Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we’ve heard about this particular case in Trout Lake, the school, whether it be the capacity, the space itself. Due to that fact, we have identified funding to provide technical upgrades as identified in the VFA Canada reporting and program issues, in an attempt to provide better teaching space. Those are the areas that we are focusing on right now, Mr. Speaker, and we are listening to the Member and also the community. We will be visiting the community in due time. Mahsi.
I think the Minister agrees with me that the best teaching space would be a new school. That’s what the community wants; that’s what I want. I’ve got support from the Members of the Assembly on this side of the House. I’d like to know what stage is his department looking at it in this business planning cycle of 2011 for 2012-2013. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are processes that we need to follow. As I stated, we have identified funds for technical upgrades and then having somebody, a consultant or departmental staff, going to the community to identify what’s needed and what’s the capacity. Right now, Mr. Speaker, the capacity is 48 percent utilized in the community. We have to look at that as well. Is it a space issue? Is it a building issue? The students, how many students are there? There are 16 students right now, Mr. Speaker. We’re talking about those specific matters and we need to highlight and analyze all those key areas before we say, well, there’s going to be a new school built next year. We need to find the funding, as well. The capital process will be in place and we will be discussing this particular subject along with others, as well.
I think that the priority of this government is that each community should have stand-alone schools, each community should have stand-alone recreation centres, and we should move towards, of course, nurses and policing. However, I’d like to know, is it the priority of the Department of Education to start looking at stand-alone schools in each of our small and remote communities? Mahsi cho.
Mr. Speaker, our priority is to deliver programs to each and every community to serve those students, to serve the community members. When we talk about infrastructure in communities, we have to work in partnership with the communities because there is limited access to infrastructure in the communities, as well. We have to work with those isolated communities, with what they have on hand and work with them. If there needs to be a new building that needs to come up, we need to work with the community government, the school boards and our department, the GNWT.
Mr. Speaker, It’s not just one piece of infrastructure. We’re talking about various infrastructure in the community that we need to work with. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to reiterate one more time that Trout Lake does not have a stand-alone school. It had burned down many, many years ago. Our government is on the record as saying that it will be replaced. Right now it’s being located in the community hall. That is just not acceptable. Each of our communities, our constituents, our people of the Nahendeh and the Northwest Territories deserve to have their own school. I’d like the Minister to start looking at that, start working towards that in the capital planning process this summer. I’d like to get a commitment of that nature. Mahsi cho.
Mr. Speaker, I did commit to the Member that we will be going to the school. I believe we’re working on a date with the Member to go into the community and also look at the particular school and the complex it is under. Working towards the next capital planning project, I will work with the Member and also the Members at large that this along with other projects, what are the priorities? What should come to us first? Those are the discussions that we need to have, as we do every year with the capital projects process. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I was speaking about the accommodations. Many communities have adequate accommodations. You know, in Tuktoyaktuk, our teachers housing, we’re really fortunate enough to have a six-plex, but our government has pulled the funding back from the community.
Mr. Speaker, considering the housing issue is a number one problem in recruiting and retaining good staff in the communities, and considering that some communities are not waiting for the government to help develop housing strategies for their staff, will this government commit to seriously developing innovative and realistic assistance packages to these often cash-strapped small communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to housing for staff, especially the teachers, we look after all the teachers as much as we can through the board operations. For the 2010-2011 school year, the teachers that were hired, there were no reports of positions going unfilled because of lack of suitable accommodations. As we all know, the northern living allowance, we take that into consideration as well, where each teacher, individual community members do receive those allowances based on their posting. So if they’re in an isolated community, they get a higher northern living allowance, as well. Those are benefits that our teachers can qualify for, as well. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, our government, with our nursing we provide them housing right in the health centres. Mr. Speaker, we need to help our teachers because they’re the only ones that are going to help our students. Under the vision statement of this government, you know, it’s strong, healthy, vibrant, independent people. Mr. Speaker, we need this funding reinstated back into the communities for the teachers. We have to support them, because they’re the ones supporting our students.
Mr. Speaker, will the government commit to developing supporting our teachers housing subsidy program for all of the Nunakput communities and across the territory? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what I can state in this House is that there are certain programs through the NWT Housing Corporation that each corporation can access. We’ve discussed this and it came from this Assembly, as well, that we need to deliver those subsidies to those corporations so they can build affordable housing. Yes, we support those teachers, very much so, and we know the students are successful because of those teachers. So we’ll continue to work interdepartmental; ECE, Housing Corporation along with the board operations, as well. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I had my EA at the Tuk Education Authority meeting. The cost of living in Tuk for rental housing is about $1,800 a month. For a person to come and live in the community and teach our students, we need the support. You know, we’re failing these teachers now.
Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister to reconsider and reinstate the funding to give back to the community for our teacher housing program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi. I did commit to working with the education school boards, the NWT Housing Corporation and ECE, my department, to work with the subsidies that we have in place, and also to deal with the northern living allowance that’s before us. Maybe some teachers are not fully aware before they get into the communities that they do receive attractive benefits when they’re in most isolated communities. So I did commit in this House that I will be working interdepartmentally and with other corporations as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I’d like to ask the Minister to reconsider reinstating the funding back to the communities and back to the teachers for their housing, and if the Minister could commit to me today to come to meet with the Tuk District Education Authority before the end of the session. Thank you.
Mahsi. Those are the same questions that have been addressed. I will commit to the Member that I’ll be working with the corporations, the Housing Corporation, also the Beaufort-Delta Department of Education as well, and Beaufort-Delta Board of Education. So we need to find solutions in these areas and support our teachers. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the new youth centre in Fort Resolution. I have questions for the Minister of MACA. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has seen four years of spending for youth, probably record spending for youth in this Assembly and also as a youth Minister. Does the Minister agree that strategic spending that supports youth today will reduce social problems in the future? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do agree with the Member’s comment and I think this whole Assembly agrees with it. That’s why this Assembly has determined that in the life of the 16th Assembly the amount of money that we’ve put into youth is unprecedented in any Assembly before us. I think that goes a long way in showing that we do recognize that investing in youth is a very good issue and it’s something that we all support. Thank you.
Does the Minister agree that an increase in spending in the area of youth will reduce the cost of health, housing, income support and education in the future? Thank you.
Thank you. I do agree that a solid investment in the youth will alleviate a lot of the issues that the Member has raised. Again, I think I pointed out before, it’s one of the reasons, as Members of this 16th Assembly, we’ve determined that the youth are a very important investment, and I think we’ve proven that with the amount of money that we’ve put into youth in the last four years. Thank you.
Thank you. In Fort Resolution this government and municipal government has spent I think over $1.5 million to build a youth centre. It would be important to maximize the future spending there, utilize that building. Does the Minister support more funding going into a small community’s committee to Sustainability on Rural and Remote Communities committee so that those communities can provide more support for our youth?
Thank you. The committee for Rural and Remote Communities was a very important committee that provided very important advice to the government in allocating funds, and I think through some of the work of the committee we’ve recognized on that committee, too, how important it is to invest in the youth.
The $400,000 that we recommended going into the Regional Sports Program I think is an excellent example of the investment in youth. The Youth Centre Funding Initiative is another good example of that. We actually doubled it from $250,000 to $500,000 for the youth centres across the Northwest Territories and we’ve had, I think, almost every youth centre in the Northwest Territories has taken advantage of the program, and we look forward to seeing the new youth centre in Fort Resolution. I understand they’ve done some excellent work there. Again, it’s a commitment by the community itself, because they took the initiative to invest in a youth centre, as we’ve seen across the Northwest Territories. I’ve been fortunate to have attended a few openings. Paulatuk has also decided that a youth centre was a priority in their community. So we’re starting to see a lot of community-driven priorities and allocation of funds towards those priorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Time for question period has expired. I’ll allow the Member a final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. We all understand that it’s very important to spend more money on the youth and that we provide supports for the future of the Territories. Will the Minister direct his staff to look at possible realignments in the funding to support the Hamlet of Fort Resolution to hire a qualified youth worker so that the infrastructure that we’ve built does not go to waste? Thank you.
Thank you. I think in the communities that have put up a youth centre like Fort Resolution, I don’t think those infrastructure projects will go to waste. I think the communities themselves have the ability, through their O and M budgeting process, to allocate funds as they see fit, and most of the communities would have recreation workers.
As a department, as a government, we also provide $825,000 to all the communities across the Northwest Territories for recreation purposes. That’s on top of the O and M monies that we give the communities. So the community itself would have the ability to adjust their budgets so they could take advantage of the new youth centre. I’m sure they have someone to work in the youth centre, but they do have the ability to adjust their budgets to hire people as they see fit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to the orders of the day, item 5.
---Unanimous consent granted
The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, honourable colleagues. I want to recognize an important G’asho Got’ine from Fort Good Hope to Yellowknife, Wilbert Cook Sr. Along with him is his girlfriend, Celine, and their baby, Tyrell. Also with Wilbert Cook is Wilbert Cook Jr. and his son Joey and his son’s girlfriend, Donna. I’d like to welcome them to the gallery.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to recognize in the gallery former residents of Fort Simpson Mr. Will Cook Sr., current resident Ms. Celine Gargan, and new constituent baby Tyrell. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I want to welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
1.
Please provide a list of all community parks and territorial parks located in the Sahtu region.
2.
Please provide a breakdown of the budget for the expenditures that will be contributed to all aspects of parks and other tourism initiatives for 2011-12.
3.
Please provide a strategy that outlines a plan to increase the presence of GNWT parks and other GNWT tourism initiatives in the Sahtu for 2011-12.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Part 1 – 22nd Annual Report of the Victims Assistance Committee of the NWT, April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Take a Kid Trapping and Harvesting Report, 2009-2010.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
