Debates of May 14, 2007 (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs some questions regarding the 911 service. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, six years ago, in 2001, the chief coroner of the Northwest Territories recommended that MACA work with the RCMP and the City of Yellowknife to establish a 911 service. The first year was to be in Yellowknife and then that service was to be expanded out to other communities in the Northwest Territories. Why is it six years later? What has happened? Why aren’t we at a stage where we can start moving 911 outside of Yellowknife? Instead, we are standing here today questioning why there isn’t even a 911 service in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 70-15(6): 911 Emergency Telephone Response Service

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories, through MACA and Public Works and Services, along with the RCMP and the city have looked at the issue. The biggest barrier for going forward right now is the lack of communication infrastructure in our communities. I guess following that, the big barrier is the cost of implementing such a service. We are looking at roughly $26 million or more to have it within the Northwest Territories and to have the service in all the communities. That is something that we are facing, are the resources required to implement such a service.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 70-15(6): 911 Emergency Telephone Response Service

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, $26 million to look at a 911 service territory-wide is a tremendous amount of money, but given the fact that 911 is the North American standard for emergency numbers and it is something that children who live in the Northwest Territories are much more likely to remember when faced with an emergency, why aren’t we looking at establishing this service in Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith to start with and what would that cost? Has the Minister got that information? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 70-15(6): 911 Emergency Telephone Response Service

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have the detail and the cost for breaking it out per community. We could, I guess, look at that. There’s a number of things that would come forward as one-time costs from the RCMP and also NorthwesTel or the provider and others. So we’d have to sit down and break all those numbers out. We haven’t looked at specifically providing it for one community. There’s still a cost factor. In fact, Yellowknife has made application to CRTC for some money and were turned down as this didn’t meet the program criteria. If there’s an interest, we certainly can sit down and review what the options are. But at this point, we don’t have the resources to implement such a service across the Territories.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 70-15(6): 911 Emergency Telephone Response Service

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I feel quite strongly that the Government of the Northwest Territories has an obligation to the people it represents to implement such a service and to work with the stakeholders to ensure that there’s a 911 service. If that starts out in Yellowknife and expands to Hay River and Fort Smith, so be it. Then we can expand it later on. I’d like to ask the Minister, and I wasn’t overly impressed with the last answer, but what are the next steps to move this forward, and where does the responsibility lie to move this issue forward to the next level so that we can get this service up and running? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 70-15(6): 911 Emergency Telephone Response Service

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know what I have to do to impress the Member.

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Mr. Speaker, if the Member’s referring to the city of Yellowknife moving forward, that’s something that’s their decision. We certainly can work with them to implement such a service and try to locate some resources to help them along. However, at the cost factor or the estimates that are provided to us, it’s not something we can resource at this point. Communications is something we’d like to have more discussion on with other departments, Public Works and Services, regarding which step do you take first. Do we start putting the facilities in the communities so that we can have adequate facilities so that we can start considering this, or do we focus on Yellowknife first and then worry about the other communities later? I think that’s something we’re going to have to decide, Mr. Speaker, and we’ll have to have further debate and discussion on that with the other partners in this committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 70-15(6): 911 Emergency Telephone Response Service

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m always impressed with the Minister’s responses, especially when we’re talking about something as important as this. I think it’s important that it starts somewhere. I hear the Minister and I hear the Minister say communities and establishing it throughout the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, $26 million, that’s not going to happen right away. What needs to happen right away is this service needs to get started in Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith just for starters. I’d like the Minister to make a commitment today to get his officials at MACA to work with the stakeholders to get this key initiative off the ground. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Further Return To Question 70-15(6): 911 Emergency Telephone Response Service

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly will continue to pursue this. It’s not something that we have as a high priority right now. There is still a lot of communication equipment and communication issues in our communities that we could focus on. There’s the issue of self-service, and self-service along the highway would maybe make more sense right now than implementing a huge, costly 911 service that is only going to serve a small part of the whole Northwest Territories. It’s something we’d have to sit down and talk with the other departments and the other agencies, but we’ll certainly follow up as the Member has requested. Thank you.