Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize a resident of Hay River, the woman whose shirt matches my tie, my mother, Bette Lyons, and I want to wish her a happy birthday. Thank you.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and welcome a couple of folks today. First, I would like to recognize a former city councillor, and as well, an MLA for Frame Lake, now a Yellowknife North resident, Wendy Bisaro; and I would also like to recognize a former city councillor, colleague, and now the street outreach coordinator, Ms. Lydia Bardak. Welcome.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I, too, would like to recognize my friend Wendy Bisaro, who served this House and also served as city councillor, and thank you for her years of public service. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also rise to acknowledge Wendy Bisaro. With Wendy in the House with the Minister and I, we represent a quarter of all the women who have ever been elected in the NWT. That is three. I would also like to acknowledge my constituent Samantha Thomas and congratulate her on her new role, and wish her the best as the ED of the Status of Women, and also Lydia Bardak, my constituent who is doing some very effective work on the streets of Yellowknife helping people who are intoxicated. Thank you.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize Ms. Lillian Elias, who is the Elder here who said the opening prayer. Also, she is the Inuvialuit interpreter for the Legislative Assembly, and my Auntie. Welcome. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to take the opportunity to recognize one of the constituents from my riding in Inuvik Boot Lake, Ms. Judy McLeod. Welcome to the House. It is always great to have you here. Also, a former colleague in the 17th Legislative Assembly who has offered great wisdom, experience, and guidance, Ms. Wendy Bisaro. Great to see you again, and welcome to the House. As well as Lillian Elias, who is translating this week as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it was the last of the questions I asked on the last day of our last sitting, and it was about the Yellowknife Airport hours of operations. Just to refresh everyone's memory, sometimes when people are en route to Hay River, they fly through Yellowknife. If a flight gets in late, at midnight, one in the morning, then they assume they are going to be staying at the airport until they can check in at four in the morning, but what happens is the airport closes for those three and a half hours? I asked the Minister before; this is the third time I will be asking these questions. I asked him: when we get this airport revolving fund, will we be able to keep the airport open 24 hours? Because sometimes people in the winter have to leave the airport overnight, and sometimes there is nowhere to go. Sometimes there is no hotel. Sometimes they cannot afford to take a taxi to Tim Hortons. He said we will look into it once we get the airport revolving fund. He said we will look into it. Well, I have got confirmation, a letter of confirmation that they will not be opening the airport 24 hours unless there are flights departing or leaving in that time span.
I would like to ask the Minister: when can we expect new flights to be added that are going to be departing or leaving at around two in the morning so that we can keep this airport open? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Member is right. We did send a letter stating that presently we are not changing hours of operation of the airport. The reason we are doing that is because costs have to match offsetting revenues that are brought in. This is early days on the revolving fund. We know this is going to be an economic driver. We have had people already contact us about direct flights. As most Members already know, Air Canada has said they are going to put a direct flight on from Vancouver in November. We have a number of carriers that are looking at promoting this as a destination and direct flights, and we will continue to work on that.
Winter is coming up quickly. These rocks in Yellowknife don't absorb much heat, so when it gets cold, it gets really cold. So that people do not get locked out in the middle of night in the middle of winter, can the Minister commit to at least keeping a portion of the airport open overnight, with or without security?
As I have said, the costs must be offset by revenues, and this is not the case. We have not changed our hours of operation, and moving forward until such time that this happens, we will not be keeping the airport beyond the posted hours that we have right now.
By approving this revolving fund, apparently we have freed up $4 million that the GNWT was subsidizing the airport, too, and apparently it is going to bring in a few million. We have got an $8 million swing here. I see the Minister is unwilling to spend any of that to keep the airport open to solve the situation where people find themselves locked out in the middle of winter in Yellowknife with no money and nowhere to go, so I have a free solution for the Minister. I have an old metal barrel. Will the Minister let me put this barrel somewhere on the airport property so that travellers can huddle around and burn their luggage for warmth?
I think you are going to have to take that up with the carbon tax moving forward.
As I have stated, we will look at this, hours of operation, when revenues are coming in to offset the costs. Things are moving forward. This is early days. We will continue to monitor this. The advisory board is in place moving forward. Very shortly, they will be commencing to have their first meeting.
As the Member stated, we have freed up some cash. The physical needs of what the airport needs moving forward are far beyond what the Government of the Northwest Territories could handle before. This gives us an opportunity to address those things, because everyone in this House knows probably the biggest complaint about the Yellowknife airport is the CATSA system and the line-up getting onto your airplane. We are trying to free up money to work towards that. I think later on this month we are going to be moving forward on some initiatives, and at this point I cannot speak to them, but we are moving in a positive direction.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What work has the department done on the liability issues surrounding kicking people out of a government building in the middle of the night when there is really nowhere around where they can go where there is some warmth? Has the government looked into any of those types of issues? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would have to look into the exact legalities of that, but there are probably more legalities if we left the person inside the building when there is no security or people in place to make sure nothing is going on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that equity leases are leases on Commissioner's lands, where the leaseholder has a commitment from the government that their lease payments will be put towards the eventual purchase of their land. In this House, I have been asking about equity leases for a long period of time. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please provide an update on how his department is working to resolve this issue, and how many equity leases exist on Commissioner's lands in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, when I first took over this file I had thought that there would not be many equity leases out there, but unfortunately there are a great number. I can advise that there are actually 243 equity leases spread throughout all five regions of the Northwest Territories; they are all on Commissioner's land.
In the coming weeks my department will be bringing forward options for me to consider. I will bring those to Cabinet for consideration and then to the Members for further discussion as appropriate. We certainly do recognize this is a very important issue for many leaseholders throughout the Northwest Territories. We are hoping to resolve this issue.
I apologize if I confused everybody in the House here. I was talking to the Minister of Lands, which was the same Minister of Justice. How will the department deal with this extra workload; because we're talking a number over 200 land leases there, equity leases, so how will the department work with that?
Certainly, initially what we'll have to do is determine how we are going to be proceeding with the resolution of the equity lease problem. We're hoping to have an overall comprehensive plan that will resolve this very difficult issue. We are going through the process right now and any positions conditionally approved through the forced growth or initiative process will be defended through committee reviews of the 2018-2019 business plans in November and defended through the main estimates process. The first step really in this procedure will be to determine where we're going with this very difficult project. I am confident that we will be bringing forward to Cabinet measures that will hopefully resolve this issue.
I thank the Minister for his answer; however, it seems that we're continuing to delay, delay, delay, and that is a concern for the residents, just not in my riding but a number of ridings. What will the Minister or the department do with leases that are expiring until they're dealt with?
Yes, as the lease agreements mature or come to an end, Lands is placing them in an overholding status until the issues are addressed. Now what that means practically is that the lease continues under the original lease clauses with an overholding status. We will not be entering into any new equity leases; those are a thing of the past, but we believe that this will not prejudice the current holders.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess I'm a little concerned if the lease payment says at the end of the day you've got to continue with your payment, a dollar a day and that, but what is this government doing to ensure all leaseholders who have equity leases in place are treated fairly by this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it is our intention that all leaseholders will be treated fairly. I think it's important to realize that not all of these equity leases are identical, so it's going to require a lot of work to go through them one by one, but as I mentioned at the outset we are intending to resolve this matter by treating leaseholders fairly and properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about modernizing Indigenous medicine, and my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People states that Indigenous knowledge medicine must be protected. Mr. Speaker, how does the Minister understand the role of the Department of Health and Social Services in preserving, protecting and supporting the delivery of Indigenous medicine practices? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a huge question. Historically, I would say that the Health and Social Services Department in the Northwest Territories has not made responding to Indigenous healing practice a priority, but since becoming the Minister of Health and Social Services I've clearly heard from Indigenous leaders and residents across the Northwest Territories that we need to find ways to support traditional healing in our health and social services system. Mr. Speaker, that's why in November 2016 I tabled a commitment to action document titled "Building a Culturally Respectful Health and Social Services System."
Mr. Speaker, one of the key commitments in this document includes understanding and respecting traditional healing and finding ways to incorporate it within our system. Staff are currently working towards developing an action plan with traditional healing as one of the action pillars.
Mr. Speaker, in addition, when I met with Indigenous leaders from across the Northwest Territories over the past several years I've heard that we need to work in partnership to ensure that Indigenous traditions and practices are reflected and honoured in the delivery of a health and social services system.
Last year, Mr. Speaker, the department invited Indigenous governments from across the Northwest Territories to participate in a working group to consider how we together might structure an Indigenous advisory body that can help inform and shape our program and policies in this area. Over the past year departmental staff have collaborated with representatives from seven NWT Indigenous governments to develop the terms of reference for this group, and that draft is currently out for review by the Indigenous leaders from across the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I had intended and still intend to make a Minister's statement on this exact topic later this week.
These are important steps, Mr. Speaker. However, as the Member has clearly outlined there are many challenges to this work that stem from the long history of colonization. For these reasons I think we all must take great care in the way that we approach these discussions and rely on partners and knowledge of experts in the field, such as the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation and the advisory group that I just mentioned, to help guide our appropriate discussions and direction in this area.
Once the action plan is tabled in the new year, engagement with our partners will be critical to further identify our actions around traditional healing and wellness throughout the entire Northwest Territories.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, my second question is the Department of Health and Social Services recently released the NWT Midwifery Stakeholder Engagement Report. Mr. Speaker, how will the department support the revitalization of Inuit and First Nations midwifery practice in our communities?
In response to one of the recommendations put forth in the NWT Midwifery Stakeholder Engagement Report the department has initiated some preliminary discussions with partners in the School of Human Services at Aurora College to begin to explore the feasibility of offering a maternity care worker and training program. This type of program, Mr. Speaker, is similar to the model that has been offered by Nunavut Arctic College that is grounded in Indigenous culture beliefs and values.
Given that Stanton had committed to the development of a territorial Aboriginal wellness centre, how will the Indigenous medicine practices and programs, like the traditional food program be incorporated into the new Stanton Hospital and hospitals across the Northwest Territories?
With the new territorial hospital being built, Stanton and the GNWT have a unique opportunity to collaborate with their P3 partners in developing traditional foods menus. Carillion, which is the organization that will be managing the facility management of the hospital, has been in dialogue with hospital leadership, Stanton's Indigenous Wellness Program, and the Stanton renewable project to explore what a northern and traditional food menu may look like in the hospital. The menu planning discussions have included how foods are harvested, prepared, and how they can be served to patients while they're in care at Stanton.
The goal ultimately, Mr. Speaker, is to have northern and traditional menus be part of the mainstream menus as opposed to an exception. Northern and traditional foods would also be part of the menu for all meals served, not just lunches and dinners. Sample menus and preparation techniques have been provided to Carillion by Stanton Indigenous Wellness Program, and I'd like to add that Stanton's Indigenous Wellness Program provides welcoming, culturally sensitive emotional support to Aboriginal patients during their hospital stay. Access to cleansing ceremonies, traditional healing, and medicine is provided to patients as requested, and the lessons we learned from Stanton, we hope and believe can be applied to other parts of the territory. We understand the value of traditional foods. We are trying to find a way. We are working with our partners.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, I have some questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister: can the Minister describe the criteria that the department uses to assess whether or not the Abraham Francis Ferry will operate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ferry operations are dependent mainly on water levels. Water levels can be too high to make it safe; water levels can be too low to make it safe. That is the main criteria of operating the ferry, to get vehicles and people across it safely. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
