Thank you, Mr. Chair. All of these GSOs, as I understand it, are indeterminate positions, so those positions will continue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Getting back to the topic of GSOs, I won't reiterate too many questions of what some of my colleagues have said; but I know in my region they're very important, and in some smaller communities we do not have some. I'm just wondering, the Premier mentioned that in some communities it's hard to hire a GSO who has the capacity. I'm thinking maybe we can utilize other communities that already have existing GSOs to help build that capacity. I think, for the communities that are close together, one community with the capacity, one without, it may be easier to work that way and make more sense to help the dynamics of the people, maybe some elders, and people who cannot read in those communities, to help them understand what a GSO does in hopes of putting in a position there. I think it's very important in small communities. Coming from a small community, myself, I see the difference that one GSO makes within the whole department. As well, working with the GOC, I think we need to look at that and see how are we going to streamline this. Maybe that might help with funding down the road, but a lot of the work that we do is more localized, so I am just wondering if the Premier with the department would be looking at training, using GSOs to train possible GSOs in the community where there is a lack of capacity. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Premier McLeod.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I certainly believe that we can accomplish that. We bring in all of the GSOs for training at least twice a year. We also have a plan, so we will have an idea. We have GSOs currently who assist smaller communities nearby. They assist with the coverage. They can certainly assist with the capacity building. Some of the smaller centres, we have halftime positions, as well, so I believe that we can certainly develop a plan so that we can not only train people but we can also cover all of the small communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the department looking at something like this because I think it is important to employ positions like this in the smaller communities before we go into the regional centres. All of the regional centres, as well as Yellowknife, have all the departments here. We can go to Motor Vehicles, we can go to the ENR office, places like that where, you know, you may need a system navigator to help people identify where they need to go, but I think in the small communities it is important to try to at least do something like this. A small service like this would be a huge help to the communities. I just want to know what the Premier has to say on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Premier McLeod.
Certainly, we are very pleased with the GSO program. With regards to the larger centres, we will certainly look at improving delivery of services. I think a lot of people have indicated that they have difficulty in finding out or understanding what programs and services we deliver. As an open, transparent government, we will make sure that we find ways so that those programs and services are communicated to the public. We will also look at levels of service delivery to see if there are ways we can improve. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just going to move on there. I appreciate the response from the Premier and the department. I am looking at, on page 117, the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation Strategic Direction and Action Plan. I just wonder if we can get a few details from the Premier on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an initiative where we were approached by the community of Tuktoyaktuk, who had submitted proposals to both the Government of Canada and ourselves and wanted to take their own initiative to ready the community for the onslaught of expected tourists and visitors with the opening of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. So we identified funds for two years to assist the community to get started. They were also successful in accessing funds from the Government of Canada. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Nakimayak.
Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not have anything further, thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Further questions? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I, too, want to ask some questions about the funding for the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation. Before the Minister tries to say that I am opposed to this funding, it is a one-off here, and I am just wondering: what kind of criteria are there for approving these sort of one-off requests? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. From time to time, we have requests from communities that are not covered elsewhere, and we look at them to see if we feel they should be supported. I think that, if in future perhaps there are starting to be more and more of these kinds of requests, we would look at the possibility of developing policy in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that from the Minister. In fact, there is other funding later on in the budget for the NWT Friendship Centres. Look, I think that is probably a good investment of money, as well. The Minister talked about maybe developing a policy. It looks like it probably is time to develop a policy to ensure that others know that there may be funding opportunities directly with the Cabinet and that there are going to be criteria around that. Is the Minister committing to developing a policy framework for these sorts of funding requests that are made directly to Cabinet? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the easy way would be just to say no to all requests, but I think it would be more appropriate for us to look at developing funding guidelines. It would assist us as we get these requests. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, funding guidelines, is that something, then, that the Minister is prepared to provide as, I do not know, a draft document to Regular MLAs so that we can have a look at that, or perhaps even the public, so that we can make this sort of process more transparent and accountable? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are prepared to develop those guidelines and share it with committee at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the commitment from the Minister on this. Is that something, then, that is likely to happen in 2018-2019? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We would endeavour to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do not have anything further on this part of the budget. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Further questions? Seeing none, I will call this summary on page 117. Directorate, operations expenditure summary, $5,410,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. We shall move on to pages 121 to 123. Any questions on 121 to 123 before I read the summary? Seeing none, I will go to page 121. Executive council offices, operations expenditure summary, $4,001,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. We shall move on to pages 125 to 127. Members, could you make reference to which page you are asking questions to under Indigenous and Intergovernmental Affairs? Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to get into the negotiations part of this section a bit. I am wondering if the Minister could advise me as to what the plan is for the self-government portion of the negotiations with the Akaitcho? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My immediate understanding is that we will be negotiating a land and resources land claim agreement and will follow it up with a self-government agreement. Some Aboriginal governments or Indigenous governments have negotiated both at the same time, but my understanding is the Akaitcho will be moving in that direction.
The federal government has started a new process to develop an Aboriginal rights framework to clarify section 35 rights that are under the treaties. We are not sure how that would affect the future self-government negotiations. There is an indication that it may impact on future self-government talks, but at the present moment, my understanding is that we will continue the way we have always done it where we will finalize and negotiate a land and resources claim and also negotiate a self-government agreement further down the road. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there would be some need to develop capacity at the Indigenous government level. I would like to ask the Premier if the Premier has any, I guess, opinion on -- no, I shouldn't ask for an opinion, I suppose. If the government is thinking about when the negotiations on the self-government portion of the Akaitcho negotiations will start?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I speak specifically on the Akaitcho, I should point out that, in other areas, we have entered into agreements with the federal government, ourselves, and the Aboriginal government to provide for capacity building. I think we are having some good success there.
Also, with the Akaitcho government, we have seconded at least one employee to the Akaitcho to help with the work that they are doing on land claims and self-government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not have any further questions on this section at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am looking on page 126, and it's the NWT Friendship Centre. As I said in my reply to the budget, this is a very positive step by the department to help an organization that has a huge impact on a number of communities. I notice there is $250,000 in there. Is this something that the department is going to look at as an ongoing basis, or is this a one-time budget line? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Premier McLeod.
