Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, definitely we’re continuing to work with various institutions that we have partnerships with down south. At the same time, the Grande Prairie Regional College is also interested in considering some modification. The modification will take some time but it is in the works. Those are areas that we continue to work on with the college.
The one instance I made reference to and the Minister has just talked about, the Grande Prairie institution. Is the Minister now giving the House a deadline on when maybe a resolution could be satisfactory to the student or the community to have the student or future students come up to the North to do their practicum?
I can’t really give an exact time right now. The discussion just started with the college. That is my understanding. There are talks about the modification of the program for future usage, such as those teachers in training having their practicum in the Northwest Territories. Those are areas we need to work on and we’ll be working closely with the DEAs in the regions, the college and my Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
When these students enter into post-secondary institutions and take on the career of a teacher or teacher’s assistant, has the department notified the students ahead of time about their practicum and the requirements we need? To also let them know ahead of time that it’s not possible to come back to the North to do their practicum, such as this student in Grande Prairie that was disappointed that these things couldn’t be worked out ahead of time? Can the Minister notify me if these things are told to students entering into the teaching professions?
I believe that there are different parties involved. It is also the student’s responsibility to do their research on what they want to get into, the field of studies, and the requirements of that particular program, including the practicum and whether or not it can be delivered in the Northwest Territories. That is information that is available on the college website or the college application. We need to work with the students. We as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment have staff that can provide some information, but it’s also the student’s responsibility to do that part too. We’ll continue to work with those students.
I hope the department can rectify this situation as soon as possible. As you know, students who leave small communities and come back to do their practicum or to go back to work, it’s a good incentive for other students to continue on their education and role modelling. I would ask the Minister again if he would commit to see if this resolution can be done sometime within the life of this government.
That would be one of the plans we’ll be working on to expedite the process. There are a number of students who are taking this particular program and we definitely want them to come back to the Northwest Territories to do their practicum. That will be our goal.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister if he could share what type of arrangements or what type of barriers that Grande Prairie has put up in terms of not helping the student to get to the North to do her practicum. What are some situations that his department is looking into?
Some of the obstacles or challenges that may face the college is the travel to the communities. Those are the areas that have been identified and we need to work with that. There may be other areas, other concerns that may have been brought forward, but this is an area that they’re willing to modify their program. This is definitely an area that we need to focus on. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. 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 want to ask some questions related to housing for physically and mentally challenged residents in the NWT. In general, we talk about assisted living housing for our persons with disabilities and those that have mental challenges. We have a number of different types of housing, I know that, and we have different models of accommodation, but I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not her department, or the government in general, has a policy that addresses this particular housing need. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have a program and policy to address the persons with disabilities. Thank you.
I would have liked to have heard the name of the policy, but that’s fine. I’d like to know from the Minister, her department generally manages the programs, the assisted living programs. I’d like to know if we have a policy that looks after housing needs for people who are challenged and who need assisted living. Does the department work in concert with any other department? I would hope they would work in concert with the NWT Housing Corporation, but do they work in concert with any other department in order to acquire and build the necessary housing for assisted living? Thank you.
The Member knows that the Department of Health and Social Services is not in the business of building houses, so we would not be involved in that. The Member also knows because she had asked in the past and I’ve given her information about the kind of support we provide for persons with disabilities. We have various programs. The Member mentioned an assisted living complex in Hay River, but we also have group homes, we have supported living, we provide respite care. I mean, the persons with disabilities don’t come in one shape and size and need, and so individuals are assessed and they are supported in the best way we can with the programs we have and the resources we have. Thank you.
To the Minister, I didn’t ask about whether or not you were in the business of housing and I wasn’t asking about particular placement options. I’m talking about housing and getting the necessary capacity of housing that we need. It’s well known that we have a need within the whole of the NWT assisted living housing, whether it be rented, whether it be built. I’d like to know if the department would consider establishing a process to actively build up the housing supply for assisted living and whether they would partner with the Housing Corporation to build the necessary types of housing that’s required so that we can place more of our people in assisted living accommodations. Thank you.
I think the mandate of the Health and Social Services is busy enough, full enough, demanding enough. I don’t think, unless the government tells us to, the department is interested in getting into the housing business. We have the NWT Housing Corporation that does that. I am aware that the Housing Corporation has built units and renovated units for persons with disabilities, whether they be seniors or non-seniors. I would ask the Member to kindly refer the question to the responsible Minister. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister, I would like to ask again, I’m not asking the department to build houses, I’m asking the department to establish a process to work in conjunction with the Housing Corporation who does build houses -- I agree with you -- but asking if they would set up a process to partner with the Housing Corporation to provide the assisted living housing that we need. Thank you.
We do that already. We work closely with the Housing Corporation. So if the Member has specific situations or a constituent that she would like me to look into, I would be happy to do that. As I’ve stated, the Housing Corporation does have a program that addresses the persons with disabilities and, of course, Health and Social Services works closely with ECE and Housing and Justice or whoever we need to.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, my Member’s statement is on the Power Corporation’s procedure for dealing with damage done to people’s appliances over the power fluctuations that we’ve been having. Mr. Speaker, how many of these claims have been received each year from our Nunakput communities that are paid out from the Inuvik office? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Power Corporation does have a policy in place on dealing with customers who have had problems within their homes and can file a claim. I don’t have the level of detail with me that I could respond to the Member but I will get that for the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what’s being done to ensure that the troubleshooting with the electrical systems can be done in our communities instead of waiting for technicians to fly into the communities? Thank you.
With the new CEO, Mr. Axford, in house now in the Northwest Territories, he’s been looking at the operations of the Power Corporation, their structure, how they deal with our customer issues and our response times, so I expect that in the near future I would sit down at the next board meeting with the CEO and the new chairman and the board to go over some of the work they’ve done and see what flows from that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister ensure that my constituent complaints be looked into by the Power Corporation and be dealt with as soon as possible? They have been ongoing. Thank you.
Those that have made application, I will ask on the results. The first thing, as I had committed to earlier, was the total number of complaints or applications that were sent in, what were the responses to those applications and if there are any outstanding issues. I will get that information back to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What will the Power Corporation do to improve the communication with the customers in the small communities so that their complaints will be resolved sooner rather than later? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I must say that in initially meeting with the new CEO for the Power Corporation it was refreshing. His experience in that sector of the business and dealing with many customers is, I think, a breath of fresh air, as I see it, in reaching out to our customers in the Northwest Territories. Again, I’ve had discussions with both the chair and the new CEO to discuss the issues around customer relations, and we’ll follow up on that, as well, to ensure that we work on improving that relationship. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for an NWT charter for seniors. I think we could develop something that brings clear focus to your beliefs and principles on caring for seniors and elders. If you look across the government, there is no clear coordinating role. The Minister responsible for Seniors is title alone. There is no direct mandate to seniors and certainly as the Minister responsible for Seniors, they have no specific money targeted in order to help and support seniors.
Mr. Speaker, I think that’s a sad state of affairs, and I certainly hope that our government eventually will rectify that problem that we don’t put that type of initiative behind our seniors. Mr. Speaker, my question would be to the Minister who is responsible for Seniors. Would she consider taking to Cabinet the idea and certainly the issue of developing an NWT seniors charter?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not familiar with what details that concept entails, but if the Member would like to provide me with that information, we will have a further look at it. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would be pleased to provide a copy of my Member’s statement I made today as well as a copy of the House of Commons’ position on a seniors charter. Mr. Speaker, knowing full well that this issue has never specifically been brought up in the government certainly in my time, is the Minister saying clearly she would be willing to take this issue, address this issue and bring it to the Cabinet table to work towards developing an NWT seniors charter? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wouldn’t be the responsible Minister, or the Member would be responsible if we were to make decisions without having at least some information about what it is we are being asked to take a position on. I am interested in getting the information from him as to what he has in mind, understanding that different ideas about overarching or comprehensive sorts of models on seniors was introduced before. I think we are also aware, though, that seniors’ issues, whether it be housing, fuel subsidy, health benefits, touch so many different departments that I don’t know if it is just something we need to look further into. I would be happy to, once again, say what I said before, take a look at what he has in mind and then we could have a position. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answer from the Minister, the willingness to pursue something new and different. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister see a problem in the existing state of affairs where seniors’ issues are spread out throughout the government without a clear mandate or a coordinating role, and that being said, a Minister directly responsible for seniors and elders program? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member that the programs are spread out, but I don’t think it is there without mandate. I think all of our seniors programs have specific programming and criteria mandate that are housed in responsible divisions and sections.
Mr. Speaker, once again, I am interested in looking at what he has in mind. Maybe it is something that the Standing Committee on Social Programs can take a look at as well. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to seeing what he has. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about future cost of the devolution agreement for the GNWT. I have questions for the Premier. Why did this government agree to an AIP that does not place full responsibility on the federal government for inflation and the cost of running the regulatory system? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
