Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize a couple of Pages from the riding of Frame Lake. They will be working for us this week. I’m not sure about next week. I’d like to recognize Jordan Balsillie and Princess Duculan. Welcome, and thanks for the work you’re doing for us.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent of the Great Slave riding, Mr. Kieron Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Welcome to all the visitors in the gallery. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today.
Mr. Speaker, today we would like to acknowledge a well-respected lady from Radihili Koe, Mrs. Lucy Jackson.
Mrs. Jackson will receive the Order of the Northwest Territories on Wednesday, October 7, 2015, at the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly along with other recipients.
Mrs. Jackson is a lady with strong traditional knowledge, along with her supporting husband who is a full-time trapper.
Mrs. Jackson is known for her North Slavey translation in the Sahtu region and across the NWT. She is also a layperson at her local Roman Catholic Church.
On behalf of the Sahtu region, we would like to congratulate Mrs. Lucy Jackson for keeping traditional knowledge alive through her many skills and strong language.
Mrs. Jackson is truly an inspiring lady to the people in the Sahtu, her community and her family. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement, I have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services.
The Department of Public Works and Services has a mandate to provide expert support and innovative leadership in community fuel provision.
How will the department help Aklavik to address their urgent concerns about the price of gasoline and heating fuel?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Public Works fuels services division is responsible for the communities that are considered to be non-market communities. Aklavik is a market community. In Aklavik the fuel and the gasoline have been distributed by a private company up until this year, and the private company is continuing with a change of ownership again this year. However, we are having discussions with them as a result of the concerns from the community and the petition that was sent out.
The petroleum products division manages fuel supplies for communities that aren’t served by the private sector.
When will the department step in to help a new community, one like Aklavik where residents are experiencing severe rate shock?
We are currently engaging with the new private company that is providing fuel to the community of Aklavik. We have been having discussions right up until yesterday, perhaps even today, especially with them. We, too, have a concern with the cost of fuel for operating the power plant in Aklavik, who we are continuing to have discussions with them currently. Thank you.
I’d like to ask the Minister, how long would it take Public Works and Services to provide fuel and gasoline to Aklavik? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this point, it’s necessary for us to assist the Power Corp with some fuel into Aklavik. We are currently working on delivering some tanks. I would say something like this could happen within a couple of weeks once we create some capacity. At this time, aside from the mobile capacity you will be bringing into Aklavik to accommodate the fuel for the Power Corp, the only other capacity is owned by the new private enterprise that is now responsible for fuel in Aklavik. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister meet the leaders in Aklavik to find a solution to this crisis? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have not gotten to that point. We did receive a text message from the mayor asking if I was available for discussion. Unfortunately, I have not made contact with the mayor at this point. I am prepared to talk with the leadership, along with the private company, to try to come up with a solution for Aklavik so there’s not such a steep increase in the cost of fuel and gasoline for Aklavik. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The residents of Nahendeh have been asking the Department of Transportation to consider moving from a 16-hour day to an 18-hour day, which means opening up the Lafferty Ferry at the Liard crossing from 6:00 a.m. until midnight. We were very pleased that we almost had a trial period this fall, but unfortunately the residents didn’t like the two-hour break which is prime time for traveling back home and would have created some other headaches. Since that time, I have spoken with the Minister to review how the Providence work was being done for an 18-hour day. I don’t know if the Minister has had time to review how they would be able to operate from 6:00 a.m. to midnight as opposed to 8:00 a.m. to midnight that is currently happening with the Lafferty Ferry. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point I’ve only had the opportunity to review the situation in Fort Simpson. We’ve tried to do a trial, as the Member indicates; however, we found that the two-hour break in the centre was a considerable change to the businesses in Fort Simpson. At this point we were trying to operate the ferry within the time that we have been operating the ferry at the current costs allocated to the ferry and expansion of the hours. An increase in the hours to the ferry in Fort Liard would add substantial cost to the ferry operation, most likely meaning that we would have to add a complete crew. So, right now the ferry operates with a certain number of crew and to increase hours would mean that we would have to have a complete crew because of the regulations that determine how long individuals can stay on the ferry for one shift. Thank you.
Certainly that’s the kind of information I had asked the Minister to provide, so I don’t know if he can provide me with those facts, the actual costs between the 16-hour day versus an 18-hour day. Because the head residents are saying, well, they ran that way at the Providence ferry, why can’t they run it here at the Liard crossing at Fort Simpson? So, a good comparison will let us look at those figures and see what it would take to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m prepared to have the department provide the cost of increasing the ferry that crosses the Liard to 18 hours to see what has to occur, what regulations we have to look at. I’m pretty sure that if we do, I think that regulation only monitors the amount of crews that we currently have. So, if we added a crew it should be well within regulation, so the issue would be costs. So, I’m prepared to provide that information to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That would be nice to get that kind of documentation as soon as we can. Can the Minister commit to that? Thank you.
I will endeavour to get that information to the Member as soon as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the need for palliative care beds in Deline. I’ve been working with three Ministers so far and we’re trying to figure out why it’s such a struggle to get palliative care beds in that community so that loved ones can live out their dying days amongst their people. Why is it taking so long?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re committed to getting this done and are working with the community of Deline to get this done. We had actually hoped to go in this summer, but due to staffing issues and the fact that Deline was probably one of the busiest communities in the Northwest Territories this summer, we didn’t actually manage to get in there.
Last week, during our bilateral meetings with the Sahtu, I committed to getting in there as quickly as possible, prior to October 23rd. In fact, we were hoping to go in this week, the same time that the Sahtu AGM, the Sahtu Health and Social Services Authority AGM was going to be held in the community. Unfortunately, I understand that a respected elder has passed away in the community. With respect to the community, I’d like to pass along my condolences to the family as well as to the community itself. But it has resulted in that the AGM was in fact cancelled and our staff has decided not to go in there this week.
This morning I attempted to call Chief Kenny to set up a time for us to go in or, rather, the staff to go in to work with the community, because there’s a number of things that we have to do with the community. We want to make sure that the people are there who we can engage with properly. Unfortunately, I was not able to get through. I will be calling later today at break to hopefully coordinate a time with the community when we can actually get in there. I’m hoping that we can get in there next week to do the work that needs to be done. Thank you.
I do want to commend the Minister for the respect for the well-respected elder who passed away, and that is why we need the urgency to have our loved ones come home so their last dying days can be at home.
I want to tell the Minister, there’s a program called Excuses No More. I wonder if the staff could look at that program, because that’s all I’ve been hearing from this department. I’ve been at this for some time, you know, and all I get, and people in Deline get, is excuses, excuses, excuses.
I want to ask the Minister, can he stand by his commitment, when he said in Deline in June, we met them and said we’re going to do this, you know, and let’s get to that.
So, I want to ask the Minister, according to the press release, it said that the Premier’s committing to meet with the Deline leadership within the next two weeks to discuss how to bring palliative care beds into the community. That’s October 9th. Can we believe this? How strong is your commitment?
Thank you. As I indicated in my first response, we were actually intending to go in this week and we were booked to go in, but as a result of the death in the community and the cancellation of the AGM, we’ve chosen not to. I have committed to getting the staff in there. I’m hoping they can go in next week, but before we can get to that time I’m hoping to speak to the chief in the community to make sure that it is still an appropriate time, given the recent events in the community. If not, hopefully we can get it done the week after, but I have committed to getting this done prior to October 23rd and I stand behind my original commitment that we will get this done.
This is where I’ll see it when I believe it. It’s been a commitment by this government, the past government, through all the governments and the Ministers to get palliative care beds in that community. I just don’t know what’s going on over there to get the beds that they need over there.
So I want to ask the Minister again, can he assure this House and assure the elder up there, assure the people in Deline that we’re going to go beyond just saying we’re going to get it, we’re actually going to put palliative care beds in the community, because from this side here it’s quite frustrating to stand up and not be really sure that the commitment is followed through. It’s hard.
I appreciate the Member’s opinion. I disagree with him. I’ve made a commitment; we’re going to stand up to the commitment. There’s a significant amount of work that needs to be done and they were hoping to do it this week, but they will do it the week after or the week after, depending on what the chief of the community says is appropriate.
Department staff need to work with the authority and we need to work with the community to conduct a functional program assessment of the wellness centre that exists. They also need to complete a health assessment with the needs of elders and residents with chronic conditions in the community. This will help identify the gaps in the current resources so that a plan for services that will support the elders to remain in their community, remain in their homes during the dying process can be put into place. This isn’t just the GNWT. This is going to require a partnership with the community of Deline.
We’re looking forward to moving forward and developing that partnership and finding a way to conclude this in order to ensure that residents have the ability to receive palliative services in their communities during the final stages of life. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My reason for standing here is to represent my people. This is what my people are saying. You know, where is the conviction of this department and this government? How many Ministers do we have to go through to say we want palliative care beds in Deline? I’ve heard, I can go through Hansards and bring up all the commitments that you’re going to do. Nothing has panned out and that’s a matter of fact.
So, I want to again remind this government, remind this Minister that the commitments are not there. They’re like standing on sand, it’s not salt, and people know because nothing is happening in Deline right now. So we’ll see. We’ve heard it before. So this is the voice of the people in Deline.
I want to ask the Minister, how strong is your commitment to the people? How strong is your word?
I appreciate the Member’s frustration. I’ve said this is my fourth time standing here in this role saying that I’ve made a commitment, we’re going to get it done. We were supposed to go in this week, but out of respect for the community, we have not gone in this week because of a death in the community. I tried to speak to the chief. I will call him again at break. I tried to call him this morning to work with them, to work with the community that we respect to make sure that when we go in there we can have meaningful dialogue. We are committed to this. I don’t know how I can say it differently for the Member. We are committed, we’re going to get this done, we will work with the community, a community we respect and a community that we have been working with up to date. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Minister Miltenberger and it’s about caribou. Recent ENR surveys indicate that most caribou populations in the Northwest Territories continue to plummet. One vivid comparison states that if the population of the Bathurst herd was compared to the population of Yellowknife, the Yellowknife population would now be smaller than Deline or Fort Resolution. This is disastrous with human and ecological impacts. We know what the numbers are, but what are the causes? We’ve had severe restrictions on harvesting caribou for several years now, with the last two years in almost complete moratorium on Bathurst and Bluenose-East herds.
What has the Minister learned about the effect of hunting on the caribou populations and whether he feels that the hunting restrictions have had a measurable and positive effect? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Miltenberger.
What we have learned as part of the decline in 1986, 460,000 animals, down to today about 15,000 for the Bathurst, during the prime hunting times a number of years ago, about 15,000 animals, mainly cows, were taken out of the herd. What we have learned since then – as the Member has indicated, no hunting for the last probably four or five years now – is that there are other contributing factors. They all combine together. There are access roads, cumulative impact, rising temperatures and things like in the last two years we’ve burnt four million hectares of forest.
With the pressures on the herd, the stressors, it takes a long time to turn around a decline that precipitous and we are still struggling with every herd in the Northwest Territories with probably the exception of the two to the east and the west, the Porcupine and the Beverly Ahiak. It is one of many factors. There are others like predation, climate change, as I indicated, and those other types of things, but there is still a need to control the harvest because, as the Member has indicated, the population drop has been precipitous. Thank you.
I appreciate the response. I didn’t hear, really, whether the Minister feels the hunting restriction has had a measurable effect, but one area that has been suggested and the Minister mentioned as a stressor on the caribou population is industrial development.
I am wondering what research is government doing into the effect of the impact of increased industrial development on the caribou and what actions are being undertaken to ensure the recovery with respect to those factors. Mahsi.
That issue came up during the Jay pipe hearings. The issue of cumulative impact was a directly contributable effect in terms of fatalities on a regular basis. It’s one that has not been clearly defined. There have been changes made as issues have been raised in terms of the road access, how the road is used, how the traffic flows, the ability of the herd to cross the road. So, there is continuing work as we look at that particular issue. Thank you.
…(inaudible)…what is this government doing on its own or with its partners to address or at least understand these factors so we can then address them? What research has been or is being done by this government or our partners on the role that our changing climate is playing in the decline of our caribou herds? Mahsi.
This is an issue that has been raised as one of concern as well. For example, the chiefs in the Tlicho region where we were visiting and having our regular meetings with the chiefs about the need to gather around the table and take a broader look, hunting is not the only issue. There are things that we have to better understand as a government, a territory and a Legislature. We’ve made significant investment to try to reduce our carbon footprint to switch off of fossil fuels, to get more involved in provision of renewable energies all in an attempt to mitigate what is now known to be a clear factor that is driving up the temperature. At the same time, we are struggling to adapt. There is work going on in many quarters on that particular issue and that is, indeed, one that is very complex. Thank you.
