To date we haven't had any requests for very large areas of land for agriculture purposes but we do anticipate that happening in the future. And so the strategy does speak to potential land use within municipal boundaries and authorities. Part of the implementation will be guided by the land use and sustainability framework which serves as the underpinning of all decisions in respect to land, including the development of land for the agriculture sector in the Northwest Territories.
The issue of access to land for agriculture will be reviewed through collaborative processes with municipalities and Aboriginal governments and land use planning boards and committees, and as land claims are settlement there will certainly be more certainty in this area.
Certainly certainty is what most are looking for and that would be appreciated. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister share what steps are outlined in the strategy to develop and support education, knowledge and best practices about food production at the community level?
The draft Agriculture Strategy has many recommendations on how to develop and support educational programs and educational resource development for agriculture. We will encourage and support the development and delivery of courses for community and regional trainers. The goal with the strategy is to improve overall capacity by having more people involved in northern agriculture, and we will develop foundational safe agriculture and food production, education resources including community and private sharing agriculture and harvesting of non-animal products. And the draft Agriculture Strategy is built on five pillars, including planning, knowledge, leadership, marketing channels and access to productive resources.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his reply. My last question, Mr. Speaker: what evaluation measures are included in the strategy to evaluate the effectiveness of our investments in agriculture, both in terms of dollars and with regard to new programs and initiatives launched under the new strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As Stompin' Tom would say the best test is right at the table.
---Laughter
But I agree it's important to make sure our programs are effective. We have seen increased interest in our agriculture program as more and more people are growing their own food. We're still in early days as the strategy has not been released; however, we will review the effectiveness of this strategy as we move forward into implementation.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Look, it's pretty clear in terms of agriculture, we know what we want to do, it's the question of how, and critically, of course, is when. So I understand that the draft Agriculture Strategy has gone to the appropriate standing committee, it's under review as the Minister indicated, can the Minister give us a timeline on the target implementation for some of the strategy's immediate and short-term actions? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Member in his Member's Statement referred to food from Mars I thought he had talked to my grandson who-- I was talking to him yesterday or the other day and he said he had a project that he was working on and I asked him what it was. He said he and his friend were planning a trip to Mars and he lamented that he had the hard part of the job because he had to find a way to get to Mars; his friend had the easy job, he just had to figure out how to grow food on Mars, so.
---Laughter
In regards to your specific question, our department has been working with the Zhahti Koe Friendship Centre since late 2015 on developing a community garden. They secured a land lot recently and fencing has been ordered. Twenty raised garden boxes, a tool shed and compost bins are ready and will be shipped to the community. The department has not received any applications specific to commercial gardening or greenhouses at this point. We also run the Take a Kid Gardening Program in the schools. We have a regional office that's very ready and willing and prepared to work with anybody that's interested to getting more into the agriculture commercial side. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the Minister outlined in general that no applications have been received in terms of providing assistance for community members at the local level. Can he explain how can residents and communities access funding for greenhouse projects and other local initiatives under the Northern Food Development Program?
I'd like to reassure the Member that we're not waiting until the Northwest Territories Agriculture Strategy becomes the strategy. Right now as we go forward we certainly encourage Northwest Territories residents to become involved in agriculture. Our ITI regional offices are the contacts for anyone interested in learning more about agriculture, including the development of greenhouses, and the department will be pleased to work with all communities to make progress on this front.
I'd like to thank the Minister for his reply. It's very encouraging that we're not-- we need to develop a strategy but those programs and services could be readily available for people at the local level. How is agriculture being incorporated into the GNWT science agenda?
The Growing Forward 2 Agreement provides up to $1.2 million annually in cost-shared investment to the Northwest Territories agricultural sector to increase resource capacity to grow food in all NWT communities. The Small Scale Foods Program is delivered in all 33 Northwest Territories communities through ITI's regional offices primarily in support of community gardens. We have seen much success with the insulation of community greenhouses in communities on the Beaufort Sea. Many of the initiatives are community led and the department is pleased to provide insight, support and expertise.
As the Member knows, we have the Northern Farmers Training Institute, and certainly I see that as being a very excellent program that would help deliver to our science agenda. We know that research into agriculture and development of agriculture products is very much done in the south, and certainly with this institute we believe we can tap into these funding sources as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mr. Speaker, I don't know if the Minister is familiar with the Yukon Gold, but it's a customized-- or basically a tailored potato that was seeded in part of the Yukon. I'm kind of looking forward to maybe coming up with a unique northern spud.
---Laughter
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are we looking for partnership opportunities with the universities and other northern jurisdictions to advance local food production in the NWT? Mahsi.
We are always looking for opportunities to maximize the funding reach of our scarce resources and certainly we've been approached by other bodies including I guess different non-government organizations I guess is the best way to call them that and we also have very good connections with universities, so we certainly want to get the best bang for our buck and we look at all of the different sources of funding.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Core funding for Dechinta Bush University will create 156 jobs in their business proposal. The vast majority of these jobs will be in the smaller communities and regional centres. Will the Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment commit to providing additional funding in the next departmental business plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has been a supporter of Dechinta for the past several years in providing some funding. We're always working with them and just having ongoing discussions with the Dechinta executive. Most recently our current discussions is that we're waiting for this current budget process to finish before we start allocating funding. We continue to speak with Dechinta executive and supporters to see where we move forward next, and that will be at discussions at the next business plan cycle which will be commencing in about three months' time. I really appreciate the Members continuing to bring up the concerns of funding for Dechinta. We have a lot of champions within this House and appreciate the efforts and continued questions and bringing up the awareness for the program and the work that they do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister's comments; however, I didn't hear a solid commitment, but I'll move on from there. In their business case, Dechinta's looking for $5 million. I note that we fund Aurora College to the tune of around $32 million. Can the Minister give us some stats on the success rate of people who take Aurora College programing? We know that Dechinta's sitting at 100 per cent success rate. What are the comparable stats for Aurora College and are we getting value for money for that $32 million that we currently invest in Aurora College? Thank you.
This year we've actually had an increase in graduation rates in the high school, but also in Aurora College system. This summer the Aurora College is actually going through new strategic plan for the next ten years. It's going to be reflective on our Skills 4 Success Action Plan which we are developing this summer as well. And I understand that Dechinta's also working on a proposal, maybe a revised proposal reflecting our Skills 4 Success Action Plan. The details, I can get the details in terms of success, in terms of how many graduates we had in Aurora College compared to Dechinta. I could get those specific details and I can get it to the Member if he likes.
Yes, I would appreciate if the Minister could provide that information to me. Ms. Speaker, the recent Labour Market Study that the Minister referenced showed a real need for more post-secondary educated workers here the Northwest Territories. Dechinta does not have the ability to grant credentials despite its high success rates. Will the Minister commit to bringing forward legislative changes by the next sitting of this House?
In the 17th Legislative Assembly there was a motion that was brought forth actually I believe in November of 2015. The department is looking at that. Most recently Nunavut did do a feasibility study of the same information that the Member's asking for. We did get a copy of that feasibility study from Nunavut. We are looking at the recommendations and the possibilities moving forward and what we as a territory are going to be doing in terms of the legislation or the granting of degrees, but we've got to take a look at that feasibility study and see whether or not it will reflect whether our financial situation as well our capacity in the Northwest Territories to be able to do that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Dechinta's not an idea, it's a real institution. It's producing graduates; it's doing very good work. It isn’t an untested project. This is something that's clear and measurable. They have a business case, it's very well thought out. I think it's time to act on these issues and stop speculating through action plans and strategies. Will the Minister make those commitments to bring forward funding by the next business plan and bring forward legislative changes the next sitting of this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this moment, I can't commit to bringing the legislative changes until we've done the review of the feasibility study, looked to what other jurisdictions are doing and still have those discussions with Dechinta moving forward. I know Nunavut has that feasibility study. They spend a lot of money into that feasibility study. It was in the news just recently and we're going to look at those moving forward, but at this time I cannot commit to bringing more funding or a legislation before the next business plan review which is about three months away.
Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my question is addressed to the Minister responsible for OROGO on the activities to date in that area with regard to the expiration licence acquired by the Sahtu Explorer's Group here several years ago, particularly in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. I ask the Minister to date what is the status of the significant discovery licenses that have recently been issued if any? If I could get an update on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. I believe the question is to the Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, significant discovery declarations do fall within responsibility of OROGO, but significant discovery licence are obtained from ITI, so I'm not sure whether the Minister of ITI would like to respond to that portion of the question. I can advise that there has not been much significant activity of any kind in the Member's constituency or throughout the Northwest Territories in the last couple of years since these matters were devolved to us.
My next question is in trying to understand the opportunities available with the tenures that were recently done at that time to see if any land monitoring opportunities to see if these applicants or these developers are in compliance with their tenures in creating opportunities to maintain these licenses. That's sort of where I'm going with the question. So my next question is would the Minister provide a briefing on the update of the current licenses to be issued SDLs if there is any?
Mr. Speaker, I don’t like to make commitments for other Ministers, SDLs would be handled by the Department of ITI and perhaps the question could be more appropriately addressed to that Minister.
I'll leave that question to the other side to decide which one I'm going to get a response from.
Masi. I think that was a comment to executive. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions for the Minister of Housing. As I mentioned a few times in this House, we recently have the Joe Greenland Centre that opened last summer. A great facility, Mr. Speaker. We also have one that's under construction in Fort McPherson. The main issue with Joe Greenland Centre's since we noticed from October to April was the heating system, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, even through the election campaigning when I was visiting the elders there, they had little heaters set up in their units, Mr. Speaker. A couple of them had burnt out just because they were working so hard, but I'd like to ask the Minister, you know, what is the department's plan to resolve the heating problem at the Joe Greenland Centre? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Joe Greenland building is really an unfortunate incidence because not only were there heating issues within that building, that's a building that we accommodate our seniors which are really valuable population within the Territories, and so on behalf of the department I do apologize that there was a mix-up with the heating system. The plan to go forward though, we consulted with engineers, we did a lot of research in it, we checked the building code. We couldn't find any actual issues. The building was up to code, it was engineered properly. And so after doing all of the research the plan to move forward is actually on Monday, this past Monday, June 20th, we renegotiated with the contractor and so we will be putting extra radiators into each unit within that building. And I can guarantee that that will be done by the end of summer so that our seniors actually have a warm place to sleep in the winter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That's good news. I hope that that resolves the issue. As I mentioned, we also have a similar design that's being built in Fort McPherson. Will the department ensure that that system is adequate for the building that's being built and that we have proper heat this coming winter?
Actually, the other seniors' facilities may look similar, but they're actually a different design, so we're not projecting that there will be any other instance with those different design buildings.
Mr. Speaker, you know what, we'll see what happens with the Joe Greenland Centre this coming winter, but you know if that does not resolve the problem, will the department look at other heating systems, whether it's wood pellet boilers or something like this? I know the government is leaning towards more wood pellet boilers in the community, so you know that may be an option that we may have to look at if that doesn't resolve the issue. So will the department look at that alternative?
Yes, as stated earlier, heat is very important to all people and I have a special commitment towards our elders as well, so we are getting the radiators fixed and if that does not resolve the issue then we will look at alternative heat systems. But I can guarantee that we will address the issue of heat for our Elders.
