Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize some of our executive from the NWT Teachers' Association. Our president, Mr. Fraser Oliver; executive director, Adrien Amirault; and our past president and past Canadian Teacher Federation vice-president, Ms. Amanda Mallon.
Mr. Speaker, together they have over 91 years of teacher experience in the Northwest Territories and I want to thank them for that. That is a lot of experience and a lot of hearts and minds that they've touched. Any other educators who are here joining us today, welcome. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Ray Michaud, who is a former mayor of Fort Simpson and a very strong candidate for our region, and I welcome him here.
As well, Tracy Therrien, who is a long-term friend; we've known each other for a long time. Welcome to the Assembly along with everybody else. There are some former bosses of mine from the deputy minister's office, I'd like to thank them and welcome them here. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, pertaining to my statement earlier, I have questions for the Health Minister. Mr. Speaker, my first question is: what food safety education is available to residents of Nunakput and across the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have environmental health officers employed by the Department of Health and Social Services who can offer NWT food safety courses when requested by a community. They can go out and do that. They are usually waiting until they get at least 10 individuals who are interested in that course. However, we do know that, in some of the smaller communities, finding 10 individuals has proven to be difficult, so that can be offered by Telehealth as well, but we would need a request from the community that they would like that course provided and we can certainly provide it.
There are also a number of other training opportunities or training courses available online. They are available on our NWT Health and Social Services website. I would strongly encourage the Member to encourage his residents to review those courses and see if any of them meet their needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. It looks like we can work with the Inuvialuit on that. Mr. Speaker, my second question is: what steps can be taken to make sure small businesses will pass food inspections and get local foods into local stores?
Currently local meat must be inspected to meet food establishment safety regulations in order to be sold in stores. The Department of Health and Social Services is working with ITI to set out a method for legal sale of locally harvested and grown foods. This method needs to ensure that food are safe, which I think is understood and supported by the Member and all residents so that it is safe and the residents will not get ill by eating the food.
My third question, and this may overlap with the previous answer, but: how is the Department of Health working to help small operators sell locally sourced meat products?
The environmental health officers are working with small operators and people applying for temporary or permanent food establishment permits to ensure the food they provide is safe. Providing for locally sourced meat products will require revisions to the Public Health Act and regulations, and it may require other regulations or amendments to be done, regulations and legislation that might exist in other departments, like ENR, Lands, or ITI, so we would need to work with those departments to ensure that any sales or distribution of locally harvested foods is safe for the residents when it involves for sale.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the response, and you mentioned ENR. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: how does the health department work with Environment, ENR, to ensure food from the land is safe and free from contaminants? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We need to have a close working relationship with ENR, and ENR does conduct monitoring activities which include measuring the different types of contaminants that are in the environment as well as in wildlife. They also fund some independent researchers both locally and internationally who can do some measurements on some of the wildlife and land around the Northwest Territories. When that information is made available to Health and Social Services, if there are concerns of contaminants or there are concerns that the locally-sourced meat or other food might be contaminated, we will share that information with the communities and we will do public health announcements to let residents know what, if anything, what amounts can be consumed, what amounts should not be consumed. Health and Social Services maintains information on a public website on this type of advice, so what people can eat, what they should not eat, and that is available to the public.
I would once again encourage the Member and all Members to share that information with their residents so, if they have concerns about food in a particular area or where food might be contaminated, they know so that they can adjust their consumption.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My statement earlier today focused on the need to begin planning and budgeting for a new permanent home for the new Northern Frontier Visitors Centre. Does the Minister of tourism agree that it is inequitable and obviously unsustainable to expect the Northern Frontier Visitors Association to foot the cost of a Yellowknife visitor centre when centres in Inuvik, Dawson, and at the border are fully funded by GNWT? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would disagree with the Member that it is inequitable. We fund these different tourist information centres across the Northwest Territories based on different needs. Some are run by societies, some are run by local governments, some are run by contractors and such, and we base our funding on needs across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am disappointed to hear the response from the Minister. He has provided the numbers, and I think they show otherwise, but the situation that we find ourselves in today with no visitor services in Yellowknife is unacceptable. Dedicated full-time staff have been laid off, artisans have lost an important retail outlet, and summer tourists will have reduced access to services. I just do not understand why we are in the situation that we are and that it is has taken this much to get the government to finally act.
Can the Minister explain what he and his staff are doing to find a permanent location for the Yellowknife visitor centre, and will this include GNWT finally picking up the cost of its operation?
As we dealt right now, we dealt with the short-term situation that has come upon the northern frontier visitor information centre. They will be moving into the museum just down the road here in a short time, and we have assisted them with that along with the City of Yellowknife which has topped up some of their funding. In the long-term need, we have to sit down with City of Yellowknife and the northern frontier information centre and find out what is going to be the best practice going forward and the needs of this tourist information centre to serve the residents of Yellowknife.
I appreciate the response from the Minister, and am happy to help in any way I can, but we have got to move this forward very quickly so we have a permanent location in time for the aurora season. In the last sitting, my colleague from Hay River mentioned poor highway signage for the new hospital in Hay River, and the Minister had signs up the next day. What a great response, but there are virtually no signs on the highways into Yellowknife to help tourists find a visitors centre. Can the Minister of Tourism talk to the Minister of Infrastructure and commit to putting up signs here in Yellowknife so that tourists can actually find even a temporary location for the visitor centre?
I will look into the matter. We will have to consult with the City of Yellowknife as well because, depending on where the signage is going, some of it will be within the municipality. Anything along the highway system, we can certainly have a look at it and we will have that discussion and I will let the Member know.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I do appreciate the response from the Minister, and I will be watching the highway very closely to look for those signs.
Over a week ago, the City of Yellowknife committed to an additional $17,000 in funding to support the transition of the visitor centre to a temporary location. In a news release dated yesterday, the Minister committed to "cover costs associated with the association's move to the new location and the interim storage of its assets." That is great; I appreciate that. Can the Minister confirm that these costs will indeed be covered from funding supplemental to the existing contribution agreement to the Northern Frontier Visitors Association, and how will this work? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, the Member is correct. We are going to do the supplemental funding above and beyond what we already allocate to the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, and we have already allocated quarterly the money that they need to operate for the first part of this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Northerners know that supporting the development of the next generation of Northerners is a top priority for any government, and this one is no different. As Minister responsible for Youth, I would like to ask: what resources are available to the Minister to support young people, and how does the Minister formally engage with young people and learn their viewpoints, what kind of services they need to support their development? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Youth.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a lot of different intergovernmental, interdepartmental programs that we work with other departments within the government, that provides a lot of program services. I believe I have been asked this question before in previous sessions, and I would be willing to share that information with the Member.
Just recently, I and the Minister of Health went to Camp Connections and spoke to about 60 youth on health, wellness, education, culture, and language, and wanted their views and their input. At the end of this week, we should be getting it. We also engage in schools, many different venues, avenues, different groups that are coming out of the schools, but we work within our government with the departments and our stakeholders to find out what is important to youth and work on addressing those challenges, those concerns, supporting the successes, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Does the Minister have any information on how those consultations or interactions with young people have shaped government policy? Does he have a "what we heard" document that is kind of an ongoing tally of youth issues and youth concerns as we do with other stakeholder groups?
As we engage with youth, we always get feedback on how the programs are, whether we want to continue working to support those programs. The one in particular that we just attended earlier this week is an excellent one. Both I and the Minister of Health encouraged and challenged youth to come up with policies, come up with ways we can move forward into what we need to do as a government and the decisions that we need to do, and that is where it starts.
This is a new generation of our young adults that is going to be taking over our seats and other leadership in the community, and we want to get their feedback so we can make the appropriate changes.
So that was a no I heard from the Minister, but, that being said, the Minister is clearly quite engaged in this topic and clearly enjoys working with youth and listening to what they hear, so will he commit to establishing a youth council that will be a standing body for young people to participate in, not just in a youth parliament setting but year on year, and provide ongoing feedback to government programs and policy and allow the Minister to canvass young people on their ideas about what our priorities should be as a government? Will he commit to establishing that youth council?
Such programs as the Youth Ambassador Program, the one that we just worked with the Department of Health on, we engage youth from all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. This one in particular we had a really good engagement, from 12yearolds right up to 18, asking them what we need to do in terms of policy change, legislation change, programs and services that we need to provide. We will continue to work with the departments and our communities to address those.
It was not a no. We support our youth. The youth is our future, and anything that works in government, we need to hear from the youth because they are the ones who are living in a time that is a lot different from the way a lot of us have grown up in the past.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all support youth. I think everyone here is very proud of the young people in our constituencies and our communities and the work they do, but I think it's key to actually establish bodies and policies that give youth a voice in government. Again, if not a youth council, why not establish a youth secretariat to better coordinate the government programs directed towards youth? Currently, they are scattered, as the Minister said, scattered throughout the public service. Why not have a youth secretariat to better coordinate those resources and so the Minister responsible has a clear sense of how those programs are working and can evaluate them against their success? Thank you.
Yes, we will take that information. We will have discussions, obviously, when we go before committee, and continue further to have these discussions and how we establish regional youth councils or even a territorial youth council. That is information we will look at, and we will bring it to committee to get feedback from committee moving forward. We will continue to evaluate the programs such as Back to the Trail, the program that I and the Minister of Health just attended, and see the successes and where we move from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, I had mentioned strategies tabled by this government, and more specifically my question today is on the transportation strategy here, to the Department of Infrastructure. My question: since the last session, and more specifically, what progress has the department accomplished or done since the tabling of the federal government's budget this past couple of months? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the federal government has passed their budget, I and the Premier had the opportunity to go down there and talk to the Minister of Infrastructure, the Minister of Transportation, and also the Minister of DFO to figure out the plans that the government has laid out in their budgets. We have learned a lot of different things about different pots of money and how they are spread out through different ministries and the timeframe that has been laid out for these different pots of money. Our government will continue to work with the federal government to figure out the best way forward for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Now that there has been some dialogue on the programs available to Canadians, more specifically on the application of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, has the Minister and the group had some discussions on a formula or financing plan on the programs available to support the Mackenzie Valley Highway application?
When we were down there talking to the federal Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, which is two different pots of money, our understanding is the Mackenzie Valley Highway application is still there. It is still frozen until the federal government has figured out what they are going to do on bilateral agreements with the territories and provinces and Canada and how they are going to roll out some of this other infrastructure money.
When does the Minister expect to have a decision on the bilateral reviews and the decision on the application that this government continues to support as a priority for the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension?
My understanding with our conversation with the federal Minister is that decisions on most pots of money around infrastructure will be decided by fall of this year.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
