Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are going to be meeting and getting the group together. It’s going to be ourselves and industry, obviously. So I can’t determine their schedule, but we’re going to try to have our people ready at any time and definitely before the next barging season. Thank you.
One of the parties that we can’t get to the table is the federal government. Are we inviting the federal government to get into this deal?
We can, as the GNWT, bring them to the table and ask them to come to the table. But again, it would be their call on whether or not they wish to attend such a meeting. But we can, as the GNWT, invite them to come. Thank you.
Obviously, the obvious question is: Is the territorial government willing to put any kind of dollar figure towards putting this on the capital budget and getting this project moving?
It will likely not be a capital budgeting process. It would most likely be an O and M item. This would be, again, most likely a contribution if it was to be capital. I think this may be something that could occur, I think dredging would occur every five years or so. I think that’s what has been happening in the past. So for something like that, it would be most likely a one-time contribution and then maybe setting up some sort of schedule, but I’m not sure that the Department of Transportation is going to get into the purchasing of the dredging equipment. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would there be an opportunity to commit to a multi-year approach? As opposed to spending millions of dollars in one year, maybe going to a multiple year, like going $400,000 and $500,000 a year for 10 years, as opposed to giving $12 million to the project.
We’re looking for a commitment financially to the project. Is the department willing to put that into their own end budget? Thank you.
The very initial discussions that we had was dredging is commonly done on a five/six year basis. A lot of dredging has to occur for the whole Mackenzie River right away. So not only the Hay River Harbour but there are some spots along the Mackenzie River. So, likely it would be multi-year dredging. But it’s really early to get into it because we need to figure out who’s going to pay for the equipment if the federal government will participate. If we participate, do we come forward with money here in the House? I suppose that’s part of the process. So those questions have to be answered and a plan has to be developed. That’s what we’re hoping to do this winter. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services, specifically for persons with disabilities. Residents at Enterprise have very limited access to services, especially if people are disabled and they have very limited services in the community. That’s more likely a general statement that could be upheld in smaller communities.
My question is to the Minister. How will the Department of Health and Social Services support continuing the handivan services in Hay River and the surrounding communities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Public transportation is the responsibility of the municipalities, and this includes things like the handivan services. At the present time, the GNWT doesn’t have any available funding through the Department of Health and Social Services to support this initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I was expecting an answer like that. Has the Department of Health and Social Services discussed this matter with other departments if there’s no funding, like MACA or with the Town of Hay River, to look for a partnership solution to these problems? We need an answer today. Mahsi.
Aside from medical travel, the Department of Health and Social Services isn’t actually involved in transportation, but I have had this issue raised to me and we have shared this information with MACA, who has indicated to me that the community government could choose to use either their gas tax or community public infrastructure funding to purchase handivans in their communities to provide services to their residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Perhaps you could sum up the situation like this: We need to do something today and now. I think persons with disabilities lack the services and support that they could have in larger centres, but in small communities people struggle. The town can’t afford to maintain the services, and at the same time, local costs cannot be absorbed by the Hamlet of Enterprise. The Minister is mandated with his department and also has the responsibility to look after the general interests of residents of the GNWT.
Can the Minister step in and commit to assist and providing the funding to the Town of Hay River immediately so that disabled persons can access the handivan? Mahsi.
It’s my understanding that the Town of Hay River actually did have a handivan in place, and for a period of time they did provide services throughout the community for persons with disabilities, including services to Enterprise as well. That service was actually discontinued by the community.
I would strongly encourage the community to continue to have dialogue with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs around what money they can use that has been allocated already. Unfortunately, the Department of Health and Social Services, as I said, doesn’t have a responsibility for travel of people in the Northwest Territories outside of medical travel, and this wouldn’t fall under that scenario. But I will certainly share the information once again with the Minister responsible for MACA and strongly encourage the Member to work with the community and have them continue their dialogue with MACA.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a very disappointing lack of commitment and a lack of a very substantive answer to an everyday problem that we experience in small communities.
I don’t know; what is the role of the department, then, and the Minister, the role of this government in addressing persons with disabilities that require services at the local level? What role is this Minister going to play and what role is this government going to play in addressing services that could be directed towards meeting the needs of disabled people?
It’s a shared responsibility across the Government of the Northwest Territories depending on the different portfolios. Housing has a significant number of responsibilities around persons with disabilities and they have been addressing those. As does MACA with communities, as does Health and Social Services, things that we’ve done around the Early Childhood Development Action Plan, work around respite. As the Minister responsible, one of my responsibilities is to share information across the different departments and ensure that they are working towards a common goal, but it doesn’t change the individual department mandates.
I have indicated that I will certainly continue to work with MACA. I strongly encourage the Member to have the communities that are affected discuss the issue with MACA and see if they can find a new resolution. But community transportation is not a responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Services, so I strongly encourage him to continue to have that dialogue with the appropriate Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I have questions for the Minister of Justice in regard to some of the campaigns and the work they’re doing around how we’re kind of getting rid of the bootleggers and the drug dealers in the community. I guess my first question is the Not Us! campaign. I know it’s been successful in some of the communities in the past. Hay River and Yellowknife have had successful programs. Inuvik did have a very successful program at one time.
I just want to ask the Minister, how much funding is allocated for this program and is it being utilized in the Northwest Territories and has there been an increase at all over the years?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The total allotted to the Not Us! campaign by the Department of Justice is $100,000 per year. Communities can be provided with up to $10,000 to create and implement their own campaigns in their own communities, plus up to $5,000 annually as well.
We’ve had some success in a number of communities across the Northwest Territories, Fort Good Hope, Fort Liard, Fort Smith, Gameti, Hay River, Ndilo, Detah, Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok, and also here in Yellowknife.
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, we’ve got to create awareness and education on these programs and let our residents, especially the ones who have a certain interest in getting rid of our bootleggers and drug dealers, about such campaigns like this. I know I’ve also asked in the past in terms of prevention and promotion. I know we had one canine here, a canine unit in the Northwest Territories, and speaking to our Minister, that has been up to two.
I’m just wondering, I’m sure I asked questions about this before. I just want to get an update whether or not those canines on request would be able to get into the communities on a more regular basis and more or less kind of control and patrol our airports and our road systems.
That would be an operational decision of the RCMP, but what I can say is in the 12 years that I’ve been a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I don’t recall a year where we’ve seen more drug seizures, illegal alcohol going into communities. We’ve had just today another three seizures in small communities across the NWT, and the number of drug busts is really something. It really gets back to the great police work that the RCMP are providing for us here in the NWT, and also campaigns like the Not Us! campaign and also Crime Stoppers. At the end of the day, community members have just had enough of the bootleggers and the drug dealers in their community and want to do something about it.
The Minister did allude to Crime Stoppers as being one type of avenue. Can I ask the Minister if there are any other types of phone lines or tips hotlines that the Minister can reference that would allow residents of the Northwest Territories to give an anonymous phone call to get some of these, I guess, perpetrators in the community who do the bootlegging and sell drugs, if there’s any other type of hotline in the small communities that they can call to address such a situation? As we’ve mentioned, I think there are maybe 11 communities that don’t have RCMP officers at the moment.
The only way we are going to rid our communities of bootleggers and drug dealers is to let the authorities know. In the communities, folks can contact the local detachments. If they want anonymity they can look to Crime Stoppers, and we’ve advanced the Crime Stoppers board here. There’s a renewed effort to get that board up and active here in the Northwest Territories. We’re very encouraged by that. There are opportunities for folks to provide information to the RCMP whether it’s anonymously or through the local detachments.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
I know that in the Northwest Territories we do have communities that are accessible by road, by water, the Mackenzie River. I’m just wondering if the Minister would be working with the RCMP “G” Division to create higher awareness in those areas that are accessible by land. I know there have been concerns and issues brought forth, and as the Minister alluded to earlier, there have been a lot of seizures in the communities where a lot of booze and drugs have been taken, and we’ve seen that in the media. Would the Minister work with the RCMP “G” Division to create more public awareness around those communities that are accessible by land and water?
It’s very important that that message continue to get out. As the Minister of Justice, along with my counterparts from across the country, we’re deeply concerned with the number of deaths that are caused by the illegal drug fentanyl, and I think that’s something that we have to be acutely aware of as well. I know we’ve had some recent seizures of that drug here in Yellowknife. It’s very alarming.
We do have RCMP patrols, and one of the seizures that I spoke of earlier was near the community of Tulita where a jet boat was intercepted with a number of bottles of liquor on board. Also, road checks and the winter roads. We really increase our efforts when the winter road season is in, and check stops and ensuring that there is not illegal alcohol going into our smaller communities.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the last conversation, I have to say kudos to the RCMP for the job they’re doing. They’re doing a great job lately.
My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Lands. I want to follow up on some questions that I asked to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources last week. The Minister of ENR, in answering questions to me about the Cantung Mine, indicated that there is about $11.6 million held in financial security for the Cantung Mine.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Lands what form that security is in. We have several different kinds of security which we can hold. I’d like to know how this $11.6 million is held.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we are holding $11.6 million, but as per the form, I would have to confirm that and share it with the Member.
Thanks to the Minister. I’ll take that commitment. My information is that out of the $11.6 million that about $5 million is in promissory notes. I think promissory notes as an accepted form of security for the liability and reclamation of a mine are not worth very much. Next to worthless is my understanding.
I’d like to ask the Minister, if some of this security is promissory notes, would he consider asking the company to change them to an irrevocable letter of credit, which does have great value, as opposed to a promissory note which has very little value?
Part of our process now, plenty of security is set. Our division at Lands will negotiate with the proponent the form of security. There has been some concerns in the past, raised with promissory notes and other forms of security that is believed doesn’t hold much weight. So, we will negotiate with them.
As for the actual figures on this one again, I will confirm those figures and share it with the Member and if there’s an opportunity to renegotiate that, I mean, they’re in a situation right now where I don’t know how difficult it would be for us or make it difficult for us to negotiate with them, but I will get those figures and I will share them with the Members. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I guess I would say, considering the situation that North American Tungsten is in, it’s imperative that we check what kind of security we have and probably ensure that we have security that is going to assist us in reclamation if they go under.
To the Minister: I’d like to know, we hold $11.6 million in whatever form of security, but how much is the reclamation going to cost for this particular development, this particular mine? Can the Minister advise us what the estimate of the reclamation is and what kind of liability we would estimate we have for this particular property?
I wouldn’t have those figures. It’s too early right now. I think we’d have to do an assessment of the potential reclamation costs. So it is fairly early right now. We are holding $11.6 million, but as for the rest of it, again, it is fairly early and we will have an opportunity to do an assessment to see what the actual reclamation costs may be. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister: I’m a little surprised that we haven’t yet done an assessment. I would have thought that once we took over the ownership of a property, and apparently we now have responsibility for the Cantung Mine, that an assessment would be done so that we’d know what kind of liability we’re looking at.
So, in terms of this assessment, if it has not been done, when will it be done, and if there is a variation in the amount of liability required by the assessment and the amount of liability we hold, will the Minister aggressively renegotiate the agreement that we have with North American Tungsten? Thank you.
We will commit as a government, as a Department of Lands, that going forward we will aggressively negotiate all future land lease securities. I think because we have the authority now, it’s more important that we do our due diligence. I do know in June of this year there was a water licence amendment for the mine and I think the revised security amount was set at $30 million. So again, we will do our due diligence and I will confirm these figures and share them with the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also for Minister McLeod today. The recent reports from the YWCA in Yellowknife show that there are 64 families in emergency and transitional housing in the last fiscal year with more than 100 families on the waiting list, 50 women waiting to get into Lynn’s Place here in Yellowknife, 152 families on the waiting list to get into Yellowknife Housing Authority’s housing units. So these are obviously appalling numbers. Housing First programs are getting lots of kudos as a housing solution across North America.
I’m wondering: what is the Minister’s understanding of Housing First programs, their successes and their applicability here in the NWT. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have done some research into Housing First and we are working with the Department of Justice to integrative case management and we’re exploring the possibility of a Housing First model. I believe that the City of Yellowknife is one of the only communities in the Northwest Territories that’s large enough to access some of the funding that the federal government has made available. So I think they’re also trying to pilot a Housing First project and we’re working with them. Thank you.
