As indicated, this is a very complex document. The Board of Governors will be reviewing it next week in Iqaluit and they will be reporting back to me, and I will be meeting with the chair and the counsel. My colleague from Nunavut as well. That’s where it’s at at the present stage.
I understand where things are at. I thank the Minister for his response. I guess I’m struggling with why they are where they are at.
The Minister stated that he is reviewing something and he’s going to send it back to the board. The report that came from the Safety Advisory Committee recommended acceptance of the regulations. What is the Minister currently reviewing and why does it have to go back to the board?
I have to work with various groups, whether it be the Safety Committee, the WSCC, the Governance Council, and also my colleague in Nunavut. It’s just a process that we’re going through. I realize that it is taking some time. Again, it is a complex issue but once it’s in my deliverance, then I need to consult with my colleague in Nunavut and possibly tabling the document, then we can move forward on the complex document that’s before us.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just have one question for the Minister and a nice, short question for the Minister at this point. When does the Minister expect that these regulations will come into force, considering all the approvals that apparently have yet to be received?
They are meeting next week, the WSCC board council. Then once we get the report back, I need to hear them out as well. This came from the safety council, so from there we are hoping by this calendar year to deliver that package to part of the Assembly here. I will keep the Members up to speed on the process itself.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I made a statement on devolution. I wanted to ask the Premier a question in terms of the status of groups that haven’t signed on to the AIP, including the Dehcho, the Akaitcho, and also the Tlicho regions that haven’t signed on. I wanted to know what the status is of the engagement process for those regions.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re days away from having a devolution deal. I’ve written to all three of the Aboriginal governments. In order, I’ve written to the Dehcho First Nation a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I met with the grand chief at lunchtime today. We’ve agreed to a bilateral process to try to resolve outstanding land issues with the Dehcho First Nations, with the objective of getting the agreement for the Dehcho First Nations to sign on to devolution. We’ve had a number of meetings with the Tlicho and a similar offer has been made, inviting the Tlicho to sign on to devolution as well. They have responded with an offer. We are trying to set up a meeting for this week to try to finalize the arrangements. We also have written to the Akaitcho First Nations, and we have been trying to organize a leadership meeting to identify the issues that we need to discuss with the Akaitcho.
I wanted to ask the Premier what provisions is the government making to protect the interests of First Nations in the devolution process, given that most NWT First Nations do not have self-government agreements and most in the southern NWT do not have lands and resource agreements.
In our view, and the legal advice that we’ve been given, and with all of the non-abrogation clauses that we have concluded in the Devolution Agreement, we don’t feel that devolution will negatively impact on either negotiation of land claims or of self-government. Those negotiations will continue and there should be no negative impacts on those processes.
Perhaps this question will help in terms of bringing to light some of the positive impacts of devolution. What is the government’s target for the number of jobs transferred to the GNWT as a result of devolution? Positions that will be located outside of Yellowknife.
We have identified decentralization as a priority for this government. There are approximately 350 jobs that will be involved with devolution. Approximately 175 of those jobs are already located in the Northwest Territories. We expect approximately 175 or so jobs will be moved to the Northwest Territories. As part of the devolution negotiations, the Aboriginal partners that have signed on have clearly indicated that locating jobs to their regions where they come from will also be a very important consideration. As soon as we finalize our organizational design, and we’ve already identified the principles for decentralization, then we will identify where those jobs will go.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question is: What scope is there for changes to the resource revenue sharing regime now and after a final agreement is reached?
We’re very close to finalizing a resource revenue sharing agreement between ourselves and the Aboriginal government partners that have signed on to the AIP. Once that is concluded, it will be very clear to everybody involved what kind of arrangements we have negotiated.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hearken back the House’s attention to Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, May 29, last year. I had asked the Minister clearly, on the record, about possibly delivering support to school districts so they can teach their students, grades 9, 10, 11, 12, First Aid, by giving them the resources and empowering them to do this. There is an interest at the school level.
The response from the Minister on the record is that that’s something that they need to explore. It’s getting close to a year. What has the Minister found out on this particular question? Of course, these are obviously going to the Minister of Education. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. These are part of courses that are being delivered throughout the communities. It’s not really part of the schools. Some of the schools are currently delivering these modules, the First Aid and CPR, so we encourage those individual students that are willing to take First Aid and CPR training, because a lot of them are being delivered in the communities. Whether it be through various training, heavy equipment or other training that’s happening in the community, they always provide WHMIS or First Aid or CPR training that’s happening.
That’s what we’ve found out from our research into the communities. That is what is being delivered as part of a training package within the communities.
I swear the Minister’s reading the same paper that I am, because his answer is almost identical to what he said back on May 29, 2012. I’m not sure what WHMIS and heavy duty equipment has to do with grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. I’m talking about building it into the school curriculum through their normal programming. I’ve had a number of teachers say that they’d like this.
What’s holding the Minister back from having a real dialogue that talks about delivering resources to schools so they can hire, for example, St. John Ambulance to deliver this training or even train within, to have instructors that do this?
When I talk about WHMIS and other training that’s happening in the community, there is always training happening in various communities and it does relate to First Aid and CPR as well. That’s what I was referring to.
Within our education system, currently there is no mandated requirement for students to take First Aid training. However, various boards and various schools are offering First Aid and CPR, and I commend them for that as well. At the same time, there is nothing stopping school boards or the schools to deliver that training, that First Aid and CPR. Like I said, it’s always happening at the community level. There is always training that’s pertaining to safety.
I’ve heard community so many times here today. I’m not talking about community; I’m talking about all education boards. That means all of them, not just one in particular. There is no mandate and, therefore, there is no technical support from the Department of ECE which can further support all education boards.
The Minister is correct; a few offered to a very few students. All students deserve this skill. What can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment do to ensure this type of mandate and support gets out there to all our students and all our school boards from his department? What is he willing to do?
When I say communities, I’m talking about 33 communities that we service here in the Legislative Assembly. My department services eight school boards within the Northwest Territories, so I work closely with them.
Again, there are schools out there that are delivering First Aid and CPR and they continue to do that. When I say community, whether it be Yellowknife, whether it be Tsiigehtchic and a small community, you know, there are always, like, these different, various training programs from agencies that come in to deliver those programs. We, as a department, will continue to work with them and provide assistance in every fashion that we can, and produce those highly qualified people with safety standards. We do encourage those students to take advantage of those safety programs that are happening, whether they be in the schools or in the communities.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s clear the Minister is confused. He’s not the Minister of community. He is the Minister of Education, and that’s what I keep trying to say. It’s about mandate. There is no mandate; therefore, there is no support at the board level and at individual schools.
Would the Minister of Education be willing to expand the mandate and support the schools and the school boards who would like to deliver this program, because teachers tell me it’s a critical skill and there are youth that would like to learn this. It’s not a community-based program. It’s a school-based program I’m asking for.
If the school boards feel that it’s a critical part of the safety program, then they can deliver that in the schools. We provide annual funding to the school boards based on enrolment. So we will continue to support the school boards, the eight school boards that we have, and 33 communities. I must emphasize that I am Minister responsible for 33 communities, not only one school, so I have to be responsible for all 49 schools. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today in follow-up to my Member’s statement yesterday on last week’s devastating highway crash north of Fort Providence. The names of the families were released yesterday, and our thoughts and prayers reach out to those families.
In my questioning to the Minister of Health and Social Services and the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, my questions will not deal directly with the accident itself, as it is still under RCMP investigation. However, they will deal with the level of medical knowledge of our Department of Transportation, of our highway workers, and the protocols of our emergency dispatch and support.
My questions today are for the Minister of Transportation. Due to the fact that we do not have a community highway emergency response program in the NWT, could the Minister of Transportation explain to the House if our highway road maintenance or their supervisors have been trained in the basics of First Aid responder care? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do know that the Government of the Northwest Territories has highway emergency learning protocols in place, and these describe responsibilities, by region, as to who will respond to emergencies on our highways, and these protocols are developed in partnership with our Department of Transportation, MACA, the Department of Justice and also Health and Social Services. As to the exact level of training of, say, a grader operator, they would certainly, I think, have different training than our highway patrol officers would have. But I could certainly get back to the Member and the House on what exact training each of our front-line staff has. Thank you.
I appreciate the Minister’s response. Can the Minister of Transportation indicate what are the protocols for the Department of Transportation when our workers are faced with an accident on our highways? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, they would just follow the protocols that are in place. If they come across an accident scene, they’re to alert the authorities and monitor things. Again, if the Member wants specifics, I would be more than happy to get him specifics. It is different between a highway patrol officer… We have a number of front-line staff out on our highways. We have highway patrol officers and also equipment operators, so it’s much different. Thank you.
Can the Minister of Transportation indicate what are the capabilities of our highway ground fleet in terms of communication? Do we have the capabilities of full communication or through dispatch along all our highway systems? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I am aware, our highway patrol officers are equipped with the best in communication equipment, and are able to communicate with other enforcement agencies in the territory and emergency response personnel in the territory.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The words of the Minister today are encouraging; however, we’ve heard a lot of generalities and I think there are lots of opportunities that we’ve heard today in terms of our training of our road fleet, possibly a review of our protocols with highway accidents when they first become a responder, and probably the needs to improved communication. Again, we’re hearing generalities. I think the Minister should endeavour to address this House and address the people in the Northwest Territories, but more specific. So I challenge the Minister if he’d like to provide that level of detail to this House and table it in the near future. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, we certainly have protocols in place when it comes to emergencies on our highway system; however, we don’t have those types of protocols when it comes to whether or not air rescue is brought into play. That is an area that we will continue to work on with the other departments that I mentioned earlier – Health and Social Services, MACA, Department of Justice – on enacting some protocols when it comes to air rescue. But for highway rescue, we do have protocols in place. Again, I’d be more than happy to share those protocols with the Members. We will get that to them as soon as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I raised the issue about NWT Corporation home ownership units that are vacant. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation what strategy is the department currently using to address these vacant units in our communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was quite a growing concern a few years ago with the number of vacancies that we had in our home ownership portfolio. I always credit a lot of that to the good work done by the corporation in making use of the money that we got from Ottawa. We had to use the money or we would lose it, so we tried to get as many units on the ground, and that left us with the problem of trying to fill a lot of these vacant units.
I think in the last year or so, we’ve done a very good job in filling these units. We’ve converted some of them over to public housing. We’re trying to find qualified clients to put into these units. We just had our intake here recently. The number escapes me, but I think we have about 21 potential approvals across the Northwest Territories. I think there are three in the Member’s riding.
We still realize that we have about 67 vacant units now. We’re going through the application cycle. We are hoping by end of summer to have as many people into those units as possible. If we can’t find clients for them, we may have to look at possibly converting them to public housing again. We’re also starting to use some to rent out to professionals that move to the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, so the Minister was talking about the intake cycle. Is that complete now? Are they currently evaluating all of the clients to see if they can match them to the home ownership programs such as HELP and PATH right now? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. The intake cycle is over. We are evaluating a lot of the applications. There are some that get approved fairly quickly because of the information they provide. There are some we still need to work on. I’m not quite sure when the exact evaluation of all applications is done. However, when it is, I will inform the Member and Members of the House. We will see, at the end of that cycle, how many vacant units we have and then our plan going forward with those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, some of the issues that face my communities are they actually missed the deadlines. I had raised the issue of liaison workers in the communities. We had this program about six to eight years ago. I’d like to ask the Minister if he will review that and maybe even consider that once again. Thank you.
