Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to provide my colleagues with an update on the recent realignment of the School of Community Government, located in the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.
First started in 1999, the School of Community Government was established to suit the unique needs and requirements of community government staff. Programming was designed to be relevant, specific to the mandate of community governments and provide practical experience. Courses were developed in a modular format and designed to be delivered in a community or regional centre, thereby reducing the cost of travel and time away from family, home and place of employment. This approach was unique to the North and provided education and training opportunities not available through other northern institutions.
The model first put in place in 1999 is still in place today and has proven to be extremely effective in removing many of the barriers community government staff had identified in taking advantage of other educational opportunities.
By working with national and territorial partners, the School of Community Government achieves its objectives through an integrated training framework that is based on an assessment of community needs and priorities and delivered to an industry standard. Upon successful completion of training, community government staff participants achieve a recognized certification in their field.
Through a recent realignment Municipal and Community Affairs has established School of Community Government staff positions in four regional centres to continue to improve the school’s ability to build community capacity. These positions are assisting communities by developing focused training plans and through the provision of general support to community governments in establishing human resource development strategies.
As part of the realignment the department is focusing its efforts to support new community government responsibilities and authorities under federal/territorial infrastructure programs and on those areas that support health, safety and infrastructure responsibilities of community governments.
The School of Community Government will continue to work closely with Aurora College on shared course deliveries and instruction, program certification and facility use. This partnership is an important success factor that helps contribute to the goal of improving community capacity.
Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly have emphasized the need for sustainable communities. This strategic realignment of training and development resources will serve to strengthen the skills and abilities of community government staff and in the long term will establish strong, independent communities.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi. Mr. Speaker, 2008 is the 40th anniversary celebration of Aurora College. On September 12, graduates, faculty and supporters from past and present gathered at the Legislative Assembly to remember the past 40 years of the college and look towards the future. Throughout the year the celebrations will continue at each of the campuses.
The college has come a long way since 1968, when a single vocational centre was formed in Fort Smith. People travelled from all over the North, including what is now Nunavut, for the opportunity of adult education.
Now there are three main campuses in major communities, the Aurora Research Institute and learning centres across the Northwest Territories. The college has grown with the needs of northern students. Getting educated in the North will help Northerners to lead the wage economy in the Northwest Territories and be leaders and managers in all sectors of our economy.
The college offers a wide variety of courses, with subjects ranging from environmental monitoring to teaching and nursing bachelor degrees. Recently the college won awards for educational innovation for its diamond polishing program.
Mr. Speaker, innovations like the Mobile Trades Training Lab, the new residence in Inuvik and the new Underground Miner Training Program will ensure that the college keeps up with the needs of our growing industry and territory.
The future of the college looks bright. We should all recognize the important role that Aurora College and its graduates play in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know that the Northwest Territories has some of the highest costs in the country. These high costs have a big impact on our cost of living. For example, in Fort Simpson the average personal income is around $45,000. The monthly cost of electricity and heat averages around $600. This means that the cost to power and heat their homes is over 15 per cent of their income. People are struggling to make ends meet and falling further behind because of these escalating costs.
Mr. Speaker, during the last session I spoke about the high energy costs and the impact it is having in our communities. I spoke about the frustration community government leaders have with the cost of electricity and the management of the NWT Power Corporation. This frustration has led to the larger non-hydro communities like Fort Simpson, Norman Wells and Inuvik to consider a number of options, including finding alternate energy suppliers. If these three communities withdraw from the NWT Power Corporation, it could have a serious impact on the remaining NWT Power Corporation customer base and the overall operations of the NWTPC.
Mr. Speaker, community government leaders have met with the Premier, the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, and the Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board and discussed two options they would like the government to consider. One would be to treat every resident in the territory the same and bring in the one rate zone. The second option would be to sell the Power Corporation to another energy supplier with a capacity to develop some of the vast hydro potential in our territory. This alternative would allow the GNWT to rid itself of the debt load associated with NWTPC and lead to a reduction of electrical costs in the communities.
Mr. Speaker, the government will be reviewing electricity rates, regulations and the power subsidy program over the next year. We need to take the recommendations made by our community government leaders seriously and consider all the options when looking for solutions that will provide all residents with affordable energy. This needs to be done as quickly as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a fundamental problem with the mandate of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the regulatory regime that it operates under.
Most of us do our best to reduce our power consumption for the benefit of both the environment — reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — and the consumer — less energy used means lower electricity costs — and we should be trying to conserve for both of these reasons. The more we reduce our energy consumption, the less power we use. The less power we use, the more NTPC revenues drop. The more their revenues drop, the more riders they add to our bills. When NTPC cannot generate enough revenues to meet their expenditures, they ask for a rate increase or a rate rider to make up for lost revenue. The bottom line is that the dollar figure on our power bill goes up.
There is no incentive for an NWT homeowner to want to reduce energy consumption. Until we change this system, Mr. Speaker, we can never get ahead. Either the environment will take a beating or we will.
The government is reviewing electricity rates and regulation, as mentioned in Minister McLeod’s statement the other day. The calculation of NWT power rates must be completely revamped with a view to fairness and equitability.
Capital costs for upgrades to power generation in one community have to be applied to all communities across the territory, not just to the individual community where the infrastructure is built. Individual communities cannot handle the high infrastructure cost on their own.
We also have to look at revamping the corporation itself. NTPC must be renewed and reorganized. That NTPC is at arm’s length from the GNWT is a good thing, but I feel it has led to the mentality in the organization that they can do whatever they wish without consequences. There seems to be little concern for the consumers, for good business practices on the part of the NTPC’s leadership, little desire to increase efficiencies and identify savings in order to keep our power rates at a reasonable level.
A culture of efficiency and effectiveness must be instilled, with cost savings the number one priority for this company. For example, the corporation can eliminate management bonuses. It can stop the current massive advertising campaign that tells us how NTPC is going green and conserving. I have to wonder how much of those savings they are crowing about is being spent on advertising. The Power Corp can eliminate wasteful spending. I received a perfect example of such waste a few weeks ago.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to my colleagues. I received a perfect example of such waste a few weeks ago. It was a lovely colour report — of minimal value — many pages long and one sided printing; 30 pages of charts, one chart to a page. Several tables using three or four pages would have provided the same information at a fraction of the cost. I really had to wonder what value that report had for me.
NTPC’s board must be told that only after they have clearly demonstrated that all avenues for cost saving have been explored will they be allowed to consider power rate increases for its users. As I said before, it’s the duty of the Power Corp to do everything it can to minimize the impact of power generation costs on the average Joe and Mary. Will that day ever come?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, power is an essential service that we all depend on, from heating our homes to turning our lights on, to maintain the community infrastructure and, more importantly, to generate the economic value we have by way of purchasing.
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation has a system of establishing rates by what we call community-based rates, better known as postage stamp rates, which means every community that has a power generating system, regardless if it’s Northland Utilities or Northwest Territories Power Corporation, has to be assessed in regard to power rates. That costs in the range of $3 million to $5 million every two to four years.
Mr. Speaker, communities such as Colville Lake and Tsiigehtchic, which are paying in excess of $2 per kilowatt — in the case of Colville Lake it is $2.85 per kilowatt…. It’s not economically viable for one community the size of Colville Lake or Tsiigehtchic to be able to sustain the power usage in that community without realizing there has to be a better system out there.
Most jurisdictions in Canada have switched to what we call a levelized rate, in which the power is based on different types of power generation, be it diesel, hydro or other ways of generating power. This government has to seriously consider levelized rates, regardless of whether it’s going to be a rate for the Beaufort-Delta region, the Sahtu or the Deh Cho. All diesel communities will be on one rate system; the hydro communities would be on one rate system. We have to look at the savings this will bring forward.
Mr. Speaker, this government spends in excess of $9 million subsidizing power throughout the Norwest Territories. By reinvesting the $9 million and the $3 million we spent in regard to rate application, $12 million dollars could be reinvested in new energy projects such as hydro, wind, solar. I think it’s something this government has to take seriously in regard to where we spend our money.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board questions on this matter.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to join my colleagues in talking about the high energy cost situations in our small communities, which Mr. Krutko, the Member for Mackenzie Delta, alluded to.
I would like to talk about the concept of privatizing our corporation. We have a Crown corporation. There are a number of arguments that say: don’t privatize; don’t get into community ownership; we’re too small or we’re not well equipped to have a Crown corporation go into the private sector. I think that’s totally wrong. I think you have to give the ownership back to the people.
There are major corporations now in our communities and our regions that could look at having ownership. There is the Gwich’in Tribal Council; there’s the Sahtu Corporation, the Deh Cho, Akaitcho, and right down the valley into even ATCO, which has major operations in the field that go into Alberta. They have a number of plants in the Northwest Territories that operate services. They are out of another jurisdiction; however, they can provide cheaper power in the Northwest Territories.
We have a Crown corporation like the federal government. When they have Crown corporations and they’re in trouble, they sell them off. They’d sell them off to the people who could do better for our people in the Northwest Territories. I know there’s enough initiative going on that hopefully in the next year, the government will come back with some initiatives in terms of how we reduce the power.
Sometimes in the small communities we just want to know that our power rates will be stabilized and won’t go up any further. There are people in the Northwest Territories who get assistance from the federal government in terms of their power rates. We also receive that assistance through subsidies. Yet we’re told that these subsidies are going to grow every year, and if we don’t do something, it’s going to be costing us more and more.
As Members we have to start prioritizing what is more important: infrastructure or subsidies? How do we best serve our people? Mr. Speaker, I think the option is to seriously consider privatizing the Crown corporation; give the regional communities and individual corporations an opportunity to look and see if it’s feasible. If it’s not, then we certainly can have that further discussion. But I say give the power back to the people. We are the owners of the Power Corporation. Among us here, we represent the ownership, so I think we should have a further discussion on privatization.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, we are overdue for a thorough and independent review of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, its operations, its innovations and its response in meeting the evolving needs of communities and residents. It is my view that this review should include the potential need for a complete restructuring.
The Power Corporation is a utility — a public utility, an arm of the GNWT — rather than a private corporation, but this is not reflected in its attitude. It has been six years since the Public Utilities Board ordered the Power Corporation to file interconnection standards for net metering, yet we are still awaiting these. While millions of such systems exist around the world, there is yet to be a single residential grid size power system in the Northwest Territories.
Power rates do indeed need to be reviewed. There is some help required for some of our communities that are paying really exorbitant costs, but rates should be designed in ways that still reflect the local cost of power, and that’s going to be tricky. We need to focus on bringing down costs where they are high, and any new or additional revenue should be directed to achieving our multiple goals of reducing costs and greenhouse gases, increasing community self-sufficiency and developing our local economies.
Mr. Speaker, the government has embarked on a review of electrical rates in the Northwest Territories. However, I am concerned that reviewing the rates without a thorough review of our power provider will not move us forward on this issue.
Some communities, residents and businesses are beginning to propose, design and even implement their own power systems because of the intolerable costs and barriers they face. Increasingly, efficient appliances and homes are becoming available. These situations reduce power demand to the Power Corporation facilities and, given the stagnant response of our corporation, end up driving up costs for other consumers.
Rather than fighting these trends, we need a progressive power company that embraces new ways of doing business and that partners with individuals, businesses and communities — one that helps bring state of the art technology into service and strengthens community self-sufficiency by encouraging local energy solutions. Our communities provide their own water and sewage services, including billing and accounting. There is no reason they cannot be further engaged in the provision of power services.
Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Instead, the record reveals a corporation with little innovation, one that pays out the highest bonuses and compensations we have despite some attempt at curtailment by our Public Utilities Board, and a performance that is flagging with lack of leadership. Let’s grab this bull by the horns, do the review and structure our power systems to be responsive and responsible to the needs of our citizens and our communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The people of the Nunakput riding face some of the highest power rates in the Northwest Territories. Living farther north than many other residents in the Northwest Territories also means that our lights have to be on longer in the winter and heating on in our homes for a longer time in the season. The furnaces are on for longer periods of time.
To put this simply, 700 kilowatt hours that are subsidized for Yellowknife rates by the Territorial Power Support Program are not enough. I know of families that are struggling to pay power bills for a modest three bedroom home. Overcrowding in many of our homes means more showers, more loads of laundry and television watching, which means higher power bills. As a father, Mr. Speaker, you know that one of the definitions of a teenager is a young person who does not know how to turn off a light switch. Everything that teenagers do…. The video games, watching videos, listening to music, learning on computers and connecting with the world around them all take power.
I did some quick calculations using information available on the NTPC website that shows the residents of Tuktoyaktuk and Ulukhaktok pay about twice the cost of power of Yellowknife once the subsidy runs out. Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk pay about four times the cost. So for every $100 people in Yellowknife pay, the people I represent are paying $200 to $400 more for the same power amount. This amount is compounded by having to pay the GST on the total of the power bill. When I add this to the cost of home heating fuel, the cost of groceries, the cost of clothing your family and your children, I clearly see that the people I represent are struggling. I believe the power subsidy program is a good program but should be modified to recognize the actual power requirements required to run a modern household in different regions of the Northwest Territories.
I believe, Mr. Speaker, the amount of kilowatt hours subsidized to Yellowknife rates should be raised to 1,000 kilowatts in the communities that I represent.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week in this House the lead Minister for the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee tabled the draft NWT Hydro Strategy and GNWT Energy Priorities Framework. Energy is an increasingly important issue for our constituents. How much do we have? How much does it cost? Can our environment cope with our demand? The GNWT also faces increased energy costs along with higher costs for services we already provide and strategic initiatives we would like to pursue.
We are looking at expanding our existing hydro development to offer electricity to industry. We are looking at alternative energy sources like biomass and wind. These are all worthwhile clean energy initiatives that can help address our energy needs in the NWT in the future, but they will not address the majority of our energy needs in the foreseeable future. Meeting these energy demands of our territory will require huge investment. With our own borrowing limits set at $500 million by the federal government and limited capacity under this limit to borrow, how will we take the bold steps required to do progressive things on the energy front?
The energy potential of our territory is huge. The Premier has made comments in this House about leaving no stone unturned to come up with solutions for our energy problem. I believe that the Northwest Territories Power Corporation should play a role in this solution. The NWT Power Corp sometimes get a bad rap, and rightfully so, for increasing our power rates when the costs to generate this fuel are going down or when the power consumption of our residents is also going down. I sometimes question whether we need the Power Corporation at all. They are supposed to be the people’s power supplier, yet there seems to be limited thought about the public as prices continue to climb and bonuses continue to be offered to senior staff. The business case that the Power Corporation is based on seems antiquated and in dire need of a complete makeover or a complete elimination and substitution with something unique, built by Northerners for Northerners.
Also, the fee structure is based on a southern model from decades ago, which may never have been the right model for the Northwest Territories. I hope the future role of the NWT Power Corporation will be based on a new approach to an old problem. I am encouraged to see talk of partnerships in the documents I mentioned earlier in my statement.
Partnerships can bring new ways of doing things, larger amounts of capital investment dollars and expertise in their respective fields. The NWT is growing in stature, and thinking only within our borders about solutions to bigger issues belongs in the past.
I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Mr. Speaker, this is a very complex subject as we struggle here in the Northwest Territories to find the most efficient means to deliver reliable energy to the communities of the Northwest Territories.
Again we’re faced with the remote and rural nature of many of our communities, the far distances we have to haul fuel to feed diesel generators, the disparity that’s created when some communities are able to be supplied from hydro — all of this within the context of a relatively small territory in terms of population. We struggle with all of these things, but we need a very comprehensive review of everything related to the production, distribution and creation of energy and power here in the Northwest Territories.
I’ve heard some of my colleagues refer to privatization. I think that we should leave no stone unturned. I think we should look at everything. We talk about regulation. We talk about a monopoly. We talk about community empowerment and communities taking on this role. We talk about a single rate zone, levelized rates, the overhead of NTPC, the fuel costs which are out of our control, community based rates and power subsidies. All of these are very, very complex issues.
Although in a community like Hay River, we are probably the envy of other communities when it comes to our power rates. I want to assure Members that even in Hay River the residents do struggle with the cost of energy and with our cost of living there. We still are a northern community. We have a very cold environment to deal with. I know that compared to Mr. Jacobson’s riding, maybe it sounds like we don’t have a lot to worry about.
An idea was brought forward — not my idea but one of my colleague’s — which I thought had some merit. Rather than raising the 700 kilowatt per hour limit for communities where the costs are higher than Yellowknife’s, perhaps we should look at the communities whose cost are lower than Yellowknife’s, and we should put a cap of paying the market rate up to 700 kilowatts. Perhaps again, this could be considered in a review of our power rates. Perhaps those communities which have the lower rate would be willing to pay a premium on their consumption over the 700 kilowatt hours, which could be then redistributed to assist those folks who are operating on community based rates and very much struggling with their energy costs.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to join my colleagues today in discussing issues related to power rates and the operation of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Power rates and the operation of the NWT Power Corporation have been cause for much discussion and corresponding motions in this House over the five years that I’ve been here. There are some things I just don’t understand when it comes to the NWT Power Corporation. The first is that because of climate change and high prices for power, Northwest Territories residents have been doing all they can to limit their usage of power. The overall power consumption has been reduced in our territory because of conservation, Mr. Speaker. Why is it, then, that if conservation is taken seriously by our residents, rates are proposed to go up? People don’t understand this, and I don’t understand it.
Also, the General Rate Application is predicated on the price of oil being $140 a barrel. Over the past six months the price of oil has fallen to $65 a barrel, and some economists and industry experts even predict $50 a barrel by Christmas. This makes it very difficult for residents to understand why the increase to their power rates is necessary. The whole premise for the increase is now completely blown out of the water, Mr. Speaker. The government better get ready to explain and answer to residents across this territory this winter when they are hit hard by these increased rates.
Another thing I don’t understand is why some communities in the Northwest Territories today are paying 25 to 35 per cent more for power than other comparable communities serviced by the Power Corporation. Communities serviced by Northland Utilities, like Trout Lake, pay less than a counterpart community like Nahanni Butte, which is serviced by NWT Power Corporation.
In dealing with power rates, I’m of the belief that as a government our first priority and responsibility is to deliver the best, most affordable power rates possible to our communities and the residents who live there. Why do we allow the Northwest Territories Power Corporation to continue to pay out bonuses to senior management when many in our communities struggle every month to pay the power bill?
We need to re-examine the entire structure of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and its subsidiaries. It’s getting overly complicated and difficult to understand its role and mandate. On behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories it’s high time to take the action necessary to restore public confidence in the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Today, like my colleagues, I would like to talk about the high cost charged to our residents by the NWT Power Corporation.
My constituents have expressed many concerns over their power bills and the seemingly increasing power rates. This burden has been made even more difficult to deal with when they hear about bonuses that are being paid out to NWT Power Corporation executives while they shuffle their meagre budgets to pay for the basic essentials of life.
I looked into the operating cost distribution of the Power Corporation and was appalled to find out that as a business entity the NWT Power Corporation profit represents only 11 per cent of total operating costs, while interest payments represent almost 13 per cent of total operating costs. In addition to this, Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation is charging almost 16 per cent of total operating costs towards amortization payments, for a total of almost 40 per cent being charged out in these three areas.
Mr. Speaker, with the high fuel costs during resupplies adding to the already high cost of living for NWT residents, I would like to know if the NWT Power Corporation is exercising fiscal responsibility and looking at cost breakdowns of these cost allocations. Surely these are areas that can be adjusted downwards to lower the overall operating costs at the NWT Power Corporation, and these savings can be passed on to residents of the NWT.
In Fort Resolution we see power from the Taltson hydro dam, while in Lutselk’e the residents are solely dependent on diesel. Both communities, however, consider the power rates to be much too high.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Center, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Power Corp issue is an accountability issue for me. It’s about value for money. The day to day question is: how is it being operated? Are we getting the money that we expect out of this organization? Are we getting the accountability out of this organization that we expect for our citizens in the territory?
Mr. Speaker, I think the government has a role to play. I think it’s time to roll the NWT Power Corp into the territorial realm of responsibility, just like any other department. They act like a department but with the independence of free rein. It’s a grey area as they exist right now. They’re not privatized, but they’re not quite government, so they get to sort of play on their own field the way they want. If they set their own rules, who gets punished? The consumer.
I wouldn’t suggest we ram the PUB through any type of exemption or roll it into the GNWT. I still think today that it provides a service, but the fact is I believe in better performance, and what better performance than bringing it here to the floor of this House for that type of scrutiny?
Mr. Speaker, it’s about accountability that I don’t think exists. It wasn’t that long ago we heard about the U.S. bailout. What it did was it helped look at bad practices. It helped look at bad policies. That bailout also helped look at — and by the way, rewards, bonuses for their CEOs who run this corporation…. I question this: what about the efficiency of the NWT Power Corp? Does the rate increase, in my mind, mock or similarly look like a proposed rate increase versus a bailout package? Possibly. In my view it’s scandalous. It looks at rewarding bad policies that aren’t reviewed by us. It looks at rewarding bad management, possibly not reviewed by us. And certainly it rewards CEO bonuses, again unaccountable and not examined by us.
Mr. Speaker, my issue is about having confidence in the system. The way it’s set up today, I don’t have confidence in the way it’s structured.
I’m going to close by saying we could probably do the best for our citizens by having it here, accountable in the Legislature, where it belongs.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. A report on the review of the Human Rights Commission 2006–2007 report.
Introduction
The Standing Committee on Government Operations met on October 9, 2008, to review the 2006–2007 report of the Human Rights Commission. The committee would like to thank Ms. Mary Pat Short, Chair of the Human Rights Commission, and Ms. Thérèse Boullard, director of Human Rights, for appearing before us.
2006–2007 Annual Report
The 2006–2007 report does not include any recommendations; however, the committee would like to take the opportunity to comment on other issues that were discussed during our public meeting.
The 2006–2007 annual report was the third report of the Human Rights Commission since its establishment on July 1, 2004. The committee welcomed the concise and visually informative new reporting format and is pleased with the commission’s offer to include a community breakdown of the origin of inquiries and complaints in future reports.
The committee was pleased to hear of the progress the commission has made in raising awareness about human rights through its education and outreach activities, including community visits, public presentations, information sessions, educational audio conferences and several publications. The success of the Human Rights Commission’s awareness activities appears to be clearly demonstrated by the steep increase in inquiries, from 253 in the previous year to 427 in 2006–2007.
The committee welcomes the commission’s approach to addressing issues of discrimination in the workplace through the publication of Employer’s Guide to Human Rights, Duty to Accommodate, and Alcohol and Drug Testing, combined with information sessions that were conducted for employers.
The committee appreciates the work of the Human Rights Commission with youth and schools, in particular the development of resources addressing bullying among students.
We acknowledge the commission’s efforts to bring education and awareness workshops on human rights and the NWT Human Rights Act to all regions of the Northwest Territories. The committee highlights the importance of visits to smaller communities, as they will provide residents with a better understanding of their rights under the act.
The committee understands the commission’s need for funding increases due to the growth of inquiries and hearings before the Human Rights Adjudication Panel. However, the committee is concerned about the ability to fund continued budget increases without compromising service and outreach activities in future years.
Conclusion
The committee commends the commission’s work and achievements to date and looks forward to monitoring the continued evolution of human rights in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Committee Report 1-16(3) be received and adopted.
Motion carried.
Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize some of the students here from the Aurora College Social Work Program. There might be some names that might be challenging, but I will do my best: Dolly Pierrot, Joy Muyambo, Tania Ramm, Janell Dautel, Faith Woodruff, Shirley Tsetta, Mary Ann Jeremickca, also a Tlicho member, Jackie Chinna, Nellie Norwegian, Cecile Deneyoua and instructor Bruce Stewart. Thanks for coming.
