Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs recognizes that preserving Aboriginal culture is important to the residents of the Northwest Territories, and hand games is part of that tradition. There are a couple of requirements though. Of course, if there's money being exchanged during the hand games, we tend not to support that as that is more promoting gambling than the actual physical activity of hand games. Then we also try to encourage that because traditionally hand games are more for male, men and boys’ sports, so we also try to encourage the applicants to look at a traditional activity for girls and women, as well.
Mr. Speaker, we see school championships such as Super Soccer and Spike It, to name a couple. Does the department fund a territorial championship for hand games?
The department supports the Aboriginal Sport Circle's annual middle school territorial games championship, which includes hand games during those games.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister about, you know, I talked about all the benefits of hosting events and so on: does the department help fund the traditional games that go on across the territory?
As stated in my previous answer, yes, through the Aboriginal Sport Circle, we do fund the annual middle school traditional games championships. If the Member is thinking of other games that we should be looking at, I am more than willing to work with the Member to consider those as options, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the department do or get some reports on the traditional activities, traditional games at middle school games, as the Minister stated, and report that to residents or develop some sort of report that the MLAs can see? Thank you.
Yes, the department does report on these events. I'm not sure about the past, but, if we haven't been providing those to MLAs, I will make sure that we do provide those reports in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Lands. As people might be aware in this House, the very fundamental questions on the ownership and jurisdictions in the sovereignty of the Deh Cho hands is being negotiated. My question is to the Minister of Lands. Why is the government requiring Dene elders to lease the land they live on, now designated as Commissioner's lands? Mahsi.
Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently on Commissioner's lands, lessees are charged 10 per cent of the assessed value of the land. As was mentioned previously by the Member opposite, we are looking at reducing that to a more reasonable amount of 5 per cent. Currently, those leases are still charged and assessed.
Mr. Speaker, you know, despite the modest decrease in terms of the rates, the bills are still piling up for elders and has put them in a very stressful situation. What will the Minister do to remedy this injustice?
As I mentioned earlier, we're contemplating lowering the rate we charge from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. In addition, seniors do receive a 50 per cent discount. We have made efforts to make life easier for our senior citizens.
Mr. Speaker, I think there are a few elders that would be more likely categorized in a very stressful situation where their bills have piled up to the point where they're more likely pondering the idea, if they're aware of the option, of bankruptcy. Could the Minister and his department consider an interim arrangement? How long would it take for the Minister to remedy this injustice?
Mr. Speaker, once the leases are in arrears, the matter goes to the Department of Finance, who will then send out letters. I know they try to work with individuals to see if they can repay the amounts that they owe. I do also understand that, under Section 3 of the Income Assistance Policy Manual, applicants who reside on Commissioner's land from the Department of Lands or the NWTHC may qualify for a monthly allowance to assist with the cost of the land lease. There are various ways that seniors could be assisted.
As I mentioned earlier, apart from reducing the proposal is to reduce the current leases from 10 to 5 per cent. In addition, of course, there is the seniors’ discount. We are doing things for senior citizens, and there are other programs that appear that they could access. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister of Lands. Will the Minister come to Deh Cho communities to speak with our elders and leaders to explain his position on this and what is he doing about it? Mahsi.
Yes. I certainly could consider such a visit. As I mentioned, we are rolling out a new proposal to reduce the rents from 10 per cent to 5 per cent of appraised value. Now, that's the appraised value of the land itself, so, even if a very nice house is built on that land, that doesn't affect the 5 or 10 per cent that we have been charging on the land itself. I think we are going to try to be in touch with people who are in a situation and make them realize or give them the information that we are reducing the lease fees from 10 to 5 per cent. After that, I would certainly consider such a visit. Perhaps it could be combined with some other activities. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with Bill C-46, the federal government has proposed changes to drug-impaired driving laws in response to the impending legalization of cannabis. I have questions for the Minister of Justice about how these laws will be handled in the NWT. I know we can't discuss legislation that is before a standing committee of this House, so we will keep the discussion confined to the enforcement of the proposed federal legislation and not touch on our own legislation.
Nationwide, the RCMP have been testing roadside oral fluid swabs as a way to detect drug-impaired drivers. These devices are supposed to be able to detect whether a person has consumed one of several types of drugs, including cannabis, in the previous few hours, which is a relatively tight timeframe when compared to blood and urine tests, which can detect THC in the system for days or even months. However, there are still concerns. Similar devices have been used in the UK and Australia for a few years now, and there are still questions about their accuracy and about the lack of scientific data when it comes to determining what actually constitutes impairment. We want to keep the streets safe, but we want to also make sure that we don't charge innocent people.
I have some questions for the Minister. The first one is: could the Minister please provide this House with a summary of the type of roadside testing that we will be employing in the NWT to detect drug-impaired driving? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This of course is federal legislation, and the federal government has contemplated some very ambitious changes to the criminal code that will set a legal limit for certain drugs or drugs and alcohol together in a driver's system, the various penalties that can be applied, and the rules around law enforcement, which will allow them to demand drug testing, what tests can be used, and what happens when someone refuses to take the test. I understand that the oral fluid drug screener has been used for some time. I am told that it is highly accurate, so hopefully we wouldn't have people charged that shouldn't be charged. As I mentioned, the proposed levels involve a certain amount of THC in the system; I think it is 2 nanograms. If it is 2 but under 5, that would be a summary conviction or a less serious charge; at or over 5, a more serious offence. It is a hybrid, which means that it could be summary or indictable, a lower limit of 2.5, if it is combined with 50 milligrams of alcohol.
Now, I am not certain whether all of this proposed law will come into force, but that is the proposal. We are also assured by the federal government that the oral testing kits are accurate. Thank you.
From what I have read, including in the report by Public Safety Canada on the effectiveness of these devices, their effectiveness is very much based on the training that the officers receive. Could the Minister please give us some details about how many officers in the territory are trained, maybe how many will be trained, and where these officers might be located, any details he can provide about the training?
Yes, there are really two types of training. There is the standard field sobriety test called the SFST and, also, evaluations by drug recognition experts. Now, I understand that, currently, there are 10 SFST-trained officers who are located in Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Behchoko, and there are also three drug recognition experts, two with the traffic division and one in Yellowknife Detachment. These numbers will doubtless change over time as officers are transferred in and out of the Northwest Territories, but we hope that these numbers will increase.
I believe the Minister said there were three drug recognition experts, and I think that is the type of training that I am talking about. Does the department have a plan to expand this training so that all officers receive it at some point, and can he give us some details on that plan?
I rather doubt that we would be training all officers, but three certainly does not seem to be very many. I understand that a funding proposal was launched in mid-February. They expect to finalize the proposal by March. The GNWT has been informed by Public Safety Canada that areas of funding will include -- I am reading here -- "investments to increase capacity of police services to train members as drug recognition experts (DRE), investments to increase capacity of police services to train members in standardized field sobriety testing, and investments to purchase oral fluid testing devices."
The federal government is taking this matter very seriously. They have clearly allocated funds. I am not sure how much money will be headed our way, but we will be making application for funds.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment spoke of his recent attendance at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Conference, otherwise known as PDAC. Can he update the House as to his experience there and whether or not we are going to see some results from the conference? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I don't have a problem updating the House off of the top of my head here. We had a full slate of meetings over the last couple of days. We had an NWT event where we got to speak and have a bunch of panel discussions with NWT Indigenous corporations and industry. The Premier and I also attended and I got to be the keynote speaker at a CanNor event around CanNor's continued funding in the federal budget moving forward.
I have met with a number of stakeholders, toured the trade show booths, had an opportunity to meet with a number of people there, as well, and had an opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with some institutions on investing in the Northwest Territories. I also made a quick stop and got a quick update from the Canada Infrastructure Bank on where they are at in their process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister. It is always good to hear our Ministers are being productive when they are looking for more investment in our economy. One of the issues that PDAC lists as a key consideration is access to capital, and they note that exploration is the riskiest part of mineral development, with only 1 in 10 exploration projects leading to drilling and only 1 in 10,000 leading to a mine, and that access to capital and financial incentives is crucial to securing the success of those projects.
What is the Minister doing to ensure that exploration companies have access to capital? What is this government doing to ensure that?
As the Member knows, we have our staff within ITI to help them do that, but every time I have been to either Roundup or PDAC, I have made specific trips to Toronto to meet with industry stakeholders about investing in the Northwest Territories. It became quite clear to me early on, when I got this portfolio, about lack of information around devolution in particular, about the land and resources being transferred from the federal government to the Government of the Northwest Territories, that everywhere we go, no matter which one of us sits on this side of the House, we continually have to update people and inform people about the Northwest Territories, on our operations and who we are, what is here, and how things operate. That is the continued message that we have to give on a daily basis.
Someone actually just asked me at PDAC about something very similar around that. I gave them the prime example of around the transportation FPT table. When I became elected two-and-a-half years ago or somewhere thereabouts, I was probably the youngest guy at that table, being a junior minister. Now, two-and-a-half years later, I am probably the most senior person at that table, due just to election cycles in this country and changing out the government. You are continually updating people, informing them who we are and what we are all about, and how business is done in the NWT.
The question was about capital, but the Minister has moved on to another one of PDAC's concerns, which is access to land, which follows land availability, access to geoscience information, and the regulatory environment. I would like to ask questions about the quality of geoscience information that is available. I know this government has made significant improvements to geoscience. Can the Minister speak to that, and what is the feedback from stakeholders at PDAC on the quality and accessibility of our geoscience data?
In one of my speeches down there, I did talk about the geoscience data that is available in the Northwest Territories, and I am glad to say today that we announced at PDAC some of the data that is available online for geoscience information. Other jurisdictions do some of this stuff a lot differently than ours, but we inform the public about the extensive amount of work that has been done with us in partnership with the federal government. I explained to them about our large collection of core samples that we have now unveiled at the airport, one of the largest ones in the world of donated core samples, particularly around the diamond industry, and we will continue to inform people of what we have available in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister touched on this previously, but the regulatory environment in the Northwest Territories is of course of deep concern for the mineral development industry. PDAC lists several concerns: the organizational model on processes adopted by relevant regulatory bodies, inadequate resources for regulatory bodies leading to delays in processing applications, and finally politically induced delays in the regulatory process. What is the Minister doing to ensure we have a sound regulatory process that does not lead to delays in advancing exploration of mineral resource development projects? Thank you.
To those comments, I want to say a couple of things, first of all, before I talk about the Mineral Resource Act. I have talked to many exploration companies and mining companies in the Northwest Territories, and this, for the most part, this is a very fictitious story, that our regulatory process is one that hinders exploration and development in the NWT. Yes, it has certainty around it. We have the federal side of it that we are trying to get control of through devolution. The Aboriginal governments have their process, but, at the end of the day, when you go through our process, it is lengthy, but it gives you certainty. The Government of the Northwest Territories is here to help guide industry through that process, and when, at the end of the day, you get your permit, you are permitted to do this.
A number of these people that I deal with on a day-to-day basis around the mining industry say, "Yes, you have a system that maybe not everybody agrees with, but we like it." We get the odd "bad apple," as we can put it, who doesn't like the system. It could be personalities. It could be investment dollars. It could be certain things, but, at the end of the day, I think we have a system that works, for the most part.
We are trying to make it better now, through devolution, with the Mineral Resource Act. We went out and did our consultation. We are working with the intergovernmental council. We will be going back out, reaching out to stakeholders, to industry, NGOs, Aboriginal governments. We are in the process of doing our draft legislation, and hopefully at the end of this Assembly, we will have a piece of legislation that is made in the NWT, that we can all be proud of. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, the Minister of Finance made a statement about how GNWT is one of Canada's top employers for young people. I am wondering if the Minister can tell us whether our government has set specific targets for summer students for this year, or internships. Are there specific numbers that he can tell us about as targets for employment for internships and summer students? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe, in the internships, we do have a specific number, a goal that we try to reach. I will have to try to confirm that number. As far as summer students go, it is a moving number. I mean our goal is always to try to get as many as we got during our highest year. Last year, we had 349, so next year we would like to get 350. As long as we can beat it, the number from the year before, then that would be our goal on the summer student side. We have encouraged the departments to try to encourage their officials to try to bring on as many summer students as possible, and we will continue to do that, but I think we are trending in the right direction. The internship number, I think we have a specific target. I will confirm that, then share it with the Member.
I would like to thank the Minister of Finance for that response. Can you tell us whether there are specific appropriations or line items in each of the departmental budgets for summer students or interns?
Mr. Speaker, my understanding, as far as the interns go, we do have, and I believe we have an appropriated number for that. Again, I will have to confirm that number. On the summer students, there is no specific appropriation for summer students. It is just part of our department's business, and, again, we do encourage them to try to bring on as many summer students as they can, but, as far as the actual appropriation for summer students, it is not in the budget.
I would like to thank the Minister of Finance again for that. If there is no appropriation or line item in the departmental budgets, do they have to find the money internally and take from various programs or divisions to come up with summer student funding? I would like to ask the Minister: how are the summer student positions funded within each of the departments?
