Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to rise today to pay tribute, as well, to a constituent on the recent achievements of this constituent. That constituent is Dr. Curtis Brown, who is with us in the gallery today. He is an educator that has spent 23 years or so working between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, mainly in the Northwest Territories and mainly his time as superintendent of the South Slave Divisional Education Council.
In that capacity, Dr. Brown has provided innovative leadership. His leadership over the years has been recognized in the North by the Government of the Northwest Territories. In 2006 he received the Premier’s Award for Excellence; in 2009, the Premier’s Award for Collaboration; in 2009, again, the Excellence in Education Award.
Most recently Dr. Brown has been awarded the 2011 Canadian Superintendent of the Year by the Canadian Association of School Administrators for his work in the Northwest Territories. This is a prestigious award. It is equivalent to the Stanley Cup for administrators, and it is a singular achievement for a Northerner to make it. It is a credit to Dr. Brown. It is a credit to the government and to the Department of Education and he has served the people of the Northwest Territories very well by those achievements. As a result of this award, he also gets to go to Houston, Texas, in February, to represent Canadian Superintendents at the American Association of School Superintendents.
I would like to ask colleagues in this House to join with me in congratulating Dr. Brown for his singular award and thanking him for his years of service.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize some of the people in this gallery, members of the Official Languages Board and Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board here in Yellowknife this week as part of their board meetings. They are in the gallery joining us today. Vance Sanderson from Fort Smith, Emily Kudlak from Ulukhaktok, Lucy Lafferty from Behchoko, Georgina Biscaye from Fort Resolution, Margaret Leishman from Kakisa, Rosa Mantla from Behchoko, Elizabeth Hardisty from Fort Simpson, Nadine Koe from Yellowknife, Dora Grandjambe from Norman Wells, Wendy Mantla from Behchoko, Ann Kochon-Orlias from Colville Lake, and also I would like to recognize Albert Canadien who is the director of official languages within our department.
I would like to recognize Dr. Brown who just received his prestigious award. Congratulations. I would like to also recognize my constituent Jonas Lafferty who is a Tlicho interpreter from Behchoko, and also Barb Zoe, my new constituency assistant out of Behchoko. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent of Kam Lake, Mr. Jeff Corradetti.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Sorry, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of people in the gallery. I’d like to recognize the father of my grandson, Mr. Vance Sanderson – he’s chairman of the Official Languages Board – and my cousin Georgina Biscaye from Fort Resolution. She’s the chairman of the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize my eldest sister Betty, Elizabeth Hardisty, who is in the gallery with the Official Languages Board. Great to see her here. Mahsi cho.
Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to recognize today an ex-constituent who has now moved into the Kam Lake riding, Mr. Jeff Corradetti. I’d also like to recognize constituent Cheryl Fountain and last but not least my hardworking constituency assistant, Amanda Mallon. Welcome to the House.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Myrtle Graham, my new constituency assistant, and she’s from Hay River North. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Boot Lake, Mr. Alfred Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize constituent Jane Charlie and her two boys from Inuvik and I’m not sure if she’s still here, but Ms. Lillian Elias from Inuvik as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two Languages Board representatives from the Sahtu: Dora Grandjambe from Norman Wells and Ann Orlias from Colville Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up from my statement earlier today with questions for the Minister of the Environment. I’d like to ask the Minister if he does indeed agree with the science that has overwhelmingly been stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that global emission must be reduced by at least 25 to 40 percent by 2020 from the levels in 1990. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The science as it pertains to climate change is not under dispute or question by the government. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate that response. Still, given that and given that we are one of the richest countries in the world – and indeed on average one of the richest regions in Canada – how can this government justify doubling our greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels or 66 percent from 2005, 66 percent-plus, when we need to reduce by 25 to 40 percent by 2020? How can we justify that and expect other partner jurisdictions around the world to reduce their emissions when they’re in a much poorer and more strident state? Mahsi.
Thank you. What we as a territorial government can justify is the $60 million that we’ve put into alternative energy, the work we’ve done with our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, the work we’ve done in the areas of biomass, wind, geothermal, hydro, the work that we will have done and will continue to do in those areas. The construction standards, the attempts to look at efficiencies across the North. So we are a northern jurisdiction and we recognize we have a heavy reliance on fossil fuels, but we are doing things that I think are very progressive and I have no trouble speaking to those. Thank you.
Thank you. Again, given what we know and given what’s required, will the Minister commit to developing a firm track of actions to achieve the necessary 25 percent or greater reductions from 1990 levels in our emissions by 2020? Mahsi.
This government intends to follow through on the work that’s been laid out in a recently concluded Greenhouse Gas Strategy, and the path laid out in that strategy to look at how we will set targets and meet our obligations as a territory within Canada, of course, and as inhabitants of planet earth. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did note the Premier’s statement today that we must be responsible stewards of our environment so our land and water can continue to sustain future generations. Indeed, it’s future generations that we’re talking about here.
This morning in Durban, the Canadian youth delegation was kicked out of the talks because of their civil disobedience. The Canadian Youth Coalition, of course, includes some residents of the Northwest Territories that I’m very proud of. They stood up during the talks, turned around and on the backs of their sweatshirts or T-shirts were the words “Turn your backs on Canada.” I have to ask why would they go to such extremes. It’s simply because these are the people that we are making policies for. These are the people that will be dealing with all of the impacts, et cetera, of such policies. So I would like to ask, because they are the ones who will suffer the consequences of our policies and actions, what words does the Minister have to explain our policies, which essentially amount to a crime against humanity, given our understanding of the science, as the Minister has stated today. Mahsi.
Thank you. It appears we’re going to take up where we left off in the 16th Assembly.
I totally disagree and reputed the Member’s allegation that somehow this government, this Assembly is engaged in crimes against humanity. We are doing an enormous amount of good work, not up to the Member’s standards maybe, but very, very progressive work as it pertains to water, as it pertains to mitigation adaptation to climate change, putting significant amounts of money to that, and to put us in the same category as Gbagbo and some of these folks from Serbia and other folks that have been charged over the years, Nazis and stuff with crimes against humanity is I think to me unacceptable and does nothing to help us carry on a respectful dialogue on the best way forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was very pleased to hear the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation announce a freeze on the evictions for public housing tenants who have arrears. I wanted to ask the Minister when will this policy come into effect and what steps will the people who have arrears have to take to address them between now and April 2012.
I want to thank the Minister and this government for a good Christmas present for the people in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister for Housing, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The moratorium actually will take effect right away.
As far as the Member’s question goes as to what steps do they have to take, we want to encourage public housing tenants to go to their LHOs, enter into repayment plans, not only enter into them, we would ask that they honour them, because, as I said in my Minister’s statement, come April 1st for those that haven’t entered into and honoured their repayment plans, evictions will happen.
I’ve received notice from Deline that there were a lot of people on the eviction list that have to go through that legal process. This government, through the Minister, has put a moratorium to not go through that legal process. I want to ask the Minister, given the time to educate the people on the arrears if the tenants are not quite there and given the amount of time that we have, and not honour their repayment plan or to look at what the Minister’s hoping to do, what are the consequences for those tenants not quite there to start working on their arrears?
The process that the LHOs are going to follow is all the processes that are in place right now will continue to move ahead. So if there are terminations or rental officer hearings, those processes will not stop. The actual evictions will not happen until April 1st. This gives people ample opportunity to try and get into repayment plans.
The Member asked about the consequences, obviously, and as much as we don’t want to do it, come April 1st evictions will happen, and then it’s going to be a shame that these people haven’t stepped up to the plate after having another opportunity on top of the many that they’ve already had before.
I take this announcement as a golden opportunity to educate people in public housing units with arrears, to look at the responsible side of paying your bills and look at some of the consequences of not paying them. Some of the tenants that we have are fairly young. They think that whatever you damage or break in these units, windows and that, that the government will be there automatically to fix these places. What about the people – I just want to confirm – who are not being responsible for their units, through partying or damages? Will they be part of the evictions as the Minister has stated?
The process won’t change at all for those who are being terminated or evicted with cause, damaging units and the likes of that. Those terminations and evictions will go ahead. The moratorium only applies to rental arrears and rental arrears only.
I believe the Minister is being very clear that this is a one-time event and that people really need to address their arrears. I’m hoping that the Minister has a good educational plan to help people become informed as to their arrears and how they can be able to start paying off their arrears. Can the Minister inform me in the House here what type of plans they have with the Shelter Policy review and the rent scale review?
The Member makes a very good point, that this is another opportunity to deal with the tenant arrears. Our TROs actually work very closely with the tenants to try and educate them on the responsibility that they have as clients. In many cases in the past we’ve had numerous opportunities where we’ve tried to contact tenants, in some cases up to 18 times, and tenants are given chance after chance after chance. We’re hoping that they don’t see this as another opportunity to put off what they should be taking care of.
I still believe that some people will step up to the plate and that’s our goal in all of this, because this is, as the Member said, a one-time opportunity. It will not happen again.
This is the beginning of a new Assembly, the beginning of a new government. We thought this would be a good leeway into the work of the Shelter Policy Review and the rent scale review. That work has for the most part been completed. We’re looking for an opportunity to meet with committee and share with them some of our findings and recommendations and options and try to have that implemented as soon as possible. This is a piece of work that has been going on for a while and it’s one that people across the Northwest Territories, I think, are going to embrace. It addresses a lot of the concerns that we’ve heard during the campaign and from Members of this House and Members of the previous Assembly. That work is pretty well complete. We’re just going to inform Members and then we’ll go public with it.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has talked about the arrears with our public housing tenants. A lot of our people in those units also are Aboriginal people with Aboriginal languages being their first form of communication. Can the Minister, through the Housing Corporation, talk about how to translate these kind of issues and do they have some form of plan to educate people in their own language? Other than having a non-Aboriginal person come to the community to talk about it, can we have some provisions there where people in the community could be looked at in that process to help educate the people on the arrears?
People are still stuck with the version of the history that rent is only going to cost $2 a month. As I said, the translators that translated this with the chief, and the federal government’s take on housing for the Aboriginal people. Can we look for that type of creativity with the Housing Corporation?
The LHOs in the communities are the ones that work directly with a lot of the clients, and for the most part a lot of the LHOs have someone in the office that’s from the community that’s able to speak the local language. If they don’t, I’m sure they would do what they can to ensure that clients coming in that don’t have a good understanding of English are able to hear some of the instructions in their language. We’ve always tried to make a commitment that we will work as closely as possible with some of the communities in providing Aboriginal translation services as we did with the NWT Housing Corporation. For the most part the LHOs are local people that know the folks in the community and they speak and understand the language. I can assure the Member that we’ll do our best to ensure that all people understand this process as it’s being laid out.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about emergency protection orders and some concerns highlighted in them. The Minister is well aware of some of the concerns as of late that have had an emergency protection order being issued incorrectly under false information. I’d like to ask the Department of Justice if they are going to review these particular circumstances to see if amendments are required to the emergency protection order process.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not able to speak to specific cases or matters that are before the courts, but I can say that the Protection Against Family Violence Act and emergency protection orders are an effective and necessary response to the high rate of family violence in the Northwest Territories. NGOs working with the victims of family violence tell us that one of the most helpful tools are the emergency protection orders.
To the Member’s questions, an evaluation of the legislation and associated program was conducted in 2011. It indicates that the legislation is meeting its goals of awareness and protection of victims of family violence.
The Minister failed to recognize the fact this issue isn’t before the courts at all in any manner. The Minister further failed to recognize that this was a particular issue that he thought was fraught with problems. All I’m asking the House here today is: Would the Minister be willing to take a look at this particular issue, ask someone within the department to take a look at this particular situation to see if changes and adjustments need to be made if an EPO was issued in error due to false information? The burden of the removal of the EPO falls on the person it’s issued against. It does turn out to be quite costly.
There are penalties under the act and under the Criminal Code for knowingly making a false statement in an application or a hearing. Under Section 18(b) of the act, any person who “knowingly makes a false statement in an application or hearing under this act…is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction…not exceeding $5,000,” or some time in jail. So there are punishments already in the act for those individuals who choose to bear false witness against another.
