Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Stan and Karen Cochrane for different reasons. My constituency assistant, Mr. Garett Cochrane, is Stan and Karen's son. I couldn't do my job without him. So thank you very much for providing me with a great deal of resources. Thanks for being here today.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize my constituency assistant Ora Mercredi, and also Mr. Stan Cochrane, who we worked together on the Darnley Bay project which I just mentioned earlier. So welcome to Stan. It is good to see you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend best wishes to Xavier Bonnetrouge and Marie Bonnetrouge who celebrated their 60th anniversary this year. They were married in Fort Providence, August 27, 1956. Louie Bonnetrouge and Rosa Bonnetrouge were witnesses at their wedding. Xavier and Marie have 11 children, 33 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke about the importance of building a knowledge economy in the North and the idea of transforming Aurora College into a polytechnic. I know that the Minister is engaged in a strategic review process working with the Aurora College leadership. I am interested to know when honourable Members, here in this House, will be able to see that strategic plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we were just awarded the contract for the work to be done. We are going to be engaging a lot of our stakeholders. It is a key priority of our department to make sure that we are working very well with Aurora College to develop the strategic plan. We are going to reach out to community governments, Aboriginal governments, GNWT departments, staff, students, as well as Members. As this has just started up, once we get a timeline and schedule, we will share that with the Members and get their feedback and input into this action plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister just indicated a list of stakeholders and those sound like a good start. There are a number of examples of community colleges or smaller colleges that have evolved into polytechnics or university colleges. We are seeing that process happening in our neighbouring territory, the Yukon. Will the stakeholder consultation also involve speaking to those experts and seeing how they were able to transform their post-secondary vocational institutes into formal polytechnics and university colleges?
We always look to see what are the best practices throughout other jurisdictions; however, we just released a labour market information report and the Skills 4 Success Strategic Framework and Action Plan which is going to help guide this strategic plan moving forward with the Aurora College in developing their programs. We should have something in place after all the consultations and engagements are done. We also want to utilize more of our learning centres. We have 23 learning centres in the community that we want to utilize a lot better to get the training, the skill developments and help some of our employers with the in-demand jobs and the needs that they need.
So we're going to look at what's being done, but we really want to have it guided by the Skills 4 Success Action Plan as well as the labour market in-demand jobs and needs assessment that were released earlier this year to help our communities and our business get northern employees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister's answer, and that's exactly why we need to do more with Aurora College. We have a real labour market shortage and a shortage in education; however, I think Aurora College now is focused on a wide variety of issues. Recently, the government moved it from education to labour market development, and we've seen in the recent capital budget a new heavy operator training facility. So we are making some decisions about the future of Aurora College.
I guess my question then, Mr. Speaker, is: are we going to continue to make these decisions as they meet our needs and as opportunities are available or are we going to wait until that strategic plan is completed before proceeding any further with redeveloping Aurora College?
That's exactly why we're going out doing the consulting and engaging with all our stakeholders. We do have three campuses throughout the NWT that meets specific needs for different communities, different groups. We want to make evidence-based decisions and we're going to wait until that report is done, it should be ready, as I said, June of 2017, and be ready for implementation in the 2017-2018 academic year.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for providing some clear timelines. My last question is going to be a difficult one to answer because it's about capital, and Aurora College currently does not have a Yellowknife campus. One of the components of Aurora College is the Aurora Research Institute, and currently they have office space, they do not have laboratory equipment, they do not have research equipment at all.
Clearly, there are some necessary upgrades if we're going to expand our research capacity and expand training and education opportunities for Aurora College. That building is also riddled with maintenance issues, glycol leaks, it's a real mess.
So in this strategic plan is the door open for a new campus facility, a standalone design-built campus facility in Yellowknife? Yes, I know we have limited resources, but this is a priority for our job market shortage. So is the door open to a new campus facility in Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Once the strategic plan is done and ready for review, we'll see what kind of space is needed for the program services that are going to be offered in the next academic year. But we can't make those decisions until we see that strategic plan.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we heard in this House from the Minister of Justice that A New Day Program had 31 candidates, but when we met with the coordinators they informed us they had over 358 men and women take part in this program at the end of September. This is a huge difference in numbers. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain why there's a huge difference in these numbers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned yesterday, this program is being reviewed. There may have been people that were informed about the program, perhaps that's how they got to that 300 number. I do know, however, that only 31 entered the program and only 16 graduated. So there may have been other types of contacts, but as far as people actually in the program and completing the program, there were very few. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for his answer. There's a huge difference in numbers. So I'm going to ask this question. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that monthly reports were provided to the department. Mr. Speaker, were these reports given to the evaluators and are they part of the evaluation process, and are they using those numbers instead of the 31?
Mr. Speaker, of course I've not yet received the report, but I understand that the report is a comprehensive one. I'm sure they looked at a wide variety of information, I don't know exactly what information they looked at, but I'm almost certain they looked at a wide variety of information. I do not know if they specifically looked at the monthly reports, but their information provided to us, so far, is that there were only 31 clients and only 16 graduates.
I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on the numbers here. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise the House if the pilot project did have an evaluation component in the contribution agreement and, if it did, was this evaluation component used in the evaluation process?
I'm not certain as to whether such an evaluation was in the initial terms of reference, but all pilot projects virtually, the very nature of a pilot project is that it is to be evaluated, and that type of evaluation is being done at this time.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has said this is a three-year project. However, there was a nine-month gap in the service between the Healing Drum and the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre. It is my understanding that the program has been running only for 22 consecutive months at the Tree of Peace. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please advise this House, does the nine months with the other organization count as part of this three-year pilot project and evaluation process?
Mr. Speaker, this pilot program has been running since 2012, and we do appreciate there was a gap in the service provider. I'm sure the final report, which we are eagerly anticipating, will take that into account in their evaluation of the program.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in relation to my statement about immigration. The immigration program is jointly run between ITI and ECE. There's a lot of overlap between departments; Education Culture and Employment obviously has employment and ITI has business development. What sort of coordination is happening between the two departments on this front, and has the department considered merging the immigration unit into perhaps one department to streamline? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our department is the lead on the Nominee Program, though responsibility is shared with the Department of ITI. Under the Nominee Program ECE administers the employer-driven program which is comprised of three streams: critical impact workers; skilled workers; and, the NWT express entry. Right now, we're working with the Department of ITI to develop an immigration framework and action plan, and once that is in place that information will be shared with Members moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We always talk about diversifying our economy. Other jurisdictions, like Manitoba, have welcomed farmers and agricultural workers to their province to fill the gaps they have. What is the department doing to align our current economic diversification strategies, like with agricultural, with tourism, hospitality, the fisheries? What are they doing specifically to attract immigrants who can fill those gaps? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since I've been in the position, I've been to a couple of FTP meetings where the concerns were brought forward of having skilled workers meeting the indemand jobs, particularly for each jurisdiction. The Northwest Territories is no different, so, when we're looking at our nominee program, we want to make sure that we're bringing people in to meet the needs of the business community when they can't find workers locally or even nationally; that, if we do bring in immigrants to fill these gaps in the jobs, that they are actually skilled workforce to meet those indemand jobs.
Earlier, the Minister, in a different set of questions, talked about Aurora College waiting to make any changes, basing that on Skills 4 Success, and he just mentioned the immigration framework, as well. Is that also going to be based on Skills 4 Success? Is this all going to be integrated, and when can we expect this immigration framework?
As I mentioned, we're just in the preliminary stages working with the Department of ITI to develop that framework, which will lead into an action plan. We're also out doing promotion and awareness of our nominee program in the regions. We've just launched a website on October 13th, I believe, and it's got a lot of really good information and testimonials on there.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for all his answers. So we've talked about what we're doing in the territory. What is the government doing to reach out to potential immigrants? What sort of advertising, I guess, what sort of outreach, is there?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we do have that website that we launched. I know that all departments are working to get this out internationally. We just had some very good success in getting some businesses from out of the country come up to the Northwest Territories and start-up businesses here, in Yellowknife, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Question 453-18(2):
Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I spoke of how the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources sees his new authority over water licences as one of determining procedural fairness. The implication is that perhaps we don't believe the land and water boards have procedurally fair processes already. Does the Minister believe that the land and water boards have procedurally fair processes for water licences, and what changes would he like to see? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the land and water board has their process, and they review items brought before them, and then they are brought over to ENR for a decision by the Minister. So, whatever process they use, if they believe it's a fair process then they operate under that process as we operate under ours. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for that response; I'm not sure it really deals with the issue. When would the Minister refer matters of procedural fairness to the courts or take it upon himself to make a determination?
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility for the water licences direction very seriously, and, if there's an issue that's brought before us, we like to ensure that all parties have a say in the issues that are brought before us. If we feel that some procedural fairness was not met, then we may refer that back to the water board.
Again, thanks to the Minister for his response. Does the Minister recognize that questions of law about a water licence issued by a board, including procedural fairness, are best dealt with through the appeal processes set out in the Waters Act; that is, an appeal to the court rather than trying to have the Minister sort out these matters?
