As our information sharing protocol has improved, the reports and all information collected by ENR, we will share them with Health and Social Services after some analysis and review. Data collected by ENR will be posted on our website, and as mentioned, reports will be prepared and made public, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Thank you again to the Minister. As people know, I attended the Giant Mine Oversight Board's public meeting on May 16th. One of the concerns raised was how information on water and soil arsenic contamination and any health-related or exposure warnings can be shared with tourists and visitors. We could do this through the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, oops, we don't have that anymore. How does the Minister intend to share arsenic contamination information with tourists and visitors? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our information reports will be publicly available on our website. Any updates to the precautionary public health advisory will be made publicly by Health and Social Services. The office of the Chief Public Health Officer is examining the recent data for Kam and Grace Lakes, and will be updating the map to reflect more recent data on these lakes. The office of the Chief Public Health Officer is able to provide advice to agencies and community governments on possible messaging for residents and visitors.
For example, ITI worked with the office of the Chief Public Health Officer to develop signs for trail visitors along the Prospector Trail, which is a trail within the territorial park that is adjacent to Giant Mine. We are still continuing to have discussions with Canada regarding paths forward for an approach to legacy arsenic in the Yellowknife area, and information sharing with residents and visitors will be an element of these discussions.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided]. The Minister of Education is well aware that the addition of junior kindergarten has added increasing pressure on our schools here in Yellowknife. In my riding of Kam Lake, Ecole St. Joseph is nearing 95 per cent capacity. Yellowknife is currently assessed on the same level as everyone else, but has very different needs. Some of the schools have phantom classrooms, and the entire community is assessed as a whole rather than per district. I would like the Minister to tell me if he is willing to review the assessment for Yellowknife schools, and ensure that they are treated on an apples-to-apples analysis, and fairly, based on their needs. Merci.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, currently we have department staff that are working with the education authorities and the school staff to look at utilization rates, and to ensure that spaces that were developed when the school was made were actually being used for instructional time, and what other spaces aren't for instructional time. We are going through that review right now with schools in Yellowknife, currently. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am glad that the Minister is looking into this, but this isn't a new issue. I would like the Minister to commit to a timeline if he can, today, on when we are going to have a sense of when this needs assessment work has been completed.
Currently there isn't a timeline set in place. Obviously, we have to make sure that we do have appropriate time to go through the schools, with the staff, and have that idea of which classrooms are used for instructional hours and other classrooms that might be used for storage or other areas of use that were put forth by the school and together, collectively, decide which classrooms should be used for instructional classrooms, and identify that utilization rate. I don't have a timeline, but I will make sure the department comes back with something. I will share that with the Member.
It is difficult to get a clear answer on timelines from this government. Alas, this, with the addition of junior kindergarten, we have 95 per cent capacity reached at St. Joseph School. What does the Minister propose to do to assist the Yellowknife Catholic school board to manage this capacity crunch?
When we look at the utilization rates, we look at utilization rates as they pertain to communities, so the utilization rate here in Yellowknife isn't as high as it is by the school. Obviously, we look at school sharing. We are currently in discussions with YCS now, how we deal with that utilization rate and the high numbers that they are getting. We have schools across NWT that also are at certain levels that we need to have those discussions. However, the utilization rates haven't reached that peak within the Yellowknife schools, but we are in discussions with YCS on how we come up with solutions for that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.] We have 78 per cent for Yellowknife and 95 per cent for this one school. Clearly the Minister can see that there is a problem here. If we are going to keep pushing grades onto our school boards, we need to have some flexibility here so these schools can meet the needs of our families and our parents. I will ask again if, in the rollout of the new junior kindergarten funding in the fall, when these needs are assessed, will there be additional money provided to the schools to provide for temporary accommodations or retrofits to their facilities in order to accommodate these extra children? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had mentioned, we are in those discussions with YCS on how we deal with the situation. At those rates, we can't commit at that time. Yellowknife, as a whole, has some schools that have high utilization rates, but we also have schools that aren't meeting some of those high rates. We are trying to find a solution here in Yellowknife to accommodate all the students as well as staff.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize for fumbling on the last sentence of my statement earlier, but my questions today are to the Minister of Infrastructure. I understand the Stanton renewal project is one of the largest P3 projects undertaken by the GNWT. Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell me how much the project costs are being spent in the North, and if any northern companies are involved? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The successful proponent of this project is committed to make every effort to involve local and northern labour and goods and services in this project, and I am glad to update the House here today that within the project agreement $70 million has been identified for local and northern businesses.
The numbers that I have got to date, to the end of May of this year, we have seen over $24 million spent on local and northern companies, and at this time, 11 northern companies are fully engaged in major projects on the Stanton project to date, with more tenders yet to be coming out to finish up the building as it moves along. The range of work that has been done so far by local and northern businesses is drilling, blasting, water and sewer work, concrete production, waterproofing, elevator services, and such. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is good to see that the project is contributing to economic growth of our North. I have some questions on the labour side, the trades progression capitalization on experience to further the apprentice as mentioned by the honourable Minister for ECE earlier. We have 400 tradespeople that are currently working, and I imagine some of them are on this project. Can the Minister elaborate a little bit more on the training plan included in this project and how many trades we will see upon completion?
We are working with a joint venture to get these exact figures for the Members of the House of how many northern workers, but as work progresses from day to day, labour amounts change. They fluctuate up and down on who is on site, but from everything that has been presented to me, there are roughly between 60 and 130 people that are working on site, given the scope of work that is going on, but there are also a number of people who work off-site, potentially up to 70 people around administration, designers, engineers, quality assurance, those sorts of things, Mr. Speaker. As far as apprenticeships go, we understand that there are approximately 15 apprentices that are working on site right now on this present project. We are going to work along with ECE and NAPEG to get the full scope of that, so I can have those numbers readily available as well.
I am glad to hear that number, 15, and if we can encourage those individuals to complete their apprentice and capitalize on their hours needed to complete their journeyman certification, those would be good targets for the project. My next question is: where is the project time, and where is the schedule now?
In discussions with the joint venture on Stanton, the project is on schedule as projected. We expect to service commencement of the facility on November 30, 2018, and we work very closely with them on tracking this issue very closely going month to month with this project moving forward. We believe the project is about approximately 30 per cent complete right now.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Seeing that we are at the benchmark of 30 per cent completion here, I will have further questions down the road when we are at 60 per cent. Mahsi.
---Laughter
More of a comment. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Question 795-18(2):
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the NWT Housing Corporation. In the past, the Minister has stressed the belief that home ownership is the way for people to get housed without relying on public housing and to free up units for those who need them. Yet, with only 20 Yellowknife families taking up the offer of assisted home ownership in the last 10 years, this faith seems to be a little misplaced. Will the Minister now re-examine the home ownership program and find out how to increase the uptake? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I speak broadly that home ownership, in my belief, is a way for people to take more pride in their belongings and it is a goal that most people achieve towards from when we leave our parents' house, I seriously believe that. However, I also recognize that one size does not fit all, and so we have to look at each community separately. Within the smaller communities, it may be a better possibility. Within the capital city, the majority of our public housing units are actually in multi-dwelling buildings where home ownership might not be as feasible. That is why I have committed to looking at a rent subsidy program, which might work better for people within market communities, certainly within our capital city. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister. In her general statements, the Minister has asserted that, relying on the shift to home ownership, the Housing Corporation is not adding to its housing stock. There is still a problem of availability of housing in Yellowknife. There is not enough in any form. Will the Minister, as a result of her survey, consider taking the cap off of the housing inventory and try to get more resources to build additional homes or apartments?
We are working diligently with the federal government as well, and CMHC has made an agreement to put a hold on the declining funding just for this year, but they have still stated that in 2038, those operating and maintenance monies will be gone. With that in effect, we have to look at ways that we can actually support our residents in the Northwest Territories in meeting their housing needs.
At this point, I am not looking at increasing our public housing units, but I do believe that the Rent Supplement Program for the City of Yellowknife would address that need. For example, if I build one house in Yellowknife and it costs me $500,000; if I give people $500 a month, $6,000 a year, towards a rent supplement program, I can support hundreds of families versus one family in the same amount of money. Those are the areas that we are looking at. How do we make our resources go further versus expanding things that we have not figured out how to pay for yet.
Given that answer, then, is the Minister willing to provide a rent supplement for additional units, since those units need not be owned; they could be rented, to increase the availability of housing?
The Rent Supplement Program will be exactly that. It will not be supplementing units that we already own within the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. They will be supplementing market rental units so that we can reach more lower-income families and individuals within our market communities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is good news from the Minister. I finally want to talk about the federal budget in March. Ottawa announced a transfer of $36 million to the NWT over 10 years to provide for more housing. That compares to $240 million over 10 years in Nunavut. Why did we end up with the short end of the stick from Ottawa on housing? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am as confused as the Member in trying to understand why we got short-changed in the northern housing strategy, and so I am actually flying down to Ottawa this Sunday to meet with the Minister responsible for the CMHC, Mr. Duclos. Mr. Duclos, right after the budget was released, did give me a call the next day and promised me that he would provide me a funding formula, because we do support our other territories; however, Nunavut has double of the amount of needs for housing and got eight times the funding. We are asking for an explanation for why we got short-changed within that funding, and also to advocate that we can access more housing monies as it comes out, because a lot of the money for Indigenous people is only on reserve, and we do not qualify for that funding. We are having a face-to-face meeting Monday to discuss all of the issues with the Northwest Territories and our feeling of needing more support from the federal government.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Over the course of this Assembly, it has come up quite often that the family violence shelters in the Northwest Territories are not funded by any sort of funding formula, which leads to disparities, leaving some shelters more in need than others.
When I spoke to the Minister about this before, during the business planning and during the budget session, he stated that he was going to work with the shelters, develop a funding formula, and that work would probably be done in August 2017. We are about 60 days away from August. I would like an update from the Minister to find out what work has been done on developing a funding formula for the family violence shelters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I and my colleagues recognize that the current funding structure for the shelters has led to some challenges and some inconsistencies. Last year, I did direct the Department of Health and Social Services to examine and work with the shelters to identify some of these immediate pressures. As a result of this work, we were fortunate to receive $120,000 in new funding to offset the increased operating costs of family violence shelters across the Northwest Territories.
When I met with the shelter network in 2016, I also committed to exploring the potential for a more equitable funding formula. At that time, I indicated, give us a little bit of patience, work with us. We will be in a better position to start discussions in August 2017. That has not occurred yet. We have had some initial work done. We have been working on some preliminary information with the shelter leads, but we have not begun the negotiations around a funding formula yet, and we will not be getting that until August at the earliest. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am aware that there have been some talks, you could call them, with the shelter network and the individual shelters. There have been calls from the department saying, "How much do you spend on staff?" or questions like that. The department is doing something. I am not sure what this preliminary work is, but if the department is trying to figure out what the needs are, why are the shelters not being engaged now in this preliminary work?
In order to have an informed discussion, we need to actually understand where we are. We have done some preliminary work to determine where we stand, where the shelters stand, and we have been working with the chair of the shelter network who represents all of the shelters across the Northwest Territories. We have done this by e-mail correspondence, but also in face-to-face meetings.
As part of that work, the department has begun work on a bit of a zero-based budget exercise as our first step to determine the funding requirements, as well as the best and most equitable funding model for family violence. We need to have some information in hand in order to have informed discussions. We are working towards that, and we will have more fulsome or more complete discussions around a funding formula starting in August at the earliest.
I have also been working with the chair of the shelter network to try to get the department more engaged with the shelter network. The Minister says they are trying to determine the requirements for the shelters. Just getting the dry numbers for the shelters is not determining the requirements. It is determining how much money they are spending, which they already know because that is how much money they are getting. The Minister has already made his point clear that he is not going to engage with these individuals until August. When can we expect this funding formula to be complete and rolling out? How about that?
When I met with the individuals in 2016, I indicated to them clearly that we intend to move forward, we intend to work with them collaboratively, but we need a bit of time. We have just rolled out a single authority in the Northwest Territories, and I indicated at that time we will be in a better position to begin formal discussions in August 2017. I live up to that commitment. We are living up to that commitment. In the interim, we have worked with the chair. We have gathered information to help us present some information when we do meet with them. I do not think the Member is interpreting what I have said correctly. We are working with them, we are gathering data, and we will have informed discussion and dialogue with them starting at the earliest in August. As far as when we come up with a funding formula, it really depends how those negotiations and discussions go. I would hate to presuppose a solution without having those discussions.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs did a Minister's statement on designated authority council training. It is very exciting, and I am happy to hear this. I guess my first question for the Minister is additional funding to support delivery. If this delivery is going to be done by the internet, what additional costs are we looking at for this delivery of the program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
