Mr. Speaker, we need to fix our own house. Let’s start with the foundation and location, move them to the communities, build it up from there. It works.
Mr. Speaker, housing is a government responsibility. We’re all in this together. We need solutions like a tenants relationship officer, solutions like working off the arrears, solutions like garnisheeing a percentage of their wages, or volunteering in the community with coaching or working with the elders. It may not fit the government policy, but, hey, it’s the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, we need the attention of this government today; not tomorrow, next week or in the new government. We can wipe off the arrears and at the same time acknowledge those who’ve paid rent faithfully since 1972, but we need the government to listen. Will you listen to us?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member from Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to get a message back to the people of Inuvik Boot Lake, my constituency, to inform them that I will not be putting my name forward in the next general election.
After much thought about the future and the work that I’ve done with the people of Inuvik, I feel it is time to let some younger, more energetic folks take a look at representing the fine community of Inuvik and the constituency of Inuvik Boot Lake. So I want to inform them that I will not be putting my name in, and wish the best for the future Assemblies of the Northwest Territories.
I’m sure I will at some point, some place, still be poking and prodding the Government of the Northwest Territories to make the right decisions and look towards our future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure today to recognize in the gallery a distinguished elder from Fort Smith, Bea Campbell, and president of the NWT Seniors’ Society; Esther Braden, a charter member of the NWT Seniors’ Society; Yvonne Quick, program coordinator, NWT Seniors’ Society; Merlyn Williams, director for YK Seniors’ Society who sits on the NWT Seniors’ Society board; Barb Hood, executive director, NWT Seniors’ Society: Lorraine Phaneuf, executive director and co-chair of the Coalition Against Family Violence; Annemieke Mulders, Status of Women Council of the NWT; Bob Stevens, Lutra Associates in support of the NWT Seniors’ Society. Thank you and welcome to the Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent of the Great Slave riding, Mr. Merlyn Williams. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of residents of Weledeh: Barb Hood and Bob Stevens.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Yvonne Quick, a long-time promoter of tourism and outfitter in the Northwest Territories, and Bob Stevens, hardworking defenseman with Old Blasters Old-timers Hockey League.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although recognized very nicely by Minister Miltenberger, I, too, wish to recognize Lorraine Phaneuf, executive director of the NWT Status of Women Council. As well, I’d like to recognize a very distinguished elder in our community and a resident of Yellowknife Centre, Mrs. Esther Braden. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to recognize a Frame Lake constituent, Ms. Yvonne Quick.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to follow up on my questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to our elders that are in long-term care facilities paying a fee and, of course, there’s an increase coming up on June 1st. However, I just want to speak more particularly about the Aboriginal elders that are in long-term care.
Our treaties dictate that our health is taken care of by the federal government. So I’d like to know if the Health and Social Services Minister has looked at this. Has his officials looked at this aspect of it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The rates for long-term care in the Northwest Territories are by far some of the most reasonable in the country and they are not a service that is covered under treaties. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I’m confused. Health is in the treaties. So I would just like to ask the Minister once again, has he had dealings with Ottawa that lead him to say that statement, or what’s his approach or strategy towards Aboriginal elders in long-term care facilities? Mahsi.
Thank you. This arrangement has been in place for decades now and the costs are heavily subsidized by the Government of the Northwest Territories to keep the rates where they’re at. There hasn’t been an increase in many, many years. But as it pertains to the question from the honourable Member, this service is not one that’s covered under a treaty or any kind of medical coverage through the treaty or non-insured health benefits.
Thank you very much. I don’t know; I would actually have a real good look at it. So I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, is he willing to at least look at that through a legal opinion and present that perhaps back at the House, because I believe that this certainly is in our treaties and we all know it is. With that there, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to know if the Minister is willing to do something like that. Mahsi.
Thank you. I would be happy to provide the Member with a note that would lay out the position of the government when it comes to this particular service and we can have further discussion at that point if he wishes. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just as a final question I’d like to know how much revenue is the government making from all of our seniors in the long-term care facilities, if the Minister can provide that to me, as well. Mahsi.
Thank you. I don’t have the number of the money that’s generated from the modest charge for long-term care facilities, but I will as well in the note to the Member add the cost that we do spend and the revenues, and the Member will see that these programs are heavily subsidized, with good reason. I mean, we made a choice, we want to give the elders in the Northwest Territories the best care possible at the most reasonable cost and I believe we are doing that, but I will share that information with the Member, as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs. In October of last year I asked some questions of the Minister with regard to the removal of assets at the Treminco mine site and the clean-up of that mine site. He advised me in December that they were developing an RFP for the removal of assets and that we would have the results of that RFP by mid-April 2011. I would like to ask the Minister first off what the status is of the work in terms of removal of assets at the mine site.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The assets were auctioned off, however, the winning bidder did not pick them up. They were given final notice and still did not pick them up. We’re exploring other options as to how we can get a lot of the major infrastructure off the property.
I’m really confused now, because the Minister told me that information in October of last year. At that time, and later on, I was advised that there was an RFP that was being developed in February 2011. We’d have the results of an engineering study and what could possibly be done by mid-April 2011. I guess I need to ask the Minister if the RFP for engineering work was ever let.
We did have an appraisal on the site there, and the cost of removing all the infrastructure there was significantly higher than what we would have got for it had we sold it off as surplus. That’s the stage we’re at right now.
I now have to ask the Minister, we’ve decided that it’s too expensive to remove anything, so what’s the next step. Are we going to leave those assets there until they totally rot into the ground 300 years from now? What’s the plan of the department to clean up this mine site?
We still have to find out what we’re going to do. It’s not our intent to leave a lot of this infrastructure on the site. Obviously, we had made efforts to try and have folks bid on it. It was auctioned off. The winning bidders, as I said, didn’t pick it up. We have to find a way that we can remove this site and not have to wait for 300 years.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m really glad we’re on the same page in terms of not waiting for 300 years. The removal of assets is one thing, but the clean-up of the mine site itself is a bigger issue. I know it’s multijurisdictional, but I’m wondering if the Minister can advise whether there is any long-term plan in terms of mine clean-up. That would be clean-up of the whole site, remediation and so on.
We are looking at a couple of options as to the actual site clean-up itself. We have two avenues we’re looking at right now. We are just in the process of trying to see which one would work best. It is our intent to find every way possible to have this site cleaned up. Once we’re clear with that I can communicate to the Member privately and give her an update as to the status and where we’re at with getting the site cleaned up.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t plan to have my Member’s statement coincide with the Minister of Human Resources’ statement today, but the Minister’s statement did cover quite a few of the areas that we’ve been discussing and have concerns about.
When we talk about a representative GNWT workforce, I’d like to ask the Minister what this government’s definition of that would be. Are we only talking about numbers?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can only say that great minds think alike. At this point the goal of the Government of the Northwest Territories is to have a representative workforce, which in this case we’re talking about Affirmative Action in which Aboriginal people represent about 50 percent of the Northwest Territories population. We’re also taking the same approach for persons with disabilities.
I have to ask the Minister how do we then bring more definition to that 50 percent. Is it 50 percent at any level of service in the public service? Is it a 50/50 split in management and directors and all these things? Don’t we need to do more as a government to create truly representative government by ensuring we have equal representation at all levels of government in all levels and positions? What are we doing to achieve that?
At this point, recognizing that as a government we’ve been flat-lined for at least 10 years where 31 percent of our 5,000-plus workforce is Aboriginal, we’re trying to get that moving upward. At some point when we come fairly close to 50 percent I think we could expand it into other areas. For example, we know that of our senior management component, 16 percent is Aboriginal. We have an even steeper hill to climb there. We can character the extreme. We have 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. Every community has varying percentages of Aboriginal people. It’s not our objective to have a representative workforce at the community level; we’re going to have it at the territorial level.
I’m glad the Minister clarified that, because that is a very important point. How do we then, as a government, reconcile the fact that most government jobs are centralized in the capital and the regional centres where the majority of the people are not Aboriginal? The majority of the Aboriginal people, on a percentage basis, are outside; perhaps don’t want to move to a regional centre or to Yellowknife. I mean, are our goals realistic, given those factors?
I believe that our goals are realistic. I think that with our education system and the fact that we’re having more Aboriginal people attending post-secondary education institutions, we’re seeing graduation rates increasing. We look at our summer student rates, for example, where we’re finally getting where 50 percent of our summer students are Aboriginal. We’re working on that area. I think it’s going to take some time. Some of the initiatives that were undertaken with our Aboriginal Affirmative Action Advisory Committee I think are putting us in the right direction. With the next government I think we’ll be looking at more accountability with the senior management of the various departments so that we’ll continue to work to increase our representation in the public service.
