Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories Student Financial Assistance program last underwent a substantial redesign in the fall of 2000. Since then it has periodically been reviewed internally, resulting in increases to some benefits, such as tuition and book allowances, repayable loan monthly limits and the lifetime loan limit.
We have now started an independent review to determine if the basic grant, supplementary grant, remissible loan and repayable loan levels are at appropriate levels to assist students in pursuing post-secondary studies. There are approximately 1,400 students who access SFA on an annual basis.
The review will also ensure that the program contributes to this Assembly’s goals and priorities in developing a healthy, educated workforce, and developing skills and resources to meet the needs of our northern communities.
In May 2011, Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly provided feedback on the terms of reference for the review. The contract was awarded to Development, Planning, Research & Analysis Canada, and a steering committee has been formed, comprised of representatives from the Education, Culture and Employment income security and advanced education programs, Aurora College, the Gwich'in Tribal Council and the ECE service centre in the Deh Cho region. There are five members in total on the steering committee. The working group, made up of ECE staff, has also been formed.
Consultations have involved current and past students, parents, Aboriginal organizations and other interested parties. To reach the broadest range of participants, the consultants used various methods, including telephone and face-to-face interviews, regional focus groups and on-line surveys. We will be reaching out to all NWT students for their feedback.
The information is being analyzed and compiled into a report that will be submitted to the department in the new year. I look forward to reporting the results to this House. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of MACA, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide Members with an update on the way the NWT Sport and Recreation Council has improved access to quality physical activity, sport and recreation programs for all NWT residents.
Earlier this fall I met with the NWT Sport and Recreation Council executive to discuss their 2011-2012 funding program. We agreed that while there were some challenges with the process, in general the results were positive. More people are participating, and all sport and recreation organizations received more funding than they did in previous years. And accountability and efficiency standards have been introduced. In the future we can expect services to improve even further.
We also agreed that improvements to the 2012-2013 funding program should be explained to sport and recreation organizations early so that funding can begin to flow by April 1, 2012.
To facilitate this discussion, the council will convene a meeting of these organizations early in 2012. We will talk to them about their governance role as mandated by the department. We will confirm with each organization that they are a valued member of the sector, and outline their roles and responsibilities related to the SRC. We will also outline plans for implementing the SRC’s goals and objectives and the new funding model for 2012-2013 and future years.
I will be speaking at the opening of the meeting to clearly state the department’s goals for the sport, physical activity and recreation sector in the Northwest Territories.
These goals will improve the health and well-being of residents through increased physical activity, sport and recreation participation, and healthy lifestyle opportunities for NWT youth.
The NWT Sport and Recreation Council funding program for 2012-2013 will also include requirements related to the evaluation of programs and an overall reduction in administration costs.
Investing in sport, physical activity and recreation programs contributes to the health and well-being of all residents. It is important that we continue to invest in these priority areas, and that we provide organizations working with us a clear and concise understanding of the goals that they should be achieving.
I am confident that the NWT Sport and Recreation Council will improve their work in this area and along with their sporting partners continue to make a valuable contribution to the quality of life for residents in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, of all sectors, tourism presents the greatest likelihood of creating economic opportunities in each region, and for each community, especially in the smaller communities. Today I would like to talk about a few specific initiatives to grow tourism in the Northwest Territories.
We are now in the first year of Tourism 2015: New Directions for a Spectacular Future, the Government of the Northwest Territories’ five-year tourism investment plan.
One of the first priorities under this plan was to establish an Aboriginal Tourism Champions Advisory Council. The council was formed this past July and has already made some progress establishing a strategy to grow Aboriginal tourism in the NWT. Planning is underway for an Aboriginal Tourism Champions Forum this spring. The forum will bring the Government of the Northwest Territories, the tourism industry and Aboriginal organizations together to explore ways to grow and develop the Aboriginal tourism sector.
The Tourism Product and Marketing Diversification Program has been highly successful over the past few years in creating and expanding world-class tourism products that attract visitors and increase their spending in the NWT.
The program helps tourism businesses to expand, diversify their product lines and market their businesses. This in turn helps them to diversify their businesses and creates new employment opportunities. Tourism businesses across the territory have benefitted greatly from this funding.
Well-trained tourism staff can deliver our products both professionally and knowledgably. The new Tourism Training Fund will assist with short-term training to provide skills for someone to get a job in the NWT tourism industry or improve the skills of those already in the industry. The training also helps to ensure tourism operators have a workforce trained to meet their needs. They will cover up to 75 percent of the training costs for businesses or individuals engaged in nearly any tourism sector in the NWT.
We are also coming out of a successful summer parks season and tourism numbers were up again this summer. This is an exciting time for NWT parks, which host around 25,000 campers per year. Over half of the campers from outside of the territory are over age 55. This segment of the Canadian population will grow by 45 percent by the year 2021. This is an age group that loves to camp. Therefore, we can expect to see strong growth in demand for campgrounds over the next decade.
Tourism is a significant contributor to the NWT economy and brought in nearly $100 million and 65,000 visitors this past year. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the 17th Legislative Assembly to continue the investment in new tourism products, marketing, support for the development of Aboriginal tourism, and maintaining our services and amenities in our parks and campgrounds.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be absent from the House today to attend a meeting with the federal Attorney General in Ottawa.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I did my constituency visits in the Sahtu at the end of November, the community that I went to was Fort Good Hope. During my constituency meetings with the people in Fort Good Hope, a lot of speakers in my constituency spoke on the increase of cancer in that community. The people were saying that they’re very afraid. It’s very stressful for them. They’re very worried that they may be the next one diagnosed with cancer. People are being diagnosed on a monthly basis. They are very concerned with what is going on, with what is happening. There are some very healthy people who have cancer. There are some very young people who have cancer.
People are crying out for help. There has been an increase of cancer deaths in the Northwest Territories. It has increased in Fort Good Hope. Eighty-six percent of Fort Good Hope cancers diagnosed were people aged 50 and older. The top cause of cancer in Fort Good Hope was colorectal.
I had young people in the public meetings crying because they know that their father or mother is going to die. I’m going to ask the Minister what type of specific support there is or what we can do to help the people in Fort Good Hope to deal with cancer, deal with the families, the communities.
There’s a lot of sadness in Fort Good Hope because people are getting cancer at an alarming rate. They don’t know if it’s from the water, from the Mackenzie River or from the federal government buildings that are contaminated. They don’t know what the heck’s going on. They want answers. We need to provide support for the families and the young kids who are left to deal with the losses in their lives.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be speaking about the same topic as my esteemed colleague here, a very uncomfortable topic called cancer, as well.
One can only imagine the stress that one undergoes the moment one is diagnosed with this terrible condition. Most often the original diagnosis is done in faraway places like the Alberta Cross Cancer Institute and the patient is discharged with a limited supply of medication. The patient then returns to the NWT tired, confused, stressed and typically wanting nothing more than compassion and help. Many of these patients have no medical coverage or insurance, or limited coverage, and soon realize the problems that arise in covering the costs of expensive pharmaceuticals not covered by our Extended Health Benefits Program. Some patients are forced to pay for their drugs up front, sometimes amounting to several thousands of dollars, as they wait for program approval. Some patients cannot afford to do this and those that do pay find themselves in financial crisis relatively quickly. I am also sad to say that some who cannot afford their therapy slip through the cracks of our systems, where their experiences are not monitored closely enough.
The other part of this domino effect is many patients require regular travel to get their treatments and find themselves out of pocket for those expenses not covered. Let’s all keep in mind that many patients are off work for their treatments or are too weak or too sick to continue their employ. This has a further impact with less personal income to deal with all these financial burdens.
I am painting today a true picture for what a new cancer patient may experience. My question later today for the Minister of Health will be why is the Extended Health Benefits Program so slow at times to respond to these situations. We know, from experience, our provincial counterparts have created policies to fast track the application process for cancer patients. Yet, in the NWT we have no formal process in place. There is a clear indication the NWT needs to do a better job at eliminating these stresses from the lives of our cancer patients in this 17th Assembly, and I seek the support of my colleagues to drive home this message. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last few years we’ve heard increasingly about the mining process called hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, is a process where sand, water and chemicals are blasted into rock formations, such as shale, coal beds and tight sands, to gain access to trapped natural gas deposits. This injection process creates cracks in the rock formations and allows the gas to flow up the well.
Fracking has been linked to earthquakes in the United States, caused gas infiltrations into aquifers and, thus, several communities’ water supply, created environmental contamination from the chemicals used in the process, has been banned in several Canadian jurisdictions, has been condemned by the Dene Nation, and last but not least, uses huge quantities of water.
The Council of Canadians opposes fracking because of its high carbon emissions, its high water use and the danger it poses to polluting groundwater and local drinking water. People living in communities where fracking projects are underway have reported health concerns and burning water where water from household taps catches fire due to residual methane gas from the fracking operations.
At my recent constituency meeting, constituents expressed their concerns about fracking: the effect of fracking on permafrost – nobody’s considered that; that we have no knowledge in the NWT of our groundwater – our aquifers are not mapped; and that we have little, if any NWT research on fracking. Now this process is likely coming to the NWT. It’s already just across the southwestern border in BC and is being strongly considered for gas and oil extraction in the Sahtu.
I’m not against development. I’m not against the expansion and the growth of our economy, but I do feel we must temper any development with strong consideration of the effects it will have on our environment. So little is known about how the fracking process impacts the lands and peoples close to any development that uses it. I understand the Ministers of ITI and ENR are looking into these impacts and I’m very glad to hear that. It’s of utmost importance that NWT residents know what we’re getting ourselves into if we allow this process for oil and gas development.
The NWT may not be able to control approval of the development, but we can certainly do two things: one, take an active role in the environmental assessment process and be an intervener in any process; and, two, we can do the necessary research to understand the risks and the impacts that fracking will have on our territory.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
To quote the Council of Canadians: “We need the facts about fracks.” It’s the responsibility of a government to protect its people. This government must take the appropriate actions to do just that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to acknowledge the students throughout the NWT attending school and preparing for their individual Christmas concerts. Our families enjoy gathering at the school and take pride in watching their children take part in many skits, the Christmas stories and the carolling throughout the evening.
In many of our communities it is the time to dress up in traditional clothing, new mukluks, new mitts and smaller traditional gifts from their mother, grandmother or aunties. The highlight of the night is when Santa shows up with treats for everyone.
I would like to apologize to the staff and students at the Chief Paul Niditchie School, Chief Julius School and Moose Kerr School, all of which are preparing for their Christmas concerts on Wednesday evening. I will not be able to attend due to timing. However, I would like to extend my best wishes to all of the students. I know that they will make their families proud. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to make reference back to the Caucus priorities set forth by the 17th Legislative Assembly. One component that I personally thought was missing was the component to honour our youth, and, actually, it is really great to see a strong contingent of youth in our gallery today. I would like to take this opportunity just to reassure the youth of the Northwest Territories, and reassure all those organizations that do great work with youth in the Northwest Territories that it is on our agenda within certain departments, as you heard today in the Minister’s statements by ECE and MACA, that we do have an invested interest in our youth and all the programs that are set forth throughout the year that I have been happy and very lucky to be a part of over the last couple of years working with MACA.
On that note, I would like to congratulate all the staff and hard workers of the Northwest Territories that work in sport, youth and volunteer programs throughout the Northwest Territories that put invested time and interest into our youth, that the GNWT is behind them and that we are going to be working with them. Such programs as, for instance here at the Ledge, we have the Page Program, which is very successful; and Northern Youth Ambassadors Program, which gives youth an opportunity to travel throughout Canada and internationally; and one of the more successful programs is the Youth Ambassadors Program, which has been very successful since its initiation into the NWT and through Municipal and Community Affairs.
I would just like to take this opportunity to let the youth know that we do stand behind them and that they are our future, and that when we invest in our youth, we are investing in our future that is going to create a new generation of healthy, educated adults as well as our future leaders of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on the Housing Minister’s statement on the Shelter Policy review and public housing rental assessment rates.
On November 3rd last year, this Assembly called on the government to reduce the maximum rate for assessment of public housing rents from 30 to 25 percent of gross income. Yukon charges 25 percent of gross income and Nunavut has a sliding scale between 10 and 28 percent. As an example, public housing for a four-person household living on two minimum wage incomes in Detah pay $1,200 per month at 30 percent, or about 40 percent of net income, leaving them about $2,000 after taxes to meet all other monthly expenses. Even a 5 percent reduction would put $200 back in that family’s pocket as food, clothing, the ability to buy hockey gear or Christmas presents.
This Assembly has identified housing as a top priority. The Minister’s statement last week reported that rent scale adjustment is one of the issues under consideration in the Shelter Policy review. That’s good news and I’m going to be looking for downward movement on the maximum rate to at least 25 percent or even 20 percent, in line with our neighbours.
The Minister also spoke of the moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rental arrears and provided Members with information on the $8 million in outstanding rents owed by 3,500 tenants. One lesson here is that while there are some who don’t pay rent and should be made to, there are many for whom the 30 percent rate is just too high.
We have all heard the cases of people who are better off not working than taking two minimum wage jobs and seeing their rents skyrocket from $32 to more than $1,000. In communities where almost no one can own or privately rent a home, we have to recognize that access to housing is a public need no less critical than health care. We need a rent scale regime that is a sensitive mix of cost recovery, incentive to work and meeting the critical need for adequate, affordable and accessible housing.
I’ll be asking the Minister questions on his new plans for development of just such a system. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
MEMBER’S STATEMENT ON
VISIT OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA TO HAY RIVER
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I proudly rise to thank the community of Hay River for hosting the Honourable Governor General of Canada, Mr. David Johnston, and his wife. They were able to experience the great culture by visiting K’atlodeeche, and were able to visit with the leaders there and dance at the local community feast. They also had the opportunity to take a dogsled team ride with Mr. Danny Beck from Hay River.
The second day they were able to take a ride on the Great Slave Lake with a bombardier with one of our local fishers, Shawn Buckley, where they were able to pull a net and see the fishing industry in Hay River.
The couple then got to visit our Nordic facility in Hay River, where they were able to take themselves for a little ski as well as see the Arctic Winter Games trials for biathlon. Then the town hosted a meet and greet, where they were able to see some great performers, some youth, and receive a few gifts from the community. The Governor General also assisted with the promotion and revealing of a new sign for Brendan Green, Hay River’s own Olympian.
So I would like to thank all the organizers of the Governor General’s visit to Hay River. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I highlight the Dehcho Land Use Plan, which the Dehcho First Nations, the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories have been working on for the past decade. Government and industry view the Northwest Territories with great interest because of the vast potential for natural resources. Equally, Northerners look upon the beauty of the North as a gift of which we each have responsibility to maintain the integrity of the environment.
In the Deh Cho region, the Interim Measures Agreement signed in 2001 states the following:
“The purpose of the plan is to promote the social, cultural and economic well-being of the residents and communities in the Dehcho Territory, having regard to the interests of all Canadians.”
With the completion of the interim Dehcho Land Use Plan, the parties can move beyond phase one negotiations, which will protect the land in the interim while negotiations move towards a final agreement.
In 2006 a draft land use plan was completed, but at that time governments did not support it because it set aside too much land for conservation and also it was too complex to implement. Since then there have been efforts by all the parties to revise the Dehcho Land Use Plan by making changes to the regulatory mechanisms and zoning changes so that the Dehcho Land Use Plan could favourably be considered and reviewed by the parties.
There remain outstanding issues to move the Dehcho Land Use Plan forward. We all want to protect the land and also recognize a need for balance devolving for the Dehcho in the Northwest Territories.
I encourage all the parties to continue working and supporting the revision to the interim Dehcho Land Use Plan, and move it forward, and complete the course and help out the overall completion of the Dehcho process negotiations.
I will be raising questions in this regard later in the House today. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the cost of home heating oil, diesel for vehicles, and gasoline in the Northwest Territories. In the last government we had a fairly keen focus on the cost of living. When we talk about the cost of living, certainly heating our homes and our businesses, driving our vehicles, snow machines, quads, mobile equipment, fishing, going on the land, all of these things are very much affected by the cost of diesel or gasoline. I don’t think anyone could argue that these are very essential commodities everywhere, especially here in the North.
The Competition Bureau of Canada has commissioned studies on the relationship of crude oil prices to retail and wholesale gasoline prices. These studies have found that gasoline prices generally do track crude prices, but there can be a delay of up to two months before it decreases or increases and crude oil prices are passed along to the consumer. At the same time, some of those studies found that variations in crude oil prices are only one of the factors that influence retail prices.
I would like to suggest to you that when the price of crude goes up, there is no two-month delay in the price going up at the pump or with the truck that delivers your home heating fuel. I think that there are variables that do affect the prices from region to region. Jurisdictionally there are taxes that affect the price of fuel. There are transportation distances to get the product to market. There is the time of the purchase and the storage factor that needs to be taken into consideration; also the volume of sales. Certainly people who are retailing outlets that sell less product with overhead will be passing on those overhead costs on a per-unit basis for what they sell.
This issue has been raised to me by my constituents who are curious. What their perception is, is that when the price of crude goes up, the price at the pump goes up; when the price of crude goes down, the price at the pump stays up. This is the perception.
I’d like to know if this government thinks that they have any role in the consumer protection function and that this government can play a part in analyzing this, studying this. We are a very captive market here. We don’t have a lot of options when it comes to buying these products.
I’ll have questions later today for the relevant Minister.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When growing up I remember such youthful optimism around me from everyone when we always talked about the future. I’m reminded of this when I see in the gallery today so many young people here. I remember hearing from people about where they wanted to go, what they wanted to see, and certainly we always heard about what they wanted to be. However, I can never recall anyone ever telling me, or anyone, for that matter, that they wanted to be homeless. That’s why today I want to recognize and certainly give great credit to the work being done by the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition.
As many of you in this House know, once built, the Betty House will roughly double the number of transition units for women and women with children here in Yellowknife. This is a significant endeavour and it will change the lives of many.
Approximately 150 women leave the Alison McAteer House every year and they need somewhere to go to help them get on their feet and move forward in a positive manner. The Betty House will create a safe and affordable housing opportunity to become a path for success to allow these women, and in some cases their children, to pursue a healthy lifestyle, get into the workforce and continue on with their life in a positive way.
The Betty House is an investment in people’s lives; make no doubt about that. It will help the health and future of women and children in this community and territory. Betty House is a true example of the community responding to a community need. With the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition leading this, I want to give particular note and appreciation to Dayle Hernblad, who is the coordinator of this initiative.
In the future the Betty House will be owned by the YWCA, but it couldn’t be done without the support of the Government of Canada, the NWT Housing Corporation and most definitely the City of Yellowknife. I would be remiss without making mention of such notable partners as BHP Billiton and The Brick, who lent their support over the weekend.
In closing I want to say that the Betty House is not just building a building, it’s also building a future for many Northerners who need a helping hand.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Patrick Joss. The committee has had many occasions to visit Ulukhaktok to do our business and on every occasion Patrick has been there to help out the committee. Thank you, Patrick.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to add my comments to Mr. Bromley’s to recognize Patrick. Whenever we get to Ulukhaktok, he has always been there. Welcome to the kids from Ulukhaktok. You have a very beautiful community.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Going on to my colleagues’ comments, it’s not very often that we do get a lot of youth of this magnitude in the House, into the gallery. I’d like to recognize all the students from Ulukhaktok. Welcome to Yellowknife. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly.
I, too, want to thank Patrick Joss. He’s a very committed volunteer and community leader in his community, not only Ulukhaktok but throughout the Beaufort-Delta region. He has helped out in a lot of things. Welcome to all the students.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
