Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.
I would like to welcome Sheila Nasogaluak, a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes, I believe. Welcome to the gallery. And to all the court workers up there, welcome
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a first for me on Valentine’s Day to be able to recognize the lucky guy who has been married to me for 35 years. I would like to recognize my husband, Rick Groenewegen, in the gallery today and also recognize Maureen Maurice, our court worker from Hay River. Welcome.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize, through you, a person from Range Lake who spends some time in this House here and who works for the protocol office. That is the lovely Carmen Moore. Thank you very much. And also, Consul General, welcome to the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use the occasion, as well, to recognize both Val Watsyk and Shari Olsen. They are two friends of mine who have grown up in the South Slave for many years. As well, I would like to take the opportunity to recognize Pat Waugh, who I have known for a long time. As well, welcome to all the court workers. Thank you for your work.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to recognize… Firstly, I will go with the court workers, another one of the greatest and hardworking court workers is Mr. Pat Waugh from Fort Simpson, and also welcome Ms. Val Watsyk, a former resident of Fort Simpson. I see in the gallery, as well, Ms. Melaw Nakehk’o. It gives me great pleasure to welcome Nahanni Butte students in the gallery here today. I would like to recognize the chaperones, Mr. Mike Matou, Ms. Tammy Matou and Joe Ekotla and the students individually, if you will bear with me colleagues, Kwinlin Matou, Riley Matou, Nathan Betsaka, Dianna Vital, Destiny Ekotla, Shawn Ekotla and welcome to Sydney Hope. Thank you very much for coming. I hope you enjoy the deliberations today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take the opportunity to welcome Ms. Charlene Doolittle, who has been a really good friend and also a former participant on the Death Race Team that we did down in Grande Cache. Welcome, and I congratulate you on your new position. I also would like to recognize Sheila Nasogaluak, who I have done work with on the interagency committee in Inuvik. She does a really great job and is a great ambassador for Inuvik. I would also like to recognize Shari Olsen, who I have known over the years through the recreation fields; Ms. Melaw Nakehk’o, who is a preserver of our culture and our traditions and is doing a great job. I would also like to welcome the Aboriginal court workers that are here with us today and the Consul General. Welcome, and enjoy the afternoon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Bouchard.
I would like to welcome the court workers, as well, especially Maureen Maurice from Hay River, Shari Olsen from Fort Smith, and also I would like to recognize one of my constituents, Mr. Rick Groenewegen, in the House today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize the best court worker in the Northwest Territories, Daphne Lafferty from Fort Good Hope. I also would like to recognize some friends, Rose Lamouelle and Pat Waugh who are also court workers and Charlene Doolittle whose family is from the Sahtu. Also, the other court workers here. I also would like to recognize the students from Nahanni Butte. It is good to see you come down this way to see us in action, and the rest of the visitors I would like to welcome. Thank you.
Thanks you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the two Pages from Fort McPherson, Lloyd Prodromidis and Trent Villebrun, and also their chaperone, Ms. Andrea Tetlichi.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. I would also like to welcome Mr. Rick Groenewegen in the House today. It is so cute to have them sitting up there together. I would like to welcome our students here. It is always so good to have youth and students in the House to see today’s proceedings. Welcome to the House. I would like to welcome all visitors in the public gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in today’s proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of ITI. When the government and the mining companies signed a socio-economic agreement, they made certain targets and priorities. Why aren’t the mining companies reaching the target of hiring northern at 60 percent? They are only at 37 percent. What is the Minister doing to bring up those numbers so the government can hold to account the mining companies on the agreements they signed to operate in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of ITI is responsible for the socio-economic agreements that are reached with the mining companies, but responsibility for training programs that the Member is speaking of are the responsibility of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. I work very closely with Minister Lafferty and also with Minister Beaulieu through the Department of Health and Social Services in working with industry to try to find a way to ensure that opportunities for jobs and training accrue to residents here in the Northwest Territories. We need to certainly do a better job at trying to find a way to get more people employed. It is only working with industry that we are going to be able to make some improvements on the numbers that are out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in the Sahtu, as I said, the mining companies don’t really hire people outside the Yellowknife area. The Sahtu is very little. We have to go to Deline, Norman Wells, Inuvik or Yellowknife to get on to the workforce. In front of me I have a list of graduates from the Sahtu. There’s 33 graduates, seven from post-secondary and 26 from the high school.
Can the Minister ask the mining industry if they could make up pick-up points in the Sahtu communities further than what they have right now so that they can increase their mining workforce? We want to go to work. Let’s ask the mining companies to pull up their socks and get going.
Thank you. Those discussions have taken place with the mining companies and, certainly, just recently there’s been a real change to the landscape when it comes to the diamond mines here in the Northwest Territories and perhaps even more change there. I think there’s a real opportunity, given what’s happened here, to ensure that pick-up points and people that want to be employed, that want to work at the mines here in the Northwest Territories have that opportunity. It’s certainly advantageous for the mining companies themselves to have a workforce located here in the Northwest Territories and we’re committed to, again, work with industry to see that happen. Thank you.
Thank you. I’d like to know from the Minister, where are the teeth in our socio-economic agreements. The mining companies have agreed to sign on to a target or a number that they’re going to meet once they want to do business in the Northwest Territories. They’ll say yes, we’ll do this, and they sign on, and after three or four years they don’t meet their targets, they’re coming very close to it, but where are the teeth in the socio-economic agreements that would hold them accountable to say you violated your agreement.
Thank you. I think it really is a two-way street. Industry certainly signs those agreements in good faith with the Government of the Northwest Territories, but we have to ensure that we have the training and education opportunities for people to get the jobs. There’s also a personal responsibility factor that enters into this and people have to take responsibility for themselves, and I’m talking about the abuse of alcohol and drugs, and that is how we are going to see numbers improve when it comes to people being able to be employed here in the Northwest Territories by industry. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s where we fall short of supporting our people in the Northwest Territories. If they’re going to fall short and you know it, what programs and treatment opportunities do we have for our people so that we do not label them or blame them for the mining companies falling short?
We’re making excuses for the mining companies. What is this government doing to help our people to increase the number, not only in the Yellowknife area but also looking at the whole Northwest Territories? We should be hiring a lot of people right across the North.
Thank you. I’m not here to defend the industry, the mining companies. I think, again, they’ve signed these agreements in good faith. What I’m trying to say is it’s a two-way street. We need to ensure that we have the training, the programs that are available for people and I applaud the work that the Norman Wells Land Corp has taken on themselves in training a workforce there in the Sahtu. But as I mentioned earlier, I work closely with Minister Beaulieu and Minister Lafferty. We understand the challenge. We’re trying to meet that challenge. We meet with the mining presidents on a quarterly basis. These issues have been raised and I want to assure the Member and this House that we are going to continue to move forward to try to address the concerns that the Member has brought up today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’ve often spoken about schools in our small communities and I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, I had raised the issue about the school in Nahanni Butte, this being an older log structure. I’d like to ask the Minister, has he done any work in evaluating and seeing when they’d look at replacing that school in Nahanni Butte. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is an area that we are closely monitoring, especially with the small community schools. I did instruct my department to seriously look at those communities, whether it be a log structure and the space capacity and having a one class setting with three or four different grades. So those are areas that we are looking into right now to see what can be done. If there’s going to be some changes, then it would be through the capital planning process the following year. So that’s the area that we continue to push. Every year we go through the capital planning process, so that’s an area that we will be looking at. Mahsi.
Thank you very much. I guess when we’re looking at replacing the school, there’s lots to be considered. One of the things that can and should work is attaching a new school to the new community gymnasium. I think that would go a long ways towards supporting our education system and our youth, if we attached a new school to the gymnasium. Will the Minister consider that or involve that in the planning that’s going to start this fall? Thank you.
Mahsi. That is the capital planning process that we need to discuss with the school board and also with the community and my department. Also, with Public Works and Services as we move forward. The capital planning process, there is a protocol that we have to follow and criteria that’s laid out before us, part of the legislation. So, definitely, those are discussions that we need to have, along with other capital projects. Mahsi.
Thank you very much. I know I’ve spoken on this issue a few times in this House. I’d just like to ask the Minister, once again, how much work has been done, or else do we have to start again and then start working with the community and the education authorities on the Nahanni Butte school. Thank you.
Mahsi. Since the flooding, there’s been some work in play and we understand that the school was used for the community as well. We have to utilize the school for the students. So we’ll do what we can to have the facility in the best shape we possibly can for the community. Those are the discussions that we need to have for the capital planning process. If we need to identify funding, then we’ll be putting that forward as part of the process of capital planning and then the decision will be made, pending that time. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to invite the Minister over to the community of Nahanni Butte. I think we’re targeting a June date and I’d like to ask the Minister to come over and look at the school himself, and even come and speak to the students at that time as well. Thank you.
Mahsi. I want to just highlight some of the work that has been earmarked as a scope of work is to look at the washroom fixtures, repairing and painting drywall and different work that has been highlighted. Yes, I’ve already indicated that I’ll be visiting the Member’s riding. There’s an invitation out, so in June, by all means, we’ll be visiting. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I commented or at least made the attempt to acknowledge that Idle No More did happen and it continues. I just wanted to highlight the shining example of some of the doable things that this government can do and that’s the transboundary water agreement.
Part of the exercise of the Idle No More movement is that it drew upon the commonalities of bringing two people together: First Nations and the non-indigenous people of the North. The common interest is the environment. So my question is to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. In terms of the progress of the transboundary water agreement, where is it going and at what point should we expect the conclusion of those talks? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The discussions are focused and engaged mainly with Alberta. We had some preliminary meetings, as well, with BC and Saskatchewan, but the Alberta negotiations are the most critical. They are, we believe, within about two meetings away and the next meeting is scheduled for April. So sometime subsequent to that, before fall, we hope to have the negotiators prepared to initial an agreement that will lay out and meet the mandates that they were given from us and from the Alberta government.
Once that’s done, we have to turn our attention to concluding the agreements with BC, Saskatchewan, and we have to look at a rewrite of the Yukon agreement. Mr. Speaker, these are very important. The Alberta agreement will be a bit of a template, we believe, so that the ones with Saskatchewan and BC should not take as long as the Yukon. So that work has been progressing.
Our investment in water is going to be required on an ongoing basis. Then we have to look at monitoring, implementation and doing all this through the hard work of the transboundary negotiating team, as well as we have an Aboriginal Steering Committee that has been intimately involved in this process right from the development of the water strategy, all the way forward to the work that’s currently happening. Thank you.
My follow-up question is the Minister had indicated that more likely there will be a similar effort made in British Columbia. Can we expect a similar template agreement that could result from those discussions, because, of course, the rivers in BC flow into the Liard and into the Deh Cho or the Mackenzie. Is there a similar effort, perhaps in envisioning an end product that’s similar to the transboundary agreement with Alberta? Perhaps we could expect that for BC as well. Mahsi.
The Member is correct; the intent is to conclude Alberta, and then move to British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and then up with the Yukon to look at mainly the Peel watershed. So that would be our next step after this. We are doing it sequentially, mainly tied to capacity and the way the agreed-to work plan that was laid out. It will involve a very similar process. We are going to continue to have full involvement of the Aboriginal Steering Committee and we are going to do all the necessary work, but a lot of the groundwork, the template will have been worked through with Alberta. Thank you.
