Debates of October 30, 2006 (day 18)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the Honourable Joe Handley will be absent from the House today to attend the Council of the Federation Energy Committee meeting in Montreal, Quebec. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The health of our residents and our environment depend on the effective management and protection of our natural resources such as our water. Communities, non-government agencies and all levels of government must work together to ensure that a safe drinking water system is in place and operating effectively.

The Government of the Northwest Territories' Drinking Water Quality Framework and Strategy has been developed collaboratively by the departments of Municipal and Community Affairs, Public Works and Services, Environment and Natural Resources and Health and Social Services, with a mandate to protect drinking water quality in Northwest Territories communities.

Key goals contained within the framework include enhancing community capacity and providing effective monitoring and assessments of local water systems. To address this objective, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, in partnership with the Department of Public Works and Services, has initiated a Northwest Territories Circuit Rider Training Program to support water treatment plant operators.

The Circuit Rider Training Program provides an experienced water system operator, or circuit rider, onsite in the community to support the water treatment plant operator. The circuit rider works with the local community operator to improve the operational efficiency of the water system by providing assessment and ongoing training to help build knowledge, skills and competencies.

The ultimate goal of the Circuit Rider Training Program is to work with communities to provide safe drinking water by improving operational efficiency of water treatment plants and water supply systems, as well as enhancing the skills of water treatment plant operators. The Circuit Rider Training Program will result in community-specific operational and maintenance plans as well as customized training plans in participating communities.

In 2006-2007, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is working with eight communities who will benefit from the first year of this Northwest Territories customized plan. The eight communities are Whati, Gameti, Wekweeti, Wrigley, Trout Lake, Lutselk'e, Deline and Paulatuk.

Initial assessments will be completed with the communities to identify operational issues and competency levels of local operators, after which a plan for support will be developed and implemented.

The Circuit Rider Program will result in Improved operations at community water treatment plants and increased skills among operators.

We look forward to continued success in our partnerships with communities to help ensure the health of our communities and safe drinking water for all residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, this week, October 29th to November 4th, is Canada Career Week. The theme of Canada Career Week this year is: "Find the Work You Love…Build the Life You Want." The career each of us chooses determines how we spend much of our lives. That is one reason it is important to develop a career that is rewarding and fulfilling. A rewarding career takes careful planning. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has a role to play in helping NWT residents to realize their career goals.

In the NWT, we celebrate Career Week with a series of events taking place in communities throughout the NWT that are designed to increase awareness about the range of programs available to support NWT residents in their efforts to find and keep work, to make career changes or to acquire additional skills.

This week is an opportunity to showcase the valuable work being done in our career centres across the Northwest Territories, which provide career planning programs and services. These centres have a wealth of information to help people plan and pursue a career. I encourage everyone to drop into their local career centre and check out Canada Career Week activities.

As we celebrate Canada Career Week, I would also like to draw attention to several new initiatives to promote and improve the career and skills development of our people.

As this House is aware, the NWT economy and other hot Western Canadian economies have resulted in significant skilled labour shortages.

As part of the response to this challenge, this government works with industry to assist in meaningful and relevant training. The Building Trades Helper Program has been designed to meet industry needs in one of the largest and busiest sectors of our economy, the construction industry. This program provides individuals with construction-specific knowledge and skills to become occupationally certified as a building trades helper.

Collaborative partnerships were integral to this initiative. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment worked with the NWT Construction Association and over 50 industry experts who volunteered their time and expertise in the development of standards that provided the foundation for the design of this program. I would like to take this opportunity to commend their efforts.

The standards, curriculum and resource materials have been designed and packaged so that the program can be delivered in a variety of venues and communities with ease. Mr. Speaker, over the next year, these resources are also being offered to schools throughout the NWT in support of trades awareness and career and technology studies programming. This program serves as an example of how we are preparing and developing our workforce.

Further, in order to serve northerners and our changing economy, the NWT Apprenticeship and Occupational Certification Program must provide a responsive system, supported by appropriate legislation, able to meet the needs of northerners and the demands of industry. To this end, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has commissioned a comprehensive review, that will include regional consultations, to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of NWT apprenticeship and occupational certification. The review will define the benchmarks that will allow for continuous program evaluation and delivery, ensuring our program meets both the needs of northerners and national standards.

One of the main challenges our government faces is to transform this tremendous economic boom we are experiencing into real sustainability. By using this unprecedented economic growth to invest in the career and skills development of our people, we are promoting self-reliance and securing long-term benefits for our people and communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sadly the Northwest Territories has one of the highest rates of persons with addictions related to drug and alcohol in this country. We have only one Territorial Treatment Centre for adults who are looking for help with recovery from alcohol and drug addictions. That is the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve. The centre is operated under a third-party contract with the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority. Recently we were saddened to hear that the clients attending Nats’ejee K’eh had to be transferred to a treatment centre in northern Alberta. All 22 workers at the centre were locked out by their employer.

The workers at Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre are northerners, many of them indigenous aboriginal northerners. The treatment at the centre incorporates cultural and traditional values and has been operating for 13 years. The workers have been without a contract for the past three and half years. The conditions of their employment follow a previous contract. However, when negotiation or ratification of a new contract or any question of clarification of existing terms are questioned the employer uses the opportunity to, in essence, threaten the continuation of the benefits that they now have.

Without a contract in place for the past three and a half years there have been no pay increases. When inflation is factored in, we all know that the effect of this is a decrease in pay. The credentials of many of the workers are directly comparable to employees in the public service. The comparison of the wages clearly indicates that the workers at Nats’ejee K’eh are not at wage parity with their counterparts in the public service.

Quite apart from economic issues, though, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that this is an institution funded through a GNWT contract. It is a very necessary and needed service for northerners. The alternative for treatment is to ship our residents to placements in Alberta and pay even more for the services. We have long discussed the desire for the Members of this House to be repatriating northerners who now have to seek specialized treatment in the South and I could go on at length about the benefits of providing this treatment in the North. We talk about building capacity for northerners to deal with northern issues and challenges, yet we have a group of 22 workers, a unique and necessary service with a proven track record for helping those most in need, and as a government we lack the power or the will to deal with a labour issue which would see our workers locked out and our northern clients shipped to Alberta.

Of course I am not privy to all the details of what has taken place to date and I don’t hold myself up as an expert in labour relations, however, Mr. Speaker, I do know that there is an obligation on the part of the employer to act in good faith. I know that workers deserve a collective agreement that is current, fair and equitable.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, colleagues, and thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also know that even though this is a third-party contract, the GNWT has an obligation to be involved. They need to ensure that this service that we have invested in, the treatment that the workers have invested in, the help that northern clients desperately need, is not tossed away because of unfair labour practices. The GNWT cannot hide behind third-party contract status. On behalf of Nats’ejee K’eh workers, I request that the GNWT do anything in its power to see the situation resolved. Mr. Speaker, later today I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services questions about the contract for the operation of Nats’ejee K’eh and I will be tabling a petition asking the GNWT to do anything that they can to bring about a resolution of the circumstances which have lead to this lockout. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as an immigrant to this great city of Yellowknife, from the beginning I was blessed with great teachers at the school and great family friends we met through church and other activities who helped us a lot and made it possible to get on with our life here and become contributing members of our society. Over the last 30 years I have seen Yellowknife change and become not only the biggest aboriginal community in the North, but one of the most multi-cultural cities in Canada. The vibrant aurora tourism and diamond industry and other economic opportunities have brought more and more newcomers to the city from every corner of the globe. We have welcomed them, but I have to tell you that the programs and services necessary to help them adapt and integrate into the mainstream society have not kept pace with these influxes at all. In fact, the services are about the same as what it was back in 1978 when there were very few immigrants in the city.

The English as a Second Language Program available at Aurora College serves the needs of only a part of this population, but there is no other English language assistance program, and anyone who has helped with or gone through immigration experience knows there is a million things that individuals and families need to know and get help with to settle in Canada; everything from how to shop in our stores, get a job, fill out government forms, learn different cultures and ways of life. For most families, they rely on their families and friends and their church groups.

But there is a volunteer group in Yellowknife operating out of the Centre for Northern Families who applied for funding to set up an immigration settlement program in Yellowknife and I was so disappointed, Mr. Speaker, to learn that the federal government has rejected this proposal. Shame on them, Mr. Speaker, because I have to tell you that the needs are enormous and the federal government has to recognize that it has an obligation to help provinces and territories look after and integrate the immigrant population it brings in, especially if it wants to see the immigrants settle in places away from the main cities of Vancouver and Toronto. There are currently no programs and services available at the municipal and territorial government level, but it is not our mandate to be the significant provider of these kinds of programs. This is completely within the mandate of Citizenship and Immigration Canada and I call upon the federal government to once again step up to the plate and do the right thing by these immigrants. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was home for the weekend and I was talking to some of the people in my community. I ran into a young little girl in Northern Store and I waved to her so she’ll know it’s me waving to her. Said she sees me on TV and all the other Members and she was quite happy. When I was home and had a constituent meeting with some of the people from Deline and people from Tulita and they were talking about the Nats’ejee K’eh healing, alcohol and drug treatment centre and what was going on with the centre being closed and what was happening. People didn’t quite understand what the rationale was for having that treatment centre closed down. They said it was our only treatment centre in the Northwest Territories, now where are we going to send our people? One of the elders said if we had to send them to High Level or other centres outside the Northwest Territories in Alberta, how are the families going to visit them now? They have to drive farther and they have to see them and it’s far away. They were quite concerned about the only treatment centre in the Northwest Territories, as you heard and Members have heard, Fort McPherson, Ulukhaktok, are also looking at dealing with issues of alcohol in the communities. They’re asking for certain conditions to be put on the communities to look at alcohol. Alcohol is the number one issue in our communities under development, resource, impacts on our communities that the social issues of alcoholism has always come up very strong. We have to really seriously look at this one treatment centre and keep it open. It’s our only lighthouse in the Northwest Territories in terms of treatment centres, and having clients come there.

Mr. Speaker, the Nats’ejee K’eh was built on northern values and aboriginal values in terms of it being a unique treatment centre for people in the Northwest Territories and that these counsellors that work there work very hard. They put a lot of value and effort and work into their life and to give clients out there the hope that they will stay sober. We all want that in our communities. So it’s the clients and counsellors that are all suffering by having Nats’ejee K'eh closed. So, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to say that we need to have this government open the doors. We have to pay the counsellors what they’re worth, because what they’re getting right now is not very much. So I want to say, open the doors for Nats’ejee K'eh. Let’s do it for our clients. Thank you.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Unchecked global warming will devastate the global economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression, according to a major British report released today that seeks to quantify the costs and benefits of action as well as inaction. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said of the report, it is not in doubt that if the science is right that consequences for our planet are literally disastrous. This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime. Unless we act now, these consequences, disastrous as they are, will be irreversible.

Mr. Speaker, closer to home the proposed Mackenzie gas project will mean a huge boom in the oil and gas industry throughout the Mackenzie Valley. We’ve all talked about the jobs and opportunities that we anticipate will come with this boom, but we have to keep firmly before us the costs that will be imposed from this project on our communities and our environment.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT needs a comprehensive environmental regulatory regime before the Mackenzie gas pipeline is built. Recent Joint Review Panel hearings on greenhouse gas emissions and air quality reveal, Mr. Speaker, that no one agency will be responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry in the NWT. We have federal lands, Commissioner’s lands, aboriginal lands, municipal lands, and, Mr. Speaker, monitoring and enforcing air quality standards on these lands is going to be a regulatory jumble.

Environment Canada, in a recent report to the joint technical panel on air quality, stated that provincial, territorial and municipal regulations generally do not apply to federal operations and activities on federal and aboriginal lands. As a result, there is a regulatory gap for managing air emissions on federal lands in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, Environment Canada and the National Energy Board will be conferring to do this.

But what about those jurisdictions on other levels of our lands, Mr. Speaker? Air quality in the NWT is going to be a regulatory football, with agencies passing responsibilities back and forth and blaming each other when the football is dropped. When all are responsible, Mr. Speaker, no one is responsible or accountable. We need a clearly defined regulatory authority for the enforcement of air quality standards in the NWT, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last three years I have been pursuing funding in the budget to construct an access road from Tuktoyaktuk granular source No. 177. Mr. Speaker, I have indicated on numerous occasions, source 177 is only 22 kilometres southeast of town and it is the closest source that will address the gravel needs for Tuktoyaktuk.

Mr. Speaker, the Tuk Highway Working Group met with Premier Handley and the Minister of Transportation and the working group was able to receive $25,000 to conduct a survey of the access route. I appreciate the funding from the Department of Transportation. In order to gain access to source 177, this government needs to identify funds in the 2007-2008 budget. I believe this can be addressed through the access road funding under MACA.

Mr. Speaker, by allowing funding to build an access road to source 177 it will bring economic employment and business opportunities to the Beaufort-Delta. Many small business in the Beaufort-Delta will benefit if this access road can be constructed this winter.

Mr. Speaker, I understand the Premier met with the mayor, the deputy mayor and businessmen from Tuktoyaktuk on October 19th, 2006, in Norman Wells. My understanding from this meeting there was a commitment from the previous Minister of Transportation, Michael McLeod, to have someone from the department assist the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk in preparing an application for source 177. Has this been done to date?

I understand, also, that the Department of Transportation is organizing an Inuvik to Tuk road committee stakeholders meeting in the near future. When will this meeting take place?

At the same time, at the same meeting, the Premier indicated he would set up a meeting with Minister Prentice to discuss the further funding source for 177. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like the Minister of Transportation to work with the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and identify funding in the budget to include an access road to source 177 so that granular requirements of Tuktoyaktuk can be accessed for long-term use. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the affirmative action policy was developed in the late '80s to help the Government of the Northwest Territories develop a representative workforce that is representative of the people that is serves.

Mr. Speaker, that program has had its detractors and supporters from the very start. It has been studied excessively for the last 10 years by the government. In fact, in the 13th Assembly I was part of a committee of MLAs that did a report to government suggesting changes to the affirmative action policy, one of them being a change of name to employment equity. We now, as well, have our own human rights legislation.

We’re in the 21st Century and the statistics have shown us very clearly that the affirmative action policy is one that needs work; that it hasn’t been able to achieve the goals that were set out for it; that it’s too broad; that it doesn’t allow you to focus on those areas of our occupations and professions where there is a true shortage. It has been very successful at the entry-level positions with the officer and clerical positions, but with limited success elsewhere. Some geographical areas like Yellowknife continue to have a very poor representative workforce compared to the rest of the Northwest Territories.

I know that this Assembly of this Legislature and this government have been looking at that for this particular program now for the last three years and I believe it’s high time to do the overhaul that’s required. I know that there’s going to be discussion on what are the roles of P1s, P2s and P3s, especially in light of mobility legislation, our own human rights legislation. But it is a discussion that has to be undertaken. This is a very important program and one that we cannot keep studying and avoid dealing with.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, as we look at this, I would like to point out to everybody and the people of the Northwest Territories, that truly the best affirmative action program is a good education. You can show by our statistics that everybody who gets a diploma or a degree or post-graduate studies or a trade are highly employable -- in the 90 percentile range -- and we have to continue to invest in that particular part of this process. But the actual affirmative action program is ready to be overhauled and I fully support and will have questions later today for the Minister of Human Resources. I fully support moving the employment equity program forward into the discussion stage at the very least with the public. Thank you.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker… (English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk on an issue that’s very important to the continued survival of the Tlicho and other First Nation languages and cultures. That is the proper funding of a full-time Aboriginal Language and Culture Instructor Program, also known as the ALCIP program, to be delivered through Aurora College.

Mr. Speaker, as it stands right now, the ALCIP program is delivered on a piecemeal basis through either distance learning or individual courses being taught by instructors in the communities. In other cases the students taking the courses are not eligible for student financial assistance to help defray the cost of living expenses because it is not offered as a full-time program, Mr. Speaker.

This is an important program, coupled with the fact that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has clearly clarified through the ministerial directive the importance of using funds provided for aboriginal language and cultural programs properly, I believe there is a clear need to ensure there are qualified aboriginal language and cultural instructors in every school of the Northwest Territories. I know of many people who are interested in taking this program and learning how to share their traditional knowledge and language in the classrooms for the next generation of northerners, but these same people are not able to take time away from their employment and their families, take a part-time course delivered on an intermittent basis, Mr. Speaker.

However, Mr. Speaker, I do know these people would be prepared to attend a full-time program at a college and work towards their diploma if they were able to access benefits under the Student Financial Assistance Program and support their families.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment at the appropriate time. Mahsi.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today is a sad day for me and many Dene people in and around Yellowknife, especially for Deninu Kue constituents and a lot of people from Detah. Mr. Speaker, this morning I just attended the funeral of the late Ms. Helen Toby. Ms. Toby was a very well-respected Dene elder who lived in Detah and she passed away after a long battle with cancer. I just want to send out my sincere condolences from everyone here in the Legislative Assembly to all the family, friends and relatives and the many, many, many friends of Helen Toby. Our prayers go out to them all.

Mr. Speaker, only a week ago I mentioned in the House the passing away of one of my constituents, Ms. Lorna Norn of Deninu Kue, who was just laid to rest in Fort Resolution just this past Saturday. I was deeply saddened to hear on that same morning the passing away of yet another of my Deninu Kue constituents, Mr. Ross Cardinal. Ross died as a result of a single motor vehicle accident on Highway No. 5 on early Saturday morning. Ross is survived by his elderly mother, Ms. Dora Cardinal, his three brothers, his two sisters, his two sons, his two daughters, and his two grandchildren. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to send my deepest condolences again from this House to the families and relatives of the late Mr. Ross Cardinal, who will be very sadly missed by all residents of Deninu Kue and the people who knew him. Our prayers are with them also. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we stand in here all the time and we speak on the resources of the Northwest Territories, and we are a territory rich in resources. But, Mr. Speaker, I think one of our most precious resources in the Northwest Territories are the children in the Northwest Territories. That’s why, Mr. Speaker, I’ve stood in this Chamber before and I’ll stand here again and argue the point that the Children First Society in Inuvik needs to have a centre built as part of the new school.

It’s a proven fact, Mr. Speaker, that children who get a good start in their schooling and in their teaching make better citizens, more useful. We talk so much about the vandalism and all the trouble that’s been going on in the Northwest Territories with regards to young people, and having a centre, I believe, would help with some of them. They’ll learn to respect property, they’ll learn to respect each other, and they’ll integrate into the school a lot easier because they have a good head start. We have a chance here, Mr. Speaker, to shape some of the future leaders.

There’s an old saying, Mr. Speaker, that you reap what you sow and I firmly believe that if we plant the seeds now, years from now we’re going to have a fruitful harvest and we’re going to have some useful children in the Northwest Territories become good contributing adults. As it stands right now, a lot of people across the Northwest Territories have lost a lot of parenting skills and this is something that we desperately need to work on again.

We expect these people to continue to try and raise money and I really think, Mr. Speaker, that it’s time this government starts putting some of its priorities in the proper places. One of those priorities should be an investment into the children of the NWT. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the health care workers at Stanton regarding fairness, a stress-free, and safe working environment. As of late, this weekend I had spoken to a constituent in regards to this important issue; their concern that a staff survey is being done, but want to know if the staff survey is independent. Who’s writing the questions? Are they yes’s and no’s? Are there any interviews being done? Are they really drilling down to what the problems are and are they part of the solution? There are concerns out there, Mr. Speaker, and that needs to be answered. Is the hospital administration running this survey, or is it a complete and fair, open process?

Money may be spent by moving it out of the hospital administration, but I can guarantee the Minister in charge that there will be buy-in. Is there whistle-blower legislation coming forward so workers feel comfortable bringing forward their concerns without pressures that they’re not putting their heads on the chopping block when they bring forward issues? Are there pressures or fairness being done to ensure that worker safety and comfort are there?

We have fairness, Mr. Speaker, in some areas. We have some places you can have 150 hours of overtime where others you’re only allowed to have 100, and that’s being reduced next year down to 75 because of operational requirements. But the fact is, people need to be happy and feel good in their environment. Have we created a two-tier overtime system? We have workers working side by side, shoulder by shoulder.

Mr. Speaker, sometimes you need to do things to make sure everyone is happy. Although reasons will tell us we shouldn’t, we still need to find ways to make them happy. Let’s make it refillable, Mr. Speaker, for at least the shift workers. Have we done things to start off by creating anti-harassment training and legislation to work within our hospitals by both union and non-union, Mr. Speaker? What strides have we made there? Are we pitting friend against friend? Sometimes we forget about that because, at the end of the day, we have to work as a family to build morale and strength within our working environment.

I have to tell you, I hear about people working to exhaustion on their holidays, expected to work overtime. Our health care workers can’t be worked to the bone, Mr. Speaker, because if they’re sick, stressed and burned out, how are they going to care for our loved ones when they have to? We have no one else to turn to. Do we have better solutions out there, such as using agency nurses? They come with a different pay level, Mr. Speaker, but they create different types of pressures.

Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent at this time to conclude my statement? Thank you.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Hiring agency nursing, Mr. Speaker, may help with the short-term pressures, but the question is, do we have the right staff levels there in the first place? Fixing the Public Service Act constantly gets raised about finding solutions. I say it’s time we be innovative and lead Canada rather than someone else coming up with a solution. Let’s find a made-in-the-north solution that recognizes seniorities. Sometimes we need to put the rules aside and look for solutions.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you a flag has been raised at that hospital. It’s not a crisis flag, but it’s the white flag of stressed workers, Mr. Speaker. Areas such as OB, X-ray, lab, just to name a few, and I don’t have the time to list them all today, but people are being overworked.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, our senior staff are there to help us, but if they’re leaving, where is our mentorship and our experience? If patient safety is priority number one, then we need to make sure that our health care workers are provided the best and most supportive work environment we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about day cares and what our government is doing to address the need for more spaces for our children; the inequities that continue to be allowed to exist amongst day care providers, the low number of trained childcare workers, and options that the government should be exploring in addressing the issue.

In February, during our budget session, I asked the Minister of ECE a number of questions regarding the government’s role in addressing the need for more space and the fact that inequities are allowed to exist via charity leases and that some day cares are operating in government-owned premises. Yellowknife and other communities here in the NWT are very expensive places to live. Most families here have to rely on the income of both parents to make ends meet. This government has an obligation to parents to ensure that there is an adequate space and a level playing field when it comes to day cares.

Currently, there is a shortage of available spaces and a shortage of childcare workers. The GNWT has to recognize that we need more trained childcare workers. Are we doing everything we can? I don’t think so. We need more things, such as wage subsidies, incentives for persons to take early childhood courses, and other beneficial programs to grow and retain our childcare workers.

Mr. Speaker, just to put it all in perspective for this government, as a government we spend about $32 million per year in the area of corrections. Do you want to know what we spend in the area of early childhood programming? Four point seven million dollars. This, to me, is a travesty and this government should be ashamed of itself for not making early childhood development more of a priority.

Mr. Speaker, our children are our future and the responsibility for day care and early childhood programming has to be shared with parents, the government, both territorially and federally, and employers. In such a small jurisdiction, maybe we should explore the establishment of government-run day cares. The GNWT is an employer of roughly 4,500 persons and we should also be looking at subsidies for our employees requiring day care. Something must be done, Mr. Speaker. If we can’t rely totally on the federal government, then we must look at our own operation and come up with a better solution than we currently have. Mahsi.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along with yourself from our community of Hay River, it’s a pleasure today to welcome here in the gallery. I will call out the names and you can quickly stand if you like, but I won’t look up again because I know we have a limited time; Cecile Bonnetrouge, Misty Bourdages, Faye Duval, Margaret Elleze, Phillip Fabian, Eloise Fineday, Mary Gardiner, Tracy Hoff, Angela Jones, Crystal King, Lucille Lafferty, Ruth Lafferty, Angus McKay, Linda McBeth, Brandon McKay, Harriet McKay, Robert McKay, Bill Plunkett, David Poitras, Marlene Villebrun and John Young.

With the UNW president Todd Parsons, first vice-president Gayla Wick. From the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Jean Francois Des Lauriers. I also see two Mr. Coutoureilles, both Roy and Ed in the gallery today. Also, I notice Ann Juneau’s name on the list. Welcome to the Assembly. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the Nats’ejee K’eh workers today in the gallery and a constituent of Great Slave, an ally of these workers, Mr. Todd Parsons, the president of the Union of Northern Workers, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Braden. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to welcome the representatives from Nats’ejee K’eh and the UNW and PSAC. At the same time I would like to especially welcome a family friend who was helping my family get our foot into our new life in Canada. She’s visiting the North from Ponoka for the second time in 20 years. I would like to welcome Mrs. Campbell who is with my mother. Welcome, Mrs. Campbell. Thank you.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s not very often I get to recognize visitors from my riding into the House. I would like to welcome a number of people from the Hay River Reserve; Phillip Fabian, Robert McKay, Angus McKay, Harriet McKay, Brendan McKay and there are also a couple of people who are here who live on the reserve but are formally from my home town of Fort Providence. I would like to say welcome to them. Margaret Elleze is here and also Cecile Bonnetrouge. They are both from Fort Providence. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome also people from Nats’ejee K’eh, Dave Poitras, my sister-in-law Cecile Bonnetrouge, Phillip Fabian, Margaret Elleze and Tracy Hoff. I would also like to welcome the members from the union also for being with the membership. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Honourable Floyd Roland, Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, it was almost 18 years ago that I was involved as a part of a lobby along with the Hay River Reserve and many others who felt it necessary that we have a residential treatment program for drug and alcohol addictions in the Northwest Territories. You can imagine how pleased we were when this government decided to invest the money in capital and to build a treatment centre on the Hay River Reserve. That facility has been operating for the last 13 years, but, as you can see by the presence of the employees here in the gallery today, they aren’t at work because they have been locked out of their workplace and the valuable work that they do there.

The workers and the treatment centre helps residents from right across the Northwest Territories and there are many success stories to be told. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister what he can do in this regard. I know there has been correspondence that has gone to employer and to the union. The Minister has said that he hopes they can get back to the table. Is that the extent of what we can do, and what influence we have as a government on this situation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 215-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is the first stage we are at with the situation that is happening on the reserve, is to encourage both parties to get back to the negotiation table and bring a successful conclusion to this process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 215-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that time is of the essence. We have our residents who are now having to receive treatment in Alberta. Also we have 22 people who are out of work. Mr. Speaker, this is a third-party contract, but it is this government’s contract. It is taxpayers’ money that is paying for this contract to receive these services. I would like to ask the Minister, is there adequate funding being provided to this third party to perform this contract that would see these employees paid on a wage and benefit parity with other similar workers in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 215-15(5): Disruption Of Service At Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services' budget was prepared with the allocations available and the forced growth that was agreed to in a previous budget cycle for this fiscal year. For the upcoming fiscal year, I have not been provided any details if there are any changes to that. Of course, when you are speaking from one union to another, the comparability of benefits can be quite significantly different and that’s something that always has to be taken into consideration when we enter into these discussions. Thank you.