Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to welcome the chiefs that are with us, Mr. Tsetta, Mr. Sangris, and Mr. Erasmus, that are up in the gallery.
As well, Mr. Bromley talked about some youth we have here with us today. We have some special visitors from K’alemi Dene School and I’d like to just go through their names, if I could. Crystal Sangris, Shelby Betsina, Ernest Sangris, Clayton Sangris, Kristen Sangris, Maverick Betsina, Kyra Sangris, Justina Johnson-Black, Walter Johnson-Black, Jeremy Joe Frankie, Brent Betsina, Kevin Betsina, Carla Frankie, Elijah Grandjambe, Adrian Sangris, Savannah Mackenzie, Vicki-Lee Martin, Danielle Martin, and as well we’ve got the principal of the school, Ms. Angela James; Ms. Eileen Erasmus, Mr. David Ryan and Ms. Angela Gallant.
I’d also like to welcome everybody that’s with us here this afternoon.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always a pleasure to have an audience in here.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, in my Member’s statement, I spoke about daycare programs in Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution. I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
According to the department’s website, the department put out a document called Framework for Action: Early Childhood Development in May 2001. Can the Minister tell me if the department has released anything more recently on childhood development?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That Early Childhood Program has been successful in the communities, especially in the smaller communities where we provide funding to the Aboriginal Head Start Program or preschool. The Family Literacy Program is part of the Literacy Strategy 2008-2018. And also the day homes that we’ve been promoting for a number of years now. We continue to promote those particular programs because we want those programs to be successful. Early childhood is important for education so we can see some success in those areas. I can certainly provide the Member or Members more detailed information in that respect.
Within our work with the Committee on Sustainable Rural and Remote Communities we have allocated money to early childhood development. Can the Minister of ECE advise me if any of that money will be targeted to daycares?
The money that we’ve identified in the past and going forward in early childhood consists of many aspects of facilities that we sponsor in the Northwest Territories. I can certainly provide the breakdown to the Member of the past sponsors that we’ve had and it does vary. If I’m going to speak to it, it’s a bit of a long list. Certainly that information can be shared with the Members whenever it is requested. I can do that.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise me if his Department of Education, Culture and Employment has done any assessments pertaining to school success and its direct correlation with daycares in those communities?
Mr. Speaker, I’m glad the Member is asking that question. It is important to highlight that. There have been numerous assessments with regard to whether it be the daycare, having young ones in school, if they’re succeeding on to kindergarten or grade 1, what that status is on in that respect. Those are areas we continue to work with. We continue to work with education councils, as well, in the district education authority, because those are important factors that we need to consider. When we talk about the business planning process, those are the key targets that we need to discuss with those parties. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister direct his staff to contact and work the daycare programs in Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution to review their needs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I can certainly commit my regional staff to work with the community that the Member is referring to. Not only that, but working with the education councils as well, because we provide funding to education for facilities and operations of the schools and the daycare. It all varies in the different communities how we sponsor them, so certainly I’ll commit to that, to provide more information to the Member. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my Member’s statement was on health centres. Considering that northern health centres can face truly unique challenges and many small, remote communities do not have regular access to large medical facilities, will this government look into providing a community health care staff with infrastructure and resources such as on-line health care programs and services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Foundation for Change Action Plan has three pillars. One of them is accessibility and that is to make investments and focus our energy on making sure that all of our residents and our health centres have access to the health care that they need. As the Member mentioned, obviously the on-line service and electronic methods of providing health care is one of our priorities. In the last two or three years we have invested about $15 million into the system, and we will continue to work to improve accessibility and services in our small communities. Thank you.
Considering the health care centres in the communities are the first and only point of contact for all health-related emergencies, yet most centres lack even the most basic requirements to respond to call-outs, will this government commit to having small and remote community health centres be equipped with our major centres’ health clinics?
I think it’s important to note that our health care professionals, none of them are working alone. They are connected to our entire NWT health care system. A nurse or a health care community health rep or any of the staff in our remote communities are our front-line response, but they are connected to the doctors and specialists in the regional hospitals like Inuvik, then to Stanton and, if needed, to southern facilities. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member’s questions and it is important. We are working on making sure that our staff gets what they need to provide the services they need, especially on the front lines. Thank you.
Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement earlier, the staff at the community health centres work to improvise with what they have, but they definitely need more resources. Will this government develop and implement procedural policies and resources so small, remote community health centres have more assistance when responding to and diagnosing emergency situations? Thank you.
Certainly, we wouldn’t want our front-line staff to be improvising use of equipment or their practices. They need to be supported and they are supported. I could think of the H1N1 as an example where there was regular support and clinical guidelines that went out to every support staff on an ongoing basis. I believe they are doing that with other issues of health care delivery. I will take that question, Mr. Speaker, from the Member and I will commit to making sure that our front-line staff are provided with the practice guidelines and the equipment they need to provide the care for people. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member’s statement, it was about 20 months ago, May of 2008 actually, when I asked the Minister of Justice questions in regard to an ombudsman’s office and whether or not the department would consider establishing one. The answer from the Minister at that time was that they needed to do some consultation with community, renters, tenants, department, Members and so on. I’d like to ask the Minister, at this point, what progress has been made in the last 20 months towards the establishment of an ombudsman’s office. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this ombudsman has been addressed in 2008, as the Member alluded to. This does require action to make changes to the Residential Tenancies Act if we move forward on this. At the same time, we did look into that from our department perspective. The Department of Executive have done preliminary work in this area and the results also tell us that there are already a variety of means where constituencies can have their concerns or issues addressed through various venues. Also, this particular office of the ombudsman, the resource would definitely be capital expenditures; the cost factor as well. So we have to keep those in mind as well, but, definitely, I will continue to work with the Department of Executive in this regard, because it is broader than just the Justice department. Mahsi.
I appreciate the answer from the Minister. My concerns are larger than just the Residential Tenancies Act. That is one aspect of work that an ombudsman can do and the service that they can provide for our residents. I also appreciate the fact that this is going to cost money, but there are some things where the money needs to be spent in order to provide better services for our residents. We need an office, an opportunity for residents to appeal decisions which affect them. I’d like to ask the Minister -- he kind of alluded to the fact that there’s lots now -- what sorts of things do exist right now for residents to address a dispute and to avoid court in the process. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we can certainly talk about the process that we have in place, whether it be the MLAs coming to the Minister and dealing with certain issues or the process. We try to rectify the problems or challenges that are before us. Sometimes it does take time to deal with those matters because of the documentation that’s required. Whatever we do, Mr. Speaker, we try to avoid the court proceedings. That should be the last resort as much as we can. We currently deal with a variety of, I guess you can say, options of how we can deal with matters at hand. Within the Department of Justice, I deal with various aspects of the judicial system, the court proceedings. Not only that, but the Residential Tenancies Act and other acts that are in place. Those are the venues that we continue to work with. I think the best approach would be to work closely with the Regular MLAs to deal with their constituency matters and resolve those issues expeditiously.
I guess the Minister and I will have to agree to disagree. I think that the office of an ombudsman is known to be impartial and known to be independent. I don’t think that MLAs and Ministers and department people are going to be impartial and independent from any dispute in which they are involved. There is nothing that allows an individual to appeal a particular decision unless there is actually an appeal board. If the appeal board turns them down, they have nowhere to go accept the court. So I reiterate again that an office is needed.
I would like to ask the Minister... He says that he is willing to continue to look into this. I guess I would like to ask the Minister if he is going to continue to look into the possibilities of establishing this office. Could he describe for me what those actions are? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I guess the action would be that we need to work on this with the Executive. Like I said, it is beyond just the Justice department. The ombudsman is an avenue of last resort. According to other jurisdictions that have them, and investigating complaints about breaches of privacy or legislation after all other avenues have been exhausted. So this is the last resort venue. We deal with matters that have come to our attention. I try to deal with it immediately. I try to resolve those issues. I think we have an excellent mechanism that we can deal with those areas. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that matters are being dealt with, but again I have to say that an MLA, a Minister, a department official are not impartial and independent. That is the service that we need for our residents. I would like to ask the Minister if this work is going to be ongoing, if there is going to be work between Justice and the Executive. When can I expect to get some information about how this office is progressing? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we can certainly provide the information that we do have on hand about our research that we have done and our consultation with various provincial jurisdictions and working with the Executive branch. We can certainly provide that information, Mr. Speaker. As we move forward, if this is an area that we need to look at, then we can certainly discuss with the Member and also the standing committee. If we need to move forward with costs, there will be a cost factor. So that needs to be taken into consideration as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. It is on the issue of the caribou. Mr. Speaker, this issue of conservation and use of the caribou as a resource in our Territory is a very complex issue. Mr. Speaker, we heard complaints about the consultation that took place between our government as a public government and the leaders of the aboriginal governments and the people who are affected by the harvest of this resource.
Mr. Speaker, consultation speaks to me about an exchange of ideas, information. It speaks to me of a dialogue, not a one-way kind of communication or conveying of information. I have been, as a committee member, the recipient of the very scientific technical information regarding the caribou. It is interesting, but I would like to ask the Minister, we as a public government, can he update us on what proactive measures that we have taken as a government to have meaningful dialogue consultation with the other stakeholders who are responsible for this resource as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have, as recently as two nights ago, met with the Yellowknives council over in Dettah. We have had conversations and discussions with Chief Sangris in the interim as well. I have met yesterday with the acting grand chief for the Tlicho about the ban and the other processes that we have underway and the need, of course, to protect the caribou. We recognize that there are some unresolved issues with the Yellowknives. We have discussions underway with them that we are hoping will bear some fruit here in the next day or so. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, a few days ago I asked several questions to the Minister on this same topic. I would like the Minister if he could, from his perception, characterize the degree of progress that we have made in dialoguing with our partners on this subject. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have continued support from the Tlicho Government and the Northwest Territories Metis. The North Slave Metis Alliance has indicated their concern about the herd. The Yellowknives have very strong concerns about the fate of the caribou as well. We have had discussions. We are continuing to have, I think, productive discussions. There are some issues on the table for consideration. I am hoping that since we both want to do, in the long run, the right thing by the caribou, we will be able to come to a meeting of the minds here in the not-too-distant future. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what the Minister has outlined does seem like a fairly substantial body of work that is being undertaken. Does the Minister, from that consultation, have any options or next steps, ideas going forward and even as an interim measure that could alleviate the concerns about the treaty rights for harvesting the caribou? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what is currently being discussed are specific proposals, suggestions, options in terms of moving forward to deal with the issue of the right to harvest, keeping in mind the broader and fundamental need to protect the herd over the course of this hunting season so that we can engage, through the Wekeezhii process and further consultation with the Yellowknives, the Tlicho, the Northwest Territories Metis, about a longer term harvest management plan for the Bathurst or the Ahiak or the Bluenose-East which is going to be, as I indicated, a very complex undertaking. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Mr. Speaker, just to be absolutely clear so that everyone understands then, the Minister, as our point person, as our leader on this file, is telling us here today in the House and to the public that there are things that could be done to accommodate the rights of people to harvest while at the same time protecting this resource. There is flexibility in terms of our government’s mandate and ability to set rules, that there is flexibility through these negotiations and consultations. Thank you.
