Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; the action plan is put together by government, but a lot of the actions are carried out by NGOs that we fund. I have a document here. Yesterday I spoke about the 50 or so NGOs that the Department of Health and Social Services support directly under the disabilities that I think may have perhaps six different organizations that we support within the funding of those NGOs. Our funding some of the action plans were put out. I think there are only a couple of them that are considered to be something that they were not going to carry out. I can go back to the organizations and discuss further why some of these action plans would not be carried out. That would just provide us with information as I have it here.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Mr. Speaker, with the theme of Disabilities Awareness Week creating accessible and welcome communities for all people, we only have a few communities that have accessible infrastructure. What is the Minister and his department doing to actually create accessible and welcoming communities within our 33 communities in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I recognize that accessibility, we are talking about physical accessibility into buildings or into infrastructure at the community level. That is a major issue. Only a couple of communities have physical accessibility for persons with disabilities. We know of individuals that cannot return to their home communities because they happen to be in a wheelchair and so on. We recognize that. It is a major project. I think that we would have to continue our work with the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities. We would have to work with those guys in order to maybe try to create some more accessibility in public buildings all over our communities, but it would be quite a major task. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, my questions today are to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and follow up to my Member’s statement with respect to the Pathways to Mineral Development report. I was very dismayed to see that there were no public meetings and that the process was essentially run by industry reps alone. I have to say I kind of like the guys. They are very personable. They are obviously professionals embedded within the industry, the panel itself. I know a partner was a Chamber of Mines.
I mentioned the need in my statement for a public interest policy review. Perhaps the Minister was just looking for mineral recommendations, but now that the Minister has the recommendations, will he seek the broader advice and see where a mining work panel or a similar group with both mining expertise and a public interest policy lens could be contracted to provide comments and make those commentaries public when they are received? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We want to open new mines here in the Northwest Territories. We have the resources here in the NWT and I know I’ve mentioned it numerous times in speeches I’ve given. I know the Premier mentioned it in a speech he gave yesterday. We’re not going to develop our resources at any cost and I think that has to be said again, Mr. Speaker. It has to be done in a sustainable, environmentally friendly fashion. We’re going to forge ahead. We haven’t opened a new mine, outside of a diamond mine, in the Northwest Territories for almost a quarter of a century and we’re out to try to change that.
I don’t recall saying anything about not opening a new mine, Mr. Speaker. I think that should be clear on the record. I hope the Minister will really listen and try to address my questions.
Consider what happens when you invite public comment when reviewing mining industry performance. The chair of the Minister’s Economic Opportunities Panel, Joe Handley, was on radio this week talking about the feedback he heard in public meetings across the territory. He heard that “socio-economic agreements are almost cancelled agreements.” Then, “we’re going to have to enter into more binding contracts where there are clear penalties.”
Since the Minister has feedback in spades from the Economic Opportunities Strategy recommendations, will he ensure these perspectives make it down the hall of the ITI offices and that this government’s Mineral Development Strategy contains the requirements for enforceable northern benefits? That’s what we’re talking about. I’m not talking against the mines here, Mr. Speaker, for enforcement of northern benefits the publicly so clearly expressed when they were asked. Mahsi.
One of the main pillars of the panel’s report was sustainability and we’re certainly going to work toward that. I agree with the Member that we’re going to have to try to get more benefits for people who live here in the Northwest Territories. When we look at resource development here and specifically mining, I can point directly to the Member’s riding and the success of some companies. The Deton’ Cho run companies that have had a great deal of success from mining here in the Northwest Territories. We believe there are many more opportunities out there. We are going to continue down the path of trying to explore those opportunities. We will continue to advance the Mineral Development Strategy. We hope to have an action plan available sometime this fall, hopefully by October. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m hoping to contribute to the Minister’s work through these comments here today, and questions. I agree, we have a thriving industry and it’s great. Although we have had some bad performances in the past, we want more. As I pointed out, some of the basic premises of the recommendations are disturbing or even chilling as potential public policy, considering the bland statement casually put that we might allow projects that would result in requirements for perpetual care, perpetual environmental care. Maybe the panel should have taken a tour of the $903 million Giant Mine Remediation Project plus infinite future cost just as a lesson in consequences.
Again, in the interests of balance and as we embark post-devolution on creating our mineral resource management regime, will the Minister commit that the upcoming strategy will contain a firm action item to create mandatory security provisions such as we’ve required for Commissioner’s lands, and a firm statement that if perpetual care is a possible consequence, the answer to the project will be no? Mahsi.
Some of these recommendations include considerations and recommendations about legally enforceable mine reclamation and ensuring security policies are in place. Those are in the panel’s report as well.
I’m not sure if the Member had a chance to go over all those recommendations in there, but we believe this is just the beginning. It’s the beginning of the Northwest Territories getting out, seeking that investment in our territory. We have to get more investment, more exploration dollars here in the Northwest Territories so that companies can come here, find the next mines so that we can employ our residents in the Northwest Territories.
We talked too long about high unemployment rates, especially in our smaller communities. We need to do something about that, Mr. Speaker, and if we don’t do something about it, nobody is going to do that for us. Our belief is this is going to be an action plan with some tangible results, and we look forward to having the Member and the other Members opposite help us in achieving our goal of getting those opportunities for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I acknowledge there were a few recommendations in this report where it was clearly industry professionals trying to meet sustainability requirements. A treasure chest wish list, though, of subsidies, public funding of staff to assume industry’s responsibility for regulatory engagement, this industry panel really demonstrates how the public can’t do enough to maximize industry profits at public cost, yet our people believe that development should first deliver benefits to them. So my brief question, Mr. Speaker, is: How does the Minister propose to bring the public interest to bear in this strategy? Mahsi.
Again, in the Northwest Territories, we have not opened a mine, outside of a diamond mine, in almost a quarter of a century. We have to change that. We’ve got the resources here. We need the jobs for the people here in the Northwest Territories. It makes sense to develop our resources. This is an effort to get the investment back here, to have the exploration dollars come back here so we can find some more mines and open some more mines so we can get jobs and opportunities for people and local businesses here in the Northwest Territories. We are going to do that and we will continue our efforts to move forward with the Mineral Development Strategy.
Again, the Member and other Members have provided input and we look forward to their continued involvement in the rollout of the action plan this fall. I look forward to meeting with committee again on this as we continue on the path of opening more mines here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member’s statement – and I used several references to Member Bisaro’s and Minister R.C. McLeod – I want to ask Premier Bob McLeod, Minister of MACA, to follow in line with these questions. Like the Rolling Stones, I can’t get no satisfaction.
The town of Norman Wells is looking for some satisfaction and answers on their long-term energy solutions. Next year at this time, the town is going to be off of the natural gas system. What is this government doing to ensure that the town has a solution for their long-term energy needs?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working with the community to address these energy problems. Obviously, we are cooperating in every way possible. As the Member knows, Imperial Oil has advised the town, for commercial businesses they will no longer supply natural gas after June 2013 and for residential consumers they will stop in June 2014. So the Government of the Northwest Territories is taking steps to convert all their facilities and take them off natural gas, except for the NWT Power Corporation who will continue to receive gas to generate electricity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m looking for a satisfactory answer here. I would like to ask the Premier if there is any type of support available for residents to help them convert to any type of alternative energy sources.
The Department of MACA is providing the town with funding so they can hire a program manager. The town has also engaged a consultant to convert to synthetic natural gas. As a government, based on our experience and working with the town of Inuvik, we think it’s getting late into the game. There’s less than a year before the residents will no longer have natural gas. The expectation is that the residents will be able to use their existing facilities to use synthetic natural gas, but there is some preparation that’s needed that we experienced in Inuvik, so we are going to work with them to make sure that they’re aware of the experiences that we had in Inuvik so that they can take that into consideration.
The town of Inuvik, the government’s going to spend about $300,000 exploring long-term energy solutions for that community. We’re in a similar situation.
I want to ask this government here, what are the resources going to be allocated to help the town of Norman Wells to find a long-term renewable energy solution like they have done with the town of Inuvik.
In Inuvik, just for clarification, we are undertaking a pilot project for our own purposes. It’s for our own NTPC power plant in Inuvik. The results of the pilot project can be used in the Northwest Territories, so whatever we learn there we can apply anywhere in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Norman Wells will follow shortly. By this time next year the residents are going to be off the natural gas. The cost of heating their homes will go up. They have the old energy report and they haven’t seen anything in regard to the kind of funding that’s going to help with the alternative energy solution.
I want to ask the Premier, in light of what the issues are going to be in Norman Wells, what can they expect this government here, within this short period of time, to help the residents in Norman Wells deal with the high cost of heating their homes and having energy in their homes other than what the Minister is saying right now which is, really, I don’t know what to make of it.
We’re prepared to assist in the same way that we assisted in Inuvik.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my statement today, I have questions for the Minister of Justice. It has been 40 to 50 years since the community of Tsiigehtchic, at the time Arctic Red River, has last seen an RCMP.
Short of establishing a detachment in Tsiigehtchic, what programs exist that we can put in place to help address policing and community safety in Tsiigehtchic?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a dedicated officer in Fort McPherson that is intended to provide services to Tsiigehtchic. In the last sitting the Member did raise some concerns he had about some relationship between the community of Tsiigehtchic and the RCMP detachment in Fort McPherson, and I did have some staff and the commanding officer of “G” Division go out and visit Tsiigehtchic and try to work out some of the complications or difficulties that existed. It’s my understanding that they have actually worked out a few things, which I think is a step in the right direction.
The Member is right; if a detachment ever does go to Tsiigehtchic, it’s going to be a while, so we need to find some ways to help the people in that community today and tomorrow and until something like that were to happen. I have talked about the Community Safety Strategy that we’re piloting right now. I think this is a fantastic tool that the government will be able to sit down with the community and map out some of the issues that face them and come up with partners in other organizations who may be able to help them.
I would encourage the Member and I would encourage the community to get in touch with the department, and I can certainly help facilitate that so that we can look at the Community Safety Strategy and how to apply it in Tsiigehtchic for the benefit of the people in that community.
There is an Aboriginal community constable that has been successful in Hay River. These constables focus on community policing, crime prevention, activities frequently engaging youth, and support efforts of community justice committees. Can we see further progress in the Aboriginal Community Constable Policing Program in the Northwest Territories?
The answer is yes. The program is in a pilot phase. It had its original delivery in November 2010, and we were fortunate enough to get the one member here in the Northwest Territories in Hay River. The RCMP is doing a second intake, which is intended to happen this September. We have, I think, a number of applications that have come in for the second troop. We have two seats, and we have applications from Fort McPherson, Fort Simpson, Behchoko, Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour, Hay River, Inuvik, Gameti and Yellowknife. We know at least two of these individuals will be going forward for this program, and should they be successful for the program, they will be in detachments in the Northwest Territories providing those services.
The constable in Hay River does amazing work. He goes into the schools. He helps the full members. He’s about promotion, about education, as well as, to some degree, enforcement. If one of these positions will be in one of the smaller communities in the Northwest Territories in a detachment, they would be free to travel and provide services throughout the entire region. That could be a benefit to a community like Tsiigehtchic if we were fortunate enough to get somebody from the Mackenzie Delta in that program. It’s a great opportunity.
A number of years ago, I believe it was 10 to 15 years ago, we actually had somebody in the community who had a similar type of program that he’d taken and successfully passed. Will the department look at introducing special constables in the communities without police?
There has been some discussion around this and it’s something we’re certainly interested in having some conversation on, but there are some challenges there that we have to be aware of; for instance, insurance coverage and making sure that the individual is safe. We need to make sure that an individual is safe, and if he or she happens to be the only individual in a community providing policing, or is seen as the only person, they could be in harm’s way, so we need to make sure that we put in mechanisms to ensure that that is not the case, and we don’t have those questions answered at this point. That is something that we do need to look at. We also have some problems, as well, if the individual is not linked directly to the RCMP. We would have a problem with individual communities setting up police officers because we lack a police act here in the Northwest Territories. But there are opportunities that do exist.
We do have the Axillary Program, so individuals in communities can approach the RCMP about joining the auxiliary, and they would assist the RCMP. There’s no reason an individual from Tsiigehtchic couldn’t joint the axillary. Unfortunately, they would have to be working out of the Fort McPherson detachment, but it is an opportunity for information to flow both ways and to have individuals from Tsiigehtchic working collaboratively with the RCMP in Fort McPherson.
Once again, there could be some opportunities here, and I would like to work with the Member and discuss those further.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister: Will the department develop a police act?
We have been approached by some communities who have an interest. We’ve been approached by some organizations that have an interest. It’s not currently in our legislative agenda, but it is something that we are…(inaudible)…and looking at. I can’t say for sure whether or not we will actually see it come forward in the life of this Assembly, but I can commit that it is something that the department is looking at and will continue to look at. We do have in front of us, now that we have passed the motion on devolution, a pretty heavy legislative agenda. We’ve got a number of things outside of devolution we’re working on that have been priorities of committee and Cabinet, so we do have a number in front of us, but I will have the department do a bit of an analysis on the Police Act that I can provide to the Member and committee so that they understand what some of the challenges around that particular act are.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address some questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I have held off on the health card debate, so to speak, but I have been listening to my colleagues’ comments, questions and concerns, and I have some questions for the Minister with regard to the inability, it seems, of the department to handle health card renewals, for some people at least.
My first question goes to the process that is used by the department and the office in Inuvik. I’d like to know from the Minister what kind of a process is used when a renewal application comes in. Is it a manual process? Is it an automated process? Is there an outline that staff follow and that every staff have access to so that it is the same process that is followed for all applications? Is there a standard that is set? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it is a standard process. It is a manual process. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister for the answer. I would like to know then, if it is a manual process and I’m a worker in Inuvik and I’m processing these applications, do I have a template? Do I have standards, guidelines that I follow so that Mr. Moses sitting next to me is actually doing the same work in the same way that I am doing? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, they do have a guideline, a procedure that they follow so that each application received with the appropriate and correct information is processed in exactly the same way and then is sent out for a card. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister again. We made a change to the process of health card renewals. It started, I understand, in December of 2012 or January of 2013. Prior to making that change, I would like to know from the Minister what other jurisdictions were reviewed to set up this new health card renewal process. How did we evaluate what we were doing and what we are now currently doing? What other jurisdictions were canvassed to see what kind of a system would be best for us? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that information with me, but I do know that we have looked at other jurisdictions. We recognize that there are various ways that other jurisdictions have gone about renewing their health care or providing health care cards such as decision to go with a picture on the health care card and so on. We have looked at other jurisdictions. Specifically which jurisdictions we looked at and tried to follow, I don’t know which it was. I think we are continuing on with a system that we have developed ourselves. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I guess I would like to suggest that if we are following a system that we have set up that perhaps is not working very well, then maybe we ought to look at other jurisdictions in a little more detail and perhaps change our system.
In our system, in our process and in these guidelines that staff has, does it identify a standard turnaround time and what that time is from the time the application comes in to when the renewed or new card goes back out to the individual? Thank you.
