Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as I’m aware, we don’t have one airline that we use. We use all airlines available. Canadian North just instituted morning flights for four mornings out of the week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That’s not the answer I expected. I had received information from the Department of Human Resources about medical travel saying that we’re committed to our northern providers, which are Canadian and First Air, that our primary contract for medical travel was actually First Air, and Canadian North was only used when we couldn’t get appropriate flights on First Air. Frankly, I’m totally stunned that we use all the providers. I mean, WestJet and Jazz aren’t northern-owned or operated. That is stunning to me, as a matter of fact.
With respect to what I believe to be true with the fact of medical travel and the fact that First Air is our provider, First Air used to provide morning flights. They don’t provide morning flights anymore, except for Saturday. I think this is going to cause us a problem with respect to the cost of medical travel, because people are going to have to stay down in Edmonton when they go for appointments as opposed to flying back in the evening. Has the department engaged First Air or any of the airlines about morning flights, specifically, our contractor First Air, to see if there’s any opportunity for them to reinstate some of these morning flights and save us some money? Thank you.
I need to confirm that. I don’t know where the Member got that information. I’m not at all aware and I don’t believe that we use only one northern airline. We use both and we use smaller airlines as well, community airlines if they are available for medical travel, because we have people travelling from all over the Territories to Yellowknife and then on to Edmonton. Mr. Speaker, we use First Air and Canadian North to facilitate medical travel.
I’m aware that we use different airlines to travel to Yellowknife with the small airlines. It’s pretty much one of the only ways we can get into Yellowknife from some of the smaller communities. I’m talking specifically, obviously, of Yellowknife to Edmonton.
Morning flights have been an important part of medical travel in the past and I’m concerned that with currently no morning flights, that the costs are going to peak. I’m just curious what kind of action plan the department is putting in place. I know that there’s a review being done by the review office in the Executive. I’m wondering what types of plans are being put in place to help us control some of these costs, which can be blown up, of having to house people in Edmonton for longer than we have in the past. What is the department doing to help us reduce our medical travel costs?
Our staff that organize medical travel arrangements from Yellowknife to Edmonton would use the most economical means of booking those flights, but as the Member is well aware, some of our medical travel is time sensitive and we can’t be going for the cheapest flights.
I just want to confirm again that, as far as I am aware, we use both First Air and Canadian North. They are both northern airlines. Canadian North introduced a morning flight for Monday mornings in September, and on February 3rd they announced that they will reinstitute morning flights from Yellowknife to Edmonton on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. So we have four out of seven days of morning flights. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think some of those dates don’t take effect until April. So we’ve had a couple months here where our costs have probably been higher.
I go back to my original question on what are we doing to control the cost of medical travel in the Northwest Territories. We do have a lot of our residents who go down for short appointments. I know there’s always the other circumstance, always the one-of’s, but a lot of our residents go down for short appointments, and now our costs are going up. My question still stands. What is this department doing to help us, with the help of the Program Review Office, to control our costs on medical travel? Thank you.
That is part of our daily business, to manage our medical travel budget wisely. As the Member is aware, medical travel is under review from a couple of points of view, but from a daily arrangement for our residents who need to go to Edmonton, they are booked for the services they need. It is true since they’re having less flights and less direct flights and less turn-around between Yellowknife and Edmonton, we have seen the costs go up, but we have to do what we have to do for our residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to stand up, like my colleague Mr. Abernethy, and say I’m completely stunned, but I am, I am stunned by this Student Financial Assistance Handbook. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to know why the SFA Student Handbook, the Form ‘A’ Travel Claim, the Student Handbook and the student travel reminders all contain conflicting information. Perhaps the Minister could enlighten me. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There are policies in place for a specific reason. What the Member is referring to, I can touch on. The student case officers need to track all expenditures, our sponsors, our subsidies to the students through the SFA program. Not only that, but there are also First Nations and other organizations that also sponsor students. We just want to be cautious about who is paying for what trips. If the First Nation claim is paying for a particular trip, then we need to be aware of it so there are no duplications. We just want to have accountability in place. That’s part of the reason why we have this policy in place where there is that transparency. We just want to keep track of expenditures.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister has gone to the second part of the question I was going to ask, and that is why, when a student returning from travel who provides an airplane ticket receipt with a credit card receipt stapled to it, why the department would want to see the name on the credit card and would like to see a copy of the credit card statement? I think that is excessive; however, what the Minister is saying here, I believe, is that there are other agencies who could possibly be paying for that and the government does not want to be reimbursing a student if, in fact, it is some other sponsoring agency that bought the ticket. Okay.
But that does not explain what my question actually was, Mr. Speaker. My question was: why is the information that students have to rely on through the Handbook and the travel claim and the newsletters so convoluted that it’s very difficult to reconcile it and to understand it? We should be making this easier for students.
I withdraw my comment about it doesn’t matter who pays for the ticket. The Minister has explained that portion of it. But I’d like to know what can we do to take the policies related to SFA and make it more concise and consistent from the different documents. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this information specific to SFA subsidy programming, there is going to be a review. Maybe this is an area that we can definitely look at, what the Member is referring to, so it’s a simple task for students to go through the process. I hear the concern of the Member and it may not be only one concern. There are other concerns as well. That’s why we are conducting this review of the SFA programming, the subsidy programming and other areas. Mr. Speaker, we are doing what we can to resolve our issues at hand and this is an area that we will definitely look at. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some questions today for the Minister of Justice getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked about the latest statistics indicating that close to 70 percent of all adults in custody today in the Northwest Territories are there for violent offences. I’d like to begin by asking the Minister what programming or rehabilitation services are currently available for violent offenders incarcerated in the Northwest Territories correctional facilities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Member is referring to offenders either reintegration to the community or rehabilitation. We do have some programs in place, such as a program for men who use violence, protection against family violence and also domestic violence treatment options through court. Those are just some of the areas that we are focusing on as a preventative measure.
Also, we have a staff and programs at the correctional level that work with offenders so they can be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into the community. So we have various programs that suit inmates’ eligibility and also return to their communities. So we want to rehabilitate those individuals going back to their communities. So there are various programs available. Mahsi.
Judging by the amount of repeat offenders, especially in the area of violent crime that we have here in the Northwest Territories, I’m wondering if the Minister could commit to reviewing the programs and services that are available for violent offenders at the North Slave Correctional Centre and other correctional facilities around the Northwest Territories in an effort to make sure that we are getting the best programs and services into our correctional facilities that we can. I’d suggest that the Minister look around the country, and even North America for that matter, to find out where the best programs are to treat violent offenders. Thank you.
Mahsi. Within our Justice department we do explore other venues, other jurisdictions, as well, to seek out the best practices, different programs that may not be available to us in the Northwest Territories so that we don’t reinvent the wheel. I’m glad the Member is referring to us exploring different jurisdictions, programming for inmates. So those are the areas I can commit to through my department to seek out the information from other jurisdictions. Mahsi.
Unless it’s court ordered, I’m wondering if the corrections service here in the Northwest Territories could commit to making programming mandatory for any violent offender in the Northwest Territories and why should we have to wait for the court to instruct us to do so. I think the justice system and corrections service here in the Northwest Territories should make that program and service available to all violent offenders in the Northwest Territories and it should be mandatory, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Mahsi. There are certain programs. We’ve initiated some mandatory programs for inmates and also for offenders. There are some other programs that we are seriously looking at as possibly mandatory for court proceedings and we’re working closely with our judges on these particular matters. I will keep the Members posted as we move forward, if we’re going to make some programs mandatory. So we’ll keep the Members posted on that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the things I alluded to in my Member’s statement was the fact that North Slave Correctional Centre is the largest corrections facility we have in the Northwest Territories. Currently it doesn’t have a clinical psychologist, Mr. Speaker. That, to me, is a gaping hole in the services that are available to violent offenders here in the Northwest Territories, and it’s little wonder our statistics are going up when we don’t have a clinical psychologist at our largest facility. I’d like to ask the Minister if there are any plans to fill the position of clinical psychologist at North Slave Correctional Centre. Thank you.
Mahsi. There is a contract with a physician to provide services to inmates at the North Slave Correctional Centre, but at the same time we do have somebody in training right now to be a psychologist. That individual completed her degree program and also needs to complete one year under supervision before she can be registered. So that individual has a few more months to go, Mr. Speaker, to be qualified. So it is in the works and it’s going to be happening this summer. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Transportation and I’d like to start by expressing appreciation for his adjustment of the speed limit on the highway from the Explorer Hotel to Niven Lake area, a part of Weledeh where we have safety issues. Those safety issues do remain, though, and what I’d like to request of the Minister is would he consider or put in place lighting that would take care of that safety issue. As the Minister knows, during a large part of our year it’s dark there. It’s very unsafe for people walking along there and we have families walking there. Will the Minister get street lighting on that section of road? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has asked if I would consider putting lighting. Of course, I would consider putting lighting on that stretch of road.
Mr. Speaker, having said that, safety is an issue on all our highways. The section that the Member has raised is part of our inventory. We do speeds on that portion of highway and we have incorporated a highway safety operations review on all our roads and we have plans to put in more guardrails, signs and things of that nature. That includes also looking at putting lighting where we have some intersections. We’ve done some of the intersections already in Behchoko and Fort Providence. So we’d certainly consider the request that the Member is making. We’d probably have to consult with the City on this also. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate the Minister’s comments, all of them, and also his commitment to consider that. I think it’s a good suggestion to work with the City and this could be done through the Capital Area Development Plan Committee. So I think that would be a great opportunity to reduce the cost as well. The City may be willing to participate. Can we expect that this would include, of course, the most energy-efficient LED lighting with the appropriate shading to make best use of the light as well? Thank you.
I’m not too sure if he’s asking me if I’d use the cheapest form of lighting on that stretch of highway. That’s something we’d have to discuss, of course. We take every opportunity to use energy-efficient lighting. We’ve incorporated solar panels on some of our lights that are outside of the communities. We have this year already, as part of our budget of course, put some lighting around the airport at that intersection. So as we move forward, I can’t commit that we’ll do the work that he’s requesting this year. We’ll certainly consider it. We’ll have the discussion with the City and see how we can accommodate the request. Thank you.
Thank you. Again, I appreciate those comments from the Minister and I do think it is worthwhile to consider doing this work in consideration through the Capital Area Development Plan. What this section of highway really needs is a safe walking path that’s appropriately lit and an appropriate crossing place. So I would ask that the Minister do work through the Capital Area Development Plan and consider myself a resource if he needs assistance working with the City in coming up with a plan to finally take care of that section of road that’s our problem. Thank you.
Thank you. I think that included a request for a walking path. I don’t think that’s what we were discussing initially. We certainly agree. I think that nobody is going to contest the fact that highway street lighting would reduce the potential concerns about a conflict between vehicles and pedestrians. There are other modes, of course, that involve a lot more investment, but street lighting is something that we’d certainly consider at this point. I agree that we probably need a longer term plan that would incorporate walking paths and bike paths and things of that nature, but at this point we’ll take the request for lighting very seriously and we’ll see how we can incorporate it and we’ll consult with the Member to see what ideas he’s got bringing this forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley. Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked about devolution. I want to ask the Premier some questions. I want to ask him in terms of the mandates for going forward, when and who decided that the Aboriginal governments won’t have direct participation at the tables when they were negotiating the draft AIP? So far what I’ve been told and what I’ve read is only the GNWT and the federal governments were negotiating and they drafted the AIP. The Aboriginal governments were briefed from time to time, but they didn’t really have a seat at the table per se in terms of the direct negotiations on this important deal.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those mandates set in the original days when the framework agreement was struck out in 2001 and renewed as they began to work, I believe, in 2004. Our process, or the process we’ve used, has been in place from those days and there were different times at different levels of discussion. For example, there was a Government of the Northwest Territories and a federal government issue that was strictly bilateral. Those bilateral discussions were held between the GNWT and the federal government, but it included Aboriginal governments on those specific issues. They were part of that process. At all times, though, as I have been informed, that even the bilateral discussions that were between the GNWT and the federal government, those discussions were brought to the table for all participants to review. Thank you.
Thank you. I guess there are the various figments to the history of the bilateral agreements and negotiations. So I’ll leave it at that.
What I’ve been hearing is that the Aboriginal governments that are not signatory yet to this agreement have some questions and they want to assess and analyze the agreement. My understanding is that if we have some of the Aboriginal governments come on side, then that puts them into some funding arrangements. If they do not come on side to sign the AIP, then there’s no funding available to them. Is that a true statement to the Premier?
This would be true for the GNWT. If we did not sign the agreement-in-principle, we would not have access to the $4 million that would help us in the transition work going into negotiations. We will have to come up with our money in negotiations as a Government of the Northwest Territories. The federal government has set up $3.9 million for Aboriginal governments to prepare for the work and the transition into negotiations. As they sign that, they will have to sit down with the federal government to work out that funding arrangement. Thank you.
Thank you. Can the Premier explain where the thousands of dollars that have been given to the regions went if it wasn’t to explain the devolution?
The Member is asking the GNWT to explain where that money went. That was co-funded by the GNWT and the federal government. If I understood your question correctly, I hope that it went towards the work on devolution, the prepatory meetings, some of the negotiations specifically.
In the life of our government, we’ve got a number of agreements in place. One at the regional leaders’ level, which helps bring them into the regional leaders’ meeting, supports two at a time. Then specifically within the Executive there were agreements in place to help fund the devolution meetings, and that was to help the groups organize and structure and review the materials that they needed to review. We’d have to go to the groups to find out exactly how they deal with those funds. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier tell me as to why the AIP wasn’t released earlier in terms of letting the people understand and read it, rather than being posted on the CBC website? Just recently it was released to the public.
Thank you. First and foremost, the process that’s been well established within the Northwest Territories right from self-government talks, land claim talks to this agreement-in-principle, the parties have been involved. Aboriginal governments and groups have been involved in this process. They’ve had their hands on the document for years. The specific document that was signed off by the chief negotiators and the letter sent to myself and Minister Duncan and additional letters were also sent to all the regional leaders in September. So we were waiting for their response through October and looking at it on a going-forward basis as we were preparing to get ready to inform the people of the Northwest Territories what this deal would mean and how we would go forward.
Again, this is an agreement-in-principle. It is a non-binding agreement that sets the framework for going forward to final negotiations. Now we’re starting to do our process and get the message out to the people of the North. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
