Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
MEMBER'S STATEMENT ON
MEDICAL ESCORT POLICY
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in 2012 there was a number of concerns for the need of medical escorts for the elderly. Over the past year the department has improved the delivery of medical escorts and I would like to commend the department and their delivery and support for those in need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize my husband, Rick Groenewegen, in the visitors gallery. I just want to beg your indulgence for one moment and say that Rick is a really lucky guy.
---Laughter
He lives in Hay River. He has a great MLA, Mr. Bouchard. He has been married to me for almost 38 years, a mere two life sentences with good behaviour, and on Monday he will be 60 years old and just two weeks ago someone asked me if he was my son. Thank you.
---Applause
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to recognize a constituent of Yellowknife South, Gayla Thunstrom. Welcome to the Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is participating in bring your child to school today. The department hosted students who have been involved in learning how the Department of Health and Social Services works on projects that help NWT residents access health care services and also learn about nutrition. They provided some great incite and ideas on how the department could focus some of their efforts, so I would like to recognize the two individuals here with us today, Grade 9 students from Ecole St. Patrick High School. That is Ethan Carey and Josh Deleff, and with them, as well, is Josh’s mother, Yvette Deleff, who is the department senior nursing consultant of long-term care. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of my constituents, Rick Groenewegen, the brains behind Greenway Holdings. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would first off like to recognize one of the Pages from Range Lake North School, Diana Rockwell, who has been working here this week and last week. I would like to thank all the Pages who have been doing such a good job for us.
In addition, I would like to recognize Ms. Tracy St-Denis, who is the chair, at the moment, of the United Way NWT. Tracy has been on the board for four years; she has been chair for the last two years. With Tracy is Gayla Thunstrom, who is UNW first vice-president, soon to be a member of United Way NWT. So, good on you, Gayla. With them is Gayla’s son, Lucas Wick, who is here also for Take Your Kid to Work Day, with his mom.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. If I was to take my kids to work, I would have about 10 of them up here.
---Laughter
Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it’s Take Your Kid to Work Day, not take your kid to school day, but anyway, I just wanted to recognize Gayla Thunstrom and say that I appreciate all of her good, hard work and congratulate her on her recent re-election. Congratulations.
I also want to recognize Ms. Tracy St-Denis, who does so much good work not only for the department of ITI but also for the United Way. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize Tracy St-Denis, a Weledeh constituent and very active in all kinds of areas, which I very much appreciate. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’d like to welcome everybody here in the public gallery. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings, and it’s always good to see Ms. St-Denis back in the Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to acknowledge Mrs. Barb Lennie and her company, DL Services Ltd., on receiving the 2013 Business Development and Investment Corporation’s Outstanding Business Performance Award.
DL Services Ltd. was incorporated in 1997 and was owned and operated by Barb and her late husband Dennie Lennie. When Dennie passed away in 2004, Barb became the sole owner and has been operating the business on her own.
Barb also works for the GNWT full time, for 37 years, as the nurse in charge for public health and home care and continues to find time to manage the business as well as make time for her five grandchildren.
DL Services Ltd. retails petroleum products under the Esso banner, has a car wash and sells tires. Barb wanted to mention that she has great employees that have helped her in receiving this award. She also wanted to acknowledge and say thank you to all those amazing and wonderful people who have helped her along the way.
I have personally worked with Barb in my first GNWT position as a community health representative and would like to acknowledge her professionalism and compassion that she has for her employees. She has been a mentor of mine and helped motivate me and empower me to do the work that I do.
Please join me in acknowledging a compassionate and strong community leader in Inuvik, Mrs. Barb Lennie. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I referenced that the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 is deciding its fate this Thursday on the findings of a commissioned in-house facilities report cleverly orchestrated by the GNWT.
Fact 1: The department has clearly passed on its legal obligation to deal with a constitutional obligation on the back of YK1 board trustees to modify their school programs and/or decommission one of their schools.
Fact 2: Some say GNWT’s actions border on exploitation. Bureaucracy defends this is merely good housekeeping.
My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It is a fact the GNWT was to have alternative arrangements between itself and the Commission scolaire francophone be brought forward to the Court of Appeal for consideration by March of 2014, yet the GNWT directed the YK1 to establish the YK1 Facilities Committee after this date.
Can the Minister explain why did the GNWT continued full steam ahead with this sacrificial lamb program, knowing full well that the results had not satisfied the appeal process or deadline? Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost, we did not direct the YK1 to establish a steering committee, or the committee that is looking into the infrastructure in Yellowknife. It was YK1 that decided on that.
When we met with them back in 2013, prior to March, March was the deadline that we needed to act on with the Commission scolaire legal action. So we passed beyond that. Now it’s up to YK1 to decide what to do with their infrastructure. We’re obviously concerned about the low enrollment and the best utilization of those facilities.
Those are discussions that we’ve been having since 2012, 2013 until today. Mahsi.
Thank you. There’s a definite possibility that even with all the disruption and concern, YK1 could offer up the school and the Court of Appeal could still direct the GNWT to honour its original obligation. Can the Minister clearly articulate what steps will be taken should this occur?
There is a proposed public meeting that’s going to be happening tomorrow. Then I believe the decision comes down on December 9th. We are just waiting for the outcome of the parents’ engagement pertaining to these areas that have been brought to our attention. I believe there are four options for the general public to consider, the general public of the schools. At this point in time, we are just awaiting the results of those meetings.
We know that strained enrollment and aging infrastructure plagues YK1. That said, many feel we’ve failed the school board by not living up to the needed capital expenditures over the years. No matter how one views this, this utilization review comes at the beginning of what is the 2,000 population growth strategy from this same Cabinet.
Can the Minister inform the House, how can we be predicting growth and strategy yet somehow justify removing infrastructure for this anticipated population expansion?
Again, the infrastructure that we’re discussing here today, it is the ownership of YK1. They own these schools, aside from Sir John Franklin High School. The decision lies with YK1 to decide what to do with that infrastructure based on the feedback they get from the parents. I realize that enrollment is down. We, as the GNWT, continue to contribute to their O and M costs on an annual basis. We continue to do that.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Range Lake North School has been a neighbourhood K to 8 school of utilization well over 80 percent for many years, and the options before the school and the parents are now significant, changes that I know are flat out not acceptable.
Can the Minister assure the people of Range Lake and the parents that send their kids to Range Lake North School that he will see that status quo remains?
I believe some of the options that I highlighted earlier will be discussed at the public forum and the parents will be raising their concerns to YK1, and then we will be hearing feedback from YK1 with the outcome. We are looking forward to those discussions as we move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I was pleased to hear the Minister’s statement this week saying that his department is going to meet the training needs for high demand trades in the Northwest Territories.
I’d like to ask the Minister today if he could provide some concrete examples of how the department is going to do this. For example, are government departments of the GNWT that require tradespersons going to increase the number of positions so that they can serve apprentices there? I’d like some concrete examples.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, first and foremost, obviously, is to congratulate all those apprentices throughout the Northwest Territories. We are very proud of them, and obviously, we would like to see more of those individuals successfully completing apprenticeship certification and journeyman ticket holders. Part of specifically the training division, apprenticeship, is improving employment success through adult and post-secondary education and skills training. That area is being re-evaluated so we can capture four key areas of categories. That is to better understand the current and future labour markets needs and demands. Even throughout the Northwest Territories, we’ve heard over and over, even from the Sahtu region, the question in the House of the needs assessment. Those are some of the areas that we’ll continue to push forward and ensure that support and incentives are relevant, effective, and also aligned with evolving labour market needs and demands, and ensuring that the NWT residents have access to adult and post-secondary education and skills training that is required even through the Pathways Program and strengthening economic diversification. Those are key objectives that my department is going forward with and engaging the major stakeholders. Mahsi.
Thank you. I was hoping the Minister was going to tell us that he was going to increase the funding for private sector employers to hire apprentices or that the government departments were going to make a whole lot more positions available for apprentices within their department, but that’s not what I heard. I can only hope.
Can the Minister please explain or please tell us if there is going to be any emphasis on increasing and encouraging apprenticeship training in the Northwest Territories and if there will be any emphasis on attracting women to apprenticeship positions? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that’s a very valid question the Member is asking, and it is a very important question as well. If you look throughout the Northwest Territories – I can only speak to my region, as well – we have a high number of females in high school and also post-secondary, upwards of 90 percent. Obviously, those individuals will enter either the skilled trades area or even the professional development area.
Yes, that is one of the prime focuses because we know the stats that are out there, that we have a majority of females in K to 12 and even in post-secondary, so we need to identify those individuals and push them forward in the system. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, it would be interesting to actually get a statistic on how many apprenticeship positions in the Northwest Territories are currently filled by women.
With the high rate of unemployment in small communities, what is the Minister’s department doing to ensure that there are students from these places that get a real footing in the skilled, high-demand trades? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, one of the areas, obviously, is the Small Community Employment Program that has been established by this Assembly. It has been very successful to date. They’re providing funding to employers so they can hire those individuals who are interested in various skill set positions. Not only that but there is other programming, whether it be apprenticeship training programming.
I just signed off with the federal government, as well, on Canada’s Job Fund. The funding is available to the employers through my department to identify those individuals. Once they’re trained, they should have job availability. That is the overall mandate of the Government of Canada and that also reflects on the GNWT as a whole.
This is an area that we are closely monitoring and working very closely with the federal government as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have an idea for the Minister and I’ll throw it out there. We talked about regional high schools; we talked about students in small communities that would like to get involved in the trades. When we did the renovation to the Diamond Jenness Secondary School, they built a beautiful big trade shop.
Is the use of that trade shop to bring in students from small communities into a regional centre, has that thought ever been contemplated by this department? Those who are interested in trades, come finish your high school in Hay River. Put that shop to use, get them into the trade. Has that been thought of? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there have been several discussions pertaining to trades access in Hay River, but these were preliminary discussions that we had when we were renovating the school. I have to follow up on where the discussions have taken place. Obviously, if there’s a high demand from DECs or DEAs, it’s an area that we need to look at as well. There was a request from the Sahtu region, as well, for a trades access program and a technical training centre.
Those are just some of the areas that the communities have showed interest, and we are following through with them. I’ll get back to the Member for Hay River South on the status of the discussions that we’ve had. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health of Social Services in follow-up from his Minister’s statement earlier today. I’ve been following the Minister of Health and Services’ plans to improve our territorial health system through the amalgamation of our eight current regional health boards into one territorial health leadership council.
On the whole, I’m pleased with what I see, but I do have questions. One of the original reasons for regional boards was to ensure a system responsive to regional needs in health care delivery.
Can the Minister tell me, what plans are in place under this new board, or will be under this new board, to address the individual health care requirements of our different regions and be responsive to them? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the key differences to what we’re doing in the Northwest Territories is coming to one authority. It’s actually the creation of these regional wellness councils which are going to be advisory bodies made up of individuals from the community and the region in which they serve. So for example, in the Beaufort-Delta we have a board, it is being run by a public administrator now, but that board will cease to exist. We’ll put in place a wellness council that will be made up of individuals from the regions, hopefully from every community, and they will have the ability to bring in community and individual perspectives, and then the chair of that regional wellness council will sit on the territorial board and be able to carry that information to a territorial level, which is something that has never existed in the North before. Thank you.
In the past I’ve been concerned about inefficiencies and inconsistencies relating to our delivery of health care services across the territory, as has, of course, the Auditor General of Canada. Lack of common procedures, duplication of resources are problem areas.
How will the proposed new health leadership council address concerns in the areas of inconsistency and inefficiency in the delivery of services? Mahsi.
