Reducing red tape is a constant priority of our government and we spend a lot of time at it. I don't find the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Red Tape Report card of much help or assistance or very useful. I don't feel that having somebody coming down from Toronto once or twice a year and giving us a failing grade and not making any suggestions on how to improve. They don't go to the communities. I don't find that report very helpful.
Well then with that, I guess I ask the Minister: does the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment have a mechanism for collecting constructive feedback from small business to determine how government programs might better serve their needs?
Here in the Northwest Territories, we are very fortunate to have very strong Chambers of Commerce. We have the NWT Chamber of Commerce and we have at least five or six chambers throughout the Northwest Territories in every region. We have a very close relationship, and the NWT Chamber of Commerce shares our view of the red tape report, and because of the fact that we are a small jurisdiction, we can interact almost on a one-to-one basis with businesses, especially when we travel to the regions.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for his reply. This will be my final question. Does the Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment regularly review and consider successful small business programs in other jurisdictions, and if so, are there examples that could be implemented in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As a government, we participate in federal, provincial, and territorial meetings in a number of different areas. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment participates, FPTs and small business, so I always say that by participating, we gain a lot more than we contribute in these FPT meetings because we get access to best practices in every jurisdiction in Canada. Just recently, British Columbia has outlined what they're doing with small business. They have a round table for small business in BC that they feel every province and territory can benefit from doing something similar, so this is something that we have access to on a regular basis.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about Inuvialuit Day. Today, my questions are for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my statement, the Inuvialuit are negotiating a selfgovernment agreement with the GNWT in Canada. My question is: when was the agreement-in-principle signed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Inuvialuit SelfGovernment Agreement-in-Principle was signed by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and the federal government on July 22 2015 in Inuvik. With the signing of the Inuvialuit SelfGovernment Agreement-in-Principle, the parties are actively working towards the timely conclusion of a final Inuvialuit selfgovernment agreement.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my second question is: what is included in the agreement-in-principle?
I will try to cover that in a few short sentences. The signing of the Inuvialuit SelfGovernment Agreement-in-Principle marks an important step on the road towards Aboriginal selfgovernment for the Inuvialuit. The agreement-in-principle serves as the foundation for the negotiation of a final Inuvialuit selfgovernment agreement. The agreement-in-principle deals with various matters such as culture and language, health, social services, education, economic development, justice, and taxation. It also describes the Inuvialuit Government and its roles and responsibilities, the structures of the Inuvialuit Council, and the relationship the Inuvialuit Government will have with Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my third question is: what does the implementation of the agreement-in-principle mean for the GNWT Inuvialuit beneficiaries and Inuvialuit living outside the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.
Implementing the agreement-in-principle means that the parties will complete the negotiation of the final selfgovernment agreement and that all of the necessary arrangements and agreements that need to be in place before the effective date of the agreement are worked out and agreed to by all of the parties. The agreement-in-principle sets out the structure of the Inuvialuit Government, an exclusive Aboriginal selfgovernment that will serve and represent Inuvialuit citizens and deliver government programs and services to Inuvialuit in the Western Arctic region.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: how do the agreement-in-principle and current negotiations uphold the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier this week, the successful conclusion of modern treaties and selfgovernment agreements can be seen as the ultimate expression of free prior and informed consent among partners. The Government of Canada's recent adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an encouraging and tangible demonstration of the federal government's renewed commitment to Canada's Aboriginal people.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are a follow up to my Member’s statement for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. As I mentioned in my Member statement, in 2014, the community of Fort McPherson put in a proposal for the fire break for the community, as it is in the approval process. Then the NWT was hit with recordbreaking fires that year. I would like to ask the Minister: what is the status of work towards building a fire break in Fort McPherson? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to look into that particular community for the Member and get back to him on what the status is for the Fort McPherson fire break. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know the latest NWTAC's meeting as well, they're in full support of preparing all our communities for with fire breaks and doing their part as well. I'd also like to ask the Minister: Tsiigehtchic's 2010 community wildland fire protection plan recommends a building of a new break. What is the status of that project as well?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and same with that particular one. Wildland fire protection plans are a shared responsibility in Northwest Territories. They are jointly with the Department of Municipal… MACA, ENR, and also the local community governments, so I'll have to confer with my colleague and see what the status is on that and with the local government.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to thank the department for reinstating the fire crew in Tsiigehtchic. It was out of commission for a few years. It started last year, but people are working there once again, and I would like to thank them. I would also like to ask the Minister, how is the department using this unusual quiet month to prepare the rest of the fire season?
We have ongoing efforts to train and maintain our equipment and personnel for the fire season, so it's an ongoing effort that is continually working throughout the seasons. Like I said in my Minister's statement earlier today, we have taken the opportunity to send a number of our personnel to Alberta to help in their wildfire season, so it's a significant contribution that the Government of the Northwest Territories has done to help Alberta. We continue to work on them on a daily basis.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister: will the community of Fort McPherson have to submit another proposal or will the department just act on the proposal that they had in 2014? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have stated earlier, I will have to confer with MACA and the local government to see where we are at on that process and have a look at it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I should ask this question to the Minister of ENR, but I'll address it to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Yesterday the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs did a Minister's statement about the Federal Infrastructure Funding Program for the NWT community governments. It was great to hear the department was able to access the small community funds which is part of the New Building Canada Plan: Provincial- Territorial Infrastructure Component. Mr. Speaker, thank God, lots of words, can the Minister please provide this House on what the definition of a small community is according to the New Building Canada Plan: Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know there are seven of us over here, right? Mr. Speaker, the definition of a small community, as defined by the federal government under the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component and Small Communities Fund, is communities with a population of under $100,000… or 100,000 people. Thank you.
I was getting excited, there. $100,000, I don't think we could afford to use this program at all. I thank the Minister for that answer. As a federal program, there is a cost-sharing component to access them. Can the Minister provide the House with: what is the cost-share for this program in the communities and/or GNWT?
I will just clarify it's 100,000 people, not dollars, and the federal portion cannot exceed 75 per cent. Thank you.
The federal component, 75 per cent, I would like to ask the Minister, what is the communities' share and/or the GNWT's share?
My apologies. The federal portion cannot exceed 75 per cent. The communities' share would obviously then be 25 per cent, but what a lot of communities will use is the money that we give them to leverage a lot of the federal funding. We give out $28 million to communities to help with their infrastructure, so they are able to use that to leverage. That's their 25 per cent to leverage the other 75 per cent from the federal government.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Mr. Speaker, I know that he's my favourite Minister. It seems this week I seem to be asking him a lot of the questions. Next week, I'll find another one, maybe. Well, finance is next week, too. Sorry, he'll be back.
---Laughter
In the Minister's statement, he spoke about how Municipal and Community Affairs will issue a call for the funding applications in the coming weeks and will support community governance through the Canada application and approval process. Can the Minister please explain what the department means by supporting community governance with this process? Thank you.
We provide support to the communities in a number of different ways. We help them with completing applications for the small community funding from co-ordinated work between our regional staff and headquarters staff. For larger projects, on a case-by-case basis, MACA can provide advice through helping communities hire project managers, reviewing designs with them, and RFPs, and then the regional managers of capital planning will also help communities complete their quarterly reports and claim forms. We provide a lot of assistance to the communities, and they are very appreciative of that. I always like to say, at the end of the day, the final decision, the ultimate decision, is the communities to make, and we will support them in any way that we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member's statement I talked about the Priority 1 candidates in the GNWT, or employees in the GNWT. I would like to ask the Minister of Human Resources, would the Minister reexamine all the programs, policies, and initiatives that are designed to increase the number of Priority 1 employees in the GNWT to ensure their efficiency? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Human Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I get to the question, I would like to just correct an answer that I made yesterday. I said yesterday there was about 32 per cent Aboriginal representation in the public service. Today currently we're actually at 30.8, so it's actually less than I had indicated previously. I've been with the Department of Human Resources now for about six months, and I have actually already directed the department to begin looking at a number of the programs that are available. For example, the Aboriginal Management Development Program is targeted at senior management in the public service, but we know there are a lot of individuals, Aboriginal individuals, at lower levels who want to transition up but going from an officer level to a manager level may not be appropriate. I've already asked, or rather directed, them to begin work on seeing how we can broaden those programs out to meet our needs. I've also directed the department to do some research for me on the effects of affirmative action since it came into place. Have we actually got any results by having an affirmative action program that is more passive and based on hiring as opposed to something that is more active? I've already asked the department to begin that research, and once I get that information, I'd love an opportunity to sit down with committee and go through some of the details. We have a number of programs out there that are available where affirmative action applies, such as regional recruitment, the corrections training. Some departments are doing some very specific things. We are looking at these programs and, once we got more data, as I said, I'd love to sit down with committee and have a heart-to-heart on how we can move forward to improve the results around affirmative action in our government.
I'd like to thank the Minister for that response. I would like to know if the Minister is prepared to reexamine the role of the advisory committee on aboriginal employment in the GNWT, I don't know if that is the exact right term, and then try to give that committee a greater role in ensuring that the Priority 1 candidates continue to increase in the GNWT. I think that's a very good committee, so I'd like to ask the Minister if he's prepared to give a greater role to that committee.
The Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee is made up of Aboriginal employees of the GNWT, and their role is to provide some guidance and advice to the Minister and the department on how to have a more responsive system, a system that is hiring more Aboriginal people, where appropriate. I do believe they have a pretty solid role; I think they're doing some good work. As we move forward and get some of the statistical information and have a better sense of where we are and how we have actually responded over time, I will have a conversation with committee and we can talk about the advisory committee and whether or not its role is appropriate or not, but I think we need to do a little bit more work first and have a discussion with committee before we make any of those types of decisions.
I recognize that the Minister of Human Resources is not solely responsible for the Affirmative Action Policy. I would like to know if the Minister is prepared to have a regular role, maybe during committee or anything, on a regular basis conferring with other Ministers of other departments to ensure that each department has a human resources plan that also has the contents of what is needed in order to increase Priority 1 hires in the GNWT. Thank you.
