Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The regional languages committee and the committees play an important role in promoting and supporting the revitalization of our languages and enhancing our aboriginal languages. The committee plays an important role in the development and implementation of strategic plans to meet our unique needs, circumstances and priorities of the respective languages. They will be part of the ongoing discussion when it comes to implementation of the strategy.
I’d like to thank the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister recognize that the sum of $17,000 funding allocated to each Akaitcho community is insufficient to do what the communities need to do with an aboriginal language program? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the GNWT spends on an annual basis approximately $12 million on the aboriginal languages support, including $1.9 million received from federal funding.
I do recognize that we always need more resources and support to support the grassroots people in the communities. Those are the areas that we are working towards in improving those resources at the community level. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, although the 10-year Akaitcho Aboriginal Languages Plan was fully implemented, they received less than 3.5 percent increase in funding over that 10-year span. This is not enough. Will the Minister commit to increasing the base funding for this program that’s run in Akaitcho? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am fully committed to seeking a way to, of course, provide increased support to the communities, especially in the aboriginal language communities. We are also looking very closely at our existing resources where we can improve in certain programming and increase our investment as well. Those are the areas that we are closely monitoring and with this strategy in place we want to make some changes, as well, on how we distribute funding as well. I will be having further discussion with our federal counterparts, as well, the federal Minister. This has been addressed through the provincial/territorial Ministers meeting, the importance and the uniqueness of language and culture preservation in the Northwest Territories. I will continue to stress that with them to increase funding, possibly. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past there was some funding for the communities that were used for training translators, interpreters and so on. Will the Minister commit to returning money to the communities for training for aboriginal languages by increasing the necessary core funding to support training in the communities as opposed to at more of a territorial level? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Member for that particular question, because I am very much in support of community-based training programs that take place close to the Members’ homes and also to the Northerners’. The communities have the best understanding of their core needs and the priorities of their communities. I am committed to having my department work closely with the community and work closely with the Member to make this an effective and successful training program. That is part of that package. That is part of the strategy. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions again today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, getting back to my Member’s statement.
I talked earlier about the growing deficits at both Stanton authority and other authorities around the Territories. Mr. Speaker, around this country, other provinces and territories are taking quite seriously the growing cost to deliver and provide health care services to their residents, and I just do not see the determination or the effort being put forward by our government when it comes to addressing these ever-growing costs. In fact, the way we manage through that is to just simply bail out authorities to the tune of millions and millions of dollars on an annual basis. It’s just not a way that we should move this forward.
I’d like to ask the Minister, the first question I have is: How am I and the residents of this Territory supposed to believe that the government is actually doing something when it comes to the growing cost to deliver health care for the residents here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the residents should be comfortable in knowing that their Minister of Health and Social Services and this government is working hard to look at our system and make system changes so that we make our health care system sustainable. We were also successful in obtaining $15 million from the federal government over the next two years. I have spearheaded bringing together western provincial Ministers of Health so that we look at group purchasing. I am also working with all of the chairs of the health authorities, because we now understand very clearly that sustainability for the health system is for the entire health system.
The deficit at Stanton is not a Stanton deficit; it’s a system deficit. We are redesigning business plan models so that we have the right sized budgets for every authority. We are reviewing the physician staffing model so that we use our physician resources better. We have also introduced the accountability framework so that all of the authorities now have a written contract in a way that they have not done before.
Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is our people expect us to be efficient and effective in our delivery of health care services. Our people have no tolerance for reducing essential service, so we are working very hard every day to make our system sustainable. Thank you.
I thank the Minister for that. I guess, you know, she said she’s leading the way on developing partnerships with western provinces on bulk purchasing of medical supplies and equipment. Last summer the governments of British Columbia and Alberta signed an agreement to co-purchase health care equipment. Just recently there was another agreement signed by the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan on bulk purchasing medical supplies and equipment. Where was the Government of the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker? Where was the Minister when it came time to sit down at the table and get in on these discussions on bulk purchasing? Thank you.
I called a meeting of all of the western provincial Health Ministers in Newfoundland. We had a meeting and on October 21st we signed the MOU as well. Thank you.
I’m having trouble understanding who the Minister signed the MOU with if these other provinces already have deals worked out with themselves. When is the Government of the Northwest Territories going to actively get involved and get in on a bulk purchasing plan with our neighbours to the south? Thank you.
The group purchasing of drugs and equipment is an initiative that’s going across the Territories. I’ve had discussions on that with the standing committee. All of the jurisdictions are looking to see how we could reduce costs of essential pharmaceuticals and equipment. This government is engaged in that. Premier Roland was part of that discussion among the First Ministers. We are also part of that agreement of the western provincial Health Ministers. We are part of that agreement. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a number of questions and perhaps I’ll get on the list again and hopefully get another set of questions. I’d like to ask the Minister, if we’re part of the agreement already, are we today bulk purchasing with the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, Mr. Speaker? Is that true? Thank you.
We are part of that group. We are working with other Ministers. It’s a highly complicated process. Yes, we are part of that group. We are part of the agreement. We are a part of the partners and I chaired that meeting and we handed it over to Manitoba as of September. Mr. Speaker, we are doing the right thing. I am giving the Member an answer. Yes, we are very much a part of that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about our new endangered species, the outfitter, and the fact that they’ve been left not just holding the bag but worthless lodges, because of the direction that the caribou management has taken. Mr. Speaker, many of these lodges have the investment of many people, of generations of money, and are seen as their only opportunity for the future, but that opportunity has been pulled away.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI what is this government’s plan to do with these outfitters with these worthless lodges while they cannot attract customers to hunt on the Barren Lands or other places throughout the North? What is his plan for the outfitters? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For some time now we recognize that there has been a shift in the tourism priorities and what areas that the younger generation would be participating, and we recognize that the so-called consumptive tourism, the interests in hunting and fishing were declining. We undertook surveys to determine where the new demand for tourism would be focussed on. Our research has indicated that most people are interested in adventure tourism, ecotourism, so we introduced a program, a tourism diversification program, in 2007-08, to help existing outfitters begin to diversify into other areas and develop new tourism products. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister defines it as a shift in the market. I would call it more like a tourniquet. The reality is there are no eco-tourists showing up at the door. The phone isn’t ringing off the hook. It would cost hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to decommission these lodges. The outfitters are left holding the bag waiting for this turnaround in the caribou market, if I may define it as that, which is almost impossible. What is the government doing to help either sustain these lodges through this downshift, which is easily predictable in the area of three to five years they will have to wait to restart, as well as is the government offering packages to help get some of these people out into either new industries or just out of this industry completely? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, since time immemorial, the people of the Northwest Territories recognized that the population of caribou and wildlife was volatile. It was recognized in the Northwest Territories Act where barren-ground caribou has been designated as game endangered of becoming extinct. Our own Wildlife Act recognized that and it developed a hierarchy of priorities for the use of wildlife. Commercial tags for caribou were the lowest priority.
Now, having said that, I already told the Member that we established a tourism diversification market and fund which we have spent $4.5 million dollars since 2007-08. We also met with the sports outfitters. They indicated that that program wasn’t for them because they couldn’t see themselves changing. So we set up a separate Tourism Marketing Fund for the outfitters in which there was $600,000. It was $300,000 last year. It is $600,000 this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it is great to have initiatives with pittance of a dollar called investment that they referred to, but the reality is the customers aren’t picking that up. What work has the government done to ensure that this has actually taken any effect in this industry or any industry on this so-called market shift?
The problem still remains: the customers are not coming and these outfitters are left with all of these lodges that are difficult to staff. No one wants to work there because they know they can’t make any money. Has the Minister investigated the realities of this so-called bailout program that doesn’t really do anything? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have been working very closely with the outfitters and how to spend this money. For the most part, the outfitters have availed themselves of these funds. We have also put in business plans to continue this funding. We look forward to being able to work with the outfitters in future years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Minister’s own words, he said that, for the outfitters, this is not a program for them. So, Mr. Speaker, if he is hearing from the outfitters that this program doesn’t work for them, I am hearing from outfitters myself still even just recently as in a few minutes before session started, in an e-mail that the ink isn’t even dry. The program doesn’t work and is not for them.
Mr. Speaker, the reality is the only person this program works for is the person who does the allocation of these funds who sits in some ivory tower office not understanding what it is really like in these industries in trying to create business in momentum in the economy. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister go back and see if we can retool focus that works for outfitters? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wonder how many programs the Member would like me to start. I already indicated that we have the Tourism Diversification Marketing Program. We also instituted the Sports Outfitter Marketing Program and outfitters are accessing those funds and there is still funding available this year. A lot of the outfitters are using those funds to put their lodges in care and maintenance so that they can keep them operating. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and following up on both his statement and my statement today.
The Official Languages Act made the enormous contribution of making ancestral languages real in the law. We have seen some progress on the basis of that law, but we shouldn’t assume the 1998 law was the last word on what is and isn’t an official language in the Northwest Territories.
Can the Minister state this government’s position on recognizing further official languages under the act? That is, what are the standards and arguments used for or against recognizing other official languages? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As it stands, we recognize 11 official languages in the Northwest Territories. The federal government recognizes English and French, so we are very proud of our Northwest Territories jurisdiction language recognition.
I have heard on several occasions of a language that could be integrated or added to the existing 11 official languages. There are comprehensive steps that have to be undertaken, public consultation. Members would have to be involved in that. The Legislative Assembly would have to be involved in that. It would take some form of consultation with the communities and the people of the Northwest Territories before it goes to the next level. Those are the areas of discussion that we need to undertake.
Mr. Speaker, as it stands, we have 11 official languages. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, for the record, I, too, am very proud of those 11 official languages. I thank the Minister for those remarks on the process to get this done.
As the Minister knows, the true test of support programs is the ability to deliver timely support to the place where it can be used best. For a grassroots program, we know that it is really at the community level. I have described a situation where funding for the Yellowknives Dene Community Language Program is filtered through the Tlicho and Akaitcho governments’ administrative structures and there have been several problems described. The Minister has spoken to me of taking steps to make better arrangements to deal with those difficulties. Can the Minister tell me what the status is on those improvements? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I did meet with the Member on identifying the funds that are being distributed through teaching and learning centres. There have been some concerns in that respect. We are currently rolling out the Aboriginal Languages Plan. It will be tabled in the House today. From there, that does cover the aspects of what the Member is referring to. It is broad. It is just not one region, Mr. Speaker. So I am glad that the Member is referring to that, because it is an important piece of work that we need to start talking and making those changes.
We currently provide this approximately $12 million that we need to relook at as well, a profile of that, how it has been distributed to the communities and to language groups. Mr. Speaker, it is general. We are seriously looking at those areas. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s comments again. I will be looking for those remarks in the plan.
Today I also re-emphasized the long-standing problems of the lack of evaluators certified to approved credentials for interpreters/translators and the need to reduce the time it takes for course work from the current 10-year haul.
These problems have been pointed out in language reviews, Mr. Speaker, since the 1900s. Can the Minister tell me what progress is being made meeting these basic but crucial needs and perhaps where that’s addressed in the Languages Strategy? Thank you.
What the Member is referring to is captured in the 70-plus recommendations that will be brought forward and we’ve also initiated a summer institute for language this past summer. It was very successful and was part of the development stages pertaining to certification, possibly diploma or degree. So the Member has already shared his concern and we are looking at that as part of the strategy that’s before us, and there are also talks about the interpretation and translation training program. So that is part of the strategy as well. It is a comprehensive document and we are in the process of implementing it expeditiously. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s good to hear. My last question, which you might be able to guess here, is: Will the Minister commit to -- I’m harking back to my first question on beginning perhaps the long process to consider recognition of an additional language -- sitting down and meeting with the chiefs of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and myself to discuss what a process might look like? Thank you.
Mahsi. I did receive an invitation from the Akaitcho Government and I’d be more than glad to meet with the leadership, along with the Member, to discuss the process of initiating this process. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In July of this year I heard a news report about the difficulties surrounding the cleanup of the old Treminco mine site outside of Yellowknife. I have some questions today for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs under whose watch this falls.
The gist of the news report was that Treminco had gone bankrupt and that our government could end up paying completely for the cost to clean up the site. This was after the government had auctioned off the buildings and equipment that were out at the mine site in order to try and defray the cost of cleanup. Contractors have been allocated to remove the assets, but they only removed some of them -- I think “cherry picked” would be a good word -- and they left many of those assets behind. As of July, the government had been waiting 14 months for the buildings and equipment that remained to be removed.
Mr. Speaker, I have some questions for the Minister with regard to this situation. I’d like to know the status of the buildings and the equipment at the Treminco mine site at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is absolutely correct; there was some infrastructure that was removed from the site -- cherry picked, as she put it -- but during this past summer we’ve done an inventory of the site and we’re looking at hiring an engineering firm to assess the structural integrity in an attempt to place some value on that. We’re going to look at possibly if it’s feasible to have it go out again, or to see what steps we can take next to do the actual cleanup. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I’m a little distressed, because that was the information that was available in July, was that the government was going to be finding an engineer and placing a value on these assets. So I’m a little dismayed that it’s now October and that it hasn’t been done.
I’d like to know from the Minister, we tried to get rid of these buildings. They’re now deteriorating. They are still our assets because we have reclaimed them because the contractors didn’t do their job. So what recourse does this government have to go after those contractors who didn’t fulfill their contract, didn’t do their job, and what recourse do we have as a government to try and claim back some of the elements of the contract that weren’t fulfilled? Thank you.
