Mr. Speaker, I have often talked about the Education Renewal Initiative in this House and have updated Members a number of times as to its progress. In our discussions last year, Members said that unless children actually go to school it does not matter what programs and supports are provided. Members encouraged us to create a school attendance advertising campaign and, Mr. Speaker, we have acted upon that advice.
Mr. Speaker, our school attendance rates are not where we want them to be. Students must strive for 100 percent in order to give themselves the best chance to learn. A student who has 80 percent attendance is missing two full years of school by the time they reach Grade 10. In 2014 the average attendance in our small communities was 77 percent compared to 82 percent in the regions and 90 percent in Yellowknife. Seventy-one percent of Northwest Territories Grade 10 students had less than 80 percent attendance. We must work to improve these statistics.
Ensuring students go to school is everyone’s responsibility. Many people can affect a student’s attendance. It is the role of the school to provide thought-providing classes and a safe and warm environment. Parents and caregivers can help their children get out of bed on time and provide a healthy breakfast and a quiet place to do homework. Leaders can speak to the importance of education and can motivate and incent students by showing them how a good education can improve their lives, and government can provide information
and resources to help students become the best they can be and provide leadership to district education councils and authorities and support parents.
Following on the advice of Members, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is undertaking a student attendance campaign that takes our message directly to youth in ways they understand. We are using innovative and modern graphics and “teen-speak.” We have created an infographic which not only poses questions about attendance but offers youth places to go if they need help.
We will be providing these resources to Members for their constituency offices and will be displaying information about attendance, helpline contacts and quick facts in every community in the Northwest Territories. Our goal is to ensure youth make good decisions for themselves and their futures and to make sure they know where to seek help if they need it.
Mr. Speaker, this campaign was, in part, created by youth. They advised us on the look and feel of the campaign, the right wording to use to reach their peers and where to place our messages. I firmly believe that because of their participation in this campaign, we will reach out in the most effective manner to a wider youth audience and will be more successful because of it.
But, Mr. Speaker, this is not all we are doing to increase attendance in schools. Through the Education Renewal Initiative there are several projects underway to improve schools as learning environments. One of the reasons some students do not attend regularly is because they are being bullied. We are addressing this through our Safe and Caring Schools legislation, regulations, School Codes of Conduct and Safe Schools plans.
Another reason some students attend irregularly is because they are hungry. This issue is being addressed, in part, through the Healthy Food in Schools Initiative which is underway this year. Some students do not attend school because the courses they are interested in are not offered. We are addressing this issue through the expanded commitment to distance learning that ERI is supporting this year.
Mr. Speaker, we share a vision of a strong and prosperous NWT. Our youth need to be healthy and educated if they are going to participate in and fully enjoy the benefits of a growing economy. Education renewal is helping prepare them for a successful future. We recognize that attendance is of paramount importance as we move forward with the Education Renewal Initiative and we are working hard in this area on many fronts. These are some of the ways that our renewal of education is tackling the issue of student attendance in the NWT.
I want to thank Members for their advice and guidance on this issue and for their continued support as we work with youth to help them achieve their dreams. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, developing our employees and ensuring the public service is prepared to provide sustainable, quality programs and effective services to our residents in the future are a priority of this government. In 2009 we started a 10-year journey to develop excellence in the public service through 20/20: A Brilliant North, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. We are midway through the implementation of 20/20, and now is a good time to review some of our successes.
Our ability to provide sustainable, quality programs and services is strongly linked to recruiting and retaining talented staff who are committed to their professions, their communities and the people they serve. Employee surveys tell us the Government of the Northwest Territories is an inclusive workplace that recognizes and embraces diversity. They tell us we have good programs to support recruitment and the development of Northerners. They also tell us employees see real advantages to working for the GNWT, with its unlimited range and diversity of work and opportunities for career growth, development and advancement.
Mr. Speaker, we have seen good results in developing future senior managers through the leadership, management and Aboriginal development training programs. We have started implementing competency-based performance management to ensure successful performance in our jobs. We have implemented policies and programs to ensure our employees are treated with fairness, dignity and respect. We have partnered with Aboriginal and community governments to develop and sustain the public sector at all levels across the NWT.
The government is focusing on strengthening its occupational health and safety culture. The Department of Human Resources is providing strategic advice on Occupational Health and Safety, or OHS, activities across the GNWT. Twenty-nine departments and agencies have developed or are in the process of developing their OHS programs and have OHS coordinators in place.
However, we recognize there is more we can do to achieve our goals. It is also important that the public service focus on service delivery outcomes. We can achieve this by providing managers a strong framework for human resource management decision-making.
The Department of Human Resources is preparing an HR Management Accountability Framework to align the GNWT with modern best practices in human resource management. The framework will establish the supporting structure to set clear roles and responsibilities and reasonable performance expectations based on legislation, policy and regulations for sound human resource management decisions.
Mr. Speaker, we can improve our ability to acquire and retain talent by modernizing the workforce and workplace. Modernization means offering efficient and effective recruitment programs substantiated by cost-benefit analysis and sound return on investment. The Regional Recruitment Program is assisting with increasing regional employment opportunities by linking residents with local jobs. Nine trainees are in positions learning new skills through on-the-job training and providing service to people in their communities of Inuvik, Fort Simpson, Fort Providence and Fort Smith. Two more positions are in the process of being filled. Work is underway to improve the program so that it is a proactive tool for hiring managers looking to fill positions.
Mr. Speaker, our vacancy numbers have improved, dropping by 188 positions between last April and October. The GNWT is continuing its focus on training the northern labour force and marketing itself and the jobs available throughout Canada using streamlined recruitment to bring qualified and skilled people into the North to fill hard-to-recruit positions. We will continue to use direct appointments and/or recruitment to attract affirmative action candidates to the GNWT and fill our critical vacant jobs.
We continue to invest in our youth by making jobs available through the Summer Student and Internship programs. While we are making opportunities available to post-secondary students and graduates, they also have a role to play. My advice to them as new job seekers is to be proactive in their search for employment. Research GNWT departments and agencies to find work units related to your field of study. Approach managers in these units to let them know you are interested in working for their department. Apply now. Hiring is based on the needs of departments and agencies. Managers will contact students directly if an opportunity arises.
Mr. Speaker, implementing an HR accountability framework and improving our HR programs continues to move the GNWT towards the goals and objectives of the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. With these modernization efforts, we ensure a diverse, competent and sustainable workforce, capable of, and committed to, delivering high quality services to the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable David Ramsay will be absent from the House this week to attend the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention in Toronto, Ontario, and the Pacific Northwest Economic Region Arctic Roundtable in Washington, DC. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I read with great interest the editorial in today’s News/North about decentralization. I’m glad that the editor agrees with regional MLAs and supports, “a policy that improves services in remote and isolated communities.”
Certainly we as a government have to continue planning to increase the amount of jobs for our regions. Every job transferred out of Yellowknife brings benefits for a small community and new families that will help the community grow.
In these communities, people with jobs stimulate the service sector as demand rises. For example, the move of the Business Incentive Policy office to Hay River created four jobs. I know that the Department of Public Works and Services assessed all of our communities two years ago, planning for devolution and then decentralization. The office space availability and housing availability rate did not score so well in Fort Simpson. I now can see that the Liidlii Kue First Nation, through their business arm, Nogha Enterprises Limited, is planning to improve the situation.
The Liidlii Kue First Nation will be building a new office right in the heart of Fort Simpson. This is a joint effort with Parks Canada. They are planning on building additional offices for future growth, and our government should be right there beside them to plan the future growth of Fort Simpson, Mr. Speaker.
During question period I will be calling upon the Minister of Public Works and Services to contact Nogha Enterprises Limited in Simpson and see how they can be helpful as they plan for the next round of decentralization. I believe it is time for our government to seriously consider Fort Simpson for the next round of decentralization. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In celebration of Aboriginal Languages Month and keeping with my own personal goal of speaking all nine Aboriginal languages in the House, with your indulgence I am honoured to address the North Slavey people today.
[Translation] Thank you. Today I’m going to speak North Slavey. At this month we pick one language I speak. If we lose our language, it will be a sad day. So that that wouldn’t happen, we need to keep it strong. There are five languages but only 500 speak their language. Thank you for celebrating this month with me.
The ducks will be flying again. Good, good, good. Mahsi. [Translation ends]
I am honoured to address the North Slavey people today as they are strong with their language and culture. I want to wish them also a good month of ducks.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank our elder, and my teacher, for helping me today, Ms. Sarah Cleary, who is just over my shoulder, sitting behind me in the translator booth. I hope she is proud of her student. Mahsi. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
How do you top that, Mr. Speaker? He’s a good student, he’s teachable.
Mr. Speaker, there’s a song Dr. Hook sings, “Storms never last, baby.” Mr. Speaker, listen to this song because there was a really big storm in the Sahtu over the past weekend here. It was so strong that the storm blew out some transponders, or trippers, in Norman Wells. People were fighting after a couple hours of having no power. When it got to the three hour point, they were getting kind of nervous because they didn’t know what was happening.
I just happened to be there and I called the Minister, and the Minister answered right away. The Minister’s on the ball with this one here, Mr. Speaker, because he got back to me right away. Thank God there were some crews in Norman Wells that saved the day for us. If that wasn’t the case, because I understand even Tuktoyaktuk had some trouble with the power outage, and Inuvik, and right down the Mackenzie Valley. There was a big wind. The Minister was saying that the NTPC had to make some priority choices, some difficult choices for our communities, where to fly into.
Norman Wells was having a blizzard with gusts of wind of about 60 to 80 miles per hour. Thank God, also, it was minus 46, so it wasn’t too bad. But people were getting kind of nervous.
So, I want to say thank you to the good NTPC workers who were there. They found out where the issue was. They restored the power in just over three hours. The Town of Norman Wells staff will do as much as they can. People in the town of Norman Wells were running around seeing that everybody was okay. You know, Mr. Speaker, I understand that it’s also in Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik, but I think it’s about time that the Sahtu gets its own NTPC crew, linemen, or do something, because if it wasn’t for that crew there, for whatever reason being there, we would have had the same troubles maybe like Tuktoyaktuk, you know, not having our power hooked up in that time the workers were there.
So, I’ll have questions for the Minister. I want to thank the NTPC crew and their staff for the good work they did in the communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This weekend, along with my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen, we were able to attend the Hay River Chamber of Commerce. Annually they announce the Citizen of the Year, and I’m proud to say that the winner of this year’s Citizen of the Year is Louise Schumann. Louise has been a long-term Northerner, has lived in Hay River for a long time, has supported play school and minor hockey, and more recently she was one of the driving forces to make the Hay River Skate Park a reality.
They also named the Customer Service Award that went to Juaning Capulso, and the Hay River Business of the Year was Super A Foods, so I’d like to send out congratulations to John and Tracy Hill and Steve Anderson.
At this function they also named the new executive of the Hay River Chamber. The president is Joe Melanson; first vice-president, Steve Anderson; second vice-president, Sherry DaRosa; treasurer, George Blandford; secretary, Allison Steed; and directors are Mark Huntley, Wayne Taylor, Heather Coakwell, Tom Lakusta, Wally Schumann, Kevin Wallington, Tim Hinz and Kelly Schofield.
It was a great event. We had great entertainment. I’d like to thank Anne Peters, the executive assistant to the Chamber of Commerce for making everything a huge success. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The current system of income assistance in the NWT is not working. It is complex, intrusive and inefficient, and too many dollars are being used up to administer a system that does too little to lift people out of poverty.
In 2013, income support payments of $16 million cost almost $4 million to deliver. Twenty percent of the dollars available went to administration. Given these shortcomings, another approach is needed.
Currently, before a person qualifies for income assistance they must be destitute. All of their assets, right down to their retirement savings and vehicle must be gone. Recipients must report regularly to a case worker and continuously justify their need. The system saps an incredible amount of time and resources and keeps people in their poverty traps.
If an income assistance client finds a part-time job or some other income, it is clawed back, removing some of the incentive to work at least. Contrast this with what many economists, on both the right and left of the political spectrum, feel is a less expensive option with greater positive outcomes, a guaranteed basic income.
This system automatically tops up the incomes of people living in poverty using direct automatic payments through the existing tax system while allowing them to keep the productive assets needed to get off and stay off social assistance. There is no need for an expensive bureaucracy to oversee the system, no need for applications and no need for monitoring. This system encourages people to find work by giving them the security of an income guarantee without the fear of being worse off by working.
A pilot project in Dauphin, Manitoba, in the mid-70s showed many more positive outcomes, following the implementation of a guaranteed basic income compared to the old welfare-based hospitalizations system. Graduation from Grade 12 spiked, people were healthier, hospitals due to sickness, injury and mental health issues were significantly lower and more young women opted to complete school and wait before having children. The guaranteed basic income allowed families to make plans for the longer term, rather than fighting to free themselves of the welfare system’s poverty traps. It was eight years after the program ended before things reverted, finally, to the old measurements.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
Results from the Dauphin study showed that a guaranteed basic income lifted more people out of poverty than a welfare-based one. Over the past weeks we’ve heard the old-saw “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results,” several times in this House. It certainly applies here.
Let’s try something new that has the promise to be effective and efficient. Let’s shift to a guaranteed basic income. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know that this Assembly wants to foster vibrant communities, communities with healthy, educated residents. Well, local fishers in the community of Kakisa are working to do just that. A number of local fishers work hard to harvest fish from nearby Kakisa Lake. This fresh, fantastic and healthy northern product can be then sold in Hay River, bringing business to both the community and the wider region.
At first this may seem like small fry, but remember the community’s small population. Here, every catch counts.
The community has told me that they are hard at work promoting local sales. Residents are eager to promote local resources and to develop local employment opportunities. For the government, this is an opportunity for youth engagement, education and training like the successful Take a Kid Trapping program. Will the government act on this opportunity?
Small-scale commercial fishing like the kind done in Kakisa is hard work and often with small returns, but still the community is looking to the future. For instance, they’re also considering possibilities in sport fishing.
In this session we have recently celebrated the launch of the new brand, NWT Fresh Fish from Great Slave Lake, designed to celebrate and promote NWT-based fishery initiatives both here in Yellowknife and in Hay River. I can’t stress enough the importance of encouraging and supporting local fisheries, not to mention education about the industry and its opportunities. Through this we can encourage both local food and community-based businesses. But even in our celebrations, I must be diligent. Communities like Kakisa may be smaller than our regional centres, but we must not forget their worth. These communities also need our support.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, 2015 was a great start for many people in the Beaufort-Delta region, particularly those in the area of sport and recreation. We have seen a lot of achievement so far in this early start to 2015. We had some basketball teams bring in some banners, and we had a young lady from Fort McPherson win a gold medal at the Canada Winter Games. In fact, we had a strong delegation representing the Beaufort-Delta region at the Canada Winter Games. Just recently, our Inuvik women’s team won the territorial championships this past weekend.
This is all a good segue to show my support to the Beaufort-Delta region for their 2018 Arctic Winter Games bid. You’ve heard my colleagues from Hay River speak in support for their bid, and I also support them and wish them the best of luck in moving on this bid.
On January 27th to the 28th, our bid committee from the Beaufort-Delta region welcomed five members of the Arctic Winter Games International Committee to Inuvik and proceeded to do a tour. Along these tours, obviously, they opened up with the drummers and dancers, which I’ve always showed strong support for and have always mentioned them in the House as strong ambassadors for the Beaufort-Delta region, for the Inuvialuit culture, but for the Northwest Territories as well.
They also toured some of our venues and accommodations, which I have to say have served many events in the past. Most recently there’s been the Circumpolar Games, Traditional Games, the Inuvialuit Circumpolar Conference, national TRC events as well as the Inuvik Petroleum Show which has been going on every year.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Inuvik Chamber of Commerce that hosted a breakfast as well as a dinner that had the whole community come out. In fact, strong community support was mentioned from the tour members on their tour.
In the Beaufort-Delta region we have a high cost of travel when we come to tournaments in Yellowknife or go down south. As a result, it’s vice versa. There’s a high cost of travel for teams to go up to the North. In fact, a lot of teams from Yellowknife and the South Slave don’t always get the chance to go up and see what Inuvik has to offer. I think it’s about time that we showcased the Beaufort-Delta and got some of these southern teams, southern communities up to see what the Beaufort-Delta has to offer.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Like I said, it’s a high cost of travel. Inuvik comes down to participate in all these events all the time from the Beaufort-Delta region. As well, it’s a great chance to showcase the Beaufort-Delta region. Also, it might be one of the last times to actually drive the ice road, so that’s one thing to also highlight.
Before I finish off my Member’s statement, I would just like to thank the Arctic Winter Games 2018 Bid Committee from the Beaufort-Delta region for their hard work and for doing an excellent job in showcasing what we have to offer in the Beaufort-Delta region.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about the Hay River Hospital. When the addition was put on the old hospital and the new hospital, it was state-of-the-art, cutting-edge technology with all of the supplies at the door of the rooms. It was an amazing day. I was there in the audience at the ribbon cutting for that new hospital.
That hospital has many happy memories – I had three children in there – and some sad memories. I said goodbye to some dear friends that were there, some elderly folks, and I even had a chance to work there and my husband worked there.
For a government that says they are billions of dollars in infrastructure deficit, we cannot discard a piece of infrastructure that is still viable. It can’t be useful one day and ready for the wrecking ball the next.
Maybe we needed a new hospital. Well, we did need a new hospital, and thank you for that, but that doesn’t mean that the old hospital is garbage. If it can’t be used as a hospital, surely it can be used as something else with all of the things that we need in the Northwest Territories.
Let’s list off a few of the things that we send our residents south for: drug detox, alcohol treatment, diabetes treatment and education for families. And we have a growing number of seniors in the Northwest Territories. Surely those nice rooms all with a washroom would make excellent studio-type suites for seniors and that is not something that would require a lot of staff.
This building, in my opinion, can be re-profiled. I know the government gets nervous when we talk about that because all they see is the dollar signs and all the money that it’s going to cost, but we need to get real about our infrastructure here in the North.
We watched Doctors Without Borders on television treating people and providing medical care in grass huts. I mean, we have a building there that works. It’s functional. It’s operational. It’s viable.
I would like to today ask if this government could strike a committee with the Hay River’s Interagency to brainstorm, to come up with some ideas and if the Department of Public Works and Services can do a comprehensive, technical review of this facility so we know exactly what we’re working with and if there’s something that we can re-profile it into that’s useful to the North and to Hay River. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for Range Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I’m representing Frame Lake. I’ve been speaking about income support a lot this sitting and I will again speak about income support today.
There are seemingly endless contradictory policies or rationale for denying clients that apply to income support. Today I have to highlight another one. We have residents who are homeless for any number of reasons. These same residents, if they’re homeless, are generally in need of assistance from Education, Culture and Employment and income support. For some, especially those with families, the only accommodation or housing where they will be accepted is a hotel or motel. But when they apply to income support for housing assistance, they are denied. Why are they denied? Because tenants in hotel or motel accommodations are determined by Education, Culture and Employment to be living in transitional housing and transitional housing is excluded from the Residential Tenancies Act, and for that reason ECE denies them assistance.
That application of policy contradicts the action ECE takes for tenants at the Salvation Army and the YWCA, tenants living in what is also considered transition housing, tenants who are, therefore, also excluded from the Residential Tenancies Act. Yet these income support clients do get housing assistance from ECE. I can’t argue with the department’s interpretation of the Residential Tenancies Act. Transition housing is explicitly not covered under that act. Even after considerable consultation undertaken recently around potential amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, the GNWT Department of Justice has decided to continue to exclude transition housing from the act.
It appears that ECE has decided that tenants of hotels and motels are in transition housing and, therefore, not eligible for housing allowance from income support. ECE has also decided that tenants at the Salvation Army and YWCA accommodations are in transition housing, but those tenants are eligible for a housing allowance under income support.
So I have to ask the Minister, what is the definition of transition housing used by the department? What facilities fall under that definition of why or why not? What is ECE’s policy around transition housing and a client’s eligibility for funding for accommodation if they live in transition housing?
All I’m after is some clarity and consistency in the application of policy and, as the Minister likes to tell me, fairness for all income support clients. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.
I would like to welcome everyone in the public gallery here. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of NTPC in regards to the power outage in the small communities of Norman Wells and Tuktoyaktuk, and somewhat in Inuvik. Given the weather conditions of the severe unprecedented wind storms that were blowing in the communities, does NTPC have a priority rating scale as to which communities they should be getting into right away because of the power outage in the communities, given that they were all happening at the same time? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have an emergency rating system. The folks on the ground in the communities, in Inuvik for example, make determinations. They talk with the folks in the various communities and then they look at the severity of the situation in each community. The one that is the most critical is the one that we try to get to the fastest and the soonest. If you have a community where there are hundreds of people with no power for a great length of time, that is a critical emergency in the wintertime. So, we work to the utmost, working around the weather, keeping safety in mind, but making sure we get response people on the ground there as soon as possible. Thank you.
The NTPC workers in communities of Norman Wells and Tuk and Inuvik, I certainly appreciate the types of conditions they have to be challenged with in order to get into a community that has a power outage and the emergency rating.
I want to ask the Minister, in regards to the Sahtu region, does the Sahtu region have qualified power linemen that could have fixed the issue in Norman Wells that happened on Sunday? Do we have people in the region who are able to do that work, other than wait for Simpson or Inuvik crews to come in?
We have some personnel on the ground. We have some that we use and we try to look to work with other folks who have some kind of similar capacity.
In terms of do we have any particular linemen, I would have to confirm and get back to the Member on that. Thank you.
I certainly appreciate the Minister getting the information back to me. I want to ask the Minister, is there any type of training in the communities where if we do not have that type of staff in our region, because we have to either wait for Inuvik or Simpson to come in with those qualified linesmen, can there be some thought to start training our people in the region so that they can do the work, other than to fly in people from outside the region?
Power lineman is a very specialized, highly qualified trade where there are electrical skills required but also the ability to work under very significant and extreme circumstances, often on pole trucks, in some cases climbing poles, so it’s not a type of profession that you can just have folks train partially. But I take the Member’s point and concern about having a permanent facility and capacity based in the region, and I’ll be happy to have a discussion with him possibly tomorrow morning, bright and early at breakfast. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
