Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services here. I heard from the Minister referring to training and staffing of the upcoming Norman Wells Sahtu Regional Health Facility. Can the Minister elaborate a little bit more on which positions are going to be advertised competitively? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the opening of that new facility, and we plan to be moved in there and fully operational towards the end of the next calendar year, we do have to fully staff a long-term care unit. There is no long-term care unit in the Sahtu at this point so it's all new positions.
We're just in the process of quantifying how many positions that will be and they'll obviously include some kitchen staff, some support workers for the residents in the building, as well as some other janitorial positions, as well as some support positions like RNs. I don't have the exact numbers at this point. As soon as I'm aware of those numbers I will certainly share it with the Member. Thank you.
Could the Minister also highlight how many positions are going to be created on the higher-up administration level? Not so much a janitorial, sweeping the floor type positions here, but the administration.
Mr. Speaker, we have moved forward with Health Transformation, so we have the one authority here in the Northwest Territories as well as the Tlicho and Hay River. The senior management complement in the Sahtu is the same and is going to remain the same.
We have a CEO and a number of directors who are providing leadership within the region as well as some manager level jobs moving down. We aren't intending at this point to create any new jobs in that region in the senior management area; however, I will say that I have made a commitment to the people of the Northwest Territories and to the Member and to other Members that I want to support as much as possible training local people for local work. There are a number of those jobs that certainly we can train local people to do; other jobs are going to have some statutory requirements which makes it a bit tough.
In the health and social services system we have moved forward with some training of some local people for CEO roles; well, we're doing it in the Deh Cho, we've done it in Hay River. We're about to go out for staffing for a developmental COO position in the Sahtu and we're hoping to get a local person and train them up so that they can take over the role of the CEO after they have completed their appropriate training. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm very glad to hear that there is a vacancy in the secondary role, as COO trainee under the Northern Management Development Program. Could the Minister keep me posted on the progress of the advertising of this position? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We hope to go out for an open competition on that developmental position shortly. I will certainly keep the Member informed once we have a candidate; I'll also let him know who the candidate is, and hopefully we'll be able to find a solid person who in a couple of years can take over that CEO role in the Sahtu. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister of Justice. The A New Day Program is going to sunset at the end of December, and I understand that a clause in the current contract would let the department and the Tree of Peace extend the program by one year. So I would like to ask the Minister what funds are available within the department's planning budget to continue the men's program in 2017-2018? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, we are waiting for an evaluation of the A New Day Program, as I have mentioned previously, and I'm not certain of the exact amount of funds that we may have available. So I will look into that matter and get back to the Member opposite. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If the A New Day ends as the department plans, how long would it take for the department to reinstate the men's program following that gap in services?
Again, Mr. Speaker, we are waiting for the evaluation of the program. Certainly we recognize the concerns expressed about there being a gap, and we will try to address that matter once we have had a full review of the report.
When does the department plan to complete and share with the Regular Members its evaluation of the A New Day Program?
The final evaluation of the A New Day Program is being finalized even as we speak. I'm expecting to receive that within the next week, and I will share it with Members opposite as soon as possible after that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know we are meeting in December as Regular Members, so I'm sure we will get an update at that time. Hopefully we have some good news that this program will continue, as it is making a big difference for a lot of people and is successful, so it only makes sense to continue. So will the Minister ensure that the program continues? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Certainly, Mr. Speaker, we are committed to this type of program. But we are, again, waiting for the evaluation of the A New Day Program and we are very much looking forward to receiving that report.
As I said, we should be receiving it shortly. Again, we are committed to the type of program. We are very much looking forward to this evaluation, as we recognize that this is a very important issue within the Northwest Territories. So as soon as we get the report and have reviewed it in Cabinet, we will share it with the Members opposite. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I made my statement regarding the wood pellet progress towards establishing an operation in my riding plus the South Slave region. Recently the community of Fort Providence and Aurora Pellets renewed their discussions and negotiations, so my questions are to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. My question is: what level of commitment does the GNWT have in terms of ensuring that the biomass industry has a role in the NWT economy? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is very committed to the development of biomass in the Northwest Territories, as we believe this project will create regional economic development opportunities and local employment. It will also probably help revitalize the NWT forestry industry, which could bring in sawmills and other such things. The department itself has committed to the FMA holders in both Fort Resolution and Fort Providence SEED funding for assistance under that program for marketing and business planning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Could the Minister maybe explain in terms of the progress at this point, from the perspective of the department in terms of the advances towards finally establishing a business that could be in operation? What is the latest progress in terms of an update?
As the Member stated, the community of Fort Providence is reengaged with Aurora Wood Pellets. These negotiations are ongoing and they're proprietary information. We can't get into those details to share with the Member, but I can reassure him that the Government of the Northwest Territories, as well as the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and ENR, are working closely with the proponents to get this project under way.
The Minister has indicated that there is some cooperation between his department and ENR in terms of trying to advance this business initiative forward. What role does ITI have within the forest management agreement that was reached between the project proponent plus the community in terms of ensuring this business initiative is realized?
ITI's role, as I've said, in this whole project is to help facilitate to create regional economic development opportunities and local employment. We are working closely, like I said, with ENR and the proponent and Aurora Wood Pellets. Aurora Wood Pellets has moved this project along without any resources from the Government of the Northwest Territories.
We continue to work with both FMA holders to bring this project to reality, as we believe it will bring substantial economic opportunities to the South Slave region, and particularly the three communities of Fort Providence, Enterprise, and Fort Resolution, and we will continue to do so.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is maybe hinging on the Department of ENR, but ITI obviously has the lead on this. Could the Minister indicate perhaps a timeline in terms of how it is that the Forest Management Act would be updated, and whether that should be a precursor before the Aurora Pellets is established? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was the previous Minister of ENR, I know a little bit about the Forest Management Act. Hopefully we are going to have that coming forward into the life of this Legislative Assembly to move it forward. ENR continues to move that legislation along, and ITI will be working closely, as I've said, with all Members of the Legislative Assembly and all departments to help move this project along. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the Senior Home Heating Subsidy. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, my first question for the Minister is the Senior Home Heating Subsidy guidelines were last updated in June 2016. What do the recent changes mean for the current and prospective clients? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was just one change actually, and that was to clarify that seniors who maintain a residential land lease with the Department of Lands were eligible for the subsidy. What I want to maybe inform the Member is that we're actually going through a review, and we did get a lot of concerns from almost all the Members during our sitting earlier this year about the threshold levels, the amount of fuel that elders can receive. As the temperature drops below zero throughout the North, we want to make sure that this program is providing the best services to those in need, the seniors. We've actually got a working group right now that's reviewing this particular program. We're looking at income threshold levels, we're looking at the zones for communities, fuel allocations, and looking at ways to make it easier for seniors to access the program as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, my second question to the Minister is how many residents used the Senior Home Heating Subsidy in the last fiscal year?
We had 513 NWT seniors access the program last year. I believe 230 seniors used their full fuel allocation, not all the seniors use up what they're entitled to. As I said, we're reviewing the program so that those 230 seniors who've actually used up their fuel allocation might have some months where they need that fuel for the rest of the winter months. We're going to be looking at those threshold levels.
It's good to see that seniors are accessing the program. My third question for the Minister, Mr. Speaker, is how does the department advertise the program to make sure that everyone who might need it can access it?
Various ways, Mr. Speaker, radio ads, newspaper ads, we ask our MLAs to go out and promote it. Recently, we've been going out doing a lot of community meetings. We were just in Nahendeh. Every meeting that we went to we talked about the Senior Home Heating Subsidy. A lot of seniors that come to our open houses, we bring that up as well. We get our staff to promote as well in the communities so that seniors who are accessing the program, they can let other seniors know about what's available to them.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer from the Minister. The Minister was talking about thresholds, and my final question for the Minister, Mr. Speaker, is what is the current income threshold for seniors who qualify for the home heating subsidy program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Currently, we have three zones throughout the Northwest Territories, to get the maximum threshold for each zone, for Zone 1 is just over $46,000; Zone 3 is high as $56,000, and those are in the more rural and remote communities and the communities in the high Arctic, and those are what we're looking at, whether or not we need to change those so that more seniors can access the program and have fuel and heat up their homes throughout the full winter months.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions about A New Day Program, I'd like to direct them to the Minister of Justice. Last year the Auditor General of Canada released a report on corrections and pointing out some of the deficiencies, which included a lack of access to programs while in remand. I'd like to ask the Minister what programs are offered in remand? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are programs in remand. I believe the name of the program is called A Partner Program. A New Day is a voluntary program and is not accessible to those in remand. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
