Debates of October 25, 2006 (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 193-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the arrangement we have is with the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority who then has a contract in place for delivery of these services with the Nats'ejee K'eh Society. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 193-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh

Mr. Speaker, is our government directly, or perhaps through the health authority, involved in any way with the negotiations or the framework for negotiations with the workers?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 193-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're not directly involved with the negotiations or the board in this area. We are monitoring the situation as things progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 193-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh

Mr. Speaker, are negotiations in fact underway at this time? We're now two days into the disruption of service there, and what steps will we take, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that what I would say is an essential service is restored as soon as possible, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 193-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we've done to date is I've just signed off a letter to the organizations, both parties, to urge them to get back to negotiations. From the side of delivery of services, we are prepared for those who are seeking support in the area of addictions help, that we would ensure that services are available to them whether in the territory or out of the territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've been handed a note by the president of the Renewable Resource Council in Tulita in terms of community freezers. I want to ask the honourable Brendan Bell if he has any idea as to my question here in terms of the community has been promised, similar to Paulatuk, community freezers for individuals or families that need it. So I want to ask the Minister if he's aware of such a promise, maybe by the previous government or the previous administration, in terms of community freezers for the community members in Tulita.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Return To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say that no, I was not aware of a commitment made in that regard, if one was made. A little bit of history, Mr. Speaker. I think in the mid-90s there were 17 communities who had community freezers and I think some of them had more than more, but certainly not more than two. At that point, the government made a decision to get out of funding the O and M for these community freezers for a variety of reasons. Cost was one of them. Upkeep was another. When freezers fail, obviously the entire community's subsistence harvest can be lost, Mr. Speaker. So we looked at a number of arrangements and they varied by community. As we've heard earlier, in Paulatuk and in Holman a commitment was made to move to chest freezers that individuals would take care of. In other communities, the facilities were sold to the community. My understanding is, Mr. Speaker, that in Tulita an arrangement was made with the community to sell the freezer for $1, but I don't have all of the history on this. I'd certainly be willing to instruct my officials to sit down and go back and revisit this if there's a feeling there was some commitment that was made and not lived up to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would ask if the Minister would continue on with this commitment to look into this issue and come back to the people in Tulita in terms of looking at the options of what they were promised. People in the community knew and had asked me. They said there was a promise made and to date nothing has ever come about in terms of our community freezers. Maybe something where they have chest freezers, I believe they're called. So they're waiting for a promise to be fulfilled by this government.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will certainly sit down. I'll have the regional staff sit down with the community. The information I've been provided if we feel the commitment to sell the freezer was made. In other communities, there were one-time payments made for chest freezers. Those payments have concluded. So really it is a variety of solutions in a number of communities. But we will go back. If there was a commitment made and we have not lived up to that, we will. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A promise made, a promise kept. Mr. Speaker, promises where it's going to be he said, she said, they said. You know, it's going to get into this craziness. So I would ask the Minister if he would instruct his staff to come to Tulita, talk to the people who heard and who acknowledge that a promise was made in terms of having community freezers in Tulita. I would ask the Minister if he could do that within the next week or so. Go to Tulita and talk to the people there in terms of what type of promises were made in terms of providing them with some form of freezer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly I will ask the regional staff to visit Tulita, talk to the community leadership about what they feel the promises were. We do have records going back. I'm not sure we have the specific discussions, and the Member is right; we don't want to get into a you promised, he said, she said debate. Clearly, we can't afford to give everybody in the Northwest Territories a freezer, so we do have to go back to the arrangements that were made and the commitments that were made. We will do that, Mr. Speaker. I give the Member my commitment in that regard. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if we had resource revenue sharing we could give everybody two freezers in the whole Northwest Territories.

Two freezers.

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister, and I sure appreciate the strong commitment to the people in Tulita in terms of instructing his staff to come into Tulita and talk about the freezer issue. Would the Minister commit to the people in Tulita that within a certain time frame, let's say next week, maybe on October 31st, on Halloween night, trick or treat, in terms of having this issue settled once and for all in the community of Tulita and in terms of getting them a freezer? I hope it's a treat, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure the Member doesn't want a trick. In fact, we will sit down, talk to the community. My staff are listening. I'm sure we're busily going over people's schedules and trying to figure out how we can get somebody in there as quick as possible. So I will make the commitment that we will move as quickly as we possibly can, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I'd like to speak on some environmental issues that are of very grave concern to me, and some suggested changes that we, as a government and a Legislature, should be contemplating as we move into the coming months and years.

Mr. Speaker, this morning at 8:30 I had the opportunity to meet with the Mackenzie River Basin Board. That is a group of representatives from Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, as well as aboriginal representatives from each of those jurisdictions. This board was formed nine years ago to look and oversee what is happening in the Mackenzie River basin, which is one of the biggest river basins in the world and it's fed by the Athabasca basin as well as the Peace basin.

Mr. Speaker, I met with this board because I am fundamentally convinced that from what I have seen over the years -- and I've been raising this issue in the House for 11 years -- but in the last couple of years in my time as Minister of the Environment, I am fundamentally convinced that the issue of water is going to be…not is going to be, is more important to us than is oil and gas, than is diamonds, than is gold or uranium.

I met with this board to let them know that as MLA for Thebacha, that I was very, very concerned what was happening in the Mackenzie basin. I'd like to give you some examples of why I am concerned.

The Slave River is down at least 10 feet. I've walked down to the rapids and you can almost cross the river on the rocks that are now exposed. They walked a Cat across the Peace River last summer. The ferry at La Crete could not run because there was no water.

Shame.

The ferry here on the Mackenzie is run aground because of low water. There are huge issues in Alberta. There is a growing drought. Precipitation rates have changed. There used to be over 150 glaciers; those have gone, they're down to about 35.

I met with the Member from Alberta when I had the file for the MOU between Alberta and the Northwest Territories, and the assistant deputy minister for the Environment indicated that in Calgary, for example, they get 30 percent of their water from the glaciers that come from the Rockies. They expect that water to be done within the next 20 years and those glaciers to be gone.

Two weeks ago we hosted the first gathering of environment, resource, forestry Ministers, fishery Ministers, in over 10 years, in Yellowknife. For every Minister from every jurisdiction, there were two fundamental issues that came up. Climate change is upon us and we have to be able to deal with it, and directly flowing from climate change are the water issues, Mr. Speaker. In our jurisdiction it is the same. We are no different. We are a land-based jurisdiction where the land defines who we are. We are a resourced-based economy. Every community we have is tied to the water, to the rivers or the lakes, and the studies tell us that the lakes are lowering in levels. In some, the smaller ones have disappeared. We know that without water our jurisdiction is going to be in significant trouble. We are a downstream jurisdiction from Alberta, which is a huge concern to us. There are talks about 24-inch water pipeline from Lake Athabasca straight into McMurray to feed the tar sands. That is a very significant concern. We are already extracting hundreds of millions of cubic metres of water to feed the insatiable demand of the oil and gas sector.

The Mackenzie Basin Board is our vehicle to deal with our concerns. We are a downstream jurisdiction. Just about all our water concerns are transboundary issues. This board has laboured long and hard in almost complete political obscurity. They published a report called the State of the Aquatic Ecosystems a few years back from data that's from the 1990s. They are trying to redo that one. I believe that things are changing so fast that we have to encourage them to move on this.

When I met with the Environment Ministers I took the opportunity to ask the Minister of Saskatchewan, the Minister of Alberta, would they be interested and willing to meet on water, given all the concerns we've heard; the impending drought in the western provinces, especially in Alberta, and the concerns that I raised at the table repeatedly through the week-long meetings, and they are very interested. I would say in this House that it is time for us, as well, to politically recognize water and what it means to us and what is happening.

Mr. Speaker, I've heard concerns, for example, of what's happening with the quality of the water in terms of how it tastes, that for the first time ever people are having to pull their nets out of the water to clean out the algae. That tells us that things are growing in the river that didn't grow, because of the increased volume of things being released into the water like fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, that are all contributing to deteriorate the water quality. This is a major issue for us.

I had supper in this House with former Member Steen last week from up in Nunakput, from Tuk. He would tell us the water is so low around his area, that they're going to have to build roads because there's no water left for boats to travel on. We know that the permafrost is going down. We know that temperatures are warming, that the fire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer. These all affect the water.

We know that in the Mackenzie basin there are over one million head of livestock on the farms and ranches, and they release tremendous amounts of methane and those farms, as well, use tons of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides.

We know that in Alberta there are vast tracks of the forest land that is being cut and harvested, and that when you remove that amount of ground cover, it has a dramatic impact on the environment and what flows into the river and how and what kind of retention there is of the moisture. And we see this. Ten feet the river has dropped, the Slave River has dropped in Fort Smith. That is a massive amount of water that is no longer flowing into Great Slave Lake, into the Mackenzie and into the surrounding environment where we all live, where all our people live. That is an enormous issue.

There are climate change factors underway that we cannot change. That is clear. Things that have happened over the last 30, 40 years have been building and we are living with the results now. So what we are in, Mr. Speaker, we are in a time of trying to anticipate what is coming and how do we adapt. We cannot stop it, but we can try to anticipate and adapt.

In our jurisdiction, Mr. Speaker, the environment has tended to be in the shadows. We have chased resource development as we have to and as we should, but the issue is of balance.

Mr. Speaker, the concern that I have is that up to this point, without the political support, the environment will continue to be second fiddle. What I am suggesting in this House, given these significant concerns, is that we have to look at how do we move the issue of environment to the centre stage along with resource development. Why do I say that, Mr. Speaker? Because we are surrounded by examples of what has happened to our environment when we don't pay attention. We have Giant Mine in Yellowknife with the 300,000 tons of arsenic stored underground that still hasn't been sorted out. South of the lake has Pine Point sitting there with vast open pits and a tailings pond as big as a small lake, still sitting there bubbling. There are sites all across our land that have never been cleaned up.

So as we rush to embrace resource development and talk about balance, it is no longer possible just to look in isolation at each individual development. We have to take a long distance look of the Northwest Territories. What does it look like right now if you take a top-down view, if you look at the land, and what is there in terms of the human impact in all the areas that I just talked about?

Tied to the water are our wildlife issues. What is happening to our wildlife? We know that there are serious concerns because we proved beyond a shadow of doubt that our caribou herds are being impacted. They are being impacted by climate change, resource development, increased pests, predation and hunting. But, without a doubt, those factors all come into play.

The Minister from Alberta told me that the pine beetle, as another example, is in Grande Prairie. That is about 10 or 11 hours south by road, Mr. Speaker, from your community. The Northwest Territories has one of the biggest tracts of the boreal forest in the country; about 18 percent, I believe. A lot of that is Jack pine. The warming climates have shown us that the pine beetle is moving east and north. I have seen the pictures in British Columbia that they have taken with satellite photography of what B.C. looks like in the interior where their forests are. There are vast tracts of dead forest that they are scrambling mightily to try to harvest but they never will, because there is far too much wood. That beetle is 11 hours away and coming this way. You cannot stop it. Those are the kinds of impacts we have to worry about.

This government, and rightly so, has tried to take a big picture approach to the economic development unit and are proposing that we set up a macroeconomic policy. What I am suggesting is that we have to contemplate, maybe not in this business plan because it is set, very soon and make the policy decision that we cannot look at economic development without having our own macro-environmental policy unit or something of that nature. It should no longer be the case, Mr. Speaker, of us going after the diamond mine or the pipeline and saying oh, by the way, somebody check the environment. They should make sure it is taken care of, and we focus on resource development alone. We have talked about it. We raised it in the JRP, but the reality is that we have not sat down as a government, as a Legislature, to look at the cumulative impact.

There are issues everywhere. There are parks issues. The federal government came in and signed a deal with the people from Lutselk’e for a park. They gave us about two days' notice. There is the Thelon Game Sanctuary that has to be protected. There are protected area requests all across this land that have yet to be addressed that the federal government, following in the Conservative footsteps, give lip service to but no money. We have requests for resource development everywhere. There is exploration everywhere for every possible minerals, oil and gas everywhere, on the edge of parks, down in the South Slave, in the north, around Yellowknife. We have to, as a government, take a step to bring the environment centre stage with resource development.

I am motivated to say this because of another very major issue of concern to me, and should be of concern to everybody in this room and everybody in the Northwest Territories, and that is the fact that the Alberta government has one of the biggest hydroelectric projects on its books at the preliminary stage of assessment. That dam is proposed to be on the Slave River at Fort Smith. This was discussed 20 some years ago. They spent about $30 million doing their studies, and when they decided not to proceed at that time because of the poor economy, they told us. It was not a matter of if they were going to build this, but when. They are desperate for power in Alberta. They are desperate for clean power in Alberta because they have the dirtiest energy in the country. They are a resource-based economy. So they are looking very seriously at this. Twenty-five years ago it was seen to be an issue for the South Slave, but we have lived, all of us, with the impacts of the Bennett Dam and what that has done to us. Well, you combine that with the lack of precipitation and all of the extraction that is taking place plus the dam, Mr. Speaker, I shudder to think what the Northwest Territories would look like.

The issue of climate change and the issue of water is absolutely fundamental. We can live without diamonds. We used to live without oil and gas. We can live without uranium. But, Mr. Speaker, there is not one of us in this country, in this world, that can live without water or clean air. For us, the issue is water. That is tied to the land. That is what allows this land to exist. Every aboriginal government has it built into their land claim settlement for a reason; because they know that. They have known that for thousands of years. We have to work collectively to address that issue. We should not be scared of it. We should not try to diminish it because we might scare away the resource development. We have to embrace it. Economic development cannot proceed, in my opinion, without environmental oversight there. We cannot do plannings of government unless we integrate those two pieces because we are a resource-based territory.

I think, as we talk to people about caribou and as we talk to our constituents about what is happening with the environment and on the land and the things that people are seeing that confirm that there are tremendous things going on. Our water systems and our environment are under tremendous stress. Our obligation as a government is to keep that balance, but that balance cannot be kept if resource development is here and environment is here. So what I am saying to this Assembly and to the people of the Northwest Territories is, that as we move forward we have tried to address that, but the signals and signs to us are so dramatic that we have to even make a greater effort to bring the environment into the equation for all of our planning. If we do not do that, then we are going to see the continued deterioration of the very thing that gives us life. That is water. If we as legislators do not take those right steps, then our children and grandchildren will look back upon us and say what have you done with our birthright? The land is no longer habitable. The wildlife has disappeared. The fish are gone. What have you done and why did you not do it when you were supposed to?

In the coming months, Mr. Speaker, I will be coming back to this theme because I think it is absolutely critical to us as we move forward as a territory, that absolute balance, but there has to be an equal balance. We cannot place one resource development above the environment. That is my concern. That is why I have asked for time to address this through the replies to the opening address. It is much longer than two and a half minutes, but I think this is an issue for me and everybody I have talked to in all of my travels across the Northwest Territories, that what is happening to the land and to the animals is of primary concern. If we don’t address those, people will also turn their back on resource development.

So I would like to thank you for your time, Mr. Speaker, in the House for listening to me on this very important issue. As you go back to your communities, I would ask, check with your constituents and see. I know that most of you already know this. I am not telling you anything new. It is just that for us as a government, as a Legislature, it is time to acknowledge that we have to do a better job of addressing that balance. If we are going to put resources into a macroeconomic unit, we have to recognize that we don’t want to wait. We want to, as well, do one for macro-environmental assessment the same way. That has to include all the work we are doing with energy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Replies to opening address. Petitions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the orders of the day, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, I would like to recognize Mrs. Linda Golding and Mr. Lloyd Henderson. They are both here from NAPEGG and they are here watching from the gallery today because we are reviewing Bill 6, Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act. Thank you for coming.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to recognize Mr. Tom Williams from Gwich’in Tribal Council, and the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council and strong advocate of trying to get everybody in the NWT on the same page, Mr. Fred Carmichael.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to table this document. On October 20, 2006, there was a press release from Yellowknife Education District No. 1. It is titled, YK1’s Metro Huculak Recognized for Exemplary Leadership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Mr. Speaker. During yesterday’s debate, Mr. Speaker, on the electoral boundaries issue, I quoted from a letter circulated to all Members of the Legislative Assembly by Craig Yeo, a Yellowknife resident. It is a letter dated October 18th. I would like to table this for the record.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, October 27, 2006, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommend that the Government of Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Northwest Territories aboriginal governments reach a fair and equitable agreement-in-principle before the next federal budget; and further, that, for the sake of the future generations of northerners, all northern leaders set aside their differences and work together to achieve an agreement that will stop the flood of resource revenues leaving the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Notices of motion. Notices of motion first reading of bills. Motions. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS, the people of the Northwest Territories desire a self-reliant future within the Canadian federation to enjoy the same freedoms as other Canadians in determining their own affairs and priorities;

AND WHEREAS the people of the Northwest Territories desire to have a prosperous future for ourselves and our children, based on the wise management and sharing of the wealth of our lands and waters, and the hard work and the resourcefulness of our people;

AND WHEREAS the anticipated royalties and taxes resulting from current and prosperous mineral and hydrocarbon resource development could amount to an estimated $20 billion within the next 20 years, of which northern governments will receive little or nothing in the absence of a resource revenue sharing agreement;

AND WHEREAS the gross domestic product of the Northwest Territories increased by 71 percent in the last six years, eclipsing even Alberta by almost three times, and has the potential to continue at an accelerated pace;

AND WHEREAS the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, told the people of the Northwest Territories on August 22, 2006: "It is time we begin to hear the call of a New North - a North that is stronger, more prosperous and liberated from the paternalistic policies of the past";

AND WHEREAS the Government of Canada has recently appointed a new negotiator with a mandate to arrive at an agreement-in-principle between Canada, the Northwest Territories and aboriginal governments for the devolution of resource development authorities and the sharing of resource royalties;

AND WHEREAS it is entirely within the power of the Government of Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Northwest Territories aboriginal governments to arrive at a devolution and resource revenue sharing agreement;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends the Government of Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and Northwest Territories aboriginal governments reach a fair and equitable agreement-in-principle before the next federal budget;

AND FURTHER, that, for the sake of future generations of northerners, all northern leaders set aside their differences and work together to achieve an agreement that will stop the flood of resource revenues leaving the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause