I think this government has provided solid leadership in bringing to the forefront the water resources that flow from Alberta into the Northwest Territories. I think we have created a path, created leadership and a model, which is what can be done if governments and First Nations work together. Would there be a similar effort, at some point, in terms of offshore water and coming into a management model that could be considered that this government will entertain at some point in terms of the offshore water resources in the Beaufort Sea? Mahsi.
All the related offshore issues tied to devolution will be negotiated and there will be a process triggered once negotiation is signed and implemented. Thank you.
Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement on the Mackenzie Valley Review Board employees, those six employees that were fired. Mr. Speaker, if I may, the review board is almost like an arm’s length, a bit of a reach on some of the work we do here, but they were unceremoniously fired last week. My question to the Premier is, and I’m going to link towards a devolution type of relationship because they are an agency we depend on. Would the Premier be willing to look at assisting those employees, those six Yellowknifers that were fired, by putting them on our priority staffing list to ensure they at least have a fair opportunity to help bring forward some of their important expertise to service here in the Government of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now the Northwest Territories is the only jurisdiction in Canada that has seen a decrease in population. So, of course, we’d be interested in trying to find ways to have these six people find gainful employment. The MVEIRB is a creature from the federal government and we do have a process for the orderly transfer of employees that will be devolved from the federal government to the Government of the Northwest Territories. I’d be very interested in contacting these six individuals and trying to find employment for them within the Government of the Northwest Territories. As a matter of fact, I recently checked and I think we have about 100-some vacant positions in Yellowknife right now, so I definitely think we can do something about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A perfect answer, Mr. Speaker, a perfect answer.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Can the Minister explain how the department determines the level of funding of the education councils? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. On an annual basis, it’s all based on student enrolment, the formula funding we’ve had in place for quite some time now and we follow that process. The funding goes directly to the school boards and at their discretion, such as how many staff they want to hire, programming in the schools and so forth. So we work closely with the schools at that level. At the end of the day, we provide funding to them based on formula funding of the student enrolment. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister explain where we are going to be losing the seven positions in the Beaufort-Delta Education Council?
Again, Mr. Speaker, the Beaufort-Delta, the decision is made at the regional level in the communities. We, as a department, work closely with them as well. As you know, we are going through some changes. We are engaging the communities, stakeholders, on educational renewal and part of that is discussing accountability and the overall school system. So part of the discussion we are going to be having is capturing that line of discussion. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
That was actually my next question. Will the department review its funding formula to recognize the unique needs of the small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A really good question. This is an area that we are undertaking right now. Part of the criteria, the six pillars that we are discussing are small community schools. That would capture that and also the accountability when it comes to funding. Those are the discussions that we are engaging in. We’re hoping by this fall we’re going to have a product to release to this House and also the general public about what we heard and we want to move forward on. So I‘m glad the Member is raising the profile, because it is part of the discussions as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
The last question I was going to ask is what was the timeline in which you expect this report to be done. Can we expect these changes for the loss of those positions? Can we assure those teachers who have moved to the Northwest Territories that their positions won’t be lost in the fall? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Teachers are our most valuable asset in the educational system. We’ll do what we can. We also work closely with the NWTTA and BDEC with our department to try to retain those individuals in the communities. We are going through the engagement process now, so my department will be working closely with BDEC, and the NWTTA is also involved at that level. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The other day I made a Member’s statement on our seniors and prevention and promotion. When this side of the House asks for dollars to deal with chronic management, we’re not asking for long-term facilities, we’re not asking for beds, we’re not asking for workers to fill those long-term facilities, we’re asking for prevention and promotion program. Programs that are going to keep our elders living an independent lifestyle, promote our language, our culture, and keep those…(inaudible)…alive.
The other day we had the Minister of Human Resources mention that he moved some dollars into Education, Culture and Employment for training and development of our government staff. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services today if he’d be willing to look at the same option and take some of the dollars in his budget and possibly move it into another department, possibly Municipal and Community Affairs, so that they can start supporting some of these great programs that do great work for our senior citizens, such as the Elders in Motion program, Nordic Walking Program, through the NWT Recreation and Parks Association. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any of the budget moves from Health and Social Services or other departments are first vetted through the appropriate committees. We do have a lot of intergovernmental work that goes on right here in this area. Currently, we are trying to work with trying a program that’s run federally, called Aging in Place. That is part of our continuing support for seniors, and that’s just trying to do some health programs and other programs that are needed to keep the people in their homes and prevent them from going into long-term care. Thank you.
Over the years, some of these non-government organizations have been operating out of the same budget and they stretch the dollars as far as they can go. I’m asking the Minister, is he willing to commit, should it come from committee, to allocate some of those dollars to these NGOs so they can provide the programs. Like I said, obviously, when we talk chronic disease management, the department thinks of long-term care facilities. We want prevention and promotion programs, and we have a lot of great organizations out there that are running these programs. Is the Minister willing to commit those dollars, should he get a recommendation from committee? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The department has money earmarked into prevention. I could do a presentation, have the department do a presentation to committee in the area that the committee may want to look at moving.
We have met with the NWT Parks and Recreation Association, as an example, and had good discussions, and we support a lot of their initiatives. However, at this point, we have been concentrating on the fact that 40 percent of all our hospitalizations are due to chronic disease, and we’re trying to look at the prevention of the five main diseases that are causing 40 percent of our hospital admissions. So we’re working as a department, but if there is an NGO that would be supportive and we could gain a lot of value from that, we would be pleased to work with them as well. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there’s a reason why our hospital admissions are at 40 percent and there’s a way we can stop that by investment into prevention and promotion programs now. We talked about investment this whole last two weeks, and the sooner we do it, the sooner we can drop those numbers down. We don’t want it to rise at all.
In our hospitals we also have some elder day programs. I’m looking at all avenues to protect our senior citizens. Would the Minister look at these elders day programs, do an assessment and look at how we can provide more services, whether financially or in a staffing situation, so that we can provide more programs, active, independent, traditional, cultural programs for these elders who are able to do these day programs in the hospitals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Part of our overall objective is to create more of the elder day programs. I and the deputy minister have been to Inuvik to look at the Elder Day Program that’s run out of the Beaufort-Delta hospital. We consider it to be very successful. There have been requests from some of the communities up there, and other communities, as well, to run a day program like that so that people who are preventing the elders from moving into long-term care and taking care of them at home, can go to work, and so on, while their elders are in a safe, secure day program. That’s something that we see as a great benefits to government overall.
We are currently looking at that day program and other day programs in the hope of expanding the program and are working in that direction, to expand the program in other communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just one last quick question and it comes back to the views of our Beaufort-Delta Leadership Council, and that’s intergovernmental work and how we can work together to be more efficient in the service delivery of our programs and our dollars.
Is the Minister willing to work with the Department of Justice, or even the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, to see how we can work in getting our elders into those departments to promote culture, to promote tradition, to promote values and teachings of on-the-land programs, language in the schools? Is he willing to do that and, if so, what’s the timeline of getting these programs started? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in my role as Minister responsible for Seniors, I would be very pleased to have a discussion with the Minister of Education and the Minister of Justice to see if we can increase the role or add some more responsibility for seniors to go into the schools or into any of the other facilities where there are our people, and see if the elders can assist them and assist the students in the schools, with the culture and whatnot. We’d be pleased to do that. We think that would be important and something that I think has been tried, and I think it’s been proven that it’s a positive thing. I would be pleased to work with the two Ministers to be able to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve had Members say that answers are excellent. Perfect! We’ve had Ministers say that questions are excellent. Boy, this must be Valentine’s Day.
My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. As I often start my paragraph, I have an idea. MACA is responsible for assessing the value of improvements and land in all of our communities. As part of that responsibility, they send out assessments to every landowner or leaser on an annual basis.
I Would Like To Ask The Minister What Would Be Involved In Including A Line On That Assessment Which Would Indicate What The Previous Year’s Assessment Had Been. For This Reason: every five years there’s a general reassessment in tax-based municipalities necessarily, then assessments change, they usually go up, unfortunately, sometimes they may go down. But there are opportunities for landowners to appeal assessments, either through a territorial appeal board or a municipal appeal board, but it isn’t something that people always keep right at their fingertips, their previous year’s tax assessment.
Mr. Speaker, that was the best Member’s statement I’ve heard all day.
---Laughter
And I would like to ask the Member if that is possible.
No, the Member makes a good point. It is one that I will explore with the department to see. It is very simple. It is actually a good idea to have the number from the previous year. I will explore that and see if we can get that included on the assessments that go out to clients. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent answer. I pay taxes in more than the Northwest Territories, so I can tell you that in other jurisdictions, this is a practice. I am sure it would require some change in the software that produces the tax assessments and so on.
Would it be possible for the Minister to perhaps have his department do a little inter-jurisdictional research to see how this is carried out, how this is accomplished in other jurisdictions? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we will commit to the Members that we will do a bit of research. If there is a slight upgrade we need to make, I think this is a good idea that would work for those out there. I do pay taxes, too, and I don’t have an opportunity to see what I was assessed at last year. We will explore that, and do a little bit of research and see if we can implement it here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. My statement today dealt with the appeal from the Aurora College second year business administration students for the reintroduction of a degree-granting program. What action has the Minister taken to investigate and respond to this very positive suggestion? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When we first heard of and also received information from the students, we passed it on to the college immediately because the programming falls on the college campuses. We encouraged them that they need to explore those areas, how we can best deliver this programming. It is not only business, there is also social work that grants a degree program that the students have asked me, I believe it was two or three years ago here in this building. From there, we have been working on that as well.
Those are just some of the areas that I need to work closely with the college and to potentially deliver a degree-granting program here in the Northwest Territories.
I do agree; we need to have those students here attend our own campuses. There are a lot of benefits involved in that. We will continue to make that dialogue with the college. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the comments from the Minister. I appreciate his direction to college to get after this. The president of Aurora College was quoted in media, saying that the past three-year Aurora College programs were withdrawn because of some bumps in keeping them. I know that is the business of the college, but I am wondering if the Minister would know what those bumps are and what action is being taken to clear them away. Mahsi.
With any program delivery through the colleges, there are always challenges, whether it be enrolment or the programming itself. There are all kinds of challenges that we’re faced with. We have to get through those barriers, those obstacles that may be in the way. That is what we are doing right now. We are discussing how to best get around that, to deliver those degree-granting programs here in the Northwest Territories. That is what we want to see. That is what I would like to see, as Minister responsible, and to have university-granting programing here in the Northwest Territories.
Our North is booming and we need to have those highly skilled people with the qualification as a professional in the Northwest Territories to be retained in the Northwest Territories. That is what we are pushing with the college and other sectors, as well, through our partners in southern institutions too. Mahsi.
The Minister and I are on the same page there. We really would like to keep these students here, and engaged, and up working here as opposed to getting jobs elsewhere by going to schools down south.
The level of student commitment is indicated by the fact that, although 87 percent of the students are parents, they are making education a priority and juggling their parenting jobs and studies to get ahead. Forcing these students to leave their home territory for these advanced studies would be yet another burden. We want them to stay here, as we have said.
Will the Minister commit to report to committee on options for reintroducing three-year programming – I assume he will work with the college on that – and, specifically, plans for creating a degree-granting business administration program this fall.
As I have stated, those are the areas that we are currently exploring with the president, college staff and the Board of Governors. Like the Member, I do not want to see those parents going elsewhere, but here in the Northwest Territories to get educated. We will do what we can to deliver those programs.
Right now we have a diploma program. Obviously, third and fourth year are down in southern institutions with our partners. We will see what we can do to deliver that effectively and immediately in the Northwest Territories. The fall may not be an appropriate time, but definitely that is our target to push this forward and deliver that as soon as possible here in the Northwest Territories if it all works. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister. Yes, with 30-some students in second year, I think this fall would be a great target for the Minister.
The Minister announced the review of the implementation of the reorganization and so on with our Aurora College. It is just about to get off the ground. Will the Minister include consultation with students on their priorities and perspectives when he is doing a review of this reorganization? Thank you.
