The Housing Corporation and the department will continue to support community programs for elders at the Joe Greenland Centre. We also plan to use the common area of the Joe Greenland Centre for an elders day program and continue access to the common area, kitchen, and specialized bathing equipment within the building which will be used by home care. The Beaufort-Delta Health Authority will continue to operate and there are also plans to use the common area and kitchen to provide a lunch program for elders every day, because we want to be in touch with the elders so that we have the constant capacity to look out for the elders.
There are many elders who are able to stay home and take care of themselves but they are being increasingly isolated without daily contact with the community support. This is what we are planning on doing in Aklavik.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think other important programs that we have to consider for all communities is the area of respite care and palliative care. I think those are the type of programs more associated with large regional centres. I think the communities have to have the access and ability to have those programs also delivered so that people will live out their days in the comfort of their own homes in their home communities, and work with the families to make life as comfortable as they can. I’d like to ask the Minister where we are going with those two programs for the communities.
The Member knows we were told when we were in Aklavik in January that there is one home care worker and he’s worked off his feet just driving elders around. He definitely needs more support and we are proposing to create two additional home care workers so that three home care workers can support the elders there. There is also a need for respite care program territorial-wide model and, as the Member knows, we are reviewing that. Part of that process, this is actually a very exciting roll-out for us that would depend on a lot of resources. Right now we need to be on the ground, and home care workers’ support and health care officials will give us more insight into exactly what the needs are as we work to expand this as the resources allow.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. They follow up on my Member’s statement earlier today.
In October I asked the Minister about some outstanding arrears that individuals in the Public Housing Program have and particularly concerned about the perceived “false” arrears that are out there. The Minister committed to working with the LHOs to have people come in and do reassessments to determine whether in fact their arrears were accurate or not. I was wondering if the Minister could give us a bit of an update on the progress of that.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve been very encouraged by the number of people that have been coming into the LHOs to get reassessments. The percentages of people that are coming in are improving each time. We have made some progress is writing off what is perceived to be artificial arrears, and as long as they come and verify their income... In one particular case a person came in and verified all their income for a period of that time and left the LHO owing zero arrears. We do note that is helping some people and we’ll continue. Once I get the updated numbers, I’ll provide them to the Members.
That’s, actually, really good news. I’m especially excited to hear the sample provided where the individual went in for the assessment and it turns out they didn’t owe anything.
In the information that the Minister has committed to providing, could he provide us with a bit of a breakdown of some of the results of those assessments? How many are actually showing zero or no arrears and how many are owing what they were told they owed beforehand? A bit of an analysis of what’s owed and what’s not and what the findings are.
That would be a huge undertaking, given the amount of public housing tenants we have across the Northwest Territories. If we have to go on a community-by–community basis, for the most part we have a lot of folks that are in arrears. It would be a huge undertaking. I’ll see what kind of information I can pull together to share with the Members. If there are more examples of people who left the LHO owing a lot less than they originally thought, then I will give that information to the Members. It is a huge undertaking but I will commit to seeing what we’re able to provide.
I know the LHOs are incredibly busy and adding a whole bunch of work may not be good for them, but I think there can be some generalization done as to what the findings are, whether or not people are finding themselves not in arrears.
I was wondering, given the good news that we’ve received, whether the Minister would commit to putting some additional pressure on the LHOs to get out there and do the assessments. I mean, the news is good, right? I mean, we have individuals who don’t owe. Let’s use that information to help encourage more people coming in. I was wondering if I could get the Minister to commit to take that little bit of extra pressure on the LHOs, even though I know they’re doing a lot of work and they’re busy, but to get some more assessments done. I think that the results will be positive. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the better news is the LHOs are not going chasing after these people. These folks are actually coming into the LHO office and they are verifying their income and they’re getting reassessments done. People have taken it upon themselves to come into the LHOs, which is really encouraging, and if the LHOs find that there’s somebody that they need to see, well, obviously, they’ll contact them and tell them they need to come in. So the communication is there, but we do have clients that are coming into the LHOs and getting reassessments done and in some cases it’s working out for them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just being really quick, I’m very happy to hear that individuals are coming in, but I’m sure there are still some individuals that are not coming in because they’re uncertain about the process. I think we have some real positive results here and I was just wondering if I could get the Minister to, once again, sort of commit to using the data we have to create some sort of campaign or awareness campaign to suggest to come in, come in and be assessed. I think that the news is positive. I’m happy to hear people are coming in, but let’s try and grab the rest of them and get rid of those arrears where they’re not real. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I can commit to doing that. I mean, the word is out there that they need to come and get reassessed. They see it as an opportunity to get their arrears straightened out if they believe that they’ve accumulated during the time it was over at ECE. But I can tell the Member and I can tell this House, actually, that we do have a couple of communities, the preliminary numbers we got when we first did the transfer over back in June, there was one community where, the highest community where, the highest community, I think, was 37 percent of the people still had to come in, which was our highest number. That means 63 percent have come in. Numbers may have improved since then. A community in Tu Nedhe has 1 percent of the tenants have to come in. The numbers are all quite positive. We have three numbers that are fairly high but we’re working on those. Once I get an update as to the number of people that were reassessed, I will pass it on to the Members of this Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to follow up on some of the information that I presented in my statement.
I referred to the current situation that NGOs have now been taken back to one-year agreements with the government as opposed to multi-year agreements. I expressed my displeasure with that, I think. I’d like to ask the Minister why we have penalized our NGO partners and reverted to one-year agreements. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re not penalizing any NGO. Mr. Speaker, as part of the department’s budget review, we’ve implemented that all agreements would be for one year to allow for evaluation of how we are spending our funds and on the outcomes. That said, as I stated earlier, I think Member Hawkins asked this same question. We’re not saying no to multi-year agreements. We are reviewing our agreements as we go forward and we will make the decision at the end of this fiscal year.
As the Member knows, my department is under huge fiscal pressure and we are reviewing all the agreements. As I indicated in the letter to all Members, we will be sitting down with the NWT Seniors’ Society and work with them on how we move forward. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I can appreciate that the department is reviewing, but I guess I’m really disappointed that as part of review we have to go backwards in order to do a review.
In a recent letter to the NWT Seniors’ Society, the Minister stated that the department recognizes the multi-year contribution agreements provide a certain degree of funding security. If that’s the case, I’m wondering why the Minister cannot, as a matter of policy, use multi-year contracts with NGOs like the NWT Seniors’ Society. Thank you.
Because, Mr. Speaker, as I stated, we are reviewing our budget for 2010-11. We are reviewing all the agreements we have with some of the NGOs. We are evaluating to see how we are spending money and what the outcome measures are. We will be renewing the contracts with those organizations and we will sit down with them. Thank you.
I guess the Minister and the department feel that the only way they can do a review is if they put people on a one-year leash. I’d like to know from the Minister why the department couldn’t do the review of their budget and keep multi-year agreements as NGOs like the NWT Seniors’ Society had in the last year or so. Thank you.
As the Member knows, even multi-year agreements are subject to funding approvals. I’m sure the NGOs feel more comfortable in having multi-year contracts, but as I stated in the House, we’re not saying no to multi-year agreements. We believe that there is merit in that. Right now we are reviewing our budgets or our agreements and we will talk to the NWT Seniors’ Society in due course. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I understand that she thinks that the NGOs are more comfortable. They are absolutely more comfortable with multi-year funding. I mentioned in my statement about a different method of funding and I wondered if the Minister would commit to consideration of a different method of funding. Specifically, will she discuss with her Cabinet colleagues the possibility of multi-year core funding for our NGO partners? Thank you.
As I stated, we are reviewing all of our agreements and it will be based on the review. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of ITI, with this program Take a Kid Trapping, I said in my Member’s statement the value of cultural and Aboriginal programs into the schools. I want to ask the Minister of ITI if in the future the success of this program will also include the success in terms of increasing the funding so that this program can be more permanent into the educational programs in schools.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Take a Kid Trapping Program has been one of our more successful programs. We work in partnership with a number of departments including MACA, ECE, ENR and ITI. By working together in partnership, we work in the best interests of the youth and it also allows them an opportunity to have a choice and option in determining which way they want to go. We think there are some significant advantages, because it allows them to develop self-esteem, it allows them to develop a good work ethic, and most importantly, it shows them the value of hard work and also the culture and way of life that people have experienced for many years. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister of ITI, in terms of the success for the program Take a Kid Trapping, if he would sit down with his colleagues and see if they would review this program to see how they could include it into curriculum into the schools, into a more permanent core curriculum or program that would support our students to learn both on the land and in school, in terms of their education.
We undertake a review of our program and the Member would be pleased to know that some of the communities, when the children or the youth go out on the land, one of the teachers actually goes out with them. For example, in Colville Lake where the teacher went out with the youth and spent two or three weeks out there, so I’m sure the educator learned a lot as well. Also, in the past when we’ve done these reviews, we saw fit to expand our program, so that in 2009-10 we also added Take a Kid Harvesting Program. We find that it has been successful. As we review it, we will endeavour to make it more and more a larger part of our education curriculum. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I understand the teacher from Colville Lake really didn’t want to come back to town. He wanted to stay out there and be a trapper. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister undertake the issue to meet with this colleague, Minister of Education, to see if this Take a Kid Trapping or Take a Kid Harvesting Program could somehow be included and part of the education in terms of solidifying this program like a trades program that some of the young people do want to become trappers? That is an honourable career choice of theirs to do something for themselves. Would the Minister sit down with the Education Minister and have this discussion?
Mr. Speaker, I know that the Department of Education already has on-the-land programs with their students. I will be pleased to meet with the Minister of Education to make sure that all of our programs work more closely together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister indicated that he plans to sit down with the Minister of Education. Would the Minister look at, again, the review more comprehensively and see if some of the things that they do with the Take a Kid Trapping Program that they would look at building some credits to this program here so that will be going towards a Grade 12 diploma?
Mr. Speaker, I recall that, in previous life, when I was involved with the Fur Institute of Canada, there had been a harvesting program or high school programs that were developed so that they could be incorporated into schools and I will follow up on that and follow up with the Minister to see if we could continue that work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask questions to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. There is an urgent need for an improved effort towards a new and well-founded Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan. I have mentioned that feedback from the January round of consultations was not positive. Senior people were not there. There were no clearly costed proposals to review and it was short notice.
Mr. Speaker, essentially we hauled our partners in to show them a blank page. I am wondering what is the Minister going to do to get this potential train wreck back on track. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Truly, the Member’s glass is half empty as it pertains to this issue. If I could just very briefly touch on the fact that, in the life of this government, we put $60 million into alternative energy, into biomass, hydro, solar strategy, Water Strategy, wind, geothermal. I think we have done very good work in recycling. We have redone building standards. We have projects all over the place on the ground in our own buildings in communities. We have worked with all of the communities to look at energy plans. We as well committed to redoing the Greenhouse Gas Strategy. That work is underway, clearly not up to the Member’s standards.
I am listening to the Member’s comments, advice and feedback. We are making note of those and we are going to be adjusting as we move forward here to make sure that is an effective process. We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that this Assembly has done an enormous amount of work in this area of greenhouse gases, our carbon footprint, energy efficiencies and sensitivity to the environment. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, and enjoyed benefits along the way, I am the first to admit, and I don’t want to detract from the work that has been done and the dollars that have been saved and so on. Put that in perspective, of course, is an important part of the equation. We have had very modest goals and we have achieved those very modest goals, I think. We are waiting for the evidence to accrue there, but I am pretty sure that is happening.
I would like to compare cases, Mr. Speaker. We have a gas pipeline of questionable economics four years down the road, maybe, and we seem to know every economic fact down to shoe sizes. We have a Greenhouse Gas Strategy that was out of date when it was printed, no omission reduction targets, no costing and no plan. We have all the time in the world for increasing greenhouse gas production and none for avoiding the climate change they cause. The Minister understands the consequences of change in climate. Can he assure us that the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy will balance this equation? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the final Greenhouse Gas Strategy would be a product of this government, this Assembly. The Member sits on the Climate Change Committee that has had a hand in this to a good degree. We have to make sure that the products that comes out of this Legislature that are put forward into this House reflect the consensus that we can reach on going forward on a territorial-wide Greenhouse Gas Strategy. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentions the Climate Change Committee. I think we would agree that, in fact, we have been pushing for the work to be done so that this consultation can be meaningful. That includes listing the tools and determining doing the analysis to determine what those tools can achieve us in terms of greenhouse gas reduction. Consultations are not showing if that work has been done. Can the Minister assure us that work being done will be shortly presented to people for some real consultation to finally begin? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have embarked on a process that will result in a Greenhouse Gas Strategy. We are listening to the feedback we get in this House and other venues and making note of that. We want to have the best, most comprehensive process possible so that we end up with a product that will have some meat, some substance that will address specifically recommendations going forward, targets we want to achieve and hit and how we are going to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
