Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories tourism industry has great potential to help us realize the 16th Legislative Assembly’s goals of creating a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices.
With the right idea, proper support and an ample amount of elbow grease, tourism businesses can be successful in every one of our 33 communities.
To support the growth of this important industry, Tourism 2010 was approved five years ago. The plan has served us well and we must now look at how we will build on tourism opportunities in the next five years and beyond.
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is consulting with tourism stakeholders and the public on what a new strategy would look like. We have held open houses across the Territory, from the Beaufort-Delta to the South Slave, to hear what people have to say about where the Government of the Northwest Territories should be investing its tourism dollars in the future.
Mr. Speaker, based on the lessons we have learned in the last five years and the needs of the stakeholders, this new plan must reflect the current realities of the tourism industry.
The first reality is that there is a growing demand for authentic cultural experiences. This suggests we should provide support to develop our aboriginal tourism sector. Later today I will be tabling Industry, Tourism and Investment’s response to the consultation work done last year that examined
expanding aboriginal tourism in the Northwest Territories.
Secondly, our strategy must take into account that tourism is highly sensitive to global events. The recent recession is just one example of an event that has affected tourism in the Northwest Territories. In order to quickly adapt to these external forces, our tourism industry must be diversified. Any new tourism strategy we develop must be geared towards assisting our tourism industry to offer a variety of products and visitor experiences.
Finally, a new strategy must recognize that in order for our tourism industry to grow, it must maintain its reputation for excellence in the marketplace. We are committed to working with the Northwest Territories Tourism to identify options to enhance consumer confidence and provide our operations with increased opportunities to deliver an excellent tourism product.
This reputation depends on offering quality products that match the demands of travelers, and a skilled labour force that offers excellence in service. The new strategy will have an increased emphasis on providing training to our operators so they can enhance their business performance and skills.
Mr. Speaker, we have a wonderful Territory, full of unique, authentic experiences for visitors to discover. We have dedicated operators that provide world-class products and services for the people who come north to discover them.
Through the Government of the Northwest Territories’ efforts to promote the tourism industry, including the development of a strategy that will succeed Tourism 2010, we continue to work towards diversifying our economy and supporting the development of sustainable local economies through community-based industries like tourism. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide Members and the public an update on the current status of the future Mackenzie Valley Highway to Tuktoyaktuk. Since I last updated this Assembly on the future highway, we have made great progress.
With the funding agreement between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government announced this past January, we have been hard at work securing agreement with aboriginal groups along the proposed alignment. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to note that we have now successfully signed MOUs with the Town of Inuvik, the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the Gwich’in Tribal Council, the Tulita Land Corporations and the Tulita Dene Band, the Kahsho Gotine District of the Sahtu and the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation for the Dehcho First Nations. These MOUs enable us to work with local aboriginal and community groups to complete project description reports (PDR) for the section of the highway from Wrigley to the coast. We hope to have the PDR work for the portion from Wrigley to the Dempster completed within the next two years.
While we make progress on these project description reports, Mr. Speaker, we are still making improvements to the winter road that will be used as part of the all-weather highway. One considerable accomplishment this year was the completion of the 300-metre Blackwater Bridge. This bridge will extend the winter road season and is one of the larger bridges that would be required for an all-weather highway.
At the same time, Mr. Speaker, this summer, in partnership with the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, we completed the construction of a gravel access road from Tuk to source 177. This road has been built on the eventual alignment for an all-weather highway and will in the end become the northern-most section of the future highway. While this access road was under construction, a PDR for the section of the highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk was also completed. This PDR has been submitted to the Environmental Impact Review Board for their consideration.
Mr. Speaker, the all-weather Mackenzie Valley Highway has been a dream of our residents for many years. The important progress we have made in the last years has brought us closer to realizing this dream than ever before. The partnerships that are being built today with Canada and aboriginal groups to undertake the engineering and environmental work are the partnerships that will get this highway built. Mr. Speaker, to keep building on these important partnerships, at the end of this session I will be travelling to Ottawa to meet with Ministers Strahl and Aglukkaq to discuss infrastructure needs, including the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
Mr. Speaker, as this project moves forward I will continue to update this Assembly on new developments. Like many of you here, I hope to one day soon drive from Wrigley through the Mackenzie Valley and north along the Arctic Coast to Tuktoyaktuk. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, investment in HealthNet tools such as the interoperable Electronic Health Record (or iEHR), the Diagnostic Imaging/Picture Archiving Communication System (or DI/PACS), and Telehealth are critical to delivery of health care services for residents of the Northwest Territories.
These tools are resulting in better access and outcomes across the Northwest Territories. In the words of a local clinician, “This is transforming how we deliver care.” In the words of one patient, “For 10 seconds, everything went terribly wrong. Then for the next four days, everything went very right. The hospital in Inuvik...X-rayed my leg and using the new DI/PACS system, sent images to the orthopaedic surgeon in Yellowknife. I got to see the technology and how health professionals use it in real-time. They decided the break was bad enough to airlift me by medevac to Yellowknife. At Stanton Territorial Hospital I received first-class care. Excellent people, excellent facilities and excellent technologies.”
Mr. Speaker, patients are receiving access to services in communities we could not reach before and this is resulting in safer, earlier, better patient care and resulting in more positive health outcomes. For example, we recently brought computed radiography to 13 communities, including Deline, Fort Good Hope, Fort Liard, Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, Fort Simpson, Wha Ti, Tulita, Lutselk’e, Norman Wells, Paulatuk, Behchoko and Gameti. We will continue to roll out to Aklavik, Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk and Fort McPherson over the next two months. This allows community health centres to send digital diagnostic images to specialists in minutes for faster and, in some cases, lifesaving consultation. Prior to this it took up to two weeks to physically mail X-ray film and get paper results back from a radiologist at another site. Alternatively, the patient had to travel away from home and family at a high cost.
Patients benefit from improved service delivery through these investments. Recently, this was seen in Deline with the speed of results during the TB outbreak. TB results were available in two days, where in the past we would have waited two weeks and the outbreak would have continued to grow.
Investments in eHealth are essential to delivery of health care now and for the future. We know that our current system is growing at a faster pace than we can support. HealthNet tools enable greater efficiencies and innovation to support patient safety and delivery of care.
These investments are making a real difference to our people. A snowmobile accident patient in Inuvik got lifesaving treatment for their injuries as a result of Telehealth intervention. To date, we have successfully brought service delivery through Telehealth to 34 health centres and eight schools.
In another case, the DI/PACS system in Hay River allowed a physician to get a specialist at Stanton to urgently review an ultrasound image within minutes. The patient remained in the community and received immediate treatment from the specialist. Without DI/PACS, the patient would have been medevaced. Worse, upon getting to the specialist, it would have been discovered that the trip was unnecessary and the treatment could have been done in the home community.
Mr. Speaker, eHealth is about access to care. Our iEHR rollout continues to be successful, with approximately 200 clinical users across the NWT. Lab information is available on-line, instead of the past paper records. There are currently over half a million results and diagnostic reports available instantaneously, enabling better care.
Mr. Speaker, I know that Members share my excitement over the possibilities of eHealth. These are not just “nice to have” tools. They are essential for access and service delivery for residents we could not reach before. Patients are getting better care by connecting to a virtual team of providers that would normally be hundreds of thousands of miles away. Mr. Speaker, these tools are saving lives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today on the value of civil society and the voluntary sector. One of the definitive characteristics of civil society is social capital, which refers to the values and networks that enable coordination and cooperation. This contrasts with economic capital, such as money and tools, and human capital, which are trained individuals. Government and market are not enough to make a civilization. There also must be a healthy, robust civil centre; a space in which the bonds of community can flourish.
There are two key elements in civil society. One is the need for inclusive participation to enhance civil society and the primacy of the grassroots as the locus of long-term social change. Civil society is the people, and the people know what needs to be done.
The voluntary sector is essential to the democratic process. It is all about citizen participation and engagement in the community betterment, by advancing human well-being and the health of our land.
I would like to mention just a number of the non-government organizations, volunteer organizations that I’m aware of in thinking about this for just a few minutes:
Centre for Northern Families
YWCA
Native Women’s Association
Hepatitis C/HIV Society
Alternatives North
The Salvation Army
SideDoor Youth Centre
Ecology North
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
NWT Recreation and Parks Association
Pembina Institute
We could all go on and on. These are a fundamental part of the backbone of our society. I’d like to express appreciation for the thousands of hours of volunteer and often very poorly compensated efforts through individuals, families and non-government organizations.
This includes the domestic economy, which is a huge economy that dwarfs the market economy but is so difficult to measure that it’s almost never reported on or recognized. This is when we care for our own elderly, our own people that are having challenges.
A big tip of the hat to all those people out there working on behalf of us and our society.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about the proposed realignment of Highway No. 4, more commonly known as the Ingraham Trail. A portion of that road passes through Giant Mine and needs to be moved to accommodate the remediation process.
The Department of Transportation came up with three corridor options and shopped them around to the public. That was back in 2007. A newspaper article notes an official saying the work is scheduled to begin next summer. That would have been the summer of 2008, two years ago.
Public comments on the corridors are noted on the DOT website. I believe the department was keen on doing more public consultation, but we haven’t seen or heard anything. It’s been exactly three years this month. I’m sure the folks working on the Giant Mine remediation project would like to see some movement on this and so would the people of Yellowknife.
The three realignment options naturally have their pros and cons. One corridor bypasses most of the mine infrastructure and would cost the most; another attempts to use the best ground possible along the current infrastructure, costing less than the previous option; and the third plan makes minimal changes to the road and so costs the least, but requires existing buildings to be removed; notably buildings belonging to the NWT Mining Heritage Society. Whichever option is selected, it will be incumbent upon the department to select a route that will be the safest and best fit for the Giant Mine remediation process, as well as beneficial for the city of Yellowknife.
Much like the city of Yellowknife bypass road, the right route could open up access to new land for development for the city of Yellowknife. This could benefit our residents, our businesses and our tourism industry. I would hope that the Department of Transportation is actively working this file, but since three years have lapsed, I have to wonder what is exactly happening.
While the cost should be a factor, we must also consider that the federal government will be paying the majority of the cost of this road realignment. We have to look at maximizing benefits to our residents. Later I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The community of Wrigley, or Pehdzeh Ki, is a strong community and has a long history of being independent and taking care of the community and their land. Currently there are many different barriers that are in their way as they look for opportunities to improve and increase their sustainability and develop their human resource capacity. It is critical that our government work with them as they strive for more and more independence.
I do want to provide an example of how the community is moving forward for the benefit of the community. This summer and fall, a mining company called Devonian Metals worked with the community as they completed a small drilling program outside their community. Through a mutual agreement, they were able to leverage many benefits for their community. There were employment opportunities, support for the band business, Pehdzeh Ki Contracting, and a contribution to the community for a youth cultural and traditional camp. The youth camp was the pride of the community and they created a vibrant community video as a result of this. They also had time to reflect on their future, Mr. Speaker. To continue building on their foundation, they have identified some needs such as training by Aurora College delivered locally, as well as the need to work with the GNWT for as many contracts as they can support.
I applaud their efforts and ask our government to continue working with Pehdzeh Ki as they build a strong and vibrant community. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to rise today and talk about a project of great importance to the members of my riding, and that is the northern section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.
Mr. Speaker, we endorsed this highway as a priority of the 16th Legislative Assembly and I’d like to congratulate the department for making significant progress. This summer, in partnership with the Hamlet of Tuk, a 22-kilometre access road to source 177 was completed. Mr. Speaker, the road has already provided considerable benefits to the community and it will become the most northern section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The project description report for the proposed highway between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk was completed this past summer, in partnership between the Hamlet of Tuk and the Town of Inuvik with assistance from the Department of Transportation and the funding from our federal government through CanNor.
Mr. Speaker, I understand the project description report is now being submitted to the Environmental Impact Review Board and is currently under consideration. This news has been met with great excitement in my riding and I think all across the Territory.
I look forward to continue working with the Assembly to move this project forward and to secure construction funding from the federal government in the near future. It looks like we’ll be having a cup of tea and bannock with Cece McCauley.
Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, health care services in northern communities is an essential service. Mr. Speaker, when you don’t have the service, you definitely realize how important it really is for communities such as Tsiigehtchic that don’t have a permanent nurse, or ensuring that we have care providers in regard to community wellness positions, or a simple thing such as home care workers.
Mr. Speaker, a lot of times we talk about the programs and services here in the larger centres, not realizing for most of our small communities they can only dream of having those types of services.
Mr. Speaker, I think, as the Government of the Northwest Territories, we really have to see exactly where our health care dollars are going, and more importantly, are we meeting the essential service requirements of Northerners, but more importantly, of our small communities.
Mr. Speaker, everybody talks about the high cost of medical travel, but, Mr. Speaker, the reality is that’s an important component of health care service being provided to our communities. In most cases that’s the only way out of a lot of our communities and also the ability to go to the larger centres, regardless if it’s here in Yellowknife or southern Canada.
Mr. Speaker, I think it’s time that we realistically put what we mean by essential service and those things that basically are overprescribed for simply a luxury item. Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important that we do ensure that our capital investment in the health care dollar is spent where it really is needed. I think, Mr. Speaker, like I opened up with my statement, essential service is when people have a similar service in all the communities in the Northwest Territories so that we don’t have have and have-not communities when it comes to health care.
Again, Mr. Speaker, it is frustrating that I stand up here time and time again talking about a nurse for Tsiigehtchic or ensuring that we have the medical means of transferring people out of our communities, such as medevacs.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be asking the Minister of Health questions in regards to a central service in our communities, but more importantly, for those communities that don’t have these services. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this summer the consolidated health and social services clinic opened here in Yellowknife. It is a great facility, Mr. Speaker. I have had an opportunity to tour the facility. I have had an opportunity to get into the background where all the clinic rooms are and we got to talk to the professionals who are going to be using those facilities, having a flow of people through and the types of services that are going to be provided on both sides, both the clinical side and the diagnostic side. Personally, I feel that there is a great opportunity here to help streamline the provision of health and social services here in Yellowknife.
I would like to take this opportunity to applaud the Minister, the board, Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board and all the staff of Yellowknife Health and Social Services who made this consolidated clinic a reality. However, with all new programs or all new facilities, there is always going to be that period of time where we are going to experience some growing pains. The consolidated clinic is no exception. I have had constituents come to me since the opening, who have identified some concerns they have had. One constituent identified that the doors into the main clinic, as an example, didn’t have one of the automatic buttons to allow wheelchair access, which I believe has already been dealt with. Other individuals have identified some frustrations on the diagnostic side, sitting in the waiting room and not have any staff to sort of direct them as to when they are going on. There has also been some frustration with the telephone system.
Later today I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services what kind of program they have put in place to deal with these concerns. The constituents and residents of Yellowknife are the ones utilizing the clinic. They are going to be the ones who are going to be able to best tell us where some of these deficiencies lie and help us solve these problems. I am going to be asking the Minister what system is in place for getting that information to the authorities so that they can address them and what type of transition plan do we have in place to help us get past some of these growing pains so this consolidated clinic we put in can do what it was truly intended to do. I will be asking some questions on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the supplementary health benefits. I want the Members to imagine some of the basic health care coverage that we take for granted, that we continue to leave others out, unresolved, because we have not moved far during the three years that we have done this work.
Imagine that there are 2,300 Northerners who are not covered by any program to assist them with their costs for prescription drugs, eyeglasses and dental care today. Imagine that some of these people are at least able to afford coverage through a private insurance program. Imagine that other Northerners have good coverage from their employer and they are also able to top up their coverage, so they pay little or nothing for their supplementary health benefit costs.
During the summer, Mr. Speaker, I participated in discussions with my colleagues about the proposed changes to this program. I listened with interest to the announcements that were made last week when I had to be in Tulita. I also want to see a program that was fair and provided to those who need the most.
Like all Members, I am very concerned about covering the working poor, especially those without coverage. I want the Minister of Health to implement the next changes as she mentioned in her statement yesterday, so that this government can start helping those families in need. We agreed that any Supplementary Health Benefits Program managed by the Department of Health and Social Services should be the same benefits plan for the Treaty Indians under the Non-Insured Health Benefits. The Metis Health Benefits Program already follows most of these rules. I think the changes will treat everyone more fairly. Let’s get that underway now, Mr. Speaker, we cannot wait until April. I urge the Minister and this government to get on with completing the work needed and implement the changes.
I ask the Minister and the Members to imagine some of the good things that could happen if changes were made. Imagine that families in the Northwest Territories who are low income and do not have an employer’s program or partial coverage for their prescription drugs, eyeglasses, dental work for themselves and their children, could become eligible for health and social services programs. Let’s proceed to making these changes so people could have good health coverage. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the importance of developing and implementing a strategy which could actively target and attract small and medium-sized business to locate their businesses to the NWT. What we need is good policy that helps grow the North. I believe a strong strategy that targets growth of business investment needs to have two components. The first is to determine what kinds of businesses are likely to be able to operate and expand in the NWT. Obviously, not every industry and business is best suited to our present northern climate. As well, a focus should be considered as to how we can seek opportunities throughout our North by seeding them. In short, to ensure we have fair balance throughout our economy.
Mr. Speaker, by way of an example, a taskforce could be working to attract call centres or some kind of knowledge-base business such as a research institution. It could be based anywhere in the North. With a plan like this we could be bringing new investment to our North, as well as hiring Northerners for good jobs.
Mr. Speaker, as well, another example, perhaps we could be attracting some kind of business closely related to mining, since mining activity is such a significant part of our NWT economy, as well as history. Therefore, maybe that would be the preferred area to target. To kick this discussion off, we could have a public panel discussion, where various business leaders can contribute their ideas about what kind of businesses might consider the move north. Mr. Speaker, we need to know what kind of businesses can dovetail with our existing climate that can be plugged in and start contributing right away to our economy. As well, we could invite one of the dragons off Dragon’s Den to look at our economy and our business climate, to ask ourselves how the government could work hard to develop business in a way that works for business.
Mr. Speaker, to be clear, this is not about new loans or grants. This is about people knocking on doors of businesses, saying the carpet is rolled out, we want you to invest and expand in our North. Mr. Speaker, we need to start with a taskforce that has people, tools and resources, which will aggressively reach out into business and find ways to connect them to the North and invest in the North. We don’t need a simple glossy brochure where we simply rely on a 1-800 telephone number. We need real people out there to answer those calls and pursue these opportunities.
Mr. Speaker, I know ITI has a Population Growth Strategy, but this is way more than that. Mr. Speaker, we need to find ways to attract business so they will invest capital in our North. Mr. Speaker, finally, what a change this would be to have Northerners reach out and assist businesses to relocate their industries here, rather than waiting by the phone and receiving nothing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, the Local Government Administrators of the Northwest Territories, or LGANT, held their 2010 LGANT AGM and Professional Development Conference last week here in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, the mission of LGANT is to strive for and promote excellence and professionalism in the field of local government administration through education and career development programs and to create awareness of a community officer’s role in the community.
Through their Words for Excellence Program, Susan Christie, the SAO of the Hamlet of Fort Providence, has been awarded the Outstanding Local Government Administrator of the Northwest Territories.
---Applause
This award acknowledges a member of LGANT who provides an exceptional level of professionalism, leadership and innovation in their job by providing community service at a tireless level and exemplifying the ethics and responsibility desired by communities across the Northwest Territories.
Susan was nominated by Evelyn Krutko and Joyce McLeod, council members of the Hamlet of Fort Providence.
Susan was born in Fort Providence and is an executive member of the Fort Providence Metis Council. She’s received all her education in the North, and specifically her finance officer certification through the School of Community Government.
Her tenure began with the hamlet over 21 years ago. Through these years, Susan worked in finance, for many years assuming greater responsibilities as she built her knowledge and skills. She participated in several training opportunities, working her way into the position she currently holds as senior administrative officer. She’s recognized for her leadership in developing local HR capacity through training and support of community members. Her nominators state, “Susan has successfully guided the council through many changes and challenges in municipal program delivery. She is the ultimate professional, ensuring that matters are taken care of in a timely manner.”
Susan is considered a role model as an SAO within her community, by her peers and her employers. I would like to congratulate Susan Christie on being the first recipient of this prestigious award. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize an elder from the Deline First Nation in the Sahtu region and also a member that worked with me very closely in the Sahtu region. I’d also like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris from the Ndilo/Dettah First Nations
The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
It gives me great pleasure to recognize my dad, Mike Krutko, along with his friend Ed Jeske in the gallery today.
The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
It gives me great pleasure to recognize, as well, Mr. Ed Jeske and Mr. Krutko’s father.
The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
I’d like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris from the Yellowknives Dene. Also my constituent Mr. Mike Krutko and Mr. Jeske, as well.
The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
I’d like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and a constituent of Weledeh. I’d also like to recognize my elders, who are getting fewer, Mr. Ed Jeske and, of course, Mike Krutko.
Welcome to all our guests in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.
