Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a number of programs that are covered under the Growing Forward Initiative, and I could go through and list them all or...These include small scale foods, which has a budget of $700,000 over the period of the agreement; northern hydro foods, which has a budget of $380,000; commercial game harvest, $320,000; traditional harvest, $1.160 million; inter-settlement trade, $120,000; environment, $40,000; Bison Strategy, $200,000; national strategic initiatives, $334,000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Minister for providing that type of detail. Mr. Speaker, I think part of that speaks to some of this problem. As I said in my Member’s statement, there is potential to produce beef, pork, chicken, et cetera, and, as we all know, there is reindeer farming and even the Minister had highlighted, probably from his time of knowing about the cattle industry in his home area of Providence, Mr. Speaker. But in the programs that he described, there’s very little money set out for the traditional aspect of agriculture and development, of growing things and producing farm animals. Mr. Speaker, how much money is there available for those types of activities and is there a cap on that, that $10,000 cap I referred to? Thank you.
I thought the Member was asking me about the Growing Forward Agreement, but I guess he’s looking at other programs that are offered by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Certainly we have other programs through our SEED program, and I think that’s where he’s come up with this $10,000 cap. One of the programs under SEED, there’s a cap of $10,000.
We have other contribution programs, applications programs. We even have loan programs. So we have flexibility in working with the different people that are interested in agriculture.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister describes the program as SEED, and that’s quite rightly so, because that’s how some of the folks producing things sort of say that the grants are, about this big, because they seem pretty small. That’s a good description, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, trying to get some understanding of this Growing Forward Program, why is hunting and trapping under the Growing Forward Program? If it is so, could you clarify that here today? Because that’s a real issue for somebody out there who wants to tap into this and, as I mentioned, there’s the cranberry industry out there, and those types of things need real solid investment. So could we get some clarity on that? Thank you.
I think the definitions of traditional harvest can be interpreted quite broadly so that it’s not restricted to specifically hunting and fishing, for example. So on that basis, it can be used for a number of different purposes. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If there was someone out there today in this existing market, or I should say in this existing climate, wanting to make this type of investment to develop a greenhouse, produce local herds, maybe some vegetables, potatoes, that type of thing, what type of program would the Minister recommend to be useful without a cap in order for them to be able to get enough money to do something useful? Thank you.
Certainly we would like to approach it on a businesslike basis, so we have a number of loan programs, a number of contribution programs that we can work with interested individuals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the Arctic Red River Outfitters and, more importantly, the Mackenzie River Outfitters who through the land claims process there were lands negotiated in those areas, there were agreements signed in regard to access agreements with the outfitters who were present at the time of the claims being settled. There were agreements made and also in the land claim agreements, in the Gwich’in agreement in regard to 12.7.4 which talks about commercial natural activities and commercial guiding outfitting activities respecting hunting and sport fishing which gives the Gwich’in exclusive rights to get into that business, but also to be able to obtain those licences once they, basically, come up for sale. Yet, Mr. Speaker, this process has happened three times in the Gwich’in settlement region and every time the economics were just not there in regard to the price that was being requested. But yet, Mr. Speaker, in the land claim agreements it also talks about the right for employment and opportunities with those outfitter businesses, and yet very few aboriginal people and Gwich’in individuals have been hired by the Arctic Red Outfitters to work in this field and also take advantage of those opportunities.
So, Mr. Speaker, in regard to the land claim obligations, the access and benefit agreements that give them access to the Gwich’in lands in their area of operations, with these licences changing it does not transfer those access agreements to those licensed holders. In regard to the existing Wildlife Act and the land claim agreements, there’s conflict in responsibilities in which you have an outdated Wildlife Act, you have a modern treaty. So I’d like to ask the Minister, what is this government doing to ensure that those legislated, protected rights and the land claim agreements are upheld regardless if we have a new Wildlife Act or not, and what is this government doing to ensure that those rights are being implemented? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to this particular issue referred to by the Member, due process was followed and the Gwich’in exercised their rights and declined to exercise their right of first refusal. But it has pointed out some other issues and, as the Member indicated, we have an outdated piece of legislation -- the Wildlife Act -- that needs to be remedied, which we are doing, and we intend to have a new Wildlife Act before this House, hopefully passed in the life of this Assembly.
We also recognize the circumstance between the Gwich’in and the Sahtu. There’s an overlap issue in that you can only have right of first refusal, by definition, once, and it’s pointed to an area that I’ve committed to the Member for the Sahtu that we are going to sort out over the coming months of fall and winter and hopefully have it resolved by spring. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, these land claim agreements are constitutionally protected, they clearly describe what rights the First Nations groups have. Again, as part of those negotiations there were access and benefit agreements negotiated with the operators at the time to have certain rights to access, cross-use and also that there were also obligations from the outfitters to the land claim groups that they would provide certain opportunities to the land claim organizations. So where does this government stand on those access and benefit agreements that were negotiated with the outfitters and if the outfitter changes hands they have an obligation to negotiate a new access and benefit agreement?
It’s our intention as a government to honour all our obligations. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, I think that the information that’s now coming to the surface in regard to the sale of the Arctic Red River licence to a new operator, which we find out that the majority of the directors of that business are Americans and live in Utah, and they are seen as the proponent of the purchasers of this licence because they have deep pockets. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, will you look at the whole area of eligibility and ensure that these licences are held either by Canadians or people in the Northwest Territories or First Nations to ensure that whenever you issue a licence that you scrutinize exactly who the directors are and ensure that those people are either Canadian citizens or look at exactly how these licences are being purchased and who is purchasing these licences during the review period? Thank you.
As I indicated, we are intent upon honouring all our obligations, recognizing that there are other considerations when it comes to who can own licences, the need to recognize the trade between different jurisdictions and such. But I take the Member’s point and we are working it. On this particular issue there have been a number of things that have been brought to light that we’ve committed to clearing up in the coming months. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister, in light of his directing to change the Wildlife Act, can some of these changes be done to date in regard to changing the regulations that a lot of these obligations fall under? They don’t follow under the Wildlife Act, they follow in regard to the obligations under the outfitter licensing act. So I’d like to ask the Minister, can he consider looking at the obligations under the existing legislation and change those without having to have a thorough change of the Wildlife Act or do a combination of both? Thank you.
The process we’ve embarked on when this issue came to light is to consult with, of course, other departments, the aboriginal governments, the stakeholders, the management boards, to come up, over the coming months, with, hopefully, some resolution, advice and recommendations of how to remedy this issue in its entirety. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, in terms of the questions that Mr. Krutko, the Mackenzie Delta MLA, has been asking in regard to the outfitters. The bigger picture here that I want to ask this Minister is confirming that the government is taking all the appropriate steps to ensure that full legal compliance with the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement in regard to this issue and probably to other issues that are going to be looked at.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are taking the steps, attempting to take the steps to be in full compliance, recognizing that this particular licence issue has brought to light the complexity of the right of first refusal in two jurisdictions where there’s an overlap of the licence. I’ve committed in writing to the Member for Sahtu to the process I just outlined to the Member for Mackenzie Delta of what we intend to do over the coming months to try to remedy this situation. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, certainly the Member for the Mackenzie Delta has brought some issues here. Mr. Speaker, I’ve been reviewing the access agreement between the outfitters and the respective land claim organizations and there is certainly a lot of compliance that the outfitters have not done in the Sahtu region. So that’s why I asked this question.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister again for his definition in terms of first rights of refusal, you have two constitutionally protected land claim agreements called modern treaties, they both have right of first refusal clauses. Who, I guess, within his department is saying we should look at the Gwich’in, because the majority of the outfitting licence is operating in the Gwich’in, or we look at the Sahtu where a small percentage of the outfitter licence is operating? How can the Minister, again, by the definition, say, well, we’ll look over one agreement in terms of another agreement and say, okay, that will also apply in the Sahtu? I ask the Minister again in terms of that definition, could he help me with how did he get to that and talk to the people?
The Member has laid out the legal challenge that we have before us where you have two competing rights of first refusal and a licence holder and a licence that overlaps in the two regions. We have, as I’ve indicated, people in our department, we are working with the Department of Justice, we are working with the aboriginal governments, we’re going to talk to the stakeholders and the management boards about how do we deal with this situation that in all probability was not anticipated as these agreements were all signed off. Thank you.
When I was with the Sahtu Tribal Council as chief negotiator and negotiated these agreements in good faith with Canada, the GNWT, and certainly we fought hard with the outfitters in terms of these rights here. So, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to discussion with the Minister on how to resolve this particular legal issue here.
I would ask the Minister, can he confirm that any changes to the ownership by an outfitter requires that a new outfitter’s licence be applied for?
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have the detail that the Member has referred to, but I will, once again, commit that we want to honour all our requirements and our obligations in this process within the land claim acts and within all the policies and regulations that govern us, to make sure that we avoid this kind of circumstance in the future. We’ve indicated we have some work to do and we are going to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly the Member for Mackenzie Delta and probably myself look forward to working with the Minister on the new Wildlife Act. Certainly, in between now and then, as the Member for Mackenzie Delta has alluded to in terms of some of the changes that we could foresee in terms of working with the land claim organizations, these are the aboriginal governments for our region.
In this issue here with the outfitter, would the Minister be committed to coming to sit down with the two respective land claim organizations and look at the issues that we need to resolve? How do we protect the constitutionally protected document in terms of honouring the agreement and stating that the agreement as it was intended to be is protected by the Constitution?
Mr. Speaker, I have stated in the House that we have committed and initiated a process involving other government departments, the aboriginal governments, management boards and other stakeholders over the coming months to put this issue on the table, peel this complex onion to see where it takes us and look at what happened, what steps we need to take to resolve the circumstance and the situation to ensure we comply with the land claim agreements and all our other obligations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation some questions in regard to my Member’s statement. I was speaking about that I am pleased that there is a nice, strong housing program in Fort Liard. The residents are very pleased to see all of these units coming up, but during my last visit, the concern was that, okay, we have lots of people in arrears. Have they got active clients for these new homeownership homes in Fort Liard? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We currently have 12 applications for the homeownership units in Fort Liard. We are just doing another intake as we speak. We will be processing the applicants and hopefully finding some that are qualified for homeownership. Thank you.
As I said in my Member’s statement, the concern in Fort Liard is actually we would like to see more public housing units. I know that we are not building those, but as a suggestion and perhaps as part of the strategy for delivering homes in Fort Liard, do we have the ability to convert these homeownership homes should they continue to remain vacant? There are already three of them boarded up there, Mr. Speaker, due to the lack of clients. Can we convert these to public housing units? Thank you.
The boarded up units are ones that there is an issue going on with those. I am not at liberty to speak about them right now. If there are no clients identified for some of the homeownership units, I can tell the Member there are six public housing units that will be going up in Fort Liard too. If there are no clients for the homeownership units, then we will need to have that discussion with the Housing Corporation and see how best we can put people in the units. Thank you.
That is the kind of flexibility that we need with the NWT Housing Program. Fort Liard is a community of about 500 people. There is overcrowding. There are homes with about two or three families. They are waiting for these units. My issue is that a lot of people do have arrears, Mr. Speaker. Some of them are decades old, from some old programming, but it still remains on the books. I would like to ask the Minister, when they come across this issue, can they develop a strategy to address this so that we get people into houses and not let an old arrear bill be a hindrance to access our affordable and accessible program? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we understand the Member’s concern; it has been a concern raised by many Members before. We are trying to come up with and working on a strategy to work with clients to address some of the arrears and they can then qualify for some of the housing programs. One thing we want to be sure is that we need to have the engagement of the clients to come up with a repayment plan that is workable for them and workable for the Housing Corporation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Does the Minister or does the NWT Housing Corporation have the ability to convert these homeownership houses over to public housing if there is an opportunity? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we are trying to be as flexible as possible in putting people in units. These are homeownership units. If clients cannot be found and if every avenue is exhausted, then we will need to have that discussion as to what to do with the units. If there are some creative ways we can work to get people in the unit, then obviously we’d be more willing to have a look at that and work with the Member.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about a site for contaminated soil. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Can the Minister advise this House who has the responsibility for cleaning up spills such as fuel spills? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would depend on where the fuel spill occurs, in municipal boundaries, outside municipal boundaries, private property. There is a significant responsibility as we heard from the Member for Great Slave when he talked about leaky fuel tanks when it goes on your own property. Chances are you are going to be charged with that responsibility. There are a number of questions that we would have to figure out the answer to, to clearly answer that question. Thank you.
