I would like to say Masi to our elder for our opening prayer. Elder Mary Louise Drygeese from Detah.
Mr. Speaker, the secret is out; or, to be more precise, 150 secrets are coming out.
They are the foundation of a Canada-wide promotion highlighting the many reasons our territory is a spectacular place to live and visit.
From coast to coast, Canadians are learning about things like the Rabbit Kettle Tufa Mounds in Nahanni National Park, the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, the Canol Trail, Ice Road Truckers, and Fort Smith’s annual Paddlefest.
The campaign, which is also taking advantage of Canada’s 150th birthday, was conceived and is being led by our government’s Destination Marketing Organization, Northwest Territories Tourism.
It is being promoted to Canadians at major trade shows in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto; in restaurant promotions; on decaled public transit; and in advertising on TV, social media, newspapers, radio and the web.
The goal of the campaign is to generate national awareness and conversation about the Northwest Territories as a must-see travel destination. Mr. Speaker, it is safe to say that our goal has been achieved. The response to this campaign is already astonishing, and it is not over yet.
In the first three weeks of the campaign, it exceeded its marketing targets with 60,000 contest entries, 157,000 visitors to the Spectacular NWT website, 385,000 webpage visits in search of our spectacular secrets and 3,000 new subscribers to the NWT Tourism’s Quarterly Newsletter. The campaign will end on April 10th.
Mr. Speaker, the Secrets campaign features five grand prize packages that will take five couples on all-inclusive adventures, one each, into our territory’s five regions. Subsidiary prizes will see 140 individuals fly to Yellowknife, where they will be encouraged to travel further into our territory.
The entire campaign is just part one of the NWT Tourism's broader $2.76 million plan to attract domestic and international visitors to our territory that I will table in the House later this afternoon. The tourism sector offers the best opportunities that we have to advance economic diversification in the NWT; and the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is working diligently to build the foundation on which our tourism sector will flourish.
Our Tourism 2020 strategy is the blueprint for this work and aims to increase tourism spending in the NWT to $207 million by 2020-21. Our strategy outlines the steps we are taking to attract visitors to the Northwest Territories. It outlines the programs and initiatives for which we are strengthening the products and capacity of NWT operators.
Under the banner of our Tourism 2020 strategy, the new Aboriginal Tourism Champions Program was launched in October. More recently, we have introduced the new Community Tourism Coordinator Program to advance regional product development and packaging.
We continue to deliver the Community Tourism Infrastructure Contribution Program to encourage the development of community tourism infrastructure and we want to continue to facilitate and invest in our territory’s greatest tourism resources with our businesses and youth mentorship programs.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015-16 we increased our visitors to the NWT by 11 per cent over the previous year. As importantly, the increase was reflected in a 14 per cent increase in visitor spending and the direct spend in our territory related to tourism in 2015 rose to $167.1 million. That means new money for our economy, increased business for tourism operators and our hospitality industry; and business development. The growth of our tourism industry also means growth in employment opportunities and improved quality of life for northern residents in terms of dining and activity options.
With creative marketing campaigns, strategic planning and timely, targeted programs, we will continue to build our tourism sector and the growth and diversity that it will bring to our economy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Ministers' statements. Minister of Human Resources.
Mr. Speaker, the decisions we make here in the Legislative Assembly have real impacts on the people of the Northwest Territories. Make no mistake about it; they are watching us to find out what our plans are and how they will be affected. This puts a big responsibility on us to make sure that what we say here is accurate and does not cause any public fear or misconceptions about the government’s plans.
We have a particular responsibility to our staff, Mr. Speaker. We make the decisions here in the Legislative Assembly, but it is the dedicated professionals in the GNWT public service who put our direction into action. Without them, we would have nobody to plan and deliver the programs and services the people of the NWT rely on.
To provide the people of the NWT with the good programs and services they need, it is critical that we recruit the best staff we can. We are also committed to developing our employees and to making every effort we can to retain them as members of the GNWT public service.
As with any employer, our organizational structure and staffing levels change over time. Mr. Speaker, often these changes are small, but there are times when we go through a more significant restructuring process. When that happens, we make an effort to reduce effects on our employees, first by eliminating vacant positions and then through our Staff Retention Policy.
The Staff Retention Policy provides a clear process for working with affected staff to find them other employment options within the GNWT. An important feature of the policy is a commitment to give affected employees staffing priority for up to 21 weeks. This provides our employees some confidence that a restructuring does not mean the end of their GNWT career and it gives us the opportunity to retain someone with valuable experience and training.
Through this process, Mr. Speaker, we are often able to reduce the number of employees impacted by position reductions and to accommodate the majority of affected staff. For instance, the GNWT identified 124 positions for elimination in its 2016-17 budget. There were 56 staff affected as part of that reduction, with 40 of them being redeployed to other positions within the GNWT. Five others retired, and nine were laid off, having received a layoff option.
We have eliminated 65 positions in this year's budget. As is our normal practice, we looked at vacant positions first and initially identified 36 as affected employees. We will work toward retaining affected employees, as we have in the past.
I would also like to point out, Mr. Speaker, that our 2017-18 budget actually creates more positions than it eliminates. With new positions such as the 23 being created in Norman Wells with the opening of the new health centre and long-term care facility, the GNWT expects to have 17 more positions next fiscal year than it did this year. This budget is creating opportunities.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure Members of the Legislative Assembly, the public, and our employees that the GNWT is committed to the retention and retraining of our impacted staff. Employees are our most valuable asset and we will make every reasonable effort to retain affected employees as a part of the GNWT public service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Ministers' statements. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Mr. Speaker, our territory is a region with massive petroleum potential, and we have committed in our mandate to delivering a long-term strategy to capitalize on these reserves and to bring oil and gas investment back to the NWT. The need for this work was first identified during public engagements informing the development of the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy.
Across our North, industries, businesses, and residents pointed to the need for strategic planning and preparation to position our territory to capitalize on the opportunities that the responsible development of our oil and gas resources will bring. Many in the Sahtu and Beaufort Delta regions said that this development could provide the same economic growth that diamond mining has provided in other regions.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has drafted a strategy that we believe offers a viable, balanced, and made-in-the-NWT approach to advancing oil and gas development in the NWT. Our plans balance the priorities and interests of NWT residents, businesses, and industry. In response to recommendations from the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment, it also includes an implementation and evaluation framework.
Our work has taken place in consultation with many of the same stakeholders that first highlighted the need for this strategy. We believe it represents an approach that NWT residents and businesses can both support and benefit from and one that will help restore investor confidence and investment in our territory.
Mr. Speaker, the next step in our strategic process is to return to our stakeholders and partners to confirm that we have it right, that the balanced approach represented in our draft strategy will enable us to benefit from our oil and gas resources while ensuring the traditions and environment that we value are protected.
Over the course of the summer, we will be organizing community engagement sessions in regional centres to give NWT residents an opportunity to learn about and comment on the draft strategy and to provide input on its eventual implementation and evaluation.
Ultimately, this strategy will set a path for responsible oil and gas development by identifying challenges like our transportation infrastructure deficit, reinforcing the GNWT's commitment to environmental and social sustainability, and recommending a smart, sustainable path forward for oil and gas development.
Mr. Speaker, as oil and gas markets begin to show signs of recovery, this strategy is one of several steps our government is taking to address the economic approach, the oversight, and public confidence in future oil and gas development in the Northwest Territories.
Next week in Calgary, our government will facilitate a workshop of Aboriginal and government partners on the subject of northern transportation corridors; not just pipelines, but railways, highways, waterways, fibre optic infrastructure, and transmission lines that can play an important role in realizing our North's energy and economic potential.
For the most part, the oil and gas and energy infrastructure that we have needed is not in place, but like so many pivotal moments in our territory's history, we see this as an opportunity to shape our future with the skills, experience, creativity, and passion of Northerners to find new ways to develop northern energy corridors and resources.
In the coming months we will also be taking important steps to enhance the legislation governing oil and gas development as part of our mandate commitment to advance the territorial vision of land and resource management in accordance with the Land Use and Sustainability Framework. We will also be taking steps to advance the understanding and capacity of NWT residents to engage with and benefit from oil and gas development in their regions.
As we move forward this year, this work will ensure that residents have meaningful opportunities to participate in the assessment of potential benefits and risks associated with the development of all of our natural resources.
I look forward to working with colleagues, stakeholders, Aboriginal governments, and constituents on finalizing and implementing the NWT's Oil and Gas Strategy in pursuit of economic opportunities and prosperity for all citizens of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Crystal Serenity Cruises is planning another trip through the Northwest Passage this summer. More than 900 tourists and 600 crew are expected to come aboard for the summer cruise season, the majority of them from the United States, Mr. Speaker.
The Crystal Serenity is a luxury cruise liner, nearly three football fields long and 13 storeys tall, and the largest cruise ship ever to traverse the Northwest Passage.
Mr. Speaker, tickets start at $20,000 per person and guests can watch polar bears and muskoxen, kayak along Canada's northernmost shores, and land on pristine beaches to hike where few have ever set foot. Other activities include birding, rafting, and helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft flights. In Nome, Alaska, the annual Blueberry Festival was rescheduled so that visitors could enjoy blueberry pie while watching Inuit dancers and browse traditional handicrafts made by local artisans.
Mr. Speaker, while environmentalists are seeing doom, some Nunakput communities are seeing economic opportunities. Mr. Speaker, as we know, seal and ivory products cannot be brought into the USA. In interest of maximizing benefits to the communities and Inuvialuit from cruise ship opportunities and providing the best available experience to the tourists, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation will host workshops in the ISR to prepare for the upcoming cruise season as restrictions prevented Inuvialuit of Ulukhaktok from selling seal and ivory products to cruise ship passengers, which had an impact on traditional crafts sales and to coverers and seamstresses.
Mr. Speaker, the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species has exemption provisions that we should explore, such as the EU, which now agreed to accept Inuvialuit-harvested seals. This is a milestone for our region, and I commend IRC and the GNWT in this example of coordination and cooperation. Mr. Speaker, I see that Arctic cruises are an opportunity for remote communities in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following the discussion that took place in this House yesterday, I am renewing my call for the Minister for the Status of Women to repeat the survey of attitudes toward family violence. It is clear that we 19 Members do not share a common understanding of what family violence is, and I suspect that we are representative of the territory as a whole. The information the survey will produce is fundamental to creating policy and programs that reduce rates of family violence.
The mandate for the 18th Assembly calls on us to take action on the crisis of family and community violence. It is also one of three priorities of the Standing Committee on Social Development. The rate has been high for many years and has resisted any and all efforts to reduce it. It is time to look for a systemic fix. That means we need to promote acceptance of women's equality.
A first step along this road is to ensure we have a common understanding of what family violence is. Ten years ago, the NWT Bureau of Statistics surveyed 753 people in communities large and small to answer this question. At that time, 88 per cent of respondents said they were either very worried or somewhat worried about family violence. There was a significant number of men and women who said they believe that physical violence between a couple is a private matter to be resolved within the family. There's a general reluctance to define family violence as a problem for which help is needed, and we saw that only too clearly here yesterday. Finally, there is also a considerable misunderstanding that men are victims of family violence to the same extent as women. It's simply not true.
I believe that updating the family violence survey will give us the information we need to create effective policy and actions that are aimed at the attitudes that perpetuate family violence and women's inequality. The Coalition Against Family Violence and the Status of Women NWT have also requested the survey be repeated.
Members had the opportunity yesterday to be role models in family violence prevention, and they decided not to take it, but the issue is not going to go away. It is time for us to get serious about reducing rates of family violence and to work in smart and consistent ways to ensure that every NWT hears the message that women are equals and violence -- Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to bring out my last sentence. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is time for us to get serious about reducing rates of family violence and to work in smart and consistent ways to ensure every NWT resident hears the message that women are equals, that violence is not inevitable, and it is preventable. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today wraps up what has been a demanding and at times a difficult session. It has been a bit of a long haul, but looking back, we have made some significant accomplishments.
All Members of this House should be able to look back with some pride at the achievement of the budget. It may not be exactly what any of us had in mind at the outset, Mr. Speaker, but by defending our different perspectives, and through good-faith discussions and negotiations, we made progress and achieved an overall success. We have committed money to establish a 911 service after it was talked about for years, we can take pride in fully funded junior kindergarten, and it is important that we reinstated funding, at least for now, to the teacher education and social work programs at Aurora College.
This session wasn't just about passing a budget, though, Mr. Speaker. It was also about communication between the two sides of this House and with the public. I believe we made progress there as well. We have to keep working to make the relationship between Cabinet and Regular Members become the cohesive one that I know all of us believe it can and should be.
The residents who elected us are counting on us, Mr. Speaker, to continue to move forward on the many issues and challenges that face us. We must continue to work to make the Northwest Territories competitive on the national and international stages. We can do that by building on our strengths and assets.
Our products and resources are world class, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am referring to our mineral wealth, which is rich and largely untapped. I am also including our renewable resources: an under-developed fishing industry in one of the largest lakes in all the world, and forests that would lend to a healthy reforestation opportunity that would continue the development of wood products and support the biomass industry. Our land, water, skies, and culture are the basis of another world-class industry that is just beginning to be realized, and that is the tourism sector. The Minister spoke about this earlier today.
Our people are another world-class resource, Mr. Speaker. Northwest Territories businesspeople are resourceful and hardworking. Our tradespeople are second to none. Our artists, filmmakers, authors, and musicians are emerging and accomplishing great things on the national and international stages. Of course, our furs garner the highest prices in the world markets. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Lastly, in challenging times, the road will sometimes be bumpy, Mr. Speaker. Solutions can be found if we apply our assets, human or otherwise. I look forward to the road ahead as we continue to deliver on the mandate commitments to best serve our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today we conclude our winter session. With it we conclude our 2017-18 budget.
I know that some of my colleagues here and some residents we serve may view our work as incomplete.
Not all needs were met.
Not all needs can be met.
Together we achieved the budget that will bring services to Northerners, especially Northerners in critical need, like our elders, our youth, our people with housing needs, and our people living below the poverty line.
We are also seeing some important investment in major highway infrastructure projects.
Although I would like to see this kind of spending brought to the Sahtu region, I am still glad to see the new projects that have come forward.
That is because, as MLAs, we work hard to move the NWT forward together, to serve the best interests of our people.
Remember, each day in the House, we are all reminded that we are here to work for the benefit of all our people. Those aren't just words.
So, Mr. Speaker, although session may be coming to a close, our work will not stop. Members will go back to their respective ridings and connect with their people and hear their questions and concerns. Committees will keep working on the legislation and progress before them. That includes review of the government's public account in April, so stay tuned. I know that the departments will keep on working, too. After all, the government is still facing a big backlog of work on federal acts and regulations that were mirrored in devolution.
Our growth as a territory depends on the work, Mr. Speaker, and successful economic development depends on what that work can do, such as -- Mr. Speaker I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, colleagues. Such as:
Clarify regulatory and permitting processes;
Give certainty around land access;
Engage with all stakeholders; and
Strengthen us against the ups and downs of national and global markets.
We need that work. We need to collaborate and strategize. Why? Because, at the end of the day, we are very vulnerable to those ups and downs. When it comes to what we produce, whether it is diamonds, oil and gas, fish, timber, or tourism services, our products are only as valuable as consumers' desire to purchase them.
To weather these storms, we will need to work together, like we did for this budget. It will be difficult and have challenges on differences, but we have already proven that we can work together. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I will do my statement in loving memory of Virginia Lafferty. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to send my condolences out to the family of Virginia Lafferty. Everybody called her Virginie.
Mr. Speaker, Virginie was born on February 13, 1935, on the Hay River Reserve and passed away on January 4, 2017. Virginie married Louis Mickey Lafferty in Fort Resolution and lived there for the rest of her life.
Mickey and Virginie adopted their first son, Edward Overvold, and then went on to have Cecile, Doug, Louis, Lloyd, Ralph, Michael, Linda, and Mary Olive. They also raised many of their grandchildren.
Mr. Speaker, Virginie was a very kind person. When I was a very young boy, my family relocated from Rocher River to Fort Resolution. As a boy I was a regular visitor to all the households that were from Rocher River and relocated to Fort Resolution.
Mickey and Virginie's house was the first Fort Resolution household I began to visit regularly. Virginie was always very kind to me and my brother. My brother was also with me visiting the Laffertys. All of the other children would be visiting, and she would be kind to all of us.
Later on in life, Virginie began to lose her hearing and her memory they say; although when I would walk into the house, her son Doug, who was caring for her would say, "Mom, you have a visitor. Do you know who it is?" She would take a quick look at me and say, "Yeah. That is Tom." She would never forgot me, even though she was old and in her last days and was not well.
Virginie will be missed by all her family around the Hay River Reserve, her family in Fort Resolution, and her children and her grandchildren. It was very difficult for the grandchildren, one of whom is my son, to see their grandmother and their mother sick. She passed away, but she is in a better place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family as well. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Into today's society, we have become more conscious about recycling our waste material. However, in saying this we should be doing more.
In Fort Simpson, Troy Bellefontaine, owner of the business Beauty Mark, has taken this idea one step further. Mr. Bellefontaine has partnered with Green Circle Salons to make his business a more sustainable venture, but more importantly it has helped him divert a majority of the business waste away from Fort Simpson Landfill.
Mr. Speaker, Beauty Mark is the first salon in the Northwest Territories to sign on. He says, "We are a small salon, but if other salons in the Northwest Territories follow what we're doing, this would help the environment."
Beauty Mark and other salons that use the service offered by Green Circle, they sort leftover hair, foils, cotton, and other materials into separate bins. These bins separate out the hair from the metals, color tubes, aerosols, paper, plastic, and other containers for excess or unused bleach and hair colors.
In speaking with Mr. Bellefontaine, he figures that he will be able to divert up to 95 per cent of the waste from his business. To take this one step further, he takes this waste down to a facility in Edmonton, instead of having them send a truck up to pick up the waste.
Mr. Speaker, according to the Dehcho Drum article, the hair clippings are repurposed; one of the products being created was a broom that absorbs oil from oil spills. Metals are shredded down and processed through an incinerator to remove chemicals, allowing the clean aluminum underneath to be used in creating other items, such as bicycle frames. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Bellefontaine for continuing with what we were taught in school, "Recycle, Reduce and Reuse," and taking it one step further. I would encourage all of us, to follow his example and make the territories and Canada a better place to live by recycling everything we can. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulate all Members of this House for being strong voices of their people over what has been a long and often, as other honourable Members have pointed out, arduous session, but the debate in this House and differences of opinion ultimately make us a stronger Assembly and a better government for the people of the Northwest Territories.
We've seen a great deal of success in the passing of the budget that was a compromise between two viewpoints and, again, is a stronger budget because of it. We have new funding for homecare, for mental health support for youth, to address the homelessness crisis in downtown Yellowknife, to support our industry through new subsidies for fishing and the mining industry, and, of course, through sticking together, Regular Members were able to demonstrate a very strong united front and articulate the concerns of their constituents in a cohesive way.
The level of public engagement, I've never seen it before in my life, Mr. Speaker, and I think that level of public interaction is exactly what we were elected to do: to provide a more transparent and accountable Assembly, and the benefits of raising those issues out in public came back into the House and ultimately made for a better Assembly.
We still have a lot of work to do, Mr. Speaker. We still have to come to a conclusion on carbon taxes; we still need to settle land rights agreements and land use plans. We still have to determine how to make best use of post-secondary opportunities in the North with a new strategic plan for Aurora College. I'm thankful that the biggest issues that faced us, the two programs at Aurora College and, of course, junior kindergarten, have been addressed and now we are working collectively to make better programs out of both of those.
I am disappointed that Bill 7 is moving forward and we will see a new increase to our cost of living; however, we have some other great bills that we are working on over the summer and by the next Assembly we will be able to address many issues that are outstanding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 1998, when I was the Grand Chief of the Dehcho First Nations, UN Rapporteur, Miguel Alfonso Martinez of the University of Cuba, visited the Deh Cho and the Hay River Reserve as a representative of the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which was a sub-commission of the UN Commission on Human Rights. The purpose of this visit was for the Rapporteur to take a look at Canada's treatment of its Indigenous peoples and gather evidence on the status of the Dehcho First Nations' self-government proposal, the Deh Cho Process.
Mr. Martinez was preparing a report on "Treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between nations and their Indigenous populations." His work later informed the development of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
During the visit, the Rapporteur heard testimony from many esteemed elders, such as Ted Landry of Fort Providence, who is regarded as a Dene political historian, the late Daniel Sonfrere, Paul Wright, Leo Norwegian, Joa Boots, and Gabe and Mary Cazon, to name a few. They spoke of the negotiations of Treaties 8 and 11, which they understood to be peace and friendship treaties. They also spoke of the promises made by a colonial Government of Canada. Today, most of those elders have passed on and those promises remain unfulfilled.
Fast forward. Last year in June, the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories announced the appointment of Anne Marie Doyle as a ministerial special representative for negotiations with the Dehcho First Nations. Ms. Doyle has produced a report to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Minister Carolyn Bennett and Premier McLeod that is expected to address issues such as land quantum, land access, and regulatory structures on the claimed territory.
Mr. Speaker, I believe UNDRIP paved the way for the work of the ministerial special representative by signifying that countries need to pursue participatory approaches in their interactions with Indigenous peoples that require meaningful consultations and the building of partnerships. It is hoped by all parties that this highly anticipated report of the MSR will find a way to get negotiations back on track and resolve outstanding land, resource and governance issues. I hope both Ministers will be willing to adjust their negotiating mandates if the report's findings point in that direction. The Deh Cho Process has been long and involved; it is time to bring it to a successful conclusion. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. On March 8th our government issued the media release "GNWT Extends Key Mineral Exploration Support Program." The release describes the extension of the Work Credit Program, which sets the value of exploration work required to keep mineral claims in good standing. Claim holders are now credited $1.50 for every eligible dollar spent. The release says the program originally "arose from recommendations made by the Mineral Industry Advisory Board."
I fully recognize that mining is important here, so we want to protect the integrity of our decision-making on this section. This move to extend the program was made with no consultation with standing committee; part of a troubling pattern by Cabinet. This is not consistent with our process conventions, which state:
Except under extraordinary circumstances Members of the Legislative Assembly should be made aware of and have opportunity to discuss significant announcements, changes, consultations or initiatives before they are released to the public or introduced in the Legislative Assembly.
During the 17th Assembly, standing committee expressed concern about the non-inclusive nature of the board that recommended this measure and the potential for regulatory capture and potential conflicts of interests when mining company representatives give advice to the Minister responsible for mining.
Several of the board members are from firms that hold active mineral claims in the Northwest Territories. There is a potential for those firms to directly benefit from any cutting costs of keeping their mineral claims in good standing, rather than having some lapse and open up for others.
The terms of reference of the board state that part of its objectives is reducing constraints "including regulatory constraints." The problem here is that the people advising the Minister are giving advice that may place them in a conflict of interest on occasion. There does not appear to be any requirement for disclosure of financial interests, and the board's recommendations are not made public. In fact, the terms of reference say that all communications are confidential except by mutual consent of the Minister and the board.
It's a far cry from the model of a similar board in the Yukon, which was established by regulation under their Economic Development Act, with publicly posted terms of reference and annual reports containing summaries of recommendations published since 2003. I will have questions for the Minister of mining later today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last year when it appeared clear that the government had already determined the fate of the A New Day program, the Minister of Justice kept assuring us that the third-party evaluation report on the program would determine A New Day’s ultimate fate. The $40,000 report was completed last November. It’s actually quite interesting, and I encourage someone at the Department of Justice to read it -- preferably whoever is designing the new program.
I’m making a lot of assumptions about the new program because details are sparse, to say the least. The RFP that was released on the 7th of this month does tell us that program facilitators must strictly adhere to the curriculum as set out by the department. This requirement ignores the evaluation report’s recommendation that consideration should be given to the fact that the program is "more than a curriculum," and community outreach should be considered as part of any future program. The community outreach includes a workshop at the North Slave Correctional Centre, in adult education centres, for the YKDFN, at the Salvation Army, Bailey House and more, as well as training sessions delivered to nurses in Stanton’s psychiatric unit. Unfortunately, the department apparently sees no value in any of these activities.
The evaluation report also states that some men are not well suited for group counselling sessions, and future programs should include provisions for individual counselling based on A New Day’s curriculum. However, Mr. Speaker, according to the new RFP there are no provisions for individual sessions, and men who aren’t suited for group sessions are to be referred to outside counselling services.
The report also indicated that the lack of administrative support burdened the program providers, burdening them with paperwork and other tasks not directly related to counselling. The Minister mentioned that the GNWT Coordinator position was created to alleviate that burden. Mr. Speaker, the current providers asked many times to be funded for an administrative assistant position. Instead of this simple solution, the department’s solution was to bring the entire program in-house.
However, Mr. Speaker. The saddest thing about this whole situation is that this is the only men’s healing program in the territory, and even though it’s successful, we have to fight tooth and nail to keep it, instead of figuring out how to expand it. On the bright side, after my questions yesterday the department updated the RFP to include the missing Schedule A. It adds little in the way of details, but at least someone at the department is listening. I’ll have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Colleagues, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the following Pages from my riding. We had with us all this week Tylene Tsatchia and Autumn Football, both are from Alexis Arrowmaker School in Wekweeti.
In addition, all the Pages who have done a great service for us during our session days since February until today. I would like to thank all the Pages for their hard work. Mahsi.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize our interpreter for the Chipewyan and the Denesuline language, Tommy Unka. His granddaughter is also a page who is from the Premier's riding, Kailyn Unka. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in gallery. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the elder who was here earlier who gave our opening prayer, Mary Louise Drygeese. She made my lovely vest and I'm very proud to wear it in this House. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
