Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate Education Week, I would like to draw attention to an important tool that is helping many Northerners receive important trades training in smaller communities. I’m talking about Aurora College’s Mobile Trades Training Lab in the Beaufort-Delta.
In 2008, the college worked with Education, Culture and Employment, the Government of Canada and partners in aboriginal governments and industry to secure the lab. It offers a 900 square foot shop that is fully self-contained with its own forced air oil furnace heating and power generators. It also comes equipped with an overhead crane for mechanics training and a rear car lift that allows students to bring light vehicles into the shop.
This unit allows Aurora College to deliver quality trades training in smaller communities in the Beaufort-Delta region, training that wouldn’t be possible due to limited infrastructure.
In 2008 and 2009, the lab facilitated delivery of introductory carpentry and introduction to plumbing and gas-fitting in Inuvik. These programs provided participants with entry-level skills so they can gain meaningful employment and go on to pursue apprenticeship opportunities.
The lab also brought the Career Technology Studies Construction Training Program to Fort McPherson in 2009. Students learned the basics of residential framing and how to safely use tools and different construction materials by building four storage sheds for use in the community. This program is part of the Success Project that the \
Tetlit Gwich’in Council initiated so residents can gain personal management skills, work experience, math and science upgrading, wellness training, and, in this case, basic construction training.
In addition, the lab allowed the Building Trades Helper Program to go to Tuktoyaktuk in 2009, teaching students the basics of construction. The project provided a real-world work environment where students were able to learn while working on an actual housing project assisting a journeyman to build two houses. The class also built three sheds which were donated to the local minor hockey association for a raffle. All proceeds went towards purchasing hockey equipment for local kids.
Mr. Speaker, this year the lab is facilitating the Building Trades Helper Program in Aklavik. As part of the training, the class is doing an interior retrofit of a local housing unit that was damaged by fire. This provides students the opportunity to learn wall framing and assist with plumbing and electrical rough-in work. At the end of the program, students will be more skilled and able to help tradespeople on construction sites.
I am very happy that the Mobile Trades Training Lab is helping people to receive training in their own community so they can enter fulfilling careers here in the North. I want to thank Aurora College and our many partners who made the lab and this training possible. These include our partners at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the Northern Transportation Company Limited, the Building Inuvialuit Potential Society, the Tetlit Gwich’in Council and our partners in industry. I also want to thank all the instructors and students who are making these programs so successful. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Early this month the Minister of Health and Social Services made a statement about the 2010 Drop the Pop program in effect for this month of February. Since it’s Education Week and Drop the Pop Month, I thought I would see what Yellowknife schools registered for the program are doing and highlight some of their activities.
I mentioned a few days ago that we have a great bunch of teachers in the NWT. Their creativity and that of our students is evident in the events that YK schools are holding to emphasize the importance of dropping the pop. Here’s a summary of what some Yellowknife schools are doing:
Weledeh school is running a program called Better Bones. They’ve identified nutrition ambassadors who are visiting classrooms and providing food samples high in calcium; food samples such as figs and cheese, and providing those to their classmates.
Sir John Franklin High School is using Drop the Pop funding to purchase small kitchen items, kettles, microwaves and toasters, as well as the bagels to go in those toasters. The school is considering providing water throughout the school for student consumption, made possible through the donation of water coolers by a local Yellowknife company, Tundra Transfer.
St. Patrick High School will profile foods that are high in calcium in several ways. Next week will see lunches that are high in calcium at the school’s cafe. Homeroom discussions on nutritious foods and the importance of calcium will be held. There will be daily draws for prizes such as yogurt tubes and the high-content calcium recipes will be posted to the school’s website.
William McDonald Middle School is going all out. They’ll have trivia questions about the evils of pop on teeth and bones. There are posters all over the school. They have had one assembly already with skits by the kids on the benefits of natural drinks instead of pop, and there will be a second assembly with students competing for the best Drop the Pop slogan and their finale. Next Friday they will drop a fake pop machine from the roof of the school, to the delight of the students, I have no doubt.
I have to say that the Health and Social Services department’s nutrition sector and the funding that they provide is being very well used. Now if we can just get MLAs off of those energy drinks...
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I stand in the House to make my Member’s statement in tribute of my good friend Andy Carpenter, who we lost this last week.
Nunakput has lost a leader who recently passed away on Monday. I join elders, leaders, and the community members from all across the Territory to remember a man who has contributed an incredible legacy to the Inuvialuit people in the communities of Nunakput. Whether Andy was in negotiations with a room full of Ministers, lawyers, bureaucrats or whether he was out on the land harvesting caribou, he brought wisdom, confidence and cultural awareness to everything he was involved in.
Over the years Andy has contributed building capacity for his people in the communities. His legacy shows everywhere: in the Inuvialuit Final Agreement the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Inuvialuit Development Corporation, success. His leadership also contributed to the Inuvialuit Game Council and, most recently, the past mayor of Sachs Harbour.
I grew up in Nunakput hearing about the accomplishments of Andy in a large way. He was a role model not just for myself but for many young people. Andy worked tirelessly to improve the life of the community. From lobbying for a permanent RCMP detachment or increased funding for infrastructure, he never gave up and always used the utmost diplomacy.
Andy loved Sachs Harbour. With all his accomplishments he could have lived anywhere, but he always called Sachs Harbour home. It was his anchor and it gave him strength.
He lived a hard life, but he never complained. He assisted in the growth of IRC. He never asked for praise. He was proven right and he never said, I told you so.
Our elders truly lived amazing lives. They had never seen the introduction of airplanes, electricity, televisions. They had to quickly adapt from a preliminary traditional lifestyle to a modern lifestyle. They had to take care of us...
Mr. Jacobson, your time for Member’s statement has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
Mr. Speaker, Andy was one of those people who look for these changes, not just to span one or two years, but decades in a region where people’s lifestyle has more improved to all these years because of his foresight for what I wish to take the opportunity to thank you, Andy.
Once he said a man’s worth is not what he takes with him, but what he leaves behind. He leaves behind not only a legacy, but he also leaves eight children, many more grandchildren and great-grandchildren who all admired him and loved him. Andy will always be remembered for his accomplishments, diplomacy and utmost kindness. My thoughts and prayers will be with the family and friends of Andy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Mr. Speaker, in recognition of Education Week, today I would like to talk about a recent trip I made with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment into my riding. On this trip we learned that the South Slave Divisional Educational Council is making efforts to increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations for reading proficiency in all its schools, including Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e. This initiative was implemented in 2007, and in only a few years the student achievement in reading has shown significant improvement. A key component of this is regular, accurate assessments of each student’s abilities, skills, strengths and challenges so that learning can be tailored to the students’ needs.
Mr. Speaker, sometimes students don’t get the necessary support at home with respect to schooling. This initiative, Leadership for Literacy, helps address that. At any given time during the school year, teachers know what level each student is reading at and can share this information with students and parents.
On this tour of the South Slave with the Minister I had a firsthand opportunity to meet with teachers and hear how the program is progressing. The teachers and other support staff are making a real effort to increase reading levels of all the students in the region.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Minister, the teachers, the department and the dedicated, hardworking staff of the South Slave Divisional Education Council for working hard on this initiative.
I have stood up in this House many times and talked about how we need more programs for youth. I often talked about the need for more youth programming in the communities, and this is one such youth program that is having an immediate positive impact on the youth in the community.
Mr. Speaker, I hope to see this program continue. It is too important to stop after only a few years. I’m not sure if the money has been set aside for the longer term or for a specific completion date. Later today, I will ask questions of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on future plans for this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to speak today about a topic I have brought up, I think, pretty consistently in the last 15 years that I’ve been an MLA. I don’t know how many terms you have to be elected or how many years you have to serve in order to get some of these issues resolved, but please don’t make me come back here again. I hope this can get resolved soon.
Mr. Speaker, the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act, an act of this government, permits a municipal taxing authority, by bylaw, to exempt the eligible property of a disabled person from a part of the taxes where the disabled person is the owner or part owner of the eligible property. The MTA, Municipal Taxing Authority, shall not exempt from taxes the eligible property of a disabled person who is part owner of the eligible property unless the other part owner or all other part owners are disabled persons or dependents of the disabled person.
Hay River’s disabled person’s property tax relief bylaw is consistent with that act. So in Hay River, the Town of Hay River has a bylaw that is consistent with this government’s act. The problem being, Mr. Speaker, is that most people who own a property who are in a relationship, who are married, have a common-law spouse, usually put the title in both of their names. The chances of both parties being disabled reduces the number of people who would be eligible for this tax quite considerably. Also, when it comes to senior citizens, if one person becomes eligible at the age of 65 for this tax relief and the other partner or party is younger than 65, again, they become ineligible for this tax relief.
Now, we’ve been talking about this for a long time, it hardly seems fair, Mr. Speaker, and it should be prorated or have some provision so that people can take advantage of this property tax relief.
I know that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has been working on this particular act. I believe there’s been a document, a consultative document that has gone out, there has been feedback come back, but, Mr. Speaker, as an MLA I continue to get inquiries at my constituency office about this, about when is it going to be changed, when is it going to be made fair and when are people going to have to stop going to drastic measures of putting the property in one partner’s name, which creates all kinds of other problems, potentially, in the future. So, Mr. Speaker, I’ll have questions today for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs on the tax relief for persons with disabilities and seniors. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue speaking today about economic development and opportunities here in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I serve as chairman on the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure, a position I take very seriously. Our people need opportunities for training and employment that will lead to an increase in the quality of life for our residents here in our Territory. As a government, we have an obligation to pursue opportunities that may present themselves. Also, we must actively seek out other potential opportunities to grow our economy. This is a role of government, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, last November, a federal parliamentary standing committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development visited the three northern territories. They were here in Yellowknife on November 19th and 20th. The committee is chaired by Mr. Bruce Stanton, an MP from Ontario. The committee contains Members from all federal, political parties.
Mr. Speaker, I attended the meetings held here in Yellowknife not because I was invited or asked by our government, but because a colleague of mine who works for an MP in Ottawa phoned me and asked me if I knew the committee was coming to Yellowknife. This was just a few days before the meeting actually took place. Mr. Speaker, it’s not every day that a dozen influential MPs show up in our Territory to talk about the barriers and solutions to northern economic development. As the chair of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure, you would think that our government may have let me know about the fact that our government was making three presentations to that committee, but they didn’t.
As I sat there listening to the presentations, I didn’t hear any of the three presenters -- Premier Roland, Minister Miltenberger or Mr. Peter Vician, who was presenting on behalf of Minister Bob McLeod -- say anything about the possible relocation of the hundreds of jobs located in Gatineau and Ottawa pertaining to northern development. I also didn’t hear them say anything about an increased military presence or locating any federal institutions here in the Northwest Territories. All of which, Mr. Speaker, would substantially benefit and develop our economy here in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I’ll have questions for the Premier at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to voice my opinion on the Deh Cho Bridge. On Monday of this week I had the opportunity to speak to Fort Simpson constituents about the Deh Cho Bridge issues. This was forefront on their minds, as I’m sure with many Northerners. I advise that myself, I am in general support of moving forward with the construction. Opinions were very much split whether we should continue with the bridge or not. People against the bridge are very concerned that as taxpayers they will pay the increased costs of the bridge whether they agree to it or not. Constituents that do want to continue have doubts and reservations of management of the bridge. People do want to see a full disclosure of costs of the project to date and I’m very pleased that such information was provided to us in Committee of the Whole the other day and I’m happy it is public.
Constituents are angry about the increased costs of the bridge and question why these additional costs should be borne by the taxpayers. These cost overruns will have very little benefit to people in the Nahendeh riding. They do want to know why the GNWT has been left holding the bag.
I can advise it was not an easy decision the other day when we as MLAs on this side approved the additional $15 million. I do want to say that as an MLA and along with my colleagues we will be paying close attention to the project and look forward to the Minister of Transportation’s commitment for timely updates to this House and to us as Members of the legislature.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was pleased to see the Biomass Strategy tabled yesterday by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Switching our energy supply over to renewable energy is an important part to the answer to climate change and holds promise for affordable power both with local employment and investment benefits. Biomass is a proven solution and a Biomass Strategy is an essential part of our overall climate change and energy vision.
All Members and Ministers know my position on the need for aggressive action to fight climate change. Government is beginning to respond. A Biomass Strategy would have been thought frivolous 10 years ago.
But we’re running out of time. We don’t have until 2030 or 2040 to get where we must be. With the most vigorous steps possible today we could achieve a meaningful and timely shift to renewable energy.
What we’re talking about and what we must do is get the vast majority of our homes, businesses, and government operations switched over either to biomass, hydroelectricity, or ground source heat, for example, in the South Slave. That means changing out dozens to hundreds of furnaces in each community, creating residual and distributed heat systems, and building small hydro.
To do that we’ll need the renewable energy expertise that is coming under huge global demand and we need to grow much more of that expertise at home. It’s a huge order, but Europe’s huge success over the last 30 years is a model to follow. We have to overhaul our approach to one that addresses our energy structures and systems to meet total energy needs in new and better ways.
Electricity for heating sounds crazy, yet with good planning and efficiency it can address many of our goals. Electric vehicles are coming; that’s not science fiction. Our economy needs the economic advantages of reduced dependency on costly and volatile fossil fuels. We need the sustainable local jobs that new businesses’ biomass can offer. Northern Europe, in fact all of Europe, is now doing it and reaping the rewards.
Most of all I need the dedication of all Members to this vision. We’ve passed our budget so now we must turn to our next program of expenditures. I know the Minister’s staff is going flat out on many vital fronts: water stewardship, land use planning, energy, wildlife, contaminants, environment. It’s part of everything we do and this ministry bears that brunt.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
This modest Biomass Strategy has been slow to come, but it’s finally laid the basis for moving forward. It now needs full and progressive implementation. We have a start in 2010-2011, but to fully realize the benefits it can offer we will need the full support and capacity required to be nailed down in the 2011-2012 budget cycle. I call on all Members to ensure that we learn from this first year of experience with the Biomass Strategy and commit to a fully resourced strategy on how we will get our people, environment, and economy to where it must and can be.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The community of Aklavik has completed their Community Economic Sustainability Development Plan which shows that there’s definitely a need to give a different perspective of how researchers look at our communities. The Community Economic Development Plan is to remote Arctic communities such as Aklavik and the challenges that they face with the distance of the market and the high cost of living, cold climates, difficulties recruiting and retaining quality human resources to deliver programs and services, and the lack of economic development stabilized programs to provide economic opportunities.
Sustainability of such remote communities is important to the Inuvialuit, the Gwich’in, and non-indigenous people who live there. It is also important on the national front on the sustainability of Arctic communities and national sovereignty. The reasons of climate change and the effects that we’re seeing in the Arctic are more dominant than anywhere else in the world.
It’s important that we take a second look at how we deal with resource development, transportation, infrastructure needs, and dealing with local priorities. The community of Aklavik has identified a number of areas where this government and governments can really look at what the community priorities are and the values they put forward to improve the quality of life in their communities.
The Community Economic Development Stabilization Plan involved community members and can improve the community’s work towards achieving economic self-sufficiency. That’s what we’d like for all our communities. Ensuring that they have face-to-face surveys and questionnaires to all members in the communities where they went door to door to visit with the local residents to acquire this information shows that allowing the communities to take on these challenges and putting their perspectives forward can really show this is a real community plan.
At the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister of ITI questions on this matter.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the potential of the film industry in our Northwest Territories. We have such a wealth of people, scenery, and landscapes to showcase to the world, yet it seems a shame that we don’t have more films being produced here in the North.
It’s true that we’ve had many talented independent filmmakers who have worked on commercials and entertainment projects, but with the few grants available through the NWT Arts Council it makes it tough for them to be established and working. We know Western Arctic Moving Pictures. They work very hard on showcasing their independent producers who develop films here in the North, and we certainly know about the film festival that was held here a few short weeks ago.
This industry, in a startlingly simple sense, barely shows up as a blip on our territorial scope. I think this government needs to find ways to help support this industry, because I think we have a wealth of opportunities to showcase to this world.
It’s no surprise to many Members here. We’ve all heard about the Ice Road Truckers. A few months ago I was travelling in Whitehorse and the first thing someone said when they found out I was from Yellowknife was, hey, do you know Alex Debogorski?
The message on our film industry up in the North here can showcase to the world the type of people and culture that’s available here. I’ve heard people down south ask me about Ice Pilots. The world is tuning in to what’s happening here in the North and they certainly like the format of what they see.
There are a lot of these movies and films that stir the emotions and certainly interest Canadians as well as people around the world. As such, I’ve heard that people, since watching the Ice Road Truckers, want to come to the North and drive on the ice road.
The bottom line is this industry does need help. I’ve spoken to people who were involved in the Ice Pilots show, but one of the problems they talked about was finding very little in the way of support mechanisms where they need to get staff to help them develop the film to a product they can then send out. The staff wasn’t available with the tools. They had to bring everyone from Vancouver, do the work here, and then fly everyone back home. Very little investment was put on the ground here.
With time running out on the clock, we’ve had great shows such as North of 60 produced here and we’ve had Northerners involved. Later today I’ll ask the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment about how we can turn the North into the Hollywood of the North and build on that potential.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Wendy Wile. She’s monitoring her daughter here, Mikelle, and I believe that Grandpa’s up here too. She’s a former resident of Behchoko and former teacher in Behchoko. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize Wendy Wile, as well. I can’t see her up there, but I know she’s up there. She’s a resident of Frame Lake and a neighbour just down the road from me. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regard to the report I mentioned, I believe a copy was given to the Minister of ITI, and ITI did provide some funding for this research. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, I believe that this research is really identifying the core issues on communities and also some suggestions on how they can look at being self-reliant in a lot of these small communities, especially like the community of Aklavik.
I would just like to ask the Minister of ITI if his department has had an opportunity to consider some of the recommendations in the report and possibly moving on some of the suggestions that were put forward in regard to how we can invest in some projects in the community and see if we can generate jobs and make the community self-reliant.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aklavik project was quite a novel and creative approach to economic development. I think that it’s an approach that could be used in other communities and was done largely at the initiative of the local people from Aklavik who want to see economic development occur in this community. As we speak, our department of ITI is reviewing the report with the direction to come back and give me some indication of what areas we can implement and what areas we can advance further. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Minister for that, because in the report it clearly identifies through the finding of the research some of the priority items include a sawmill in the community of Aklavik, the fur garment factory that was there in the past -- there’s still effort to do that -- the whole area around tourism. I think it’s those types of initiatives that we, as government, can provide seed money to assist those communities to get some of these projects off the ground to generate those types of incomes.
So I’d just like to ask the Minister if he’s had an opportunity to get his regional staff involved in looking at this report and seeing exactly how they can maybe work with the local communities to get some of these projects off the ground and get them going right from the regional level, regardless if it’s regional staff in Inuvik, the local economic development officer and whatnot. So this work is already there. I’d like to ask the Minister if he’s had that opportunity to explain this to the regional staff.
I understand the regional staff have a copy. We have just completed a staffing competition to hire a new economic development officer for Aklavik, so we’ll have somebody on the ground working to begin to implement some of the recommendations with some support from here in headquarters. Thank you.
Again, Mr. Speaker, in regard to the overall report and study, it does talk about challenges that they face in the communities, and one of them was something I believe the Minister just touched on, is capacity of trying to deliver human resources in our communities. It is critical that we find a way to ensure that we have economic development officers as key people in the communities. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, one of the suggestions is ensuring we have long-term commitments for positions and so people know that when they take on these jobs, they will have some certainty if they go into a community than simply year-to-year contracts. So I’d like to ask the Minister, in regard to the capacity issue, has he had an opportunity to look at some of the suggestions in the report on how we develop capacity in our communities.
My ITI staff are reviewing the document and will be providing me with some recommendations on what is in the report. In the meantime, we’re also working to provide for more longer term capacity. We will be working to have somebody from the community work with the EDO position so that we can have longer term workers in the community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister in regard to whatever his findings are from his department, if he can keep myself and the community of Aklavik involved so we can take it to the next step of implementing some of these ideas. It’s a great report. It’s 166 pages long and it would be a waste if this report isn’t being used and isn’t implemented. So I’d like to request the Minister to keep me involved when implementing the report.
We’ll keep the Member involved and also the people that have been the lead on this project from day one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
