Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Rarely do I get an opportunity to recognize in the gallery some young men who have been a big part of my life, and they’re a bigger part of my life now, my sons: Mitchell, who is the youngest, Samuel, Quincey and Justin. Along with them, joining them in support for me here today is Ms. Angela Young.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Herbert Blake, chief of the Nigtat Gwich’in in Inuvik. I’d also like to welcome Mr. Steve Baryluk, a resident of Inuvik. Welcome to the Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like today to recognize all the Pages who have been working so very hard for us in the last couple of weeks. I would especially like to recognize a constituent of Frame Lake, Jaida Brunet. Thanks to all of you for your work.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to also welcome Mr. Herbert Blake from Inuvik. Again in the House I have Mr. Frank Pokiak, chair of the Inuvialuit Game Council, and Mr. Larry Carpenter, chair of the Wildlife Management Advisory Council.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take a moment to recognize a couple of people. I’d like to recognize Chief Tsetta. I believe he’s up there in the gallery; I saw him a moment ago. He’s the chief for Dettah, as we all know. I’d also like to make special note of Lee Mandeville. He’s with the Dene Nation. And a long-time friend of mine, Sonny Lenoir. We were kids together growing up in Fort Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize Morag MacPherson, the founder and creative force behind ArtsEnergy. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to recognize Chief Edward Sangris of Dettah and chief of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. I’d also welcome Chief Tsetta if he’s here too.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the public housing issue and I talked a little bit about the elders and what the past historical counts that were discussed amongst the government officials and our people today. I want to ask the Minister of Housing, because of all these past grievances and what was told to people and what we’re living today is…(inaudible)…two different stories. I want to ask the Minister, in light of the federal government, he has already declined their funding to housing for the social housing programs, what other initiatives other than the review going on and being brought up in the 17th Assembly, what is he doing now or his department doing now to make sure that people do not remain in the tents or the warehouses that they’re living in in their communities?
I’ve seen some of this work this morning and I’m truly impressed that the Minister is looking at other creative ways as to how to get people out of tents or into houses and stop them from going into the warehouses to house their families. What is the Minister looking at as other ways we can do some work before the first snow comes?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We try to work very hard with residents to keep them in their units. It’s not our intent, as I’ve said on a number of occasions, to put people out. They have to understand that they have a responsibility. A lot of people have lived up to that responsibility.
The Member was making a reference to the $2 a month. I think as a Housing Corporation we’re doing a lot better than that right now when you see 798 seniors paying zero and housing still paying to maintain the unit. Obviously, we’re faced with a challenge in trying to keep the CMHC funding flowing. It’s something we have to continue to work with Canada on, and hopefully we’ll be able to come up with some kind of solution so we’re able to still provide public housing. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve put such an emphasis on arrears, because it helps us offset some of the money we’re losing from CMHC.
I’m certainly very appreciative that the elders are paying zero. And it should be. These are all seniors across the North. That’s my understanding from our elders about the public housing. However, I’d like to go back and ask the Minister what the Corporation is doing right now.
When I go back to the Sahtu, people right now are living in warehouses and their families are living in warehouses. People are living in makeshift tents in the communities. We know right now, I heard from the Minister and I heard from the rest of the MLAs about the responsibilities of rents and arrears. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, they’re living in warehouses and tents. What else can we do in the short term to get people out of those situations? Because fall is coming around.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if the Member is referring to those that have arrears that have been evicted from their units having to live in the conditions that he’s describing. If that’s the case, then obviously they’d have to work something out with the local housing authority to try and clear off their arrears and then they’ll be able to get accommodation again.
I mean, I have to point out that during the life of the 16th Assembly with the investment made from the federal government and the only jurisdiction in the country to match the federal investment, we’ve been able to do over 600 houses on the ground. As part of our vacant unit strategy, I’ve informed this House that we’re proposing to turn those that can’t be allocated into public housing. So we’re looking at getting more public housing on the ground.
Again, if it’s arrears, then it’s something that they have to work out with their local housing authority. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the housing and all the dollars that have gone to investing, we’re well aware of. Still, the point, Mr. Speaker, is that people are living in warehouses and tents and people are living in overcrowded units. Maybe it’s a bigger government. I’m looking for a solution here. I’m reaching out here. How do we get people who are right now living in warehouses and tents, as we speak under this roof right here, move them back in? I mean, there’s got to be another way than just saying it’s your responsibility and this is what you need to do. Obviously, they’re not getting it. What can we do to get them into a unit there?
In the Member’s Member’s statement he talked about how people were once very independent and now they’ve become dependent on the government. There are all kinds of opportunities for people out there to be independent. They’re given every chance and every opportunity by the Government of the Northwest Territories and there is a very good support system. The Member said that I keep saying the same thing, and obviously, that’s what it comes down to. It comes down to the same thing.
To stay in a rental housing unit, you have to pay your rent. If you don’t pay your rent, you’re evicted until you can make some kind of agreement to take care of the arrears and then you would end up back in public housing. Without the public housing portfolio, there would be a lot of people out there who wouldn’t be able to house themselves. I think this is a good solution. We ask people to work with us. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today and tomorrow when we finish our House business here and we go back to our communities, we will still go back to where people are going to be in their tents, in their warehouses, and we need to let them know. Certainly we can let them know about the options that are there for housing that’s provided for them. I guess that’s one of the cruel realities of not taking full ownership or full responsibility for your issues. There are two sides to a story. I guess what I want to ask a Minister is: is his corporation going to be putting some of the stronger homeless policies in our communities where people now have to look at homeless shelters in our communities, not only in Yellowknife but other communities? We are going to have to start looking at smaller centres where we need to have a stronger homeless Shelter Policy.
As part of the overall Shelter Policy review, homelessness is one of the aspects of the review that we are looking at along with the rent scale review. We are hoping to have the work done and it would be then put into a transition document for the 17th Legislative Assembly and they can decide at that time what the priorities of the 17th Legislative Assembly are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions had to do with the income support situation in Tuk with the voucher system being implemented September 1st. I had more than a few calls that we were rushing into this, to step backwards to try to keep people independent, giving them independence and make the right choices. It’s bad enough that they are on income support and there are no jobs in the community. Mr. Speaker, I just wish this pipeline would get started so we would have work and the...(inaudible)...would get going. But, Mr. Speaker, until then we are on income support, a good majority of Tuk.
We are rushing into this. Could the Minister reconsider his decision on the voucher system that was supposed to start September 1st of this year? Could the Minister defer this until April 1, 2012, so we can have a proper implementation for the community and maybe put it to a community vote? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It is a credit system that we’ve been talking about since fall 2010. The Member approached our office and also the Tuk Hamlet Council also supported the process. The DEA also supported the initiative. Based on that, we decided to go ahead from what we heard from the community leadership.
If the Member wants to have this deferred, I need to have some confirmation from the DEA and the Member himself and also the Tuk Hamlet Council that they want us to defer the matter until the new fiscal year. I am more than willing to work with that, Mr. Speaker, but I need some confirmation from the community of Tuk. Mahsi.
I was a supporter of this because, like I said before, I support anything my leadership of the community of Tuk, the mayor and council, supports, and the DEA.
Mr. Speaker, if I was to get these letters within the next few days from the Hamlet of Tuk and the DEA and myself, is the Minister committing to me that he would defer this until April 1, 2012? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If that is the wish of the community of Tuktoyaktuk, then I’m willing to work with that and we can make a decision to defer this matter once the confirmation letter comes in from the three parties. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about traditional healing practices that should be supported by the GNWT. I was generally referring to our own GNWT staff. I have questions for the Minister of Human Resources on the matter.
Can the Minister advise me if he has had any discussions at all in his department on traditional healing practices as an alternative to healing for our staff? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have had some discussions on it, mainly because of the fact that we have had some requests from Aboriginal employees that have been to visit and seek traditional healing from different places in Canada.
This is something that is starting to be recognized in formal medical circles. We are trying to make sure that we can deal properly with employees that want to seek traditional healing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister tell me if there is a plan to add traditional healing to recoverable expenses for GNWT employees when seeking alternative medicines for healing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We don’t have a plan, per se. As the Member may know, within the Government of the Northwest Territories most of our expenses are either covered through our insurance policies or through the government programs. I guess the difficulty we’ve been having is to identify -- how would I say it -- in a formal medical sense we have to deal with certifications and we need approved medical criteria that we deal with. We don’t necessarily have that with traditional healing. Generally we deal with it on an ad hoc individual basis, but we are doing some work to promote cultural awareness and diversity within the government. I think that would be an area where we can start to look at it.
Can the Minister briefly explain a little more on what some of the barriers or some of the obstacles would be for us to move into supporting the traditional healing as an alternative? Thank you.
I can think of a number of barriers. I think it’s very similar to when the government developed the Traditional Knowledge Policy. In a lot of cases at the community level, people, when there were no other medical services, used traditional healing or traditional knowledge with regard to traditional medicines and how they dealt with different kinds of illnesses or accidents. So there is the formal. It’s the same when you look at scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge. It’s a question of how do you recognize it. So we would have to work with our Department of Health because traditional healing generally falls within the health care system.
As a government, for those employees that have been accessing traditional healers, we’ve been using our Employee Assistance Program to try and deal with it. I think in the longer term we would have to look at different areas and try to identify people that are traditional healers or that provide traditional holistic medicine, I guess.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister then work with the Department of Health to sort of look at what we would refer to as best practices maybe across the country, maybe across the territory, and look at the whole issue around traditional healing and allow traditional healers to be a part of the system when people are seeking an alternative healing method?
As I indicated, we are looking at how to increase cultural awareness and diversity. I think that would be a start. We’ll get our consultant to help us in identifying those areas and make sure that those employees that practice it are not dismissed out of hand and we can try to work together to find ways to deal with it.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked about the Northwest Territories Health Status Report that was tabled in this House on August 22nd. Some very concerning details included in that report. I spoke of those in my Member’s statement: the overall health of the territory dropping 11 percent in four years; the rate of diabetes continuing to climb; obesity 10 percent above the national average; activity rates falling from 54 percent in 2003 to 41 percent in 2009; the prevalence of STIs in our territory is shocking and alarming. I want to begin by asking the Minister of Health and Social Services what will become of this report. What are we going to do with this report and the information contained in it?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an important planning document. It comes out in five-year increments. It’s one of the core pieces of information that we use as a department and Legislature to look at where do we focus our attention, what’s working, what’s not working, what are some of the alarming trends, as the Member pointed out. We get back to the inevitable return to the issue of prevention and the abuse of alcohol, smoking, improper diet, lack of exercise; fundamental things that we have not yet instilled into the people of the Northwest Territories; personal choice issues that have not yet been picked up by the people. It is a very important document.
