Ms. Bisaro, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is the duty of the Power Corporation to do all it can to minimize the impact of power generation costs on the average Joe or Jolene. I am, unfortunately, still waiting for that day.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Members’ Statement on
Reorganization of the Northern
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to respond to the Minister’s statement on some of the progressive energy initiatives that this government is showing, and I want to compliment them on that. I look forward to contributing to those further and to reviewing them through our climate change committee and so on.
But, Mr. Speaker, we really need to follow these initiatives within a context, and that context is: how did we get to this situation? We have an economy, a system of government, something here that has failed us and allowed this to become a critical situation. It’s not just here; it’s around the world. To me that tells us that we not only need to restructure some energy initiatives, but we need to restructure our economy and how we do business to improve the services to our people. For example, we need to pursue one that really is more concerned about our local economies, one that deals with our societal and environmental well-being and the opportunity for every individual to fulfill his or her potential.
We don’t want to just deal with these issues through subsidies and by shipping the cost onto government, obviously. What would a restructured economy look like? To me, we should know by now that as a basic environmental issue, we should be carbon neutral in all our development activities. This is entirely possible. I think we will be hearing more about that. We want to be increasing local self-sufficiency and skill levels. Again, there are many opportunities here. We need to see that basic needs — food, energy, shelter and so on — are provided increasingly through largely local production using regional resources.
Mr. Speaker, there are many opportunities for this sort of thing. I think that until we commit ourselves to restructuring our society and the way we pursue these initiatives, we won’t achieve our goals. We are going to be moving from crisis to crisis, as we are with our energy. Water, for example. We have a lot of serious concerns coming up. Our food and energy prices are going up. Our housing is going up. Our youth are crying out for leadership. Let’s provide it and do a comprehensive restructuring approach towards systems that actually work for our people.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize, first of all, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Rod Knecht. Also Inspector Roger Miller of Edmonton, Chief Superintendent Tom Middleton of G Division, and the deputy minister of Justice, Bronwyn Watters. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize a constituent of mine from Tsiigehtchic, Roger Mazon. Roger is a well known artist in preserving a lot of our traditional art. I’d like to welcome Roger here and also spend a moment to recognize my partner in crime, Mr. Lee Selleck, in the gallery.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Chief Superintendent Tom Middleton, a friend, neighbour and constituent. Thank you very much. Welcome.
If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. We hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I talked about the elders facility in Fort Resolution and the need to have the department take a serious look at working with the community to maximize the use of this facility.
Today I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me when this facility was built?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have it exactly here, but I understand the building was built by the NWT Housing Corporation in, I’d say, the last ten years or so.
Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, this facility was initially planned to be a centre for 24 hour elderly care. Can the Minister tell me what the initial plans were for this facility when it was first built?
My understanding is that the building was built by the NWT Housing Corporation to be sort of the gathering centre and to support independent units surrounding the Great Elders Facility. Historically there has been no programming determined or O&M funding provided for that facility.
Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I have been working closely with the Member to increase the services there for seniors. Recently we had an initiative to provide $22,000 to run a day program there; we have a contract with the seniors society there. As well, we have confirmed funding from Aboriginal Diabetes programming where we’ll be able to provide meals for seniors five days a week.
I understand that that’s not 24-hour care, but it is certainly a big step toward having that centre used more as a gathering centre and a support centre for the seniors in the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I talked about the costs incurred when an elder is transferred to another community, like Hay River, Fort Smith or Yellowknife. Can the Minister tell me what the total cost to the department is for one elder to be taken out of Fort Resolution and cared for in Hay River, Fort Smith or Yellowknife?
The elder in question who was taken away was in need of intensive care. We did have him in the community with the family, but his needs were so high that he could not be taken care of there.
I do understand and appreciate the need for the community to keep their elders, especially in their last years. We want to be able to accommodate that as much as possible. But there are some seniors with acute needs that need to be taken care of, and those services are not available except in major centres.
My understanding in terms of 24-7 care for seniors is that in order for us to provide those services economically, we need to have at least a ten-bed facility in order to have enough of a staff makeup and to use resources wisely. The Great Elders Facility has about four bedrooms. I want to tell the Member that I am trying to see what we can do in that facility to use those units. I’m looking at all options and working with the Member on that.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not really getting the answers I’m looking for. However, if the Minister has looked at all options, would it be possible for the Minister to tell me if they have looked at the option of what it would cost to the department to upgrade this facility to be used for 24 hour care?
Mr. Speaker, we would then have to add six more rooms. There are four rooms in there right now. For the YACCS dementia centre that we’re building, we’re spending $500 per unit. Second of all, in order to accommodate ten seniors, we would need at least 12 to 15 staff. That would be about $1.5 million to $2 million of O&M funding. Right now that is not what we have planned for the Great Elders Facility, but I am looking at all possibilities to see that that facility is used as an elders centre and that programming is increased there. We have already introduced two more programs in that area. I am committed to working with the Member to see that that facility is used as much as possible to serve the needs of seniors in that community.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today, I’m very concerned about the condition of the Diamond Jenness Secondary School and where it is in terms of this government’s priorities — a year of new school openings and some very large budgets, shall we say, to go to address the needs of educating students in other communities and other regions. Could the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment please advise what the status is of this government addressing the substandard conditions at Diamond Jenness Secondary School?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, those are the issues that have been addressed. We did visit the community school. Thanks to MLA Groenewegen for giving us a tour, and also to the principals. That’s part of the capital projects that we will be discussing over the next few days here. There is an education plan underway as well. That is the ongoing work that is happening between our department and PWS. Those are the discussions that will be undertaken here in the House on the capital projects.
I do thank the Minister for attending the school in Hay River with us and going on a tour of that facility. As a result of those visits, though, we were told that the Diamond Jenness Secondary School replacement or renovation had been red flagged. I understood that to mean that it had been designated as having some significant priority in the list of capital demands that this government is dealing with.
I’d like to ask the Minister: when we were told red flagged, what did that mean?
Those red flagged projects in the past have been targeted as one of our priorities. We have those existing projects in the communities — the schools that are being built, the schools that are being renovated or worked on. Those will be the committed projects. The red flags are other projects waiting on the list. Hay River’s Diamond Jenness School has been targeted as a priority for this government to initiate work on that part of the renovation. It will be part of the discussions that we’re going to be having on capital projects here in the next few days.
One of the things that has precipitated some immediate action on the part of this government with respect to capital infrastructure for education has been catastrophic events like fire, flood, collapsing roofs, things like that. The only thing that has come to light in Hay River which caused the closure of the school on a temporary basis was air quality. There were air samples taken and sent down South, and it was eventually determined that the school was safe to reopen.
I’d like to ask the Minister: has he actually seen the results of those air quality tests, and would he be willing to table them in the House?
On the air quality tests that were initiated by PWS, the report has been done. It has been shared with the Member, I do believe. Maybe I’m mistaken on that. Certainly, those reports were taken into consideration when we were going through this process as being a priority project. I personally, as the Minister, have not seen the document itself. It’s within the Department of PWS. I need to sit down with the Minister of PWS to go through the actual results and the information.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could be corrected, but I believe that the Chair of the education authority had asked to see those actual reports, and I had asked too. Perhaps the education council has received them subsequently, but I have never seen them.
Again, I’d like to ask the Minister if he is confident that the school is safe and the air is safe regardless of those asbestos issues that were there. Would he be willing to confirm that for the people who use that facility by tabling those air quality reports in this House?
Certainly, I will make a commitment in this House to meet with the Minister responsible for the review, PWS. Once that is initiated, whatever I can share with the Member and the local DEA, I’ll certainly do that. At this point I need to sit down with my counterpart at PWS to discuss it further.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question to the Minister of Education is in regard to the housing crisis we have in Aklavik by way of staff housing. I received a letter from one of the teachers in Aklavik who was given notice that they’re being evicted from their existing residence, which was being provided through a local company.
I’d like to ask the Minister: what is the Department of Education doing to remedy the situation to find alternative accommodations for teachers in Aklavik?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, we’ve been alerted that one of the communities is having a shortage. There was notice of the closure of a building. The Member already approached me on this particular issue. I did instruct my staff to follow through on it with the local superintendent in the Beaufort-Delta. My staff is working closely with the superintendent and the local DEA to try to resolve that issue.
It is a private contractor that holds the unit, and it is due for closure next month. We’re doing what we can as a department to work with the community to find solutions. It is a development corporation arm that the units are under, so we need to work closer together on that.
Mr. Speaker, this issue is not new to this House; I have brought it up several times. This issue has been out there. Those units that are in our communities are old government staff housing units. They’re almost 40 years old. The government sold those units, and the companies that did take them on continue to retain them as staff housing. As we all know, the costs of operating and maintaining old facilities continue to escalate, and the costs of heating and providing power to these units is not being recouped.
I’d like to ask the Minister: has he looked at working with the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation with regard to the Corporate Loan Guarantee Program to assist real estate or other companies to provide housing and be able to access this program? That could improve the cost of operations for those units so they can reduce costs and hopefully find a solution that’s agreeable to both groups — our teachers and the people providing these houses.
That is one of the areas that we are focusing on as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We’re working with the Housing Minister on this particular case. As the Members would know, we are in a housing crunch in the small communities, especially the most isolated communities. Dealing with staff housing for teachers…. They’re struggling to find suitable units, and it is our concern.
We’re doing what we can to try to come up with a solution. One of the solutions, possibly, will be a loan guarantee from the NWT Housing Corporation. We are pursuing that. We are focusing on a potential pilot project in one of the communities. We’re meeting next week on this particular case to try and move forward on this item. We are going to reach out to other jurisdictions as well in the other small isolated communities. Aklavik will be one of them, and other communities as well. We’re doing what we can as a department to work closely with the Housing Corporation and the community.
Mr. Speaker, this issue has come up by way of the Beaufort leaders meeting. It has come up through motions and resolutions and meeting with the Divisional Board of Education. Again, as a government we do have to have some means of accommodating those areas in the Northwest Territories where we don’t have the private sector involved. I think if that means getting back into staff housing, I guess that’s what we’re probably going to have to do.
I’d like to ask the Minister: do you have a universal plan for looking at housing to accommodate professionals in the northern part of the Northwest Territories? That is a unique challenge in that part of the jurisdiction that we are responsible for.
Mr. Speaker, that will certainly be part of the planning process. It’s not just the ECE department; it’s also Housing and Health and Social Services — the nurses. We have a variety of professionals living in the communities. We need to form a group within Beaufort-Delta and other regions, where there’ll be Chairs to meet on this particular item, because it is a serious item that we need to deal with. It is a need in the communities, and also it’s our need to have those teachers or nurses placed in the communities.
I’m also meeting with the Chairs of the regional boards in December. That is one of the topics on the agenda. It’s always an issue that we’re dealing with. Certainly, this will be one of the issues that we need to deal with.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With regard to the urgency of this matter I’d like to ask the Minister if he can keep me, the Divisional Board of Education and the principal of Aklavik informed on any progress that’s being made on this matter. Like I say, I am getting calls from the teachers, and they feel that they are basically having to not only deal with the stress of teaching but now have to worry about where they’re going to sleep at night.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he can speed this thing up and try to find a solution to the problem as soon as possible. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we’ll certainly keep the Members posted, particularly the Member for the Aklavik area. We need to look after our teachers; we need to look after our professionals. And it’s not only us. The NWTTA has also stressed concerns over this. I’ve met with them. So there are all different parties involved in this particular case. Once we make progress, we’ll keep the Members posted on what’s happening, the progression. We’ll hopefully find a solution for this case. Next Monday is approaching already, and we need to deal with that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is in follow-up to my Member’s statement with respect to the Tu Beta Ts’ena, “Water is Life” film that was premiered last night.
During my discussions with a number of people in the audience after the film, it was easy to tell that people were very passionate about this film. I think it is very important for this film to get into as many places as possible so people can get to see this film. It would be good for this government to get it into all of the schools.
So my question to the Premier is: would he commit to purchasing copies of the film from the Akaitcho Territory Dene First Nations and getting that film into every one of the schools in the Northwest Territories so that our youth can see that film?
