I appreciate the response and am looking forward to that plan. My next question, Mr. Speaker, is a disturbing trend is that of elders being neglected or taken advantage of or even abused. Can the Minister describe how the department is collaborating with the NWT Seniors' Society in developing training for the prevention of abuse of elders?
Mr. Speaker, this is a serious issue, not just in the Northwest Territories, but across Canada. We have made dollars available to the NWT Seniors' Society, who I do have to applaud for the amazing work that they have done on creating programs and awareness around elder abuse here in the Northwest Territories. We have made technical staff available to them, as they need, to help with information, but they have really taken the lead on the development of this. We do what we can to help promote it and to get that information out there.
Masi. Oral Questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister for his response. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my statement, an important element of healthy aging is in engagement with social circles and activities within the communities. Can the Minister describe ways the department is trying to make that happen, even in the smaller communities? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, traditionally, we have supported some of the different senior societies around the Northwest Territories who have done a lot of this work. But in our design of independent living units and other facilities around the Northwest Territories, we have actually allowed for space where seniors can get together and do programming, whether we are delivering the programming or whether it is community groups who are delivering the programs.
I would suggest that the Member or any of the Members have an opportunity to take a look at one of our new independent living units put together by the Housing Corp, such as the one at Fort Liard. Go check it out, see the space that is available, and you will get a sense of the type of space we are trying to create for individuals to do group activities and gatherings to support socialization.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today on the Nutrition North program is addressed to the Minister responsible for Intergovernmental Affairs. The question is we have an NWT agricultural strategy, and with the Nutrition North program, I am wondering if there is a willingness to move ahead in merging both counterparts on the program delivery and if the Minister is willing to engage in federal discussions with their federal counterpart that deliver that program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, we were very pleased when the government came through with his election promises to increase the funding for the Nutrition North programming and also added four communities from the Northwest Territories to the Nutrition North program. The federal government is now undertaking a consultation process with selected communities. I have met with the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, Ms. Bennett, and I have suggested exactly that, that they should transfer the funding from the program for those communities in the Northwest Territories because it ties in very nicely to all of our initiatives for locally-grown, northern foods. I should also add that the Senate of the Northwest Territories is also supportive of that approach. Thank you Mr. Speaker.
I am glad to hear that there are four additional communities going to the subsidy list and then also some capital to increase the program delivery. My second question, Mr. Speaker, is the Premier willing to invite Ms. Bennett so we can have some discussions with the community-based leaders that are fully engaged in the interests of the home-growing program?
I should point out that the Nutrition North Canada program is jointly funded by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and also Health Canada, and I believe that the chair of the Advisory Committee is from the Beaufort-Delta. We have had a number of meetings with Minister Bennett. The three Northern Premiers have jointly written to her to pass on what we think the objectives of the Nutrition North program is. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada is consulting with selected communities and they have indicated that they will be consulting with myself or the Northwest Territories at some point in the near future.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is I look forward to the dates placed forward for this potential meeting here and we can relay that message on to the regional interested parties there; I have several in my riding that would be glad to accept the invitation to participate and talk to the federal counterparts on how to redesign in person the program for better delivery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
More so of a comment from the Member. I'll allow the Premier to answer your question.
I should point out that it's very important to engage with the Government of Canada on this issue because while the increased funding and increase in the number of communities was very welcome, it's not clear whether these expenditures are providing effective action in achieving the program's goal of increasing access to perishable nutrition. So I applaud the government for reaching out to the communities, the ones that are most affected by it, to find out how they can make a program more transparent, effective and accountable to Northerners and other Canadians that benefit from this program.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement on summer students I have questions for the Minister of Human Resources. Can the Minister advise this House how many students applied for the summer employment with GNWT in 2016 and how many were hired? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Human Resources.
We had 628 summer student applications in 2016; out of that 306 students were hired.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise if there's going to be any sort of strategy to increase that number for the coming summer of 2017?
HR has begun a review of the summer student program and a review will also be undertaken with the graduate internship program, and both of these reviews are being done under the Student and Youth Initiative to further enhance existing recruitment initiatives. Our Premier has encouraged all Ministers to try and take on as many summer students as possible. The former Minister of HR has tried to encourage all Ministers to take on as many summer students as possible through their department, and I will commit to this House that I will have a conversation with the Ministers and see how we can improve our summer student hires.
Mr. Speaker, that is the same process we've been following for quite a number of years and, as a result, the number stays around 300. What I was talking about in my Member's statement is trying to find a way to actually increase that number substantially, so just talking about it more is probably not going to do that. So I'm going to ask the Minister if the Minister is prepared to sit down with Cabinet and set some concrete numbers for each department and have the departments hold to those numbers?
Mr. Speaker, first of all I would like to just point out that our vacancy rate, we have about 231 vacancies as of June 30th -- 231.85 vacancies at June 30th, and I know the Member has said that we have been talking about this for a while and I think when we gather here next fall then Members can -- well, hopefully, we'll have a better indicator of the summer students that were hired over the summer.
As I said before, our Premier and the former Minister of HR and the current Minister of HR will encourage our departments to see how we can better utilize our summer students, because we do recognize that it's very important for our students that are attending school to get summer employment so they can be ready for school again in the fall. So, I mean, I've made a commitment to this House that I will work with the colleagues to see if we can improve on those numbers.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I feel like there should be a setting of a target so that we do actually meet the target. The Minister just quoted a number of 230-something vacancies, but we haven't seen a PeopleSoft report. We were talking 900 people at one point, there's 900 vacancies. I'm wondering if the 200 vacancies are just the current number that the department is trying to recruit as opposed to the actual vacancy number of which many of them are contracts, casuals and whatnot. So again I'd like to ask the Minister: on summer students, if Cabinet can set an actual number and hold the departments to that number? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure if we could set a concrete number. I mean, what I could commit to, and I've said it before, is we could either meet and beat this year's total, I think which would be an improvement, and so that's the goal we'll strive for. Again, I'll work with my Cabinet colleagues to encourage them -- to encourage their departments to bring on more summer students. So that's the direction we go, and again, as we gather this time next year I think we'll have a good indication if I fulfil that commitment or not.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I made the statement on the mould in houses and elders moving out of their homes, so my questions are to the Minister of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Elders have moved out about two months ago, so when will the remediation of elders' homes in Fort Providence be complete? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Mould remediation actually has to be done by qualified contractors. When we realized that there was some incidents of mould in the seniors' units we did put out a request for proposals. The people that were -- local agencies actually were at capacity and they didn't want to bid on it because they were already -- they didn't have the time to complete the work, so we did have to go south actually to get the specialization to deal with that.
Currently, though, what is happening now is three of the four units are currently ready for occupancy, so I believe the people are in the process of moving in. One senior, ironically, has requested an extension, they don't want to move back to their unit yet, because they're waiting for a bed to arrive that they've ordered, a special bed. So we have allowed them to actually not move back until they've received their bed that they've asked for. Then the last unit actually, the mould test that we did -- because we have to do a test before; after the remediation we do another test to make sure things are fine, the mould test results received indicated that the last unit does need to have further cleaning and testing on it, so that unit has now been cleaned. Again, we retested it on October 26th, and the results should be back within a week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'd like to thank the Minister for her reply. The larger question is: what is the Housing Corporation's policy to address identified health risks in housing stock? These are homes that were built in the 70s. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker. The policy within the Housing Corporation is that we have a limit on housing, so, when houses get too close to 50 years old, then we try not to do too much renovation. We do an assessment to see if it would be cheaper for us actually to build a new unit. When they get to the homes in the '70s, after I did the math on my fingers, actually will be hitting that time zone so that we look at: is it more cost effective to actually renovate, or is it more cost effective to actually demolish them and put up new units?
Mr. Speaker, the other question is: Why are certain contractors being used to complete remediation work in Fort Providence when it could be done by local people instead of bringing people from the south? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, as I had stated in the first question from the Member, actually I did explain that mould remediation actually is a specialized procedure and so not everyone can actually perform that work. There are two companies in the Member's area that can do that work, but they were at capacity with other jobs and so they weren't interested in taking that on. Therefore, we had no choice other than to look elsewhere because our priority is to deal with the mould. It was a priority, so we took what was available to us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister reassure elders that they will be back in their homes by Christmastime? Mahsi.
Like I had said earlier, again, two of the elders actually have been returned to their units. One of them is waiting for a bed. I'm really hoping that that senior doesn't have to wait till Christmas to get a bed in there. Then the third one, we're just waiting for the final tests. I will do all within my power to make sure that these seniors have a home for Christmas.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I know the Minister was at the launch of the Downtown Road Map report last week and that he's been a supporter of its development. It's my understanding that the investment in services for intoxicated people falls to his department. Could the Minister confirm that the 11 priorities in the report are his priorities? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government, we are committed to addressing the issues of homelessness and recognizing that homelessness is a very complex situation caused by many factors. Health and Social Services is committed to working on the items in the action plan that have been identified as a Health and Social Services responsibility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, some of the priorities in the action plan which are Health and Social Services priorities include the development of a sobering centre. Could the Minister tell us how and when priorities such as those, that come under his department, will be funded? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I'm already on the record, indicating that I've already directed the department to begin the work on the development of a sobering centre. In fact, we're out currently looking for a location for a sobering centre here, in Yellowknife. As the Minister responsible for Homelessness pointed out, initially, we're intending to fund that from within. We need to get it in place, figure out what the costs are going to be, and move forward accordingly.
Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister could tell us whether he is looking at contracting a nonprofit to deliver the services of the sobering centre or whether that will be done by departmental staff? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in the design, we're looking at both options, and we haven't yet come to a conclusion, but we are exploring, basically, all the options to move this initiative forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
