Close enough. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Gayla Meredith, who is here with us today, the president of the NWTTA. She is here to witness our Canada’s Outstanding Principals statement today.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Now you can rise, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize 22 international students visiting Yellowknife as part of the Rotary Club’s Tip Toe with the Caribou program. The Rotary Club hosts exchange students from around the world for one year within Rotary District 5370, which encompasses parts of Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The students with us today drove from Edmonton, stopping in Hay River and Behchoko before arriving here for a four-day visit. They will be touring Yellowknife and experiencing all that the city has to offer, and while they’re here they’re going to be billeted with local Rotarians.
I apologize if I mispronounce any of these names. With us today is Jakub Taptik from Slovakia, Niek Looze from the Netherlands, Teresa Viktova from the Czech Republic, Wei Huang from Taiwan, Joel Zeller from Switzerland, Carl Waskiewicz from Sweden, Moritz Goerner from Germany, Alan Monterro from Bolivia, Marcos Herrera from Brazil, Christian Demmelbauer from Austria, Jose Andres Mera Villacis from Ecuador, Alise Rolland from Norway, Ada Niemanen from Finland, Pernille Lange from Denmark, Rue Brasil Neto from Brazil, Mustafa Can Bildirici from Turkey, Lily Phornwisetsirikun from Thailand, Thayna Tomiyoshi from Brazil, Sixtine Biais from France, Nora Kurzwelly from Poland, Jane Surattanawanich from Thailand, Roberta Sa Rivera from Brazil. Welcome and thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two constituents from Mackenzie Delta, Mr. James Ross and Mr. Charlie Furlong. Also the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council, Mr. Albert Alexie Jr.; and Fred Koe.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize two long-time curling friends, Fred Koe and James Ross.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take the opportunity to welcome the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council, Mr. Robert Alexie Jr., as well as the chief operating officer, Mr. Fred Koe. Welcome, enjoy the proceedings. I’d also like to make a special welcome to Gayla Meredith, the president of the NWTTA. It is Education Week and I hope the campaign and everything is going great this week.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to introduce, to and through you again, the International Rotary students here. Welcome to the House. We have two guests from Calgary who are on their first time here to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. We have Laura McLeod and John Humphrey from Calgary who are friends with Minnie, who works in our cafeteria. She’s got a great, beautiful last name in German I cannot pronounce. Welcome to the House.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the public gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In recognition of Education Week, I’d like to rise and acknowledge and congratulate my constituents Augustine Minoza, who received his Journeyman Red Seal for completing four years of carpentry with the Housing Corporation in Fort Providence. Also Delmar Bonnetrouge and Rod Bonnetrouge, who both received their Red Seal Journeyman tickets as electricians. They both live and work in Fort Providence.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the emergency shelters and that there are none in the Sahtu region. I know there are some here in the larger centres. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to ask the Minister if Health tracks the origins of people using emergency shelters. I would like to know how many of those people are from the Sahtu region from last year.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the organization that is responsible for the day shelter here in Yellowknife tracks where the individuals are from. I don’t, unfortunately, have the breakdown with me in the House today of where each of those individuals are from.
I would appreciate if the Minister could help me out here and maybe get the breakdowns, especially for the Sahtu region, on the emergency shelters. We are seeing an oil and gas boom in the Sahtu region and pressure on services and housing, and there are more alcohol problems. I want to ask the Minister why there are no emergency shelters in the Sahtu region.
Although I was not involved in the original decision to bring the shelters to the larger centres, I can assume that the shelters were based on people who were considered to be absolute homeless versus relatively homeless. What happens is, essentially people who are absolutely homeless are people who have absolutely no place to call their own and the relatively homeless people actually don’t have a place to call home but do have a place to live, such as people who sleep on couches, as the Member indicated. Why we don’t have shelters in all of the communities is largely due to the cost.
The Minister raises a good point. We’re at the point now where people in the Sahtu, specifically if I name the community of Deline, people are staying in warehouses there. I know of at least five people who are living in makeshift warehouses and people are living in tents in the middle of 40 and 50 below weather. I want to ask the Minister how much support will be available through Health and Social Services if an emergency shelter was started in the Sahtu.
If an emergency shelter was started in the Sahtu, then the O and M to operate that shelter would come back to the Assembly. There would be a determination of which department would support the shelter and then that decision would come back to the Assembly on how much support would be needed and what type of support would be issued to such a shelter.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will follow up tomorrow with questions to the Minister of Housing on this type of situation.
My last question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is: People who are categorized as disabled or with a disability, some of them are living in these shacks that I witnessed in Deline and probably other communities.
What provisions within the Department of Health and Social Services can these people receive for emergency shelter or some type of home that would assist them with their living conditions?
That is something I would take back to my department. I know there are no shelters or any type of homes targeted specifically for persons with disabilities. There is not, where such a category exists. There are categories of housing designed to accommodate persons with disabilities, but there are no programs targeted only for persons with disabilities.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke on a sensitive topic pertaining to lack of legislation around the functioning of a crematorium. I want to convey again my respect of such topic to the many cultures sensitive to the subject.
The costs of a cremation are respectfully more affordable than traditional embalming, casket and burial. As I mentioned earlier today, without the proper legislation means we cannot have a functioning crematorium in the Northwest Territories. As a result, families must incur extra expenses to send loved ones to southern facilities. It is with this topic in mind I wish to address my questions today to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Could the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs indicate any recent NWT statistics on the number of residents who are cremated versus traditional burial?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs doesn’t keep statistics related to death. However, based on the death registration statements filed with Vital Statistics, there were 113 burials and 34 cremations in 2012. These numbers are approximate as some members did not put burial or cremation on the statements.
I appreciate the Minister’s response to that. Seeing that regulation of a crematorium in Canada is a provincial/territorial responsibility, without the proper legislation could NWT municipalities grant status to the operation of a crematorium in the absence of NWT legislation?
We have not received any type of request from the funeral industry or from the community governments to establish cremation services in the Northwest Territories. In order to establish this industry, we would need to complete further research to better understand the legal requirements or the need for enabling legislation.
I agree that there ought to be a stepped approach for requirements. Is it safe to say that the need of a proper legislation for the functioning of a crematorium lies in the hands of the territorial government, yet we’re waiting for a request, I guess, from the general public or organization? Given that fact, we are only one of two remaining jurisdictions in Canada without such legislation, it bears to ask the question, could the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs consider such legislation in the absence of requests from public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We would have to weigh this against any other legislation that we are planning on bringing forward. Given that we haven’t had much contact with those who provide the service, it may not be a priority right now. However, that could change. If there’s a feeling that we need to proceed with this, then we’d have to step back and look at that, again considering the financial costs and the other legislation that we have right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess my last question for the Minister would be: If there was a formal application from an organization or municipality to start up the crematoria functionality, would the department or Minister be willing to look at legislation upon application? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, again, looking at the priorities as far as legislation goes, we would have to weigh this. Also, I said we haven’t had any feedback from industry or community governments on this particular type of legislation; however, if committee were to come forward with a request, we would have to have a look at it and explore options going forward from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on some questions that were asked by my colleague Mr. Dolynny yesterday. He asked some questions of the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs with regard to safety within our buildings.
I share Mr. Dolynny’s concerns about home safety, about construction of homes, installation of furnaces and so on. I feel, I think as he does, that the NWT lacks adequate inspection capabilities.
My first question to the Minister is: What building codes or what building standards exist in the NWT to guide construction? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The National Building Code of Canada guides construction in the Northwest Territories, where all buildings built in the Northwest Territories have to be code compliant and they have to follow the National Building Code. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for that clarification. I realize that we are following the National Building Code, but my concern lies more with enforcement. It was my understanding that the Minister, yesterday, said we really don’t have any enforcement capabilities. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can advise that if I as a private homeowner am building a house, who inspects the construction of my home to ensure that it conforms to the Canada building standards. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it depends on what part of the territory you live in. In a place like Yellowknife, for example, and some of the larger communities that do have community building inspectors, when you’re building a home you would have to get a building permit from them, they would review the plans, and then once your home is completed, they would inspect it to ensure that you conform to all local building practices and the National Building Code. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. As the Minister points out, it’s all well and good if I’m building my home in Yellowknife because there are building inspectors here who do do that service here. But if I am in a community outside of Yellowknife or outside or in any community that does not have a building inspector, what am I to do? How am I to know that the building that is being constructed is safe and it has conformed to the Canada Building Code? I’d like to ask the Minister that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that’s a question that we’ve had a number of times in the past from some of the communities out there. They’ve asked about building inspection services…
---Technical difficulties
Start over? Right from the start?
Mr. Speaker, that is a question that we’ve had a number of times before from those regions outside that are not covered by a municipal building inspector, and it’s one that we continue to look at.
If you’re building in a small community, obviously if it’s a house, that’s through one of the NWT housing programs, we have project officers that would inspect the building to ensure that it conforms to code. However, if you’re self-financing this or financing it through the bank, I’m not quite sure yet – I’d have to check on that – but I’m sure there would be a requirement to have the building inspected and conform to code for insurance purposes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister again. I think the Minister is agreeing with me that we don’t have the capability to do the kind of inspections of buildings that we should. I want to ask the Minister whether or not there’s a possibility that we can look at this seriously. The subject has been raised a number of times. Can we seriously look at providing those services, particularly where we have no building inspectors in our communities, and maybe we should consider having a Minister who is responsible for our building standards and building codes. Thank you.
