Thank you. I haven’t had a meeting with my federal counterpart, Minister Lebel, in some time. I look forward to getting together with him again in the near future, and I believe the department has had discussions with Transport Canada on this issue and I’d be more than happy to go back to the department and get the level of connectivity they’ve had with Transport Canada on this issue for the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard. Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement I talked about the need for consumer protection legislation as it pertains to wireless communications. In fact, I used the word “cell shock,” because I think that’s what happens to many people when they open up their cell phone bills. I know I’m part of that 99 percent. As a result, as I said in my Member’s statement, many provinces have adopted legislation to help protect consumers with respect to this type of unaware procedure that may be occurring within the telecommunication industry.
So my question for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs is: Is the department prepared to entertain such legislation in the near future?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA is interested in ensuring that our consumers are protected from practices such as these, but we want to go about it in a way that we consider the other roles and responsibilities of the regulatory bodies.
My understanding is the CRTC has announced that it will hold some consultations to probe the state of the wireless competition, and then they’ll determine whether they should actively regulate wireless service contracts. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, I agree, CRTC is obviously one of the national bodies that look after this. However, consumers today don’t have a vehicle and if we have to wait for rulings from large organizations such as CRTC, consumers could be waiting for a long period of time.
Given the fact that this is nothing new, there are many provinces that have already jumped on board, obviously there’s legislation that has been created, there are steps, procedures in place to help protect the public. Again, my question to the Minister: Is this something feasible that the department would consider doing in the very near future?
Thank you. I can commit to the Member that from MACA’s perspective, we’ll do some research and see how much work is required to put this into force, and that’s where the feasible part of it comes in. There’s always going to be a cost to everything, but I will commit to the Member that we’ll do some research as far as the other jurisdictions go and see where we can enact some of that or maybe borrow some of their legislation, but it’s going to be quite a piece of work. Again, we kind of wait on CRTC to see what they come up with before we decide to go the next step. But I will commit to the Member we’ll do our research. Thank you.
I just want to thank the Minister for coming forward today and helping out the consumers. No further questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a follow-up to my Member’s statement, a couple of questions for the Minister of Transportation. What resources have been given to the community of Aklavik for the Willow River access road? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past couple of years there’s been $250,000 under the Community Access Program given to the community of Aklavik to do PDR work on the Willow River gravel access road. Also, there was an additional $100,000. There was a bridge that was looked at and it was deemed to be too expensive. So the $100,000 that was earmarked for that bridge project has gone also to continue the work on the PDR for the gravel access road for the community of Aklavik.
My next question is: When can the community expect work to begin on an all-weather access road? Thank you.
That will be answered when the access road gets into the capital planning of the Government of the Northwest Territories and identify $19.5 million to see the construction of that access road. Thank you.
Thank you. What will the department do to ensure that people and businesses in Aklavik have job opportunities in connection with the Inuvik-Tuk highway? Thank you.
That’s a different line of question, Mr. Blake. If you want to rephrase it, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry. At this time I have no further questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about the status of the Hay River Reserve within the Northwest Territories. So my question is to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. What is this government’s role in the K’atlodeeche First Nation negotiations with the federal government? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is a party, along with Canada, to the negotiations with the K’atlodeeche First Nations. Thank you.
Thank you. I’d like to thank the Minister for his response. How is this government’s role different than it has been with communities when there’s no reserve? Thank you.
Our government’s role is different, depending on what process is being negotiated. If the K’atlodeeche First Nation decides to go through the treaty land entitlement process or whether it chooses to go through the comprehensive community-based agreement process, those would be two different approaches. Through the treaty land entitlement process, the federal government is solely responsible for Indians on reserves. Thank you.
I thank the Minister once again. Could the Minister distinguish for this House on the differences regarding the community comprehensive-based land claim versus comprehensive claims? Mahsi.
Thank you. The differences are that treaty land entitlements are built through the treaty process. So on that basis, it specifies what the Hay River Reserve or K’atlodeeche First Nation would be entitled to through that process. With regard to the comprehensive community-based process, it’s more of negotiating of a modern land claims treaty for that community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How is this government ensuring that in developing the Wildlife Act, that Aboriginal treaty rights of the K’atlodeeche First Nations will be respected? Mahsi.
As an extension of the comprehensive community-based agreement, the portion that would be negotiated for K’atlodeeche First Nation would be hived off of the larger Deh Cho process.
With regard to the Wildlife Act, the process that we have in place is there’s a seat at the table for the Dehcho First Nations and the K’atlodeeche First Nation, as I understand it, are part of that process. If they choose not to be part of that process, then there are a number of other avenues that are available to participate in the Wildlife Act process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The other day in the House during Committee of the Whole, the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment talked about potential partnerships and things working behind the scenes for the stand-alone Aurora College. I’d like to hear, maybe on the record today, what partners is he working in particular with on this particular project and when can we actually see some real advance on this particular issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When I referred to potential partners, we are seeking out those individuals that are interested in working with us as a department and also the college. We have been approached during the 16th Assembly by a corporation that could be the same corporation that may come forward. We are at the preliminary stages at this point, as I stated in Committee of the Whole. This fall or later in the summer we’re going to be discussing the next step, once we sign off on the extension on the lease agreement for Northern United Place. Mahsi.
I’m not sure how the lease deals with the discussion with the corporation. I’m curious; when will you be able to shed some light on who this corporation may be and is it a real partnership or is it just someone giving us a call, not really committing? I mean, we really know what’s actually happening out there. We’ve been led along for quite some time as to whether there may or may not be partners. When will the Minister really be able to make a substantial commitment of information saying these are the people we are talking to and this is what we’re working towards? Thank you.
The lease agreement plays a huge part. We need to extend the agreement. We have a minimum of two years, up to five years. We’re going to have some more information this fall. Mahsi.
Has the Minister or anyone from the department been talking to the City of Yellowknife as a potential partner in this particular initiative? They may not be a cash partner, but they may be able to work in partnership such as the library I mentioned the other day. It’s a project in the not-too-distant future. The City of Yellowknife has always wished to advance that particular one. I can’t speak for them specifically, but that’s the type of partnership I’m talking about. Now, there may be private corporations, but how much investment has the department done on advancing other types of partnerships, and to whom? Thank you.
The City of Yellowknife could be a potential partner because we are dealing with the library in Yellowknife. We need to identify a location for that as well. There’s been talk about adding that to a stand-alone college. Those are the discussions that are happening, very preliminary. Later this fall we need to identify those individuals that are interested in discussing this even further.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
What type of summary information can the Minister actually provide to me, so I can provide to my constituents, on what is actually happening with this project? I mean, every time we bring this particular issue up, to me, all they hear is the discussions that are happening. When I go back to them it doesn’t seem to be a satisfying answer. Will the Minister commit to putting some type of profile onto this project to bring it to fruition, what’s being done and some of what the objectives are and would he be able to do it in a timely way?
We can provide a summary of the status of our discussions and provide more detailed information as we move forward this fall. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will be for the Minister of ITI. Minister Ramsay spoke to us the other day in the House, tabling a statement regarding a new website that they’re designing for the newly formed media association to hopefully entice the film industry. As good as it is, it’s a great tool. I’m not going to deny that. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to some of the fine folks at Buffalo Air who really have minted a unique niche market in the film industry and I think we’re all duly proud of what they’ve done for the Northwest Territories, not just on a national but a global basis. Can the Minister of ITI indicate to me what has been done by this government to help support a very established international market creator such as Ice Pilots and what has this government done to foster that positive behaviour? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had the original Ice Road Trucker, Alex Debogorski, a constituent of mine, at my constituency meeting not too long ago. This was a discussion that came up, how the government could utilize a show like Ice Road Truckers or Ice Pilots NWT and market the territory internationally. That is something I’m certainly interested in. I’m interested in seeing us advance.
I know in the past we’ve had Mikey McBryan down at the Northern House in Vancouver during the Olympics. There are opportunities for us to showcase folks that are involved in the film and television industry. At every opportunity we can do that, we should be doing that. I think they are great ambassadors for the North. We have been fortunate with shows like Ice Road Truckers, Ice Pilots NWT and also Licence to Drill. If you look at a fiction drama series, Arctic Air, that has also put the Northwest Territories squarely on the map.
Certainly the website that I spoke about earlier this week is going to give people an opportunity to see what services are available to the film industry here in the Northwest Territories. It’s something, I must say, we’ve seen a great increase in the number of inquiries to our film commissioner here in the Northwest Territories because of the advance of shows like Ice Road Truckers and Ice Pilots NWT. Thank you.
I agree. I mean, we’re very proud of all the work that’s been done in the North with many of our colleagues and the film industry. The film industry is a wave; it’s a wave you have to ride on and we don’t have to look too far to the south of us in Saskatchewan. They had some great run-ons for years. Unfortunately, in Saskatchewan the film industry has dried up only because the government of the day didn’t react in time. The film industry is very nomadic in nature and if you don’t ride the wave properly, you miss your opportunity.
Again, my question to the Minister is: What other steps such as tax incentives, opportunities for business diversification and proper training in telecommunications or arts can allow us to be a leader and also keep this wave as long we can? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We certainly need to keep an eye on what other jurisdictions are doing, such as the Yukon. Going forward, we need to look at ways we can be competitive, and I agree with the Member, it’s a competitive environment out there. We need to have services, rebate programs and incentives for the film industry to come here to film so that people who live in the Northwest Territories can get the jobs and the experience that filming will give them here in the Northwest Territories. We are looking at every opportunity.
Again, I know in that industry things are fickle and we will continue to put our best effort forward. We have identified a dedicated employee at ITI to handle the inquiries. We are doing our best to try to maintain that momentum that we’ve got and advance any opportunity that we have going forward. Thank you.
