I appreciate the Minister informing this House or keeping this House up-to-date on our federal engagement of this issue; however, my questions are more precisely about what this government's response will be to this new regime. It's not a question of should we support, it's a question of how do we manage it once the law changes. So I'm wondering what the Minister has launched or what this working group the Minister's department is a part of has launched in terms of looking at research or modelling studies here in the Northwest Territories for how this is going to work after April 2017.
As I indicated, there is an interdepartmental working group doing this analysis. We are paying close attention to what some of the other jurisdictions are doing. Some of them are already moving forward with some regulations and I've had an opportunity to talk to some of the other Ministers of Health who have the same issues, and they've indicated that although they're moving forward on regulations they understand that that's cursory or initial and we won't really truly have an idea of what those regulations will be or should be until the federal government comes forward with their legislation.
Coming forward and passing the legislation to legalize marijuana is one thing. It will happen on a certain date; it's been suggested April. It doesn't mean it goes live in April. There will be plenty of opportunity to actually work with the provinces and territories and come up with some regulations. In the Northwest Territories, that's going to take a number of different departments.
Some of the regulation similar to regulating alcohol and distributing alcohol will be done by the Department of Finance, and there will certainly likely be some provisions that may need to be adjusted in legislation which will involve all the other departments. So we are working closely together, watching what's happening in other jurisdictions, collecting data, so that we're ready to move once we have a better sense of what the federal legislation looks like.
Thank you to the Minister for that very thorough response. I wonder, though, with all of our legislative priorities and privacy this government in a very large mandate document, do we have the capacity to accommodate a significant shift like this? The Minister just spoke of involving three departments, and if not more, in making all these changes, so is this working group analysing the kind of capacity it's going to take for our government to get up to speed? I would hate for Northerners to be in a legislative lurch while this change takes place and our government to be playing catch-up.
Mr. Speaker, I think this government has demonstrated an ability to get work done on a fairly regular basis, especially when issues that we have not necessarily been the lead on bringing to reality have come forward, things like medical assistance in dying, a federal initiative that resulted in a significant amount of work being done by the Department of Health and Social Services and the Government of the Northwest Territories. When this legislation comes down, we will do our due diligence, we will collect the data, and we will make sure that NWT residents aren't adversely affected by those changes and that they have access to legal product in this country in a safe and responsible way.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you again to the Minister for that. I look forward to working with this government on that issue. Finally, a more technical point: does the department or the working group currently have any recommendations on the legal age or the minimum legal age is 25 or 19 or something else, or is it too soon to make that determination? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, those ages were recently thrown out by the federal government's working group that's out doing some analysis right now. I don't personally have -- I haven't seen any scientific data to suggest the appropriate age. I would say that some of the suggestions around that age seem to have some value recognizing brain development and ensuring that youth develop safe and effectively. So at this point we have no opinion one way or the other but we will keep ourselves informed and see where it goes.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a follow-up to my Member's statement; I have a few questions for the Minister of Education. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my statement there's a lot of concerns how junior kindergarten will affect Aboriginal Head Start in the communities of Fort McPherson and Aklavik within my riding. In Tsiigehtchic there's not as much concern there because we do not have the program there. But I would like to ask the Minister: how can the department assure my constituents that junior kindergarten will not affect Aboriginal Head Start? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
We have had some concerns from the Aboriginal Head Start program, specifically in Fort McPherson. We received letters addressing some of the concerns that were raised at a meeting with the Aboriginal Head Start staff. Our Director of Early Childhood Programs and the program coordinator went in, we met with the school. The junior kindergarten being offered in McPherson was an option and the school decided to opt in this year. We didn't ask them to, but it was an option for them, they decided to do that. We've informed Aboriginal Head Start staff throughout the whole Northwest Territories that -- we had a meeting with them on August 24th and with the Public Health Agency of Canada as well and they informed all the staff that program dollars wouldn't be affected with the implementation of junior kindergarten program.
With our early childhood program operating subsidy increases that we announced earlier this year, say, if, let's say Aboriginal Head Start students or programs take in infants then they'll get more money as well that will offset the four-year-olds in that program, so there shouldn't be an impact on the programs operating together. Our junior kindergarten program in Fort McPherson is run a half-day as well as the Aboriginal Head Start Program in Fort McPherson I believe is also running half-days, so it offers the families full programming for a full-day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, since junior kindergarten has been discussed, you know, one of the major concerns I've always had is we are taking on an extra grade, yet without any additional funding. How does the department expect to manage this as we move forward? As you know, the cost of doing business always rises in the territory, and with added teachers and assistants, how will the department manage this as we move forward?
We have had some training courses for people in the junior kindergarten program; we're also doing web seminars to update our staff in that area. In the Member's riding we currently hold junior kindergarten in all three communities and we also have 28 families in Aklavik, McPherson, and Tsiigehtchic that currently have their children enrolled in a program in one of the three communities.
So in terms of the training, we're continually doing the training for the staff to address those issues. As I mentioned, on October 4th we had some of our staff, regional staff, go in and speak with the principal, the teachers, about some of the issues around training, as well as the support for the program itself in the community.
Mr. Speaker, I realize a lot of training has been done, but are there any actually added funds to DEAs to follow through with the junior kindergarten?
Later on we're going to be hearing a motion here in the House, but as we mentioned, one of the recommendations that came out of the report earlier this year is we're doing surveys, we're seeing what's needed in the communities, what resources are needed, and as we continue to hear those updates and talk to all the schools through that survey we will be coming with a plan, implementation plan and any other needed funds. We're going through our capital business plan and in there we did have some funds that were allocated to the communities for capital expenses, and we'll continue to look at those as we move forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has said that the goal of our entire school system is to strive to be as culturally-appropriate as possible. How will junior kindergarten achieve this and how can the department be confident it'll do a better job than the Aboriginal Head Start? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
One of our mandates is to do early childhood programming throughout the NWT in partnership with existing childhood programs. We do support Aboriginal Head Start, we do fund them, I believe the Community of Fort McPherson is going to get around somewhere over $25,000 this year.
Part of the department is we do promote Aboriginal culture, traditions and values into our programming, right from JK to grade 12; you can see that directly in our Northern Studies programming, and moving forward in Northern Studies 20 and 30 as well. So it's very important for us and we continue to support Aboriginal Head Start through funding and continue to support the work that they do. Junior kindergarten will also incorporate some of the cultural values in learning as we move forward throughout the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about an Arctic Leadership Model, and I have questions for the Minister responsible for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Premier is, will the Premier engage in Arctic Council activities advocating for Indigenous peoples' involvement for the Arctic Leadership Model? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Honourable Premier.
Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories actively participates as part of the Canadian delegation of the Arctic Council and their continued advocacy for a strengthened capacity of the permanent participants. As a government, we will continue to work with Canada on areas of common interest, however there is not a separate or formal role for territorial governments in this forum, however we do have officials that participate and we attend as there is an identified role for our presence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that response. My second question is what will define the positive change in the chapter for the Arctic?
I have had the opportunity to discuss with Mary Simon on her work on the Shared Arctic Leadership Model. Ms. Simon is still working on her report and recommendations for Minister Bennett, which I believe will be delivered in December of 2016. We see a great deal of potential in the Arctic, but it requires a broad range of support from Canada, including support for communities and Indigenous organizations.
A key priority to further positive change is to continue to enhance our control over our own destiny as Northerners, including transitioning important legislation like the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act from Canada to the Northwest Territories. I should also point out that the IRC benefitted from the resource revenue sharing component of the devolution agreement. It's our understanding that Arctic Council and Arctic Leadership Models are two separate, and potentially unrelated, activities both led by Canada. As the Member knows, Arctic Council is international, the Arctic leadership model is a domestic process led by Mary Simon for Minister Bennett.
I appreciate the response from the Premier. Mr. Speaker, my final question for the Premier is what are the GNWT's key priorities to address and strengthen the resilience of our communities?
The Government of the Northwest Territories' vision for a sustainable Arctic is one of balance. The Government of the Northwest Territories is focused on advancing social, cultural, environmental and economic priorities of the Northwest Territories. It is this balance of priorities and collaborative approach to working with our Aboriginal government partners as well as Canada that will allow the people and communities of the Northwest Territories to become stronger, healthier and, therefore, more prosperous.
The best way to demonstrate Arctic sovereignty is to have healthy sustainable communities in the Northwest Territories. The Government of the Northwest Territories is focused on encouraging prosperity and self-sufficiency of our people and communities. The role of the territorial government in achieving this is authority over land, water and resources and working in partnership with our Aboriginal government partners and Canada to ensure all communities have access to the same high level of programs and services.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I made my statement on Market Housing in Small Communities, so my question is to the Minister of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. The disruption of existing local markets are a fact to consider when the Housing Corporation is considering bringing new units into a non-market community. Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I would like to be able to say, yes, we do consider it. There have been a few mistakes on the department's side. We were asked many years ago to actually bring in market housing to the communities to support professionals, nurses, doctors, social workers, school teachers. The reality is once we did the assessment, and then it took a couple years to actually build the units there, some of the gaps were filled. So we're actually currently looking at the communities that have market rentals we're actually looking at our own rentals and seeing if we can reallocate those.
I've heard of potential rental rates of up to $1,400 per month for a market rental unit in Fort Providence. Can the Minister confirm the rental rate for a market rental unit in this community?
I can't confirm the actual market rental in Fort Providence itself because each community is different, but I can confirm that as part of this survey, and actually even before the survey, we are conducting a total review of all of our rental for accommodations in every single community, so we're in the process of doing that now.
I'd like to thank the Minister for her reply. The unfortunate reality is we have an empty unit in Fort Providence. Who has been paying for fuel, utilities, and other maintenance in the empty modular unit in Fort Providence since it was brought into the community in January 2016?
The NWT Housing Corporation is responsible for making sure that any unit that we have, usable or not, is actually maintained. So we provide the cost of the utilities when they aren't occupied.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is to the Minister. The Minister had indicated that mistakes were made in terms of communicating the intentions of the market housing in small communities. Could the Minister commit to embarking upon improving communications, and at same time perhaps reviewing its consultations with small communities on market housing? Mahsi.
I should clarify. When I say mistakes were made, it's not that we made a mistake in asking if we needed them at the time. It's just that it does take a couple of years for us to do the business plan and then get the units constructed, so we did err in that way. But it wasn't a mistake to put the units in.
Can we consult on the small communities? Absolutely. We are just in the process, like I had done in my Minister's statement earlier, that we're in the process of rolling out our engagement survey, which will ask each community what type of housing that they need in their community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today I spoke of the apparent failure of the Department of Lands to respond to questions around contaminated lands adjacent to the Con Mine, namely lot 33C, group 964, plan 553, otherwise known as the Imperial Oil Tank Farm. Can the Minister of Lands tell this House who is responsible for remediation of that property, and when will it happen? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Mr. Speaker, Lands has really no role in this issue. As these are privately owned lands, they are under private fee simple title, I understand. I would expect that the owners of those lands are responsible for the remediation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Now that we've got that clear, can the Minister of Lands indicate what is the general regime for remediation of contaminated sites that are on privately owned lands in the Northwest Territories?
I understand, with respect to situations in which there are water licenses, it's ENR's responsibility to inspect. The terms and conditions are set by the various boards and ENR then inspects to ensure compliance.
Well, I can assure the Minister that this site does not have a water license. There's no land use permit for this site. It's privately owned lands. I'd like to know who is actually responsible for cleaning it up and what our general regime is. But two and a half years after devolution, I'm not aware of any specific changes to policy, regulations, or laws to ensure that we have a proper system in place for preventing and managing contaminated sites. When can we expect to have a proper system in place?
In the situation described by the Member opposite, I think it would be the responsibility of the private owner to remediate. However, I do understand that this is a very important issue arising out of our mandate, in which we stated to develop an integrated, comprehensive approach to the management of contaminated sites, including prioritizing, sharing of responsibilities in collaboration with other governments, monitoring any sound financial security system to prevent public liability. So this is a live issue with this government and with this Cabinet, and I understand that currently ENR and Lands are working together to develop a policy.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
