Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the good work being done by the Pages here. Also, specifically, two Pages from Yellowknife South: Emma Tutton and Ethan Phypers. They’re from Yellowknife South and I want to thank them.
I also want to take this opportunity to wish a merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all the Members here, all the constituents of Yellowknife South and all the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two people: Wendy Uhlenberg, who is the negotiations advisor for the Alberta and Northwest Territories Aboriginal Policing Directorate; and Harley Crowshoe, who is the regional manager of the Alberta and Northwest Territories Aboriginal Policing Directorate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize my wife, Carolyn Smith, in the gallery as well.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Scott Messenger from my alma mater, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to also acknowledge a Page originally from Tsiigehtchic in the Mackenzie Delta, Vanessa Blake-Lennie, also my niece. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s unusual, I know, to recognize a table officer, but I’d like to. I know everybody will join me in recognizing my constituent, the wonderful Mr. Tony Whitford.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’d like to recognize anyone that has not been recognized already. Thank you for joining us today to take in the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly. It’s always great to have an audience.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the honourable Judge Shannon Smallwood, the first female Aboriginal appointed to the Supreme Court in the Northwest Territories in history.
Judge Smallwood is originally from Fort Good Hope, as an only child of her late mother, Mary Jane Elvey, and father, Ted Elvey, who is currently living in Calgary.
Ms. Smallwood worked previously as the Crown prosecutor where she was admitted to the Bar in 2000. She moved south to get her law degree, but eventually moved back to the North to pursue her career. On behalf of the Sahtu region and the community of Fort Good Hope, I’m proud to acknowledge Judge Shannon Smallwood who is a Sahtu Dene from our spiritual north. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Transportation. In his Minister’s statement he talked about distracted driving laws that are being implemented. I’m just wondering if the government is going to continue to promote this new law and make sure that everybody knows about it.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, that is the case. We are going to continue to communicate that message to the public here in the Northwest Territories. Obviously the new law comes into place January 1st. So again, I’d encourage everybody to adhere to that new law, and over the holiday season especially if you could take the pledge to leave the phone alone, that would also help. Thank you.
I only have one more question. In the new law will the Minister commit or at least encourage some of the enforcement to be a little bit softened on some of us that are not all trained on the new laws?
I can’t speak for my colleague, the Minister of Justice, or the RCMP for that matter, and other enforcement agencies around the territory that would enforce the new law. Being that it’s new, though, I would imagine there’d be some period of more or an education type of enforcement that would take place so that people know that the law is in place. Certainly I think working with my colleague, the Minister of Justice, we can ensure that that happens. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services on the dental services in the Sahtu region. Last month the dentist was in Tulita. They were booked from morning to nighttime and one person wanted to see the dentist, but because it was so booked they put the person on the cancellation list, and the cancellation list was so long that this person had to wait until 19 people had cancelled their appointment before she could get in and see the dentist. I want to ask the Minister what type of plans does his department have to see if they can have a full-time dentist in the Sahtu and maybe Norman Wells, that type of service like we have in the other regional centres where dentists are situated permanently in the community? We need dental care in the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finding dentists in the Northwest Territories is a difficult task. We have great dental care in some of the regional centres; that is a fact. It is difficult to get dentists in other areas and that’s the reason for the huge backlog, because even offering out tenders… The various authorities at the regional level put out tenders and we’re not getting a good response. When we do get a response, people come in. That’s exactly the type of work that the dentists are doing. They’re trying to play catch-up. It’s very difficult for dentists to put together a good plan with one specific client because they’re so busy doing things like fillings and extractions and so on. It’s just a game of catch-up at this point; I recognize that. Thank you.
The Minister has made some very valuable points that are noted here. Finding a dentist can be a very difficult task; however, we’re talking about lives that are so important that we need to have the dentists in our community. We’re playing with people’s lives if we don’t have the proper care.
I want to ask the Minister what plans… If during this difficult task of finding great dentists, is he working with some northern dentists where the prices may be somewhat higher but we have the services in the Sahtu?
People need them. It’s not like putting a bridge across the Mackenzie River. These are people; these are human beings that need these essential services. What is the Minister doing?
The model that we talked about today, this morning in fact, meeting with the Tlicho Community Services Agency where they have a dental therapist on staff, and the dental therapist works at the school and works in the community, and in that way just a little higher level than just a dental hygienist which will work in advance of the dentist. That dental therapist does do some of the dental work but not the work of a full dentist. The goal would be to move in that direction, try to get dental therapists into the communities and that should alleviate those backlogs at the community level. Thank you.
I want to share with the Minister my written questions here. So that was leading up to my second question. Can the Minister tell me when can the Sahtu see such a program like a dental therapist coming into our communities that can do prevention? Otherwise, we’re going to have this come up in the House again in February. So when can the Minister advise me and the people in the Sahtu that there is going to be some plans in place to look at dental therapists in our communities, in our schools? Then I can say, “Good government.”
Although I can’t come up with an exact, specific date, I can say that because we are moving into prevention, and one of the keys to health prevention of illnesses is having good teeth to be able to chew your food properly and that is very important. The department sees that as one of the essential services that are needed at the community level. So we’re moving onto that as quickly as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to as soon as possible looking at some of the plans that will ensure they increase the services of dentists in the Sahtu, or any type of program that takes care of the peoples’ teeth.
I want to ask the Minister what type of support is he giving to people who have emergencies in cases such as the ones we have been dealing with in the past, the ones that we’re looking at to support people. If they cannot wait, they need to be flown out to the larger centres to have their teeth fixed. Sometimes it has to come out of their own pocket to pay for the travel, and for the hotels and meals. What type of support is given to people who need to see a dentist as soon as possible on an emergency basis?
At this point we’re using a referral through the health and social services authorities across the regions to have the individual approach them and then them going through the system. In cases where individuals are coming directly to find their own dental services, like driving into a community where there are good dentists or when they arrive in the communities where they know there are good dentists and approach them themselves, they have not sorted that specific issue out at this time, but we’re working on sorting out those issues as well.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the importance of the Prospectors Grubstake Program and I certainly would like to see it come back. During the Geoscience Forum that happened a number of weeks ago here in Yellowknife, different people talked about how important that contribution to the Grubstake Program was to help stimulate the work out there for prospecting.
Finally, you don’t have to look too far; you can look to the left of the NWT or to the right of the NWT to see how important mineral exploration can be to a particular territory’s economy. That brings me to my question. Would the Minister of ITI be willing to look at bringing back the Grubstake Program in its old form to help prospectors get out there prospecting, which is really one of the backbones of the economy of the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly I appreciate the Member’s concern over the Prospectors Grubstake Program, a program that was cut loose back in 2009. Today I believe we really need to send a message to folks that are out there prospecting, that the Government of the Northwest Territories is interested in the work that prospectors provide. The program historically was oversubscribed and I would certainly be interested in working with committee. I know the Member chairs the Economic Development and Infrastructure committee. I would certainly be interested in working with the committee to ensure that a program like the Prospectors Grubstake Program is brought back so that we can keep the momentum going.
We just had an announcement on the additional geoscience money and I agree with the Member that it’s the foundation of finding economically viable mineral deposits is through geoscience work and prospecting that that happens. It’s an important initiative.
I appreciate the answer from the Minister. I’d say what better way to show the industry, the prospectors and largely the mining industry that we’re committed to a mining future here. This issue is not singularly sung by myself. Is the Minister getting feedback from many of those in the mineral development community saying that this is something that will help kick-start further exploration in the Territories and, if so, what hurdles or challenges does the Minister see in bringing this policy forward so that we can help seed the Grubstake Program again?
During the recently held Geoscience Conference here in Yellowknife I had the opportunity to speak to a number of folks who attended that conference and this was an issue that was brought to my attention. I have already instructed the department to come up with some ways in which we can bring this program back. When those options do materialize, I will certainly be happy to share them with the Member and the committee so that we can move forward with it.
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, I mentioned that training is an important component of this. Training isn’t just for the prospector, it also works for the communities so that when people do show up on their doorstep and want to do mineral development, people are a little further educated along as to what this will do. The reason I raise this is it has to go hand in hand with the development of the Grubstake Program. Would the Minister be looking at the same time bringing a training component back into the program to ensure that prospectors have training as well as communities have training as to what to expect?
I believe as we move this forward, we get to the business plans and we get to discuss the priorities of the department and where we are moving forward, I think a training component to this is something that’s important to the Members of this House. I believe there’s some value to it. We could certainly look at that further down the road.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Short, final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
For my final question, and it’s really built around to where do we go next. If we can get this Grubstake Program in place, tie it to a training program and initiative, it only makes sense if it follows suit with a resource development policy. I think that’s a critical component to make sure that this three-legged stool stands or else it will tip over. It’s all linked together in a broader, longer term vision. What does the Minister see in tying these three things together to make sure that we do have a future that’s open for business, just like our territories to the right and left of us, showing the world that we’re ready to do business and we want an economy running on all cylinders because we’re excited to do business and keep people employed?
I share the Member’s enthusiasm. We do need to find a way forward. We have to, as I mentioned earlier, keep the momentum going, keep that positive attitude going in the area of looking for mineral development in our territory, both on the mineral side and oil and gas side. Certainly the three things that the Member talks about are interconnected. I have instructed the department to come back with a way and a means in which a program like the Prospector Grubstake Program can be re-established, and I look forward to again working with the Member and working with this committee to move this initiative forward.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made a statement on the CRTC loosening up its regulations here in the Northwest Territories to allow more infrastructure communication. My question is directed at the Minister of Finance. As part of the extension of the Mackenzie Highway to the north, is the Minister committed to assist in ways of expanding cell services to Fort Providence and other small communities?
