Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the social work students from Aurora College, Kelly Bothamley and Jacqueline Brasseur, as well as their instructor, Susan Fitzpatrick, for the Social Work Program.
I’d also like to recognize the Page from Lutselk’e, Darian Marlowe.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure and pride to recognize and welcome my daughters to the gallery. Ms. Diedra Villeneuve and Ms. Candace Lafferty-Villeneuve. I’m glad to have you here to see your hardworking MLA dad.
As well, my constituency assistant, also hard working, Ms. Pearl Norwegian.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize the students taking the course on Canadian Social Welfare Policy, Kelly and Jacq. I would also like to recognize the instructor Susan Fitzpatrick, a resident of Weledeh.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my understanding I have three constituents in the gallery and they all belong to the Elkin family, so I’m going to list them in order of importance. So first I’d like to recognize Cappy Elkin, followed by Lynn Elkin and – sorry, Larry – Larry Elkin.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize one of our very hardworking Pages from the Frame Lake riding, Raya Laframboise, who has done great work for the last couple of weeks and I’m sure will continue over the next couple of weeks. I would also like to recognize the Special Olympics people behind me, athletes, coaches and supporters. Welcome to the Assembly.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the gallery today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings today. Thank you for coming.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions from my Member’s statement for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to ask the Minister what the waiting time is for elders to get into the long-term care facility in Inuvik.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know what the waiting time is for the long-term care in Inuvik. I don’t have the waiting list with me at this time.
As I mentioned earlier, there are more than 300 elders over the age of 60 in my riding. Thankfully, not all of them need long-term care, but many will. What is the Health department’s plan for them?
The Department of Health and Social Services is working on what we’re referring to as a continuum of care living services for seniors. We are looking first at trying to keep the seniors in their home as long as possible, by providing support such as home care and then moving to assisted living. The next level that we’re working with NWT Housing Corporation and then, I guess, at the end if there are no other options that can keep the people in their home communities, then our last option is to move them into long-term care.
My final question to the Minister is: If the Minister is unwilling to renovate the Joe Greenland Centre up to proper standards, will he start planning for a new facility in the Mackenzie Delta riding?
Any facility that is built by the department or by this government would have to go through the House. What we’re doing is looking at all the needs across the Territories and if there is a need for long-term care facilities, then we start working into the capital planning process with that need.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I made a statement in terms of how the moose play a significant role in Dene culture. Recently we had, of course, gone through a fall hunt where it was noticeable that the moose were not actively present in the area where people usually hunt. The question that I have for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is: With the recent bison anthrax outbreak, was there any impact on the moose population?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t believe so. We do know that as a result of the extensive time that was spent in the air throughout the region, they did find throughout the course of the summer six dead moose. They don’t believe anthrax is what killed them; however, they erred on the side of caution and we’ve gone to the Canada Food Inspection Agency and are awaiting the results. We do know that there is concern about the bison populations across the South and North Slave and in the Deh Cho. We are in fact going to be initiating a moose survey this October to give us a better idea of the status of the moose population.
I’d like to thank the Minister for giving us an update. I wanted to find out if there has been a survey on the moose population and when was the last time such a survey was done and what were the findings.
I don’t have the date of the last survey but, as I indicated, there will be another survey done because of the concern about the low numbers of moose and just to check the overall population and numbers. That information, of course, will be shared fully with the residents as well as the Members of this House.
At this point in the history of the NWT, we’re seeing an increased interest in terms of resource development in this part of the Northwest Territories called the boreal ecology, the terrain, or the ecosystem. At the same time, recently there have been pressures on the barren land caribou as well as the Woodland caribou. Recently, with the bison anthrax outbreak, these have put pressures on the ungulate species. I wanted to know if there were any special monitoring efforts to be made on the part of the department on the moose population.
There is work, of course, being done on an ongoing basis in monitoring and evaluation on the barren land caribou. We’re in the process of working with the federal government on a National Boreal Caribou Strategy. We have our own, but given the concerns of the near extinction of the Boreal caribou in Alberta, it’s taken on a much greater significance. We’re working on that. We are going to do, and will do, the work for a survey in November. When we have the numbers in and information before us in terms of the general health and population, then we’ll be able to have an informed discussion about what steps may be required in terms of any type of assistance to the moose population.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for giving us an overview. I just wanted to see if the Minister would commit to involving the communities and ensuring that they play a part in terms of the management of the moose population, and other wildlife species, as well, for that matter, and to see how it is that the department will work with communities.
The answer to that request is yes. In those areas where we have settled claims and agreed to co-management processes, it’s built in and required and we work very effectively together. In the Deh Cho we have an arrangement, as well, on a more informal basis, but an arrangement and commitment to work with the communities and the Aboriginal governments on issues affecting wildlife. We will be working with communities as it pertains to the issue with the moose.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up from my Member’s statement and ask some questions of the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. He’s also the Minister responsible for the remediation project at Giant Mine.
I’d like to first ask the Minister: Assuming, because it has been signed off by a GNWT representative, the final submission has a number of statements that present positions that Yellowknife residents are happy with the project going forward and so on, I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not Cabinet was involved in the preparation of or the approval of the positions that are expressed in this final statement.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was not an issue that came before Cabinet for any type of approval or review.
Thanks to the Minister for that clarification. I guess I would like to then know whether or not the GNWT, as a government, and the executive and members of Cabinet support the positions expressed in this final submission to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board. If it has been signed off by a government representative, does that then mean that this is our official GNWT position and that we support the lack of a long-term care plan, that we support the approach that’s being put out there, that we support that there are no concerns from Yellowknife residents?
I prefer to frame things in the positive. It means that we are actively involved in the remediation of this project; that we have committed about $27 million to look at assisting in the land surrounding the immediate site; that we have officials and people that have been working for years now on advancing this project; that we are working with the federal government and all the other stakeholders, the Aboriginal governments, to try to advance this very complex project, one of the largest remediation sites in Canada; and that we are committed to that process, recognizing that it’s very complex and it is the subject of great attention and there is a multitude of opinions. In spite of all that, we are trying to move forward in the best way possible.
To the Minister, I appreciate this is a very long and involved process. It’s an issue which has been ongoing for many, many years, and it will continue to be an issue because many residents in my riding, in my city, and me as well, are concerned about some of things that are proposed in this remediation plan.
I’d like to know from the Minister: if we are actively involved as a government, and if we are committed to following through and proceeding forward with the plan and looking after the site, I’d like to know how the Minister can explain to me that he is protecting my interests, and the interests of the residents in my riding, and the interests of the people of Yellowknife by supporting the position that’s expressed in this final submission.
I would point out that while we are an active participant in this, this is a major federal site. It will continue to be a federal site in perpetuity going forward. We are involved. The issue is I would have to have the Member show me or prove to me in this area where there is a multitude of opinions, while we may disagree how what it is being done does not protect those interests. They may not agree. They may not like them. They may prefer another approach. Decisions had to be made and were made and we’re doing the best job possible. I would be happy to have that discussion with the Member. But I would say that we are actively involved in remediating this site and we are very, very cognizant of the impact on the community and the concerns of the community and protecting the safety of the land and the people.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m happy to accept the challenge that the Minister has offered, and I would be happy to sit down with him and discuss with him some of the things which we are at odds with.
I do need to reiterate to the Minister that if we are involved but if the federal government is taking the lead – which is kind of what I’m hearing him say – why then do we, as a participant, sign off on things which we necessarily may not agree to?
We have some very capable staff, highly qualified individuals that have been on this file for many, many years, and I take great comfort when we’re presented with the best steps forward and then we agree to sign off based on that best advice.
Once again, I would be prepared, if there is an interest of committee, to have a briefing from the GNWT on the work we’ve done and the positions we’ve taken. I would be happy to come forward with our officials to have that full, in-depth discussion.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked in my Member’s statement about the calculation of income on rents and I want to ask the Minister here, probably for people who are in public housing who get the rent assessment, and they go through the calculations of income to pay the rent, and they pay CPP and EI when they’re working, and when they’re not working they also ask for their income and they also get calculated on their EI. Some of the people are saying that Housing is double-dipping into the rental income. I want to ask the Minister if that’s true.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the consultations across the Northwest Territories on the rent policy review, one of the things that we heard from people was they wanted a system that was fair, more predictable and simple. That’s why we had gone from 421 different rental assessments down to 22. We responded to those concerns. Some of the items that the Member mentioned, the EI payments especially, well, EI payments are usually to provide for the basic necessities of life; food and shelter being two of them, and clothing.
The calculation of the income to the rent, the people in Deline are saying, again, that housing is double-dipping into the process here. They are being calculated on CPP and EI when they’re working, and when they apply for EI, that EI is calculated into their rent assistance. So they’re saying that Housing is double-dipping. Plus, there’s the Child Tax Benefit that goes towards Pampers, milk and food, and Housing is also charging them that benefit. Is the Minister going to look at this again to see if this is true? Is Housing double-dipping?
