Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's commitment. Mr. Speaker, the other areas that are required for a successful university or post-secondary institution are independence and, of course, an institution driven by research. Aurora College has ARI, the Aurora Research Institute, but what it doesn't have is an independent board. When will the Minister reappoint an independent board so the college can be at arm's length from government and control its own affairs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As Members of the House know, and I'm sure the public knows, we are currently going through a foundational review. I did mention that that review is going to be given to me by the end of this month, and we will be creating a management response to that review. In that review, governance is a topic of priority to take a look at. So once we get that foundational review, we will develop a management response to some of those recommendations. Should the board be one of the recommendations, we will take a look at it, and once the management response and the review is complete, we will be sharing that with committee members, all Members of the Legislative Assembly, and our stakeholders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I spoke about some of the things that the community of Fort Simpson has done to address the tragedies that have occurred in the past year. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services to hopefully clear up some stuff. Can the Minister tell us what the department has been able to do in response to the number of tragedies in the Deh Cho region in 2017? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our first priority when a tragedy like this happens is to work with the families, to make sure that we have counsellors and other supports meeting with the family to help them address their grief and their loss. That has always the first priority. That is something that we made available in the Deh Cho region.
We also recognize that, given the large number of incidents and crises that were happening in the Deh Cho, there was a significant demand on all the workers in the community and the region who were reaching out to community members and families. We also made counsellors from other communities from across the Northwest Territories available so that they could come in and provide some backfill and some additional supports to the community, given that there were a large number of people who were seeking help and wanted to receive supports during these crises.
We also had individuals from the headquarters come down, as well, and meet with the communities. There was first reach-out to the families. Then there were additional community people, additional supports came in from different communities. Then the departments were able to provide some support in the communities.
We had a number of good conversations with residents in the community about the types of things they need, and we are continuing to work with the community and the region to try to find some additional solutions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister and his department for the work that they were doing. Thanks for that information. As I said in my Member's statement today, there were a lot of departments that have been part of the support network. Can the Minister advise how the department has been working with other departments and organizations to ensure that everybody is aware of each other's services, including the mental health and addiction staff, Child and Family Services staff, Victims Services staff, and Education, Culture and Employment staff?
As a government, this is certainly one area that we can do better in, break down some of our silos and make sure that staff in one department know what is going on in another department. We have been trying to work with our partners to make sure information is shared. We have been able to collaborate on a number of initiatives. We have been able to work with community members in the Deh Cho region. We have participated with them on different events.
For example, on February 7th and 8th, the department staff attended workshops in Fort Simpson that offered mental wellness, suicide prevention, as well as What Will it Take Program and Talk About Mental Illness, which is often referred to as TAMI Program. The speakers travelled with our staff, so we had an opportunity to talk about the types of programs that are available both through Health and Social Services, but also through communities and other agencies. I know that the federal government has supports that they have provided in different situations at different times.
I think we all need to work together to try to get the information that we are all doing. This isn't something that one department, one government can solve. This is something that is going to take everybody working together. We are going to work harder to make sure the information of the programs we are offering is out there. I look forward to working with the Member to help get some of that information out over time.
I appreciate that answer from the Minister. In regard to the plan to support family, staff, and communities who have been impacted by these tragedies, can the Minister advise some of the things the department is able to offer?
First and, I guess, foremost is that we do offer, and we do make our counsellors available to the families who are struggling so that they can continue to work through their grief process and come to terms with the horrible incidents that have occurred. We want to do more than that. We want to support communities, as well.
We strongly encourage residents of communities to attend things like the Mental Health First Aid program as well as the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training. The more people who can attend these things in the communities, the better. That includes the families, as well. We work with the territorial authority, Health and Social Services Authority, and community leadership to develop a wellness and suicide prevention plan. That work is still under way. We haven't completely reached our resolution on that plan.
The department offers On-The-Land Healing Fund $125,000 a year, which goes to the Dehcho First Nations so that they can facilitate on the land programs that lead towards healing and supporting individuals who are going through crisis.
There is also always the helpline available to residents. Should they need to speak to somebody and speak to somebody now, I would strongly encourage people to use that helpline and engage with the practitioners we have in the community, whether it is community health nurse or a counsellor. In September of next year, the new youth mental health counsellors, we encourage them to reach out and get in touch with the providers that are out there.
Masi. Oral Questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I greatly appreciate the Minister's ability to provide that information here to the House as we can share it with our residents. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide a brief summary of some of the things the department has been able to do in regard to the suicide prevention treatment and after-care as part of the mental health and addiction recovery in NWT Strategic Framework 2016-2021? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The framework that the Member is referencing is a foundational document that sets the direction we are going to move forward in a number of different areas. It is going to result in three different action plans. One of the action plans, the Youth Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, has already been released. The Addictions Recovery Action Plan and the mental health recovery action plan are still in development. They will be developed during the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
Having said that, with respect to the Youth Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, one of the key items that, I think, residents of the Deh Cho and I think other communities will recognize is the implementation of the youth mental health and addictions counsellors who will be Health and Social Services employees working in the schools, providing supports for our youth.
There is also the Territorial Suicide Prevention and Crisis Response Network, which is something that the Members told us clearly that we needed to put in place to support communities in times of crisis. We are moving forward with that. It was a great recommendation. We have some financial support from the federal government that has allowed us to make this happen. This is about pulling together and developing a culturally-safe, common suicide risk assessment. It is about ensuring there are seamless pathways so that when a community is in crisis, we can get them the support they need, both internally but externally. It is about establishing clear processes to allow these things to happen so that the responses are swift, timely, appropriate, and respectful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral Questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, there is a review of the social work program under way now at Aurora College. The report is due on April 10th. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: why wasn't this review completed prior to making the decision to phase out the social work program? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we made the decision to phase out the social work program based on low enrolment and low graduation rates. It had a history of low rates over the years. The Aurora College decided to an independent, internal review on its own. I do understand that review is going to be completed in April 2018. We will see where that review and what recommendations that review has in terms of moving forward with the long-term strategic plan for the Aurora College. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When the Minister gets the report, can the Minister request the report? What does he plan to do with it?
We can possibly review that report. Because it is an internal document and an internal review that the Aurora College has taken on, my understanding is that because it is an internal document, that is not planned for release to the public. I can follow up with the Aurora College on that, though. Because it is their own internal review, it is something that will not be released to the public. As I mentioned earlier, that can help position what that program is in terms of looking at a long-term strategic plan for Aurora College, after all of our other work around the foundational review is completed as well.
What I am asking the Minister is: this college is under administration, so he has a direct role in its governance. When he asks for this report and receives it, what is he going to do with the results? I am not asking him to make it public. He has a terrible record of making things public. I am asking what he is going to do with the report.
We are excited to see what this internal review is going to recommend at the end. As I mentioned, we do have a diploma program with the social work students that are coming out of the program, and we continue to support them to go and get their degree, whether it is in a southern institution or going over to Yukon College.
What comes out of that review, we are not too sure what it is going to look like, but we will take it into consideration. When the foundational review is complete and we have that managerial response complete as well, it will help us set a stage for the long-term strategic plan at Aurora College. We will see what recommendations come out of this internal review and how that will impact it as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the foundational review and/or the review of the Social Work Program recommends that the program be continued or expanded into a degree program, is the Minister willing to reverse his decision to phase the program out? Thank you.
We have a lot of things that we are doing right now in post-secondary initiatives. It is a very ambitious agenda. We have the foundational review that is going to help us decide the direction of how Aurora College will be providing its programs and services, but we also have this overarching legislation that is going to help other post-secondary institutions come up, do research, and also possibly look at providing degree-granting programs. We have Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning and College Nordique that will soon be involved in that.
If it looks like we can look at providing a degree-granting program, we will definitely look hard at that, because we want to make sure that we do meet the needs of the labour market here in the Northwest Territories, as well as in all three northern territories and, if possible, other jurisdictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Earlier, I spoke about the link between post-secondary education and people's ability to get good jobs. We are all aware of the earning disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories, yet this government is cutting Aurora College programs and failing to expand support for other growing institutions, such as Dechinta Bush University. Why has the government taken this course? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we want to ensure that any programs that we provide to residents of the Northwest Territories have the supports and that they have the skills necessary to be into the labour market within the Northwest Territories. We also want to make sure that, when we are investing dollars into our programs, we are getting a good output of skilled, trained workers to meet the labour market demands.
We also support a lot of our other programs. We support College nordique. We signed a multi-year agreement with Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, and we also increased funding with Dechinta over the past couple of years.
We are continuing to support our post-secondary institutions, whether it is Aurora College, College nordique, Dechinta, and we are also looking at ways that we can invite and bring other post-secondary institutions up to do research and provide other services to our residents. We are continuing to work on our agenda for post-secondary education, and I think we are doing a great job on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I clearly understand the Minister supports all of the initiatives that he has outlined. Yet, Mr. Speaker, Ontario has nine Indigenous governed and operated post-secondary institutions. New legislation provides a pathway for them to offer post-secondary degrees, certificates, and diplomas. The province will spend $56 million over the next three years to expand the capacity of Indigenous institutes. Will the Minister look at this model and revise his discussion paper to reflect best practices?
We see the important work that Dechinta is doing, as well as other organizations here in the Northwest Territories that promote culture and language, and we work with those organizations to continue to support it.
Although there is none such as the Member has mentioned here in the Northwest Territories, it is unique, and it is something that we do need to look at it, because we are already doing it in our JK-to-12 system, and that is something we can look at moving forward as we embark on our post-secondary agenda, looking at improving some of the work in that area that the Member has specifically identified.
It may not be possible for institutions like Dechinta and College nordique to grow and prosper without more public funding than they get now. This funding could open the door to much more investment beyond our territory. For example, this summer, Dechinta went on the river. What is the Minister going to do about this and live up to the mandate commitment to expand post-secondary students for our students?
I do know that College nordique as well as Dechinta are looking to expand their roles. I think that was a great program that they did this summer, travelling up and down the Mackenzie River. We continue to support these post-secondary institutions, as well as looking at ways we can help sustain the work that they do. That is one of the reasons that we did enter into that multi-year agreement with Dechinta and increased their funding.
As I have mentioned in this House, over a period of time we are creating this overarching legislation that is going to look at accreditation, quality assurance, and also look at opportunities that will give Dechinta and College nordique more opportunities to expand and have accredited courses.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this time of the year, there might be students out there listening to this debate and discussion, and more than likely, those students are looking for ideas and assurances that when they enter, perhaps, Aurora College for programs this fall, that there will be programs; there will be a classroom; they will have a desk; they will have resources; they will have professors. My question to the Minister is: what kind of hope can he give to students that potentially may enter, say, Aurora College for the Social Work Program this fall? Mahsi.
As we mentioned, we are going through the business planning process, and I did say in this House that this fall we won't be taking any more intakes into the Social Work Program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about the upcoming summer student program. I have questions for the Minister of Finance. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance a question on what happened last year. Last year, the Government of the Northwest Territories set a record for probably the most summer students ever hired in the GNWT. I would like to ask the Minister if he plans to exceed that number this year. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. Last year, we had 349 summer students. We were quite pleased with that number. They were spread across the departments and across the government. I am just going to read off the top three departments, just to let them out there know who would be hiring all the summer students.
Number one was the Department of Infrastructure, but that included Public Works and Transportation, so we are not sure if that really counts. Number two was NWT Health and Social Services authorities. They had 62 summer students last year. Number three was ENR at 51.
We have encouraged our departments to try to bring on more summer students. We would like to see that number increase and we will work very hard to see that number increase. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Minister for that response. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister would look at other subsidies. I know that we get around 600 applications for summer students. Hiring 350 is good and 400 is better, but there are other incentives around what I talked about; wage subsidies, what the Government of Alberta is doing. Would the Minister consider looking at something like wage subsidies for employers other than the GNWT who hire summer students?
When I quoted the numbers before, the 349, I have asked a couple times now, and I will follow up on it today on the number of summer students that agencies that we fund also hire. We have 23, I think, local housing authorities, maybe 24 now. I am sure they bring on summer students, as well. If you average out two or three per LHO, that would increase the number.
We have the community governments whom we fund that bring on summer students. They are not included in the 349. I would think that number would be a lot higher. I have been trying to gather that information for a while now. Once I do, I will share that with the Member because I think that will be more of a good news story. As far as the Member's question is concerned, I mean, I am willing to look at any other options we have out there if that means increasing the number of summer students that we hire. We are always willing to look at a number of different options. We will do that.
I have talked to some small business owners here in the city mostly. I don't have a lot of small business owners in my riding. I talked to some of the people here where the majority of the summer students get employment. One of the things I mentioned in my Member's statement was tax credits. I was wondering if the Minister of Finance would look at some sort of tax credit for industry or other small business for hiring of summer students?
As I said in my previous comment, that is another option. It is a very interesting concept. These are options that are worth exploring. I will commit to the Member that we will do that. I mean, there is probably a lot to it. We will see how burdensome it is administratively. I am sure there are ways we can overcome that. To answer the Member's question, we will look at that. We will explore that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have about a month and a half before the students start arriving from wherever they are going to school, coming back, looking for work. I would like to ask the Minister if he agrees to have his staff, human resources division, work with the other departments as soon as possible to start planning for the hiring of summer students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
