Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, the policy is not to simply house as many people as possible. The reality is that we need to house people adequately and appropriately and consider their safety. I am not going to cram people into buildings without considering all of the safety needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What I am asking the Minister is, all things being equal, there is a unit available and it can house the people on the waiting list. Let's say there was an incident where there is one individual who is looking for houses on the list, and then there is a family that is on the list. Let's say a single parent with three kids. If that was the case, is the Housing Corporation's policy to try to take care of the individual that has the larger family?
The deciding of the wait list is a little bit more complicated than deciding if you have children or not. There are a lot of factors that go into that, such as what is your current living situation, are you in harm's way at this point. Number of children do count in that, but there are a lot of other factors besides just whether you have children or not.
Would the Minister agree that if an individual family was homeless and that the only thing preventing the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation from allocating a unit to that homeless family was a policy that could easily be adjusted, would the Minister adjust that policy?
It is well known within the Legislative Assembly that I am in the process of reviewing every single policy and program with the Housing Corporation. There are many that I think inhibit people from obtaining, maintaining, retaining their homes. I will be restructuring all policies with that goal in mind to house people.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the homeless people are only waiting for a policy adjustment, I would like to ask the Minister: how long will these people remain homeless while the Minister is working on adjusting the policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is really hard to determine how long somebody will remain homeless. At the same time, while we are looking at the policy and the program review, we are trying to address homelessness through a variety of ways. We have put money into the Housing First project in Yellowknife. We are building semi-independent rooms within the current shelters. We are building units within the communities. We are working on homelessness at the same time there is the policy review.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. Last week, the Minister told this House that the RCMP are increasing their training efforts with staff to improve their response to sexual assault complaints. Can the Minister provide more detail on the training offered to the RCMP, including whether the training was provided by in-house instructors, and:
1. Reveal how many police officers have been trained on responses to sexual assault complaints in the last year and how often this training takes place;
2. Provide an overview of the topics covered and guidance given on interviewing victims who say they have been sexually assaulted;
3. Provide analysis of the review of unfounded cases 2010 to 2016 now being undertaken; and
4. Estimate the costs of establishing a sexual assault unit within the RCMP.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "2016 Annual Report - Public Utilities Board of the Northwest Territories," as well as "Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission 2015-2017 Strategic Plan." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave that, notwithstanding rule 4, when this House adjourns on February 23, 2017, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, February 28, 2017. Further, that at any time prior to February 28, 2017, if the Speaker is satisfied after consultation with the executive council and Members of the Legislative Assembly that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned until that time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Motion is on the floor. To the motion.
Question
Question has been called. All those in favour. All those opposed.
---Carried
Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act; Bill 13, Marriage Act; Committee Report 6-18(2), Report on the Review of Bill 7: An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act; Tabled Document 261-18(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2017-2018.
I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 26118(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates, 20172018, with the Departments of Land and Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will have a short recess and continue with the document after said recess.
SHORT RECESS
I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 26118(2), Main Estimates 20172018, beginning with the Department of Lands, which begins on page 285. I will turn to the Minister responsible, Minister Sebert. Do you have any opening comments?
Yes, I do, thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 20172018 Main Estimates for the Department of Lands. Overall, the department’s estimates propose a decrease of $1,962,000 from the 20162017 Main Estimates, which is a decrease of 7 per cent. These estimates continue to support the GNWT’s objective of ensuring a strong and sustainable future for the government and its programs by managing expenditures due to limited revenue growth.
Consistent with the GNWT’s fiscal strategy, the department is managing the growth to its operations expenditures in 201718. The main estimates do include $130,000 for one unmanned aircraft systems coordinator. This investment will help GNWT departments expand their environmental and infrastructure monitoring capabilities at a reduced cost. More accurate and comprehensive information can be used to improve decisionmaking and knowledgesharing. This investment will permit the GNWT to realize its goal to become a leading jurisdiction in Canada in the use of drones.
We are further responding to the government’s fiscal pressures and fiscal strategy through reductions to the operating budget totaling $2,029,000, including the reduction of six positions.
The department’s proposed spending in 201718 continues to support the priorities of the 18th Legislative Assembly by working cooperatively with other departments to help them fulfill their mandates and coordinating GNWT input and decisionmaking into our integrated resource management regime.
Specific activities in support of these priorities include land use planning in a collaborative process where strong relationships exist between communities and government. We are engaging the public on planning activities, and we are providing contribution funding to Aboriginal governments to build capacity and prepare for planning activities in their regions.
In collaboration with territorial planning partners, the department has developed regional land use planning guidelines for the GNWT. The GNWT actively participates on the Deh Cho Land Use Planning Committee. We are working collaboratively with the Tlicho Government and other planning partners to develop a terms of reference to move forward with planning for public lands in the Wek'eezhii management area. In areas to the northeast and southeast of Great Slave Lake, we are engaging with other departments and with Aboriginal governments and organizations to understand their interests in planning for these areas and we will be hosting our 3rd Annual Land Use Planning Forum, this March.
The Land Use and Sustainability Framework is the GNWT’s vision of a balanced approach to land and resource management across the Northwest Territories. The department is working with other departments to ensure that GNWT decisions support the implementation of this vision.
The department’s work on the Recreational Leasing Management Framework is nearing completion, and it will guide the government’s approach for the management and administration of recreational leasing opportunities, for which there is a strong and growing demand. The framework reflects Northerners’ desire to have diverse opportunities to experience and enjoy northern land and waters. The department is leading the development of a recreation management plan for the Yellowknife periphery area, where there is high demand.
To support the evolution of our legislative and policy framework, a review of the Northwest Territories Lands Act and Commissioner’s Land Act is under way to propose technical and administrative amendments. This initiative will require engagement and consultation at different stages in the process and result in a more streamlined and administratively efficient system.
Our inspection, compliance, and enforcement program works to protect human health, property, and the environment by ensuring users of land comply with legislation and the terms of their leases, licenses, and permits. We promote voluntary compliance through education as the most desirable way of upholding land authorizations. We continue to pursue the removal of unauthorized occupants on public land, and a renewed Compliance and Enforcement Policy is under development. We work with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources through the crossappointment of inspectors and on a coordinated response to spills. We collaborate with ENR and other departments to protect the government from public liabilities through a sound financial security system.
The department is coordinating GNWT input on further regulatory work by Canada affecting lands and resources in the NWT. The department will continue to work with partner departments and resource management boards to deliver outreach and knowledgesharing events to support public participation in regulatory processes.
This concludes my opening remarks. I look forward to Members’ comments and questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Do you have witnesses you would like to bring into the Chamber?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses to committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right is Willard Hagen, the deputy minister and, to my left, Brenda Hilderman, director of finance and administration. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Welcome to the witnesses. As always, we will begin with general comments. First, I have Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to start by recognizing that the Department of Lands is now entering into its fourth year of operation, and my colleagues and I are certainly appreciative that Lands is obviously a complex department and it has a lot to deal with, especially with the merging of the two systems, the federal and the territorial system, after devolution.
However, we also recognize that, four years in, the department is seemingly having some troubles to try to hit its stride, and so I think that, during the business plan reviews, committee outlined a number of the aspects that they want to see Lands improve and focus on. One of the things is that we recognize land administration is not well understood by many people across the Northwest Territories, so for sure communication is key in that. The unauthorized occupancy is a major issue, as are tenure issues in parts of the Northwest Territories with unsettled land claims. As many of my colleagues have expressed in this House, it is unacceptable for people to find themselves in property tax arrears since devolution, when their homes are on Commissioner's land in areas with unsettled claims. They essentially keep paying for the value of their property many times over, but the land will never be theirs.
Lands has a crucial responsibility, of course, in managing active industrial sites, waste sites, and other areas that are entering the remediation phase. It is a focus we have got to keep on. Lands also has an important supporting role in the implementation of the agricultural strategy and as residents try to identify and secure lands for agricultural use in the areas with surrounding communities; this will be an important aspect in food security and reducing the cost of living going forward.
The committee has identified public communication, as I mentioned earlier, as an area for development within the department, especially as it relates to recreational leasing. I am pleased, however, to see that the Department of Lands, their commitment in working with MACA to help residents understand land tenure issues and get answers to their questions. So for sure my colleagues and I look forward to seeing that initiative roll out.
As it relates to matters that the Regular Members have presented to the Minister and the department with regard to the budget directly, we find ourselves in opposition to the increases of the lease revenue that is being proposed in the budget. There has been a request to implement a more phased-in approach to this aspect. We would still like the department to consider that.
There are proposed reductions to positions within the budget, of course, that we are opposed to. I will not go into the details of those positions specifically. I will let Members speak to them as we move through the budget. Those are my general comments for now, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I would like to thank my colleague from Yellowknife North for opening up with his comments and addressing some of the stuff there. For me, I am not going to talk about the increases because I think my colleague talked about it well and addressed our concerns. For me, my two concerns besides the increases of land; one is the elimination of the Finance and Administration Clerk position. I have seen this department take the senior lands position, and they move it to Yellowknife and do some training, but what seems to be forgotten is that this is a front-level entry position that is well suited for our community, but that position is very heavily relied on in the department.
It helped allow the other staff to do their jobs and focus on their jobs, and this position has been able to provide good support, and unfortunately we are not giving due justice here, which is very sad because we see these entry-level positions being cut, which is having a huge impact in the community and the region as well. If we have to rely on the people in the offices to continue to take up this position's slack, then we are not going to be able to get them out doing the work in the field. I have to give credit to the department. This team and my riding is very well suited. They work well together, the unit, including right from the administration to the superintendent. They work as a team, and I have to give credit to them. They work well. Unfortunately, this government and this department is taking one of the cogs out of the wheel, and if you continue to do that we are going to see this new Lands department fall apart at some point in time. So that saddens me.
My other concern is I am still looking for information on the exemptions like Cassidy Point. How many other ones are out there? I continue to hear this from my community, from the people in my riding, and I was respectful, I was waiting for today, and I hope when we can get some further information that was promised in committee that will show us that there are these exemptions out there so people can understand what is going on. It saddens me that we still have not got it, and if we continue we will have to ask more questions on the floor to get justice for the people, the residents of the Northwest Territories, so they can actually live in their homes on the land that they have utilized. So at this point in time I would thank the Chair for allowing me to open comments and I will finish there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will start with some general remarks, if I can, following on my colleague from Yellowknife North. This department actually is going to take some of the biggest cuts in this budget of any of the government agencies, over $2 million out of its operating budget; six positions are going to be lost; the operating budget is going to be cut by 7.4 per cent.
There are a number of issues with some of these cuts, as well, but we still do not have a plan and a schedule to bring together the lands that are administered by this department under the Commissioner's Lands Act and the Northwest Territories Lands Act, and that is something that committee has asked for and we have not seen a plan yet.
One of the things that I have continually raised in this House is the issue of making sure that, as a new landowner manager, we have to get our financial securities and liabilities legislation up to speed to make sure that we do not inherit any further liabilities which are going to cost the taxpayers money. We have had people working on this issue now for at least three years, but there has not been one piece of policy, not one legislative change that has come out of this department to make sure that we protect our taxpayers and the environment from assuming new liabilities.
Just to go into a little bit more detail about this, and I am going to raise some of this as we go through as well, but we acquired the Mactung deposit through creditor protection, proceeding where we did not actually have financial security for the surface lease at Cantung, but in acquiring the new property we do not know what kind of liabilities we have taken on. I have asked the Minister this, and I will pursue it again, and how that information is going to be disclosed to potential buyers. Lots of questions there.
I know that Cantung has generally been taken over by the federal government after it went into receivership, but we still have a surface lease there, and I want to know the status of that surface lease and whether we have given that back to the federal government to reduce any exposure that we have.
Another property, Prairie Creek, we do not have full financial security for the assets and the buildings and so on that are at the site. We are exposed and we have not done anything to change that. In fact, the company is now in an over-hold tenancy position, so we have the ability to change that surface lease and correct that problem now. Do not wait for the property to go into production. Do it now.
There are some things in the budget for this department, the Northern Canadian Centre of Excellence for Remote Sensing. I am not quite sure exactly what that is and how it ties into the Mackenzie Valley fibre link optic cable and completion of that. There was a Northwest Territories Centre for Geomatics. That seems to have been put on the back burner because of the fiscal strategy of this government. So I am not sure how well that is going to come together, and I will have some questions around that.
I will also have some questions around land use planning. I understand that there is some work that is being done to look at Crown lands within the Wekweeti Management Area, some kind of terms of reference are being worked on.
I want to know what the legislative basis is going to be for creating land use plans for those Crown lands. Just having it done by some sort of an agreement, even if it is the Tlicho Agreement, there needs to be a legally binding land use plan, and it needs to be established in legislation.
One of the cuts, though, that has not been discussed so far is the reduction in travel for our inspectors. There is going to be a 33 per cent cut in the travel budget for our inspectors. We promised to do better than the federal government, and we are not going to live up to that promise if you go ahead with these cuts. We already have the funding through devolution. It was part of the ABase funding to carry out our management responsibilities. We already have that money, so I don't know why we are cutting money out of inspections to fund the fiscal strategy and fund infrastructure projects. That is just wrong, so I will have lots of questions around that.
The last thing I guess I would like to raise in my opening comments is the increase in lease fees. These are long overdue. Some of those fees have not been touched in decades. I am in favour of increasing the fees, but it needs to be done in a graduated way to avoid sticker shock, and that is not what is being proposed in the departmental budget. You have a recommendation from us as Regular MLAs to phase that in, and that is something I think the department should look at more seriously. I think that is all I have, Mr. Chair, as my opening comments, but you can see I am going to be pursuing a number of these matters as we go through the departmental budget. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like the other colleagues have said, this is a relatively new department, and we have negotiated terms of an agreement from the previous Assembly to this one and many outstanding concerns addressed on postdevolution issues. I look forward to going through this department and also knowing a little bit about the upcoming year's budget and action plans for reviews of mirrored legislation.
I also look forward to working through this review with the new deputy minister and, knowing the experience he brings to this new department, I have faith in his abilities, knowing that he also just started with the department last year. Given that, I look forward to going through this budget and some of the concerns we have for the upcoming 12 months. Later, I will have questions on some of the activities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. I will give the Minister 10 minutes to respond, keeping in mind that many of the specifics in the general comments will be addressed as we move through these activities. Minister Sebert.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The department did carefully examine all of the areas of our mandate. We were, of course, directed by the Cabinet to look for places where we could make sensible and sustainable reductions.
This department has actually only been in existence less than three years in total. We thought that perhaps, as the former federal area of jurisdiction and our area of jurisdiction came together, there might be areas where we could rationalize our operations, so that is how the whole of our budget was looked at.
There have been concerns raised, and I have heard them before, about reducing the travel for inspectors. That specifically was done as there simply, because of the slowdown in the economy, was not enough work out there. The number of inspectors has not been reduced, and, certainly, if there was to be a great increase in the amount of work, we could increase the number of inspections that we would need to do. In fact, that would probably be good because that would be an indication of an improving economy.
With those words, we do look forward to entertaining your questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. The Department of Lands begins, in the main estimates, on page 285. As always, we will defer consideration of the departmental total until we go through the activities. The first activity is corporate management. It begins on page 292, continuing to page 294. Does committee have comments or questions on the activity, corporate management? I will give committee a moment. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder if this is an ideal question for this area. I have wondered: why is Water and Lands really not together? You know, you would think, as it relates to economies of scale, efficiency, and for inspection purposes that we could find a way to streamline this if we had Water and Lands together. Since we have had devolution, I have found it odd that we have a Department of Lands and then Water is off in another department in a division of its own. I wonder if we could get some thoughts from the department or the Minister on that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you. I think we have wondered that ourselves at times. Of course, as has been mentioned, this is a new department. The government generally is rationalizing some of its other departments, and perhaps in the future it could be looked at because that certainly is a logical combination. I don't know if my deputy minister would like to add anything.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Hagen.
Yes, that is a good question, Mr. Chair. Before devolution, of course, INAC was in control, and they did have lands and water inspectors crossappointed and in one department. Of course, the regulatory boards are land and water boards. They handle land and waters for their permits and water licences, so, going forward, I think that would be obvious. As long as Lands gets inspectors, I think it is a very good idea. That would make a lot of sense.
Thank you, Mr. Hagen. I will also remind all the witnesses and all the Members to just finish off a statement with "thank you" or something to let the tech team know to change the microphones. Mr. Vanthuyne.
