to give them an opportunity to pay down on their arrears. We are always open to suggestions and open to new ideas.
This is one that we just actually had a fairly brief discussion at the beginning of the week with senior management over at the Housing Corp. So this is one that we would consider. Thank you.
As we know, we have aging housing stocks in the Northwest Territories. A lot of it does need upkeep, and that’s where I’m trying to focus my question on. Those units need some improvements such as painting and the possibility of doing minor renovations and also replacement of, say, electrical fixtures. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could get his department to look at what is on the business plans for capital investment in those different communities and see if some of those investments could be used for the tenants in those units to maybe do some of that work and work off their arrears by simply painting their units so you don’t have to bring a contractor in from outside the community. Those dollars will stay in the community and will help those individuals to pay down their arrears.
We look for every opportunity that we can work with the communities. I know of a few communities where the local LHO will do a lot of their own maintenance and improvement work over the summer. In some cases they’ll bring as many as 17 people on board to do the summer work. They also hire a lot of students to work at the LHOs for the summer.
As far as the employment goes, we have to be very careful that these folks, that if they do enter into some kind of agreement with them, we have to be sure that they qualify or are able to do a fairly good job, because we don’t want anyone just going into a unit and just slopping paint all over the place and thinking that’s acceptable, which it really isn’t. We have to be sure all the work is done according to the standards that the local housing authorities have.
It’s not a simple question of cash switching hands. Sweat equity is a way that people do work things off, and I know in the past, people did trade, barter, and did whatever they had to do to help the other person out. I think that should still originate in this government. I think we have to be conscious that people do have talents in our communities, and if you can make use of those talents and tell them you can work it off, I think that’s all I’m asking for.
I’d like to ask the Minister to take this into serious consideration. Since you look at the arrears that are out there, I think it’s going to take many, many years to pay down the arrears simply at $30 a month or whatever. I think you have to find a way of working with them to pay them down sooner and get these people back into housing.
I’m very well aware of the talents that we have in the small communities, having seen it first hand and knowing that they’re quite capable if you give them an opportunity of performing the work. The training that a lot of these folks have gotten over the past number of years working casual for the local housing authority during the summer is something that’s allowed them to continue to work.
I take the Member’s point, and I can assure the Member that as a corporation we’ll continue to try to work any way we can with the tenants to find ways that they can possibly work off their arrears and that. It’s a decision that’s made by the LHO but with some direction from headquarters. I can assure the Member that I will have discussion with staff and we’ll see if there are ways that we can find solutions to help those in the communities.
The Member is absolutely correct; arrears in some communities are quite high and it would take a long time to pay them down. We’ll do what we can as a corporation to see how we can alleviate some of that pressure.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko. Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask some questions today to the Minister of Justice and at the outset I’d like to thank the Minister for the information he recently provided to Members about emergency protection orders, or EPOs. It’s very helpful information.
Earlier this week we heard a concern raised by a constituent of Yellowknife Centre around a recently issued EPO, and there have been other similar concerns about EPOs in the last year. It would suggest to me that there are some flaws in the EPO process and that some adjustments are necessary. In light of these incidents, I would like to ask the Minister whether or not the department is considering a review of the EPO process, from the application for the EPO to the EPO hearing and beyond.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the EPO, the process, and also the issues that we’ve been dealing with over the years, we have managed to do an overall review of the EPO process, the guidelines and so forth. At this point it is within my office to review. The recommendations are brought forward. I will be reviewing the recommendations brought forward.
Yes, the review has been done and the recommendations will be coming down to possibly make those changes that will reflect what’s been happening on the outset.
It’s interesting to note that there are two reviews relative to the Protection Against Family Violence Act which were posted recently on the Justice department website. I think it was on Monday. The one the Minister refers to, I think, is called an Analysis of Emergency Protection Order Hearings in the NWT and it’s dated October 2010. In the summary of findings in that report it says: “The EPO legislation is well conceptualized and well written, but may need some modification to deal with special circumstances.” The Minister says he’s considering this report. I’d like to know whether or not since this evaluation was received, if the department is considering making modifications to the legislation governing emergency protection orders.
There is a process that we need to follow. I haven’t looked at those recommendations as of yet but I will be reviewing them. When it comes to making those changes, we have to consider all options as we move forward.
I appreciate that all options will be considered. I guess it’s a matter of when we can expect something to come back, when the report will be evaluated. We’re getting on to almost a year since it was received.
Another quote from the summary findings is: “Any difficulties with the EPO hearing appear to be in its application, not its design.” It goes to the heart, I think, of the matter of some of the difficulties that have occurred in the last while. I’d like to know if the department will consider, when it does its review, the application process and the specific finding from this report.
