I am not trying to give the Minister free advertising here, but this is good. I am sure that the website is going to be improved, for the Housing Corporation, as well. I have commended the Minister in my statement today about the good effort on the housing survey, and she has already started to announce some plans for improvement of programs and services. Can she tell me whether any of these new programs and services will be of assistance to residents in Northlands?
Yes, actually, I can. There are a few programs that actually pertain to the residents in Northlands Trailer Park and all residents, too. We will be having the new seniors' Aging in Place repair program that the Members helped advocate to get additional funding in for. We are going to be looking at a new rent supplement program for people who can't afford their current costs. We are going to be looking at a fuel tank replacement plan, which might be pertinent to people in Northlands Trailer Park, because we need to get rid of the old fuel tanks as they are an environmental concern. We are trying to be proactive in that.
We are also going to be looking at new training programs that will be accessible to all homeowners within the territories, to talk about basic maintenance and care of their homes, just to better educate people. Finally, but not least important, we are looking at more customer service training that we will be providing to all employees of the housing organization, plus the local housing organizations, to just get better service to people and to provide more appropriate one-on-one support.
Thank you again to the Minister. There are obviously widespread issues with affordability of housing in Northlands and across the NWT, especially for those on fixed incomes. In the year 2014, Health and Social Services released a long-term care framework for elders in our communities, and one of the commitments in there was for aging in place "to ensure elders and seniors remain in their homes and home community." How is the Minister of housing working with the health Minister on programs and services to achieve our goal and assist residents in Northlands and across the Northwest Territories?
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation acts very closely with the Department of Health and Social Services in regards to aging in place for our seniors and our elders within the territories. Not only do we consult on them with how to support seniors within their own homes, but we are also working closely together in the design of elders' complexes. From a housing standpoint, I realize that elders and seniors need to have socialization to do well. From the Health and Social Services standpoint, they recognize that providing services, onsite talks about accessibility is the best service to seniors. We work together, actually, to provide units that actually can accommodate both the needs of health professionals going in and providing support and the socialization that is needed for seniors to keep them mentally and physical well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President and, once again, thank you to the Minister for that response. Next year, I will be a senior citizen, but let's not get too excited. In the longer term, the federal government seems poised to finally get back into housing. The Minister is going to meet with her federal counterpart next week, and I commend her for taking that action. What can we accomplish with the federal government's support to better address the issue of housing affordability for the residents of Northlands and, indeed, all our citizens across the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the federal support for housing, there are tons of things that we can accomplish, but I would rather focus on the need, in my opinion, to build further the relationship with the federal government and the new Ministers within that federal government to make them understand the needs of the Northwest Territories. To understand the costs, when you talk about affordability, the costs of a house to be built in the southern province is almost half compared to what it is in Yellowknife. Going into Tuktoyaktuk or higher regions, it is even more unaffordable. I think that the biggest thing that I am going to try to do is to educate the federal Ministers. As to the challenges that we have, not only with cost of living but just accessibility, our lack of transportation modes, we don't have the highways, etc., so really educating the federal government's Minister responsible for Housing as to the challenges that we have is my main goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is to the Minister of Health and Social Services on the Sahtu locum program for staffing. Can the Minister provide how many members or employees we have in the Sahtu riding, and their occasional schedule? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is a fairly specific question. I can't tell you how many individual physicians we bring into the Sahtu on a rotational basis. I can endeavour to provide a sample rotational schedule to the Member, but we endeavour at all times to have at least one locum in the Sahtu to provide services to the residents of that region. In order to have that one locum in there, it is many, many individuals, and I can't provide that number to the Member today. I will have to get that from the department and share it at a later date.
I will wait for the information to be provided by the Minister. My second question is: does the department provide cross-cultural training to the incoming locum individuals?
Mr. Speaker, through the Department of Human Resources, there is some cultural competency training, or cultural awareness training, that is provided. We do encourage any practitioner coming into the Northwest Territories to go through that information. However, with some of the locums, many of the locums are coming in for a very short period of time and they are hitting the ground running. I can't guarantee that every individual goes through that training. I would like to say that, ultimately, what we would like to have happen in Sahtu, as we would in all other regions, is permanent physicians who are part of the community, who can be part of a long-term solution. We do struggle in the Sahtu to find a permanent physician who can become part of the community and be more effective over the long term.
Will the Minister provide that information so we can relay it on to the leaders of the region? Once they know the challenges faced by the department, they will know how to assist and encourage the younger people to seek the appropriate qualifications in order to make medical aid a career of choice. If that information can be provided to me, I will forward that on.
Mr. Speaker, every time I have an opportunity to meet with leadership - Aboriginal leadership - throughout the Northwest Territories, I talk about the need to work together closely to find ways to train local people for local work, including RNs and physicians. In Sahtu, as an example, I think we've been pretty lucky. There are a number of local people who have become RNs over the years, and there are even a number of individuals - at least one that I'm aware of - that has become a physician. This is a small step.
We need to work together with our leadership to encourage our youth to pursue these very rewarding careers throughout the Northwest Territories. I'll continue to make that commitment to work with my leaders across the Northwest Territories to find ways to encourage our youth. I'm happy to provide them any information they're looking for about career specific information. All that information is public. It's available. I'm happy to share it at any time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. In my Member's statement today, I noted that the mandate for this Assembly defines family violence as a crisis. Presumably, our efforts to combat a crisis should be extraordinary and urgent. Does the Minister accept the mandate definition of family violence as a crisis, and does this mean combatting that crisis is among the top priorities of his ministry? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. The 18th Assembly, of course, has identified family violence as a priority. We do recognize that this is a very serious issue and in fact, a crisis, in the Northwest Territories. Our department, along with other departments, does treat this issue very seriously.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. I'm now going to test what that might mean in dollars and cents. If indeed this is the crisis that we all agree it is, then what information is informing the work of dealing with this crisis? What is the information that the Minister is using to change hearts and minds and combat attitudes which perpetuate family violence?
We continue to work with Aboriginal governments, community groups, and other partners. We seek advice and direction from them so that we can deal with this very serious issue.
That was a less robust answer than I was hoping for. I believe we are agreed that combatting the brutal and unending murder of women is a priority, and redoing the family violence survey would give us the data to ensure our crisis response is an informed and intelligent response. Will the Minister commit to updating the cost of redoing the survey and including this funding in the upcoming business plan for his department?
Mr. Speaker, we of course wish to use the limited resources at our disposal in the most effective manner possible. I do note that a very similar question was asked of another Minister in March of this year. The answer at that time was that we didn't think that would be the best use of money and that we would rather focus our money and efforts on prevention and healing. I concur with that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the entire Cabinet is going to Inuvik next week for the energy forum. Is there not any way to make choices, intelligent choices, about where to spend money that supports the residents of the NWT other than going for a little holiday up in Inuvik? Perhaps the Minister needs a more insistent request. What if the Standing Committee on Social Development wrote to you and asked you to -
Member. What is your line of question?
Could the standing committee write to the Minister to ask for a commitment for this funding? Would that make any difference? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Certainly, the committee can write to me if they wish. However, I think this matter has been reviewed. Again, it's important that we allocate our resources in the most effective way possible. I'd like to tell the Assembly some of the things the Department of Justice is doing. You heard about the A New Day Program yesterday. Well, we're hoping it will be more successful. Corrections has a new violence prevention program which teaches men in NWT jails to stop using violence. We have the Domestic Violence Treatment Option, DVTO, court options, which is new in the last 10 years. We are doing a lot of things. We are expending a lot of money to deal with this very serious issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For those watching Committee of the Whole yesterday, they would have seen at least three Regular Members pledge their support for Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Education Act. If they're true to their word, then, by the end of the day, junior kindergarten will become the law of the land. This is being offered in most countries in the developed world or they are on the way to offering it. This should be a joyous occasion. We should all be excited.
Meanwhile, I don't think anyone feels good about this decision or the way it was rolled out. The Regular Members have wasted probably hundreds of hours researching this, trying to figure out what was going on because we couldn't get information from the department. For years, this has been a sticking point, and it goes not just to the Regular Members. The education authorities, the DAs, they all feel the same way for the most part. I want to ask the Minister because this has been such a disaster, the way this has rolled out: is the Minister going to ask for anyone's resignation because of this junior kindergarten fiasco? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process with junior kindergarten has been going on for over four years. We have 20 communities that offer great programs. We have seen some really good results and some really good successes in those communities, with an increased development in some of our students that are entering our education system. We have been meeting regularly with DECs as well as superintendents. I'm not sure if the Member is speaking on behalf of all the education authorities across the Northwest Territories, as he has stated, but we are seeing some really good headway in junior kindergarten as well as our early childhood programming in the Northwest Territories, which is a mandate of this 18th Legislative Assembly. The staff that I work with and the staff that work in the regions and centres do commendable, hard work, and we want to address some of the early childhood concerns through the EDI results that we have been collecting for the last four years. No, we will not be asking for something like that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice as a follow-up to the return to written questions he presented May 25, 2017. The RCMP reviewed sexual assault complaints to "G" Division for the period 2010-2016 and reduced the rate of unfounded complaints from 30 per cent to 18.7 per cent.
Did this reclassification include a review of evidence in each case file, and:
Did the RCMP contact complainants and provide an explanation in the cases deemed unfounded;
What is the significance of reporting that 42 per cent of the new unfounded cases originated from third parties;
What are the reasons that the remaining 58 per cent of cases were determined to be unfounded; and
What was the result of the case review in Yellowknife where the original unfounded rate was 36 per cent?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled "Progress Report on the Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories - June 2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents entitled "The NWT Health and Social Services Patient Experience Report 2016," "Status Report on the Implementation of the Health Information Act, October 2015 to October 2016," and the "NWT On the Land Collaborative 2017 Report." Thank you Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Tabled Document 393-18(2):
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Socio-Economic Agreements Implementation Report 2016 Annual Report - Ekati, Diavik, Snap Lake and Gahcho Kue." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
