Mr. Speaker, the traditional economy is an important source of income for many Northwest Territories residents and one of the sectors that this government supports as part of our goal of a diversified economy. Today I would like to share some good news about our Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program.
We are at the threshold of a new trapping season. Last year’s wild fur sold for record prices, resulting in nearly $2 million in income and program benefits for our trappers. This was the best year for sales in 23 years and prospects for this coming year are positive, as demand from China and Russia continues to increase. Trapping also helps to offset the high cost of food in many northern communities.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Premier McLeod and Mr. Robert Hawkins for their successful efforts promoting our wild furs during the recent trade mission to China. China is the world’s leading manufacturer of fur garments, and demand for our high-end wild fur is high and increasing year after year.
This year, in cooperation with Fur Harvesters Auction, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment produced two new pelt handling DVDs for marten and fox. These are distributed throughout the territory and we have received very positive feedback for similar DVDs that were produced for wolf and wolverine pelts in the last couple of years. They provide demonstrations and tips on handling raw pelts for auction. Well-handled pelts get top dollar for trappers.
Mr. Speaker, an important part of the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program is our Trapper Recognition Awards. We recognize the top senior and junior trappers, as well as the trapper with the most pelts and the most market sales in each region. These awards were just announced and I want to take this opportunity to recognize all the recipients.
We are especially pleased with our youth trappers. This year Leroy Andre Jr. from Deline was the top youth trapper for the Sahtu region, and the top youth trapper for the entire NWT. Andrea Carmichael was awarded with top youth trapper for the Inuvik region, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, John Carmichael, who received the Senior Trapper Award for the region last year.
Mr. Speaker, the number of youth involved in the trapping industry continues to grow, with the encouragement of the Take a Kid Trapping Program provided under the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program. This program introduces youth to the traditional harvesting practices of hunting, trapping, fishing and outdoor survival. This year nearly 2,700 youth participated in the program, and over 12,000 youth have been through the program since its inception 10 years ago.
I advised Members during our last session of a project through this program: the construction of a traditional kayak by the students of Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk.
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has recently created a mounted print for the school, commemorating the hard work of students to build the kayak. I look forward to presenting this to the Honourable Jackie Jacobson at some point before the end of this session.
We are taking action to ensure traditional economy practices continue and that these traditional values are sustained, especially through our youth. This support serves to advance the 17th Legislative Assembly’s goal of a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Speaker, earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of the new East Three School in Inuvik.
This is a modern and beautifully designed and constructed 11,500 square-metre building. It is home to Inuvik’s high school in one wing and junior school in the other. It has 54 classrooms, with a large shared gymnasium, library and administration area. The architects who designed the facility worked closely with community members, students, staff and the departments of Education, Culture and Employment, and Public Works and Services to ensure the design reflected Inuvik’s educational and cultural needs.
The school captures both modern elements with its structural design features, and the traditional essence of the community. Multicultural art has been painted in the hallways and displayed throughout the school. Outside there is a beautifully landscaped site with indigenous plants and local materials. It’s very welcoming to students and community members.
Mr. Speaker, the design and construction of the new school also includes many energy-efficient features. It has clean-burning boilers and a heat-recovery system, with computerized energy management. It has daylight-harvesting light control systems which control electric lights, turning them off when the natural light is bright enough. The ventilation system is modern and takes the students’ needs into account by providing more fresh air where students are working.
The new school exceeded the requirements for the Model National Energy Code by a full 56.1 percent. This was independently verified by the Natural Resources Canada EcoENERGY Program.
Equally impressive, Mr. Speaker, are the benefits to Inuvik and NWT residents throughout the construction of this project. Approximately 74 percent of the expenditures for goods and services went to northern contractors and suppliers, and 49 percent went to local companies as registered under the Business Incentive Policy.
As of July this year, the contractor reported that 623 workers were employed in the construction of the school, for a total of 456,000 person hours. Along with office staff of the contractors, designers, planners and the project managers, over 800 people helped make East Three School a reality.
This project is one of the largest and most complex ever managed by the department.
Mr. Speaker, the project team for the new East Three School achieved all of this while completing it one full school year ahead of schedule and over $8 million under budget.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate all who were involved in this project. I also want to thank the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, the Beaufort- Delta Education Council and all the staff at the Department of Public Works and Services. In collaboration with the contractors, architects and engineers, they created a state-of-the-art facility that will be a focal point for the community and for investing in the education of our youth for years to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, today is National Be a Fan Day, and you will note many of the Members wearing red laces in support of Special Olympics NWT.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run Raises Funds Through Their Three Annual Fundraising Activities: the Herc Pull, the Polar Plunge and the Convoy for a Cause. This dedicated group of volunteers raises enough funding every year to cover 50 percent of the Special Olympics NWT’s costs.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
MEMBER’S STATEMENT ON
ELDER CARE FACILITY
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been almost two years since this government closed the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik to elders who cannot live independently. Now there’s a lineup of elders waiting to get into the facility in Inuvik, which serves the entire Beaufort-Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
MEMBER’S STATEMENT ON
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since early Monday morning, the Hay River area has been seeing some extreme weather conditions. Each of the past three nights, the area has seen three to six inches of heavy, wet snow. This has been causing problems with power lines, roads, airports and highways.
A Complete Staff Is Working Day And Night. More Crews Will Be Sent In If Required. The Town Of Hay River Has Been Working Every Morning Starting At 4:00 a.m., working as long as the crews can work. Andrew Cassidy has indicated that every road in the community has been touched by a piece of equipment once, and now they are working, hopefully in the next day or two, to get most of the snow removed. As he indicated, the snow is extremely wet and extremely heavy. The town has also contracted out extra equipment to deal with this extra snowfall.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I spoke about the NWT Housing Corporation and I specifically mentioned Deline. I would like to do a second part to my issue with the NWT Housing Corporation. This one has to do with specifically how they assess the income for the public housing units in that community.
The people in Deline find it unacceptable how the income is being assessed, and it’s being assessed by the gross income. I have an example here. A person that is living in a public house in Deline gets charged on the gross income, and as part of that gross income this person pays CPP and EI, which they are charged rent on both the EI and CPP. Jobs are not that available sometimes and they get short-term jobs. This person finishes work and applies for EI. Housing asks if he has any income. They declare it on their income, which is their EI, which is about $700 every two weeks. Again, they are being charged on the income, whereas they are already told that the housing that was already charged on the gross income, which EI is included on their rent. This person and the people in Deline feel that Housing is double-dipping on their income and rent.
Another note is that they are also charging the Child Tax Benefit as income. This money should go towards milk, bread, eggs and Pampers, which also goes towards children’s healthy living.
I will have some questions on this issue with the Minister at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The environmental assessment hearings for the Giant Mine Project were held in September. The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board heard testimony on the plan to stabilize the vast stores of arsenic and conduct limited surface remediation. On the first night of public presentations alone, 50 people sat through a 45-minute power outage to share their concerns. Seventeen people spoke, most staying well past 11:00 p.m. People care deeply about the Giant Mine cleanup.
Based on my observations, people spoke of the lack of a funded perpetual care plan, lack of a legally binding independent oversight mechanism, the proposal to dump arsenic-laden water into Back Bay in new ways, lack of commitment to research the final elimination of the arsenic, concerns that the frozen block method won’t work over the long term, the consistent failure to proactively communicate project information, and many other misgivings. Besides individual residents, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Alternatives North, and the North Slave Metis present thorough and learned submissions.
Weeks later, the project co-proponents – Canada and the GNWT – sent closing comments to the board. Reading their final comments, I have to wonder if the governments were hearing the same input I was or if they just weren’t listening. Consider the quotation, “The project team concludes that the remediation plan is not the source of the long-standing concerns about Giant Mine.” Dismay and skepticism with the remediation proposal, its delivery and monitoring are exactly what the public, Aboriginal government and NGO concerns are all about. The co-proponents’ comments demonstrate the adoption of virtually nothing from the concerns expressed so strongly by public interest groups and citizens.
This week we had more evidence of this deafness. The proponents gave public registry notice that they will proceed with demolition of the roaster complex, exempting the most arsenic-contaminated portion of the site after the underground vaults from the authority of the environmental assessments. Rather than make an effort to inform the public or allay concerns, they are seeking board approval to do it without public oversight.
I will table the co-proponents’ letter today and will question the Minister of the Environment on this government’s role in these disappointing developments and pronouncements.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government and territory is on the verge of making a big decision come the New Year, and that’s in regard to the Inuvik-Tuk highway. There has been a lot of debate and a lot of discussions, both in the media and this House as well as in the communities. Some discussions were talked about and it seems like this is a new project. This is not a new project. This project itself has been on the federal government books since the 1970s, and more recently within this government since the late 1980s. It just happens that today with this government, the 17th Legislative Assembly, we’re dealing with the facts of making it a reality, and that’s our responsibility. On top of that, we do have strong support from the federal government as well.
This is not a project that is just going to stimulate the economy in the area of the Territories that really needs it at this time but, rather, it’s an investment; an investment into the communities of Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik, the Beaufort-Delta region and, more importantly, for this territory and even Canada, as it will bring the country from coast to coast to coast.
Not only that, but we’re also looking at big projects such as the fibre optic link, offshore drilling and a big piece of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which are all priorities of this government as we move forward.
As we move forward on this project, I want to encourage the government that when this project comes to task and we have to start looking at making decisions, that this government works with our Aboriginal groups up in the Beaufort-Delta region so that everybody gets a piece of the pie, so that everybody gets jobs and gets to be part of this big process. As well, in the design and the makeup of this project working with our local contractors, who have done great work up in the Beaufort-Delta region, in the communities, on the road system, and being part of making this project become reality.
I would also just like to thank all the leaders that have been part of this process to make it a reality, all the regional leaders up in the Beaufort-Delta region and throughout the Northwest Territories. It’s a long, drawn out process, a lot of debates, a lot of discussions going on, and I appreciate the hard work, commitment and dedication that they have to see this big project come through.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The lack of housing is a huge problem in many of our communities. On the other hand, there are also vacant units in some of our communities. I believe that there are also problems with access to housing that is available. That is, there is housing and there are people who need housing, but they’re not eligible for it. For example, I am told that there’s a one-year residency requirement to access some community housing programs. In general, that is fine, but what happens when someone returns to a small community and has nowhere to live? It seems that the NWT Housing Corporation expects people to couch surf in other people’s homes for a year to become eligible for housing, even if Housing Corporation units are available.
This is a barrier that discourages people from returning to their home communities where their families and cultures are the strongest. In addition, there are few market rentals for people who come to live in a small community for a time. These people need to be housed and we want to welcome them, but where are they going to live?
There’s a real need for flexibility in the way we allocate housing units. The system must fit local needs and local conditions. I think that a policy for transitional housing should be developed. It could help meet local needs and reduce vacancies in units owned by the Housing Corporation.
The Housing Corporation has made a lot of progress in the past year and improved its operations. I recognize that good work, so I’m optimistic that the corporation will work with these communities in my riding to meet their needs.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Yellowknife we’re very fortunate to have organized first responders in our city. I know I’m very grateful, as well as many other people in our city. However, not every community has this privilege, and for obvious reasons; sometimes it’s not feasible, but that doesn’t make it any more right and it certainly doesn’t make it fair. By coincidence, if you happen to live in the Tu Nedhe riding – that’s either in Lutselk'e or Fort Resolution – and just by chance there happens to be a terrible situation in that particular area, who responds? Who has the skills and experience, and certainly the know-how to respond to that type of situation?
We all know about MACA and their efforts about putting equipment in communities, but at the same time, where are the skills? What good is good equipment with goodwill when no one has the skills and abilities to respond safely and properly to incidences?
As I understand it, community nurses, in some cases, have a policy that causes them to be unable to leave the nursing station to respond properly to these incidences. So what does it mean? It means good people are responding to incidents in some cases untrained. So we have untrained volunteers out there trying to do the best they can and to that I applaud them.
In some communities like Deline, we have heroes, local heroes like Kirk Hughes, who stepped forward and said this is no longer going to happen. He is solving Health and Social Services’ mistake, or gap, I should say, in services.
I think it is time that Health and Social Services gets behind community initiatives and helps train first responders in these types of incidents. Without the skills and abilities to tackle these types of problems, we may put the intended person we are trying to rescue into being a further victim of the situation. That said, we may put the rescuer in grave danger.
There are plenty of organizations that are willing to step forward, and help and offer the training, such as the Mine Training Society. The bottom line here is Health and Social Services has the responsibility to ensure local people are trained with the skills, ability and know-how to help rescue people in their need. I think it is time we step forward and do that responsibility across the North all the way through our Territories and all of our small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I want to speak a bit in my language.
The moose is a large animal that thrives in the wild. For Aboriginal people, this huge animal is very important. In our culture we use the moose for clothing, food and tools. This is why moose are very important to us in our culture.
In regard to our ancestors, we cherish the moose and we use it for a lot of things. When we are hunting in the bush, we are hunting for our elders, our family. When we are hunting along the river, the person that I am talking about is a person that likes to be in the wild, in the bush, hunting. This person I am talking about was participating in a hunting party that was hunting along the river.
At this time that I’m talking about, there was some wildlife diseases that were starting to happen in my area. They were wondering why these things were happening. This is what I’m going to be talking about today. This disease that prevailed among the bison was an organic disease that originates from the earth. This happens when it is moist and hot. There was a lot of activity during this time that the bison were experiencing this disease.
We have also experienced a lot of aircraft in the area during this bison disease prevention activity. As a result of that, the aircraft were disrupting the other animals such as the moose. Because of that, we didn’t have a lot of moose. There are other animals that have been affected because of this disease amongst the bison. We along the Mackenzie River are wondering if maybe the monitoring of the animals that we consider important, such as moose, we would appreciate it if it was monitored better. What I am thinking is that because of the disruption by aircraft is one of the reasons we didn’t have much moose in our area this fall. Mahsi. [Translation ends]
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you heard from Mr. Bromley already, for a full week this past September the environmental assessment hearings were held on the remediation plan for the Giant Mine site. The GNWT is a partner with the Government of Canada, acting as the developer for the project at these hearings. Two weeks ago the developer made their final submission to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, and reading the content of their submission, as Mr. Bromley stated, I also felt that it’s almost as though they weren’t listening to any of the presenters.
The GNWT representative on the project development team signed the final submission, so I have to assume that this government supports the position outlined in that final submission. If that’s the case, then I must express my grave concern that this government is not adequately representing me and my constituents to the review board.
The developer states that the community showed wide support for the freezing approach. I only attended one evening session, but my experience that night was not that as expressed by the developer. Most presenters found fault with the freezing approach for one reason or another.
The developer is also confident that their plan is the best available approach. That seems to acknowledge the lack of confidence in the remediation plan by the general public, but it’s the intention of the developer to continue to engage Yellowknife citizens until they too become confident. That method hasn’t worked to date, why would it work in the future?
Lastly, the developer’s submission had no indication of any commitment to real and effective oversight of the project and long-term monitoring required for the project. This was a huge concern for many of the interveners at the hearings and it’s a huge personal concern for me as well.
So considering that a number of issues are still at large, a number of issues are still not adequately dealt with, in the minds of both the Yellowknives Dene and the citizens of Yellowknife, how can this government sign off on this final submission to the review board? How is my government protecting me, protecting the residents of my riding and the city?
Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister responsible for this project at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the summer our local paper ran a story about Allisdair Leishman, a young man who stabbed himself in the Stanton Territorial Hospital’s kitchen. Requiring the proper long-term care and concerned about the lack of physiotherapy care the young man wasn’t receiving, the mother, Mrs. Leishman from Kakisa, took to the paper.
In essence, in the article Mrs. Leishman alludes that her son was limited to two hours per month of physiotherapy care. Upon my office’s investigation, it was verified that the Stanton Hospital was fully staffed with eight physiotherapists. It appears that only one physiotherapist provided care to in-patients. On top of that, according to long-term care requirements of the Stanton Hospital website, it clearly states that the average PT care is two hours a week, and not two hours a month, as cited in the article. I know I will have some general questions to the Minister on this one later today.
The overarching issue here today is not the Allisdair Leishman situation, although tragic and sad, but it does lend to the issue of priority care for rehabilitation patients. This situation does nothing more than prove that the current system is failing, forcing many patients to seek therapy outside the hospital and sometimes travelling down south for services.
Ultimately what we are seeing is the improper prioritization of non-acute outpatients versus care for hospitalized in-patients. We could address this simple principle. We could conceivably provide more services if we just prioritized fewer acute clients.
Case in point, even during filling out an outpatient services form for clients – which I will be tabling later today – one can clearly see that WSCC patients are given urgent status over in-patient care. Upon further investigation, this urgent status also affects patients of DND, RCMP and auto insurance, in which these classifications receive more urgent status than in-patients with long-term care needs.
What is the solution? I say the solution is relatively simple: Prioritize your patients. That is, make sure your long-term care in patients who need this care most are taken care of first, before we deal with less urgent outpatients.
I will be asking this simple question to the Minister of Health later today, and further to that, I hope that this exercise will propel a much more thorough review of the entire NWT rehabilitation prioritization tools, as these evidence-based tools are being used as standards in jurisdictions worldwide. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about a fundraising initiative that has been most beneficial to Hay River through the Hay River Hospital Foundation.
The Hay River Hospital Foundation was established in January 2000 to assist with the mandate of Hay River Health and Social Services Authority. The role of the foundation was to support and assist the health authority in achieving its goal, with particular emphasis on providing much needed funds for capital equipment or training needs for its residents.
Raising money is never easy and I’m always intrigued at how organizations take the time to think outside the box for their fundraising initiatives. Hay River Hospital Foundation is one such organization that is truly in that category. Aside from the regular services and programs, the Hay River Hospital Foundation holds an annual on-line auction that allows you a chance to bid on some great deals.
I’m excited to say that the Hay River Hospital Foundation is once again hosting their unique on-line auction. In fact, they started this auction on October 15th and it won’t last long, as it closes at 9:00 p.m. sharp this coming Monday, October 29th. I’m hoping that the people of Hay River and even people from across the Territories – and we would never say no to money from Yellowknife – that people will go on-line and register to maybe try your luck at picking up some unique items from various Hay River merchants who have donated these items. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s for a good cause.
I would also like to thank the people who have worked so hard to make this auction happen. The organizers, local businesses and people who have contributed by donating auction items and their time. Special thanks to Evelyn Coleman, who is the auction coordinator and a foundation board member, and to all of the Hay River Hospital Foundation board members we say a very big thank you. I wish them all the best for a very successful event.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a brief opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the Pages from Fort Smith: young Mitchell Kearley and Jarod Tuckey, and the very hardworking mother of Mitchell, Ms. Melanie Kearley. Thank you for coming to Yellowknife and I hope they’ve enjoyed the experience.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We’re pleased to have today up in the gallery the president of the Special Olympics NWT, Jane Arychuk. We also have Cappy Elkin, a board member of Special Olympics NWT, Mr. Larry Elkin and Ms. Lynn Elkin. We also had Barb Kardash up in the gallery along with our very special guest Kelton Broome, an athlete for Northwest Territories, who probably had to head back off to school or go training for the next Olympics. Welcome to the gallery. Keep up the good work.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two Aurora College students who are here with us today. They are second year social work students in the Social Work Program. They are attending on behalf of their Social Work 469 Canadian Social Policy class. They are Kelly Bothamley and Jacq Brasseur. I’d also like to recognize Jane Arychuk, the interim president of the college.
