Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The lease rates are determined by our land pricing policy, which is based on 10 per cent of the assessed value of the land. I understand this is consistent throughout the NWT and, in fact, is the practice across Canada. Thank you.
Can the Minister explain what's involved in determining that rate?
Yes. The rate is determined on the assessed value which is established by the Department of MACA.
Earlier I spoke of this being akin to a 10 per cent mill rate. So can the department look at ways to make the lease rates more in line with what are in other parts of the territory? By that, I mean, Mr. Speaker, we don't pay 10 per cent of the value of the property that we live on here in Yellowknife or in some of the larger centres, so I'm not understanding what the Minister means by applications similar across the territory. Can the Minister tell me how that could be brought more in line with other parts of the territory?
I think we're talking about two things here: taxes and lease rates. The lease rates, as I say, are based on 10 per cent of the assessed value of the land, and that is consistent throughout the Northwest Territories. They are different things, obviously, taxes and leases, as anybody who owns property knows, and 10 per cent of the assessed value of the land, I suggest, would be a reasonable rental or lease rate.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is Lands working with Aboriginal governments involved with the issue around the land titles moving forward with settlement of land rights and all of the other things that are involved in the negotiation? Currently, it appears as though, if you do not have a negotiation position, then it is just 10 per cent.
I guess I am kind of wondering if it is different for the areas where the land rights are settled. Can the Minister tell me how his department can work with the Aboriginal governments to look at this policy? Because it is a very unfair policy to have 10 per cent of the value of the land as an annual cost to either rent or lease the land. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it is conceded that tax and lease rates are controversial in that they can be different in different areas in the sense that, certainly with respect to taxation of properties outside settled boundaries of communities, that is often the subject or sometimes the subject of a treaty or settled land claim. As to progress with respect to those unsettled claims, perhaps that question could be best addressed to the Minister for DAAIR.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week, during the public meeting on junior kindergarten funding, ECE advised us that junior kindergarten would be funded according to a pupilteacher ratio of 12:1, but, in the same discussion, the ECE also advised that the funding formula was an allocation tool, not a tool to determine whether or not funding that ECE delivers is adequate to meet schools' and students' needs. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain how this impacts schools and school boards who have identified where funding is inadequate to meet the needs of the students and the schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we continue to work with all of our education authorities on the rollout of junior kindergarten for the 201718 school year. It is the responsibility of the education authorities to decide how they are going to best staff their junior kindergarten classrooms with the funding that we provide. The money that we are providing this year, that we committed to.
I am confident that the funding provided to these education authorities will be adequate for these authorities to offer quality early childhood programming for fouryearolds, as I mentioned, that is optional for parents.
More specifically, Mr. Speaker, for the Member's riding, where we have implemented junior kindergarten for the past three years in a lot of our communities, we have spoken with the superintendent and had discussions with her, and we have heard from the superintendent that junior kindergarten is working; it has shown success, great outcomes. As well, she has mentioned that the JK in the Member's riding of Nahendeh is adequately funded. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for that answer, but he has to also realize that I speak for the territories. I sit as the chair of social development, and I am hearing these concerns across the territories. I have to agree with the Minister. It is working well in my region, and I am not saying that. I am saying, across the territories, there are concerns, and this is why we are asking these questions.
Mr. Speaker, ECE has indicated that it will take $5.1 million to implement junior kindergarten in all of the remaining NWT classrooms, not including some onetime spending to make classrooms physically ready and other investments. Can the Minister explain how many junior kindergarten students the ECE is expecting to be enrolled in 201718, and how does that compare to past enrolments? When we are looking at including all of the schools, how is it going to be related to the enrolment?
As the Ministry of Education, Culture and Employment, we want to provide the best services for our teachers, our families, and our students, and we represent all communities across the Northwest Territories. Junior kindergarten has been implemented in 20 of the communities to date. It is working well.
We are seeing some good results, and we are going to continue that. With the 13 communities that are remaining, we want to offer them the same opportunities that we are providing to all 20 communities. Any concerns, questions, we are continuing to consult with our education authorities moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, in the 201718 school year, we are looking at estimates of about 533 junior kindergarten students that are going to be enrolled in schools right across the Northwest Territories. Since we began piloting the project, on average we have had about 94 students in the Northwest Territories, in all the schools where we are currently providing it.
I thank the Minister for his answer. When we look at the $5.1 million plus onetime spent to prepare classrooms, communication, advertise, and all of the other expenses to implement junior kindergarten in 201718 plus spending on junior kindergarten to date, what is the total amount the government has invested in junior kindergarten, Mr. Speaker?
Since we have started the pilot program in the previous government, we have averaged about $1.4 million to fund the continued operations of junior kindergarten throughout the communities that have been offering it. Our onetime costs that include advertising, review, evaluation, the upgrades of infrastructure, classroom equipment, as well as the engagement that we have had with school boards and the communities, that is an extra $1.14 million that we have had for junior kindergarten since it started.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that answer. I think we are looking at the bigger centres, and that is why we are seeing a larger increase. With the implementation of junior kindergarten from the start, my understanding is the department required the divisional education councils to provide $2 million of the startup cost. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if this $2 million is on top of the $1.4 million? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The $2 million that the Member is referring to was the original cost that we looked at when we implemented junior kindergarten about three years ago. That money was in the last government. The $5.1 million that we are committing in this government to fully fund junior kindergarten is new money, as well as some of the onetime startup costs. Right now, we are averaging about a million dollars to continue the implementation of junior kindergarten that we have in the 20 communities where we currently provide junior kindergarten.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Adding to my Member's statement earlier on the preservation of the Deline culture and heritage by establishing a library similar to ours, but probably a little bit smaller, my first question to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is: are there appropriate funding support and programs for this initiative? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and we continue to fund community libraries right across the Northwest Territories. We are working with schools to actually work on making the libraries that are in our schools open to the public. We will share with the Member, as well, that our NWT Literacy Council does also offer funding. We can get the information to the Member, but, in the recent newsletter that the NWT Literacy Council just released, I think it was today, there were grants, also, from Better World Books.
There are literacy grants particularly for libraries, and it is an opportunity to look at unique and innovative ways to do community projects. However, that is for all of the libraries across Canada, but I think here in the North we have an opportunity since we have nine official languages and the culture that we have in the Northwest Territories is to get some of our communities to apply on that funding, which is up to about $15,000 per project, and we could share that information with the Member.
I am very glad for that response here. It is leading toward the establishment of this centre and, aside from the curricular libraries we have in the schools, this will be somewhat uniquely different for the fact that we're supporting a government library that is going to archive the many histories and locations around the Deline Great Bear Lake area, as well as the wealth and knowledge that the elders have, and that has to be captured before, unfortunately hopefully not, the passing on of the individuals who possess that wealth and knowledge. Is the Minister willing to provide these resources and delegate somebody to work with that government, then you have a government-to-government dialogue going for the incorporation and establishment of this centre?
Yes, with the new self-government that Deline Got'ine Government has created I think it is a great opportunity now to start looking at the history, the heritage of the people of Deline, as well as the Sahtu. I know we were just recently in Fort Good Hope.
There was a book launch around the Dene heroes of the Sahtu, and I think that is a really good starting opportunity to work with the self-government to create such a place or use our existing resources to enhance and promote the culture and the heritage of the Deline peoples.
Definitely we can bring in our stakeholders, NWT Literacy Council, as well as our other regional offices and our office in headquarters to start up those discussions.
Now, we have $15,000 and some supports here. Will the Minister provide some dates for a stakeholder's meeting?
Just to clarify, that $15,000 is application based. It is not through our government, it is actually through a third party that the NWT literacy is promoting through their newsletter. We can share that with the Member and work with the community and put in an application, which would be great if we can get that approved, as well as our continued support through the department for libraries not only in the community but right across the Northwest Territories. We can start those discussions and start looking at some dates where we can sit down and have these discussions.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Earlier I spoke about the Health Information Act, and the purpose of the Health Information Act is to govern the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of personal health information while balancing the right to personal privacy with a need to deliver healthcare services.
I will not debate the Minister about whether or not the section of the act that applies to privacy impact assessments. I will not debate whether that applies to the health authority amalgamation. I have done that, but the department clearly disagrees with me and the Privacy Commissioner and the Standing Committee on Social Programs.
So I will just ask the Minister: will the department provide assurance to the public and to Members of this House that all of our rights are being properly protected by undertaking a privacy impact assessment as required by law under the Health Information Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the Health Information Act, the Department of Health and Social Services and its authorities are required to complete privacy impact assessments before implementing a change to or implementing new information systems or communications technology that involved collection, use or disclosure of personal health information.
To be clear, Mr. Speaker, there have been no changes to the Department of Health and Social Services Authorities Health Information Systems as a result of system transformation. These systems were in place and utilized by the authorities prior to amalgamation. So under the legislation we are not required to do a privacy impact assessment on the transformation.
Having said that, Mr. Speaker, we do take privacy very seriously in the Department of Health and Social Services and our authorities. We are currently working towards the implementation of one shared Risk Assessment Management Reporting Information System as well as one shared Clinical Information System, and as per the legislation and our due diligence we are doing PIAs on both of those systems that we are implementing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I guess what it comes down to is the department believes that an information system is an electronic information system, a piece of software. I will post on my website my argument against that because clearly the legislation speaks differently to it. So I will take that as a no for now and I will keep fighting this, but I only heard about the Health Information Act because I am a member of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, and now that I know about it I can attest that it is difficult to comprehend.
Our Information and Privacy Commissioner says that it is one of the most complicated and confusing pieces of legislation she has ever seen and she is a lawyer.
Given this, I ask the Minister what has the department done to inform and advise the public of their new rights and obligations under this act?
When the Member raised this before, I clearly take issues of privacy very seriously and I actually had our policy staff as well as legal do an in-depth review of the Health Information Act, and there appears to be a misunderstanding that the changes to the information systems occurred because of system transformation. The fact is there were no changes to the information systems. Whether they are digital systems or non-digital systems, there were not changes to the systems as a result of health transformation. There are changes to systems coming and we are doing the PIAs accordingly as per our terms and conditions.
Mr. Speaker, when the Health Information Act was going through the House, the Information Privacy Commissioner actually had a number of concerns and they focused around the need for policies and training to ensure compliance with the Health Information Act. The need for more public awareness efforts to ensure clients know their rights, the EMR system and its ability to address client consent conditions needs to be clear and understood.
Mr. Speaker, we have moved on all of those recommendations. Additional privacy policies are being developed to address privacy breaches, Privacy Impact Assessments, masking the types of things that need to be done in order to ensure our residents' privacy is protected.
We have training modules that have been conducted throughout the Northwest Territories for staff and we are rolling out more modules all the time and more training to ensure our staff, new staff as well as existing staff, get the appropriate training.
Mr. Speaker, we have over 1,500 brochures that have been distributed and 1,000 notices that have been distributed throughout the Northwest Territories to residents who are accessing our systems. We are working on e-versions of those brochures to get that information out so the information is widely distributed so people know their rights, know when they can say they do not want their information shared.
We are still in the early days, Mr. Speaker, with the Health Information Act, and we can get better and better and better as we go on; and we will.
I just want to clarify something the Minister said. He said there was no information system changes as a result of the amalgamation, the system transformation as it were. Now, was he referring only to the electronic system because what a system is it? Is a way of organizing, collecting, and storing information. It is not necessarily electronic. It could be handwritten, and my understanding was this Health Transformation System, the health transformation was because there was eight authorities with eight different ways of doing things. So are the eight authorities which are now one, are they still doing things differently or did they change the way they are doing things under the system transformation? So I just want to clear that up with the Minister.
To be clear, once again, under the Health Information Act the Department of Health and Social Services are required to complete Privacy Impact Assessments before implementing a change to or implementing a new information system or communications technology that involves, and I think this is the key point, the collection, use, or disclosure of personal health information.
Mr. Speaker, we already had EMR in the Northwest Territories and we were rolling it out throughout the Northwest Territories. We did not change that; that was still the same. With the health amalgamation moving to a single authority we were able to put in place standard protocols for procedure and actions when people present. That is different than dealing with the personal health information. The Health Information Act is dealing with personal health information.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Moving on, I understand that the act obligates health information custodians, like the health authorities, to ensure that health information is protected. The electronic information system used to collect and store information doesn't have the functionality to shield or protect information from being accessed when an individual requests that information not be made available to a certain custodian.
If you were to put in a request and say I don't want this pharmacy or this pharmacist having access to this information, you have to write a letter to someone at the department and they are supposed to honour that request, yet the system doesn't allow for that. What steps are being taken to ensure that these sort of requests can be honoured in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has actually been working with TELUS to upgrade our EMR to be able to mask or hide client information to address consent conditions brought forward by clients, those individuals who don't want their information seen. Limited masking is currently available in the EMR but there is an upgrade that is currently being installed and tested. It was put in place in September 2016. We are doing some testing on it now that will do exactly what the Member is asking. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I was raising some questions with the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation. The Minister indicated that he didn't in fact have costs with him as it related to how much has been incurred to date due to the delays of not receiving these generators on time. Can the Minister commit to actually getting us the costs, a breakout of these costs, and when can we expect them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I only became aware of this issue today after listening to the news on the CBC this morning. I will undertake to request the figures from the Power Corporation and will, upon receipt, share them with the Member opposite. Thank you.
I find that interesting that the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation has only found out now about these delays that might have incurred cost to them and that it was in fact found out through the news article.
To the question, though, Mr. Speaker, we do a lot of business in the United States as a government. There is obviously a difference sometimes in dollar amounts based on the Canadian dollar. Now that we have waited a significant period of time for these generators, the Canadian dollar has gone down. It was a $2.5 million awarded contract. Are we going to expect to see a supplementary appropriation for any kind of increases to this contract given that the Canadian dollar has gone down? Will we see an adjustment supplementary appropriation?
I would not expect that we would. I am not certain whether in Canadian or American dollars the contract was entered into. Often, contracts with American providers are entered into in American dollars. That is simply the way of the world. I am not expecting there to be any significant additional costs as a result of the change of dollar. I am not certain what the contract said about that.
Further to that, I am going to ask the Minister if he will endeavour to actually check into that and see if, in fact, we are going to pay the $2.5 million, whether it is Canadian or US? If it is Canadian, will we be expecting a supplementary appropriation for any kind of adjustment due to a declining Canadian dollar?
