While we do meet with the RCMP, we do not interfere, if I can put it that way, directly with their day-to-day operations. As I mentioned earlier, I think that the enhanced criminal record checks provided for in the Criminal Records Act are a good idea protecting vulnerable groups. So I am not asking for any change.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his responses. A practice, of course, is no less unjust for being national rather than territorial in scope. These records of non-conviction are opposed by, among others, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the John Howard Society, and most recently the Government of Ontario, which is taking steps to outlaw their use.
The RCMP is a contracted provincial territorial police service in all jurisdictions except Ontario and Quebec. I am going to ask again, will the Minister of Justice consult with his provincial and territorial counterparts at the next meeting of Justice Ministers to seek an elimination of the use of records of non-conviction by the RCMP? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned already, I believe that these types of checks, this enhanced record as it could be called, are essential in certain circumstances dealing with the vulnerable populations or children. I am always willing to consult, but I am not just going to go forward with the position that this should be changed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently there was a news release from the City of Yellowknife recommending certain changes to the City, Towns and Villages Act to allow them the flexibility to engage in certain initiatives like local improvement charges, hotel taxes, etc. These recommendations have been long supported by the NWT Association of Communities. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs today if the department plans to take action on that request from our municipal partners? Thank you.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is aware of the request from the City of Yellowknife. We are looking at them. We are researching into them. We do have to do a thorough consultation process before we change any legislation or acts, and so we haven't started that process on these as of the moment.
I believe the legislation was last updated in 1988, and many of these recommendations have been long-standing for as long as five or six years. When does the Minister plan to direct the department to begin this work? Can our municipal partners have some timelines to consider, as they've been asking for a very, very long time?
As stated already, the department is already at the point of researching these requests, so we've already given direction to look into them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Is the Minister aware of the long-standing resolutions being passed by the NWTAC, and more recently by the City of Yellowknife amongst other councils? Is the department paying attention to that? Is the Minister paying attention to that, and how does she respond to these long-standing issues? Has the department looked into this before, Mr. Speaker? Has the department done research before this point, or is this research just starting now?
Members may be aware that I have just taken over the position of Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I can't state what has happened historically on these subjects, but I can state that, at this point, we are researching it to see about the viability and, like I said, there will have to be public consultation with all of the communities that this may impact before we make a decision on it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I try to be economical in my questions. Finally, does the Minister believe that this work will be completed by the end of this term, or will we have to wait until another Assembly, or potentially the Assembly after that, to see these changes come forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Right at this point, it's hard to determine whether it will be done during this current Legislative Assembly. However, like I have stated, we are researching it at this point. We do have other major legislations that we are putting through with this Assembly related to health or public safety, so those are our priorities at this time. Once that work is all finished, the next step will be to look at these legislative amendments that they're requesting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Transportation. I was pleased to learn that the Department of Transportation is reviewing the restrictions on drivers in very small communities, so that someone from Tulita or Deline, for example, could use regional ice roads to legally travel throughout the region, not just 100 km from their driveway. When will the department's review of restrictions for drivers in very small communities be complete? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the department is currently reviewing what's called condition G driver’s licenses to allow the drivers in small communities to drive without any restriction beyond 100 km in their region. What we're hoping to do, in this review that we're looking at, would allow them to drive on the ice road system, basically. The Member has referred to Tulita, and presently if a person has a code G driver's license, they can only drive to Norman Wells, and that would be their restriction on their license. The policy is being reviewed, and we want to be able to let them drive safely to Fort Good Hope or Deline within that region. I would have to get back to the Member and find out when we're going to be finished this review.
Can the Minister provide examples of how other jurisdictions manage licensing for drivers from rural and remote communities so that applicants can get a valid, nationally recognized license without incurring major costs?
I don't have that information readily available. I would have to get back to the Member on that.
I would like to thank the Minister for his reply. Would the Minister be willing to look at ways to extend the opportunity to get a full driver's license to all residents and communities and working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, for example?
The department always looks at all departments and all avenues to try to bring better driver opportunities for all residents in the Northwest Territories. One of the main things, though, that we have to take into account is public safety. The reasons for some of these restrictions in the communities, we have two restricted types of licenses, a code G and a code B. Both of them are based on various restrictions, but most of them are due to lack of infrastructure in a community such as curbs, sidewalks, lights, crossing devices, and merge lanes.
So if you are in a small community such as Colville Lake, you don't have the opportunity to drive in this type of situation, and public safety is the number one thing for highways and this government. So we would have to look at different ways to be able to bring those types of things to the communities, but that would be very challenging.
With that said, we're always looking at opportunities and how we can do that, but at present, the only communities in which you can get an unrestricted license in the Northwest Territories is in Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Hay River, and Inuvik.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has stated indeed that the department is doing a review in terms of trying to standardize the licensing of drivers in communities, and not just large communities. Would the Minister perhaps outline this in general, just the scope of the changes that he anticipates, at the same time whether he can commit to this House that, whenever that report and review is available, that he will make it available to this side of the House? Mahsi.
Currently, the review that is being done on condition G licenses, as we said, is basically on the ice road system and allows people to commute beyond 100 km of their community or their residence where their license is registered. I can get the information of exactly what we're currently reviewing on the whole aspect of expanding this, and I can get back to the Member on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions from my Member's statement earlier to the Minister of Housing. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, at the moment our programs go by the total household gross income. Even if we went by a net income, this would make a huge difference for people to qualify for the programs that are offered through Housing, so I would like to ask the Minister what the department would be willing to do to make this change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently within the Member's region the income threshold maximums are, for a single person, $91,900 a year they're allowed to make. With people up to five people in their house, they're allowed to make $107,000 a year to be able to, so anything under that is eligible for programs. We do have to recognize that we have 44,000 people in the Territories, and so we have to be conscious of that to make sure that we're providing our housing programs for those most in need, so those in low- and middleincome families. A total review of the income thresholds will be conducted, though, once we finish our engagement strategy that's coming up right away, here, and at that point we'll be looking at all incomes and making sure that the good food box is calculated within that so that our regions are represented appropriately.
I realize the department is doing their census through the communities, but I'd like to ask the Minister, what is the plan to help people in the remote communities maintain and repair their homes?
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, there's a number of programs that people can access to maintain their homes, to take care of their homes, again making sure that they do fall within the highest maximum income threshold. So within that region, we're talking $107,000. So if you make more than $107,000 you won't quality for the programs in that region; however, under that amount they can access a variety of programs. For example, we have the CARE Minor Program which would do minor renovations, a CARE Major Program that'll do things like fixing your roof, your furnaces up to $100,000. We have CARE Mobility which will help people to address any kind of mobility issues that they may have with their homes and then of course we have the SAFE Program which is available to everyone to make sure that their health and safety issues within their houses are addressed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I realize the thresholds of income that people can make even though it does sound like a lot, Mr. Speaker, you know living up in our age in the Beaufort Delta, it's the highest cost of living anywhere in Canada I'm sure, Mr. Speaker. So would the Minister be willing to consider introducing the regional approach to thresholds to qualify for different housing programs, so a person in Aklavik for example would have a higher income threshold to qualify for a program than a person, for example, in Yellowknife?
The NWT Housing Corporation already does take in the different regions. We have three different regions, so there is a difference already between Yellowknife and the areas up in the northern communities. So I'm not sure how we'll address that differently because we already have the regions, and, like I say, once the survey is brought in we will be doing a revamp of the income thresholds to make sure that they are meeting people's needs.
I should point out as well though, even though it's not part of the question, that people that are struggling to meet their housing needs may also want to talk to Income Support because they may qualify for an Income Support Program.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, many of my constituents do not quality for these programs, so are we making home energy efficiency improvements available to people in the smaller communities? Mahsi.
There's a number of initiatives for energy efficiency. All new houses that are built by the NWT Housing Corporation are built to the EnerGuide 80 standards or better, so we're already addressing that. There's programs that people can access through the Arctic Energy Alliance, things such as the LEDs which will be coming out next year, so every public housing unit will getting LED lights put in.
There's a program that gives wood stoves, that's a cost-shared program by the community governments that they might want to access so people can put wood stoves into their units. Arctic Energy Alliance will do energy audits to see where people are and to make sure that people are energy efficient. So there are a number of programs that Arctic Energy Alliance also provides.
Masi. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions now are for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Last week the press secretary issued a media advisory announcing the third annual meeting of the Intergovernment Council which comprises of course the GNWT and nine First Nations, as well as the Inuvialuit Government. To quote the advisory, they were meeting to cooperate and collaborate on matters related to lands and resource management. I'm wondering if the Minister can give us any more detail of the topics on the agenda? Thank you.
Honourable Premier.
Mr. Speaker, we had a meeting on Friday. It was very well attended by all of the signatories to the devolution agreement, and the discussion was to review the recommendations of the secretariat and also to review implementation of the devolution agreement, specifically related to the commitment to devolve and evolve and to understand what the priorities of the Aboriginal governments were. We also gave an update on the recreational land management initiative of this government and on climate change and energy, the consultations that we will undertaking as a government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Premier for that answer. Mr. Speaker, in June of this year I asked the Premier a series of questions about content of similar meetings held with the same group of people, and I asked him if he would keep Regular Members informed of and invite our input into positions being put forward at these meetings by him and other Members of Cabinet. Can the Minister explain why this didn't happen this time either? Thank you.
We invited the Chair of the Standing Committee of Priorities and Planning to attend and also this is a meeting of the Aboriginal governments that have signed onto devolution, and I have responded in this House in the past, we have put forward a suggestion that other MLAs could be invited to attend as observers, and the Aboriginal governments have indicated they would prefer to keep the membership participation of the table to two representatives from each Aboriginal government that has signed on.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the talks need to have limited numbers of people, but we're talking about the shape of our future governmental relationships between this government of the Northwest Territories and the Aboriginal governments, and it seems to me that this is an issue that everybody in this House has an interest in and a stake in.
So I'd like to go back to my point about how the Minister can involve us if not through prior consultation about meeting project topics, then in what other ways he can involve us in shaping these relationships?
We meet with the Aboriginal governments once a year and we have a secretariat, and I'm not sure exactly how the Member would like to see the government involved but you know we have our regular briefings with the standing committees and we can certainly offer to provide a briefing to have that discussion.
