Debates of March 15, 2018 (day 27)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. My last question right now is: what are the fees for both Commissioner's lands and territorial lands used for? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, that depends on the value of the lands as assessed by the MACA assessment unit. That is with respect to Commissioner's land. For an average-sized lot, the cost is often in the area of about $2,000 a year. However, as Members will know, we are proposing a reduction from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, and so that $2,000 lease fee would then be reduced to $1,000 per year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today I quoted a speaker sponsored by government at the recent 2018 Roundup conference. One of his messages was to not waste time on negotiations on treaties or land rights. Can our Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment who sponsored this talk tell us whether Cabinet is of the position that negotiations on treaties and land rights are a waste of time? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member knows that's not our position. The number one priority of this government is land claims and settling outstanding land claims and self-government agreements in the territory. That's a position that the speaker took. That's his position. We have our position and we work closely with all Aboriginal governments to move things along. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm really pleased to hear the Minister say that. This speaker who was sponsored by our government described environmental organizations as being non-Canadian, well-funded, with large offices in foreign countries, that tried to divide communities to stop economic development and instigate violence. Can the Minister tell the public whether there is any evidence that any of these organizations operate in the Northwest Territories, and if so, has their criminal activity been reported to the RCMP?

No, I do not believe that we have had those types of activities in the Northwest Territories. What I can tell this House is our government works closely with NGOs on a regular basis. My department, in particular, has worked very closely with NGOs. In fact, our department has engaged directly with NGOs on natural resource legislation initiatives that we are bringing forward. We will continue to do so.

I would like to thank the Minister for that, again, that he doesn't share the views of the speaker although he sponsored the talk.

Our civil societies organizations in northern Canada have made tremendous contributions to our society. Some recent examples include the cooperative work and legal action to uphold the Yukon Umbrella Final Agreement and to protect the Peel Land Use Plan and the work here in Yellowknife that has resulted in a legally binding oversight in research development covering Giant Mine or remediation. Can the Minister tell us whether he recognizes the value and work performed by civil society, including environmental organizations in the Northwest Territories?

This is Canada. Everyone gets to have their say. We believe everyone should be engaged in our processes, as open and as transparent as we can be. I think we are probably more and open transparent than any government in Canada. We will continue to move on that.

We are always open to all kinds of comments, no matter if it's legislation or public policy or what we are moving forward, but we are always open. We are not saying that criticism is a bad thing. Sometimes we need reflection on some of what we are doing and we take all comments seriously.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My last question for the Minister: I stated earlier today that it's my view that it was very disturbing that our government would sponsor this individual to give such an inaccurate, divisive, and hateful account of civil society. I wonder whether this is something that we can expect from our government in the future. I would like to know from the Minister whether it's the intention of our government to continue to sponsor such misinformation or whether we can expect a more balanced approach in the future. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

This individual who we had speaking at this event is someone that I think has an opinion. He had an opinion. He brought his opinion to us, but let's make something quite clear: this is an Indigenous person. He was an Indigenous leader in BC, of an Indigenous government. He is in the public government. He was a Cabinet Minister and now he is an MLA within the BC legislature. He brought his views to the table around industry and development, and try to get his people out of poverty and in having an economy in his area. His comments were taken. In fact, the Member says, if we would like to open up our views to be wide open, I would like to ask the Member if he would like maybe to speak a round next year at one of our events. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a few things that I am really passionate about; education is one of them, and that's why I always tell the young people, that makes me sound old, but I always tell the young people that we have great student financial assistance in the territory. It has gotten better recently with their Bring It North initiative, which rewards people for coming back to the North, or even if you weren't from the North, moving here. It helps with student loans.

Recently, a lot of people started receiving their T4A slips for one of the initiatives in Northern Bonus. I have some questions on it. People are worried, well, they are not worried, but I mean they are a little concerned that this is something they're going to be taxed on, this loan remission is something they're going to be taxed on, but I would like some clarification from the Minister: is this T4A that the students are receiving from the Department of Education a taxable item? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I believe our program has a lot of incentives for our students who do have a forgiveness loan. We also have zero per cent interest on loans, and the Northern Bonus, as the Member alluded to. Mr. Speaker, because the Northern Bonus is classified as a grant, therefore it is a taxable benefit and recipients are issued actually a T4A slip.

I want to let the Member know that our department is currently reviewing this program, the Northern Bonus program, to determine if there are any alternative ways to provide this benefit without the tax implication on the students. For Members, the Northern Bonus is to try to bring students to the Northwest Territories and they are allotted up to $2,000 per year to pay off their student loans, to a lifetime maximum of $10,000. As I said, we will be reviewing this specific Northern Bonus program to see if there are any changes that we can do to include it without a tax implication. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad the department is taking that step to look at this. I understand maybe why it rolled out like this, because this is even offered to people who aren't from the territory, who didn't get SFA, who may have got other student loans, so I can see maybe why this happened. Does the Minister have an idea if this might be changed for the upcoming year?

As I mentioned, we are currently reviewing this Northern Bonus program. Once we get the results and that review completed, I will share it with Members, and most likely it will be put up on our website as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe it's crucial to involve elders in all areas where they can meaningfully participate in intergenerational relationships. Research has shown that these interactions can have benefits for each generation. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, does the GNWT have anything formal in offering interactions between elders and college students, school children, and children of other ages in a variety of settings to provide and consistently expose them to language and culture? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our JK to 12 education system is based on the goal of ensuring that all students are grounded in the rich and diverse history, culture, language, and heritage of our peoples in the Northwest Territories. As you know, we do fund all of our Indigenous governments that play an integral part in working with our schools and in the classrooms. We do have the Elders in the Schools Program, where we are currently revising our Aboriginal languages curriculum, Indigenizing education, and we always promote to our schools to ensure that our elders are in fact participating on On the Land activities as well. We also hire some of our elders as language instructors, cultural resource experts, and at any opportunity, I will have them come into the schools.

In terms of early childhood development, as I mentioned, we do offer to the tune of about $4.8 million to Indigenous governments. One of the great programs that they do have is an Indigenous Language Nest from programming that ensures children in early childhood development settings are surrounded by their Indigenous languages, as well as working with some of the elders in the community.

That is good information for the rest of the territory to hear. Mr. Speaker, elders are not just passive recipients of care. They are resourceful individuals with great achievements and skills in their roster. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister look into any possibility of combining daycare for children and elders to further enhance Indigenous language and culture exposure with early childhood development working with the Minister of Health and Social Services to bring elders and youth together in elders' homes and daycares across the Northwest Territories?

The department does not operate early childhood programs in the NWT. However, the department does license, and we also fund, not-for-profit organizations who administer early childhood programs and centres as such. Under the child daycare standards, regulations require licensed early childhood programs to engage in community involvement, which would include connecting with community elders.

As I mentioned, elder participation is highly encouraged in all forms of education right from early childhood to post-secondary, and I know that, in some cases, elders work with some of the daycares and schools in terms of teaching traditional skills, sewing, culture camps, language instruction, storytelling, even, and in our unique small communities, it is a lot easier for our elders and our youth to get together on more of a regular basis, and we do promote that and encourage that.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation some questions on the new program, the fuel tank program. I think that is a very good program. It is good for the environment and very good for, even, insurance purposes.

I would like to ask the Minister if, in communities where most of the heavy materials are brought in by barge, if the Minister could, in advance, in communities that are barged in, particularly Lutselk'e, of course, for my riding, if the Housing Corporation would send several tanks into Lutselk'e in preparation to exchange the tanks some time as the current tanks begin to fail? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will take that into consideration. It is important to learn from programs that we have offered in the past and see how we can make them better. We did learn through Housing that we need to work with the communities that don't have all-season roads and be more proactive. We will look at barging in fuel tanks to those communities that don't have access through the all-season road.

In many of the communities, we don't have private tradespeople. I would like to ask the Minister, in situations where there may be an inventory of tanks, and we have a tank failure that may be urgent or an emergency situation, if the Minister can work through the system and have the housing authorities' maintenance staff change the tanks at the community level?

I think we would have to do a community view. I think that we are looking at seeing how the local housing authorities can support their communities better, recognizing that they don't have available supplies, contractors, et cetera, for a variety of housing needs. We are looking at that.

I do have to make sure before I make a commitment in the House, though, that, if we are going to be doing that, my thinking is, and I may be wrong, that you need to have some kind of certification to be able to do that. I need to make sure that either the local housing authorities have that certification or we have some means to provide that certification, but I do commit that we are trying to look at how to address the needs of all homeowners within the communities.

One of the main things that the Housing Corporation is trying to prevent with the new program is, obviously, the potential for a huge environmental disaster, as we have seen situations where we have leaking tanks that have cost $250,000 to remediate, because it takes quite a hole to get the fuel out of the ground.

In my case, there is hardly anyone that can afford to actually pay for the costs of a full remediation if they have a complete failure with their fuel tank. Therefore, it could involve moving a home and so on and so forth. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister would have discussions with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to see if the government can pay for such a disaster?

The Member is correct. We are looking at being proactive and to try to alleviate the need for huge environmental costs when fuel tanks leak. It is not only a costs issue; it is an environmental issue that we are trying to address. I can't speak on behalf of either departments, but I can say that I will direct the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to touch base to try to work with ENR to actually see how we can address any fuel tank spills as best as possible.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, we have situations where individuals are beginning to discover the reason why they have the program, and that is because those older tanks do fail after a certain number of years. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister could look at the possibility of helping individuals out where there is no tank in the community to install and they have a leak. It will take potentially a couple of weeks, because most likely, in situations like Lutselk'e, you would have to fly the tank in. Could the NWT Housing Corporation work with the local housing authority to maybe do something in the interim to stop a leak until a new tank can be delivered to the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am willing to work with the communities on this, but I can't do this alone. If homeowners actually have an issue where they have an environmental concern, they don't have a fuel tank or they may be having to take one out because it is not meeting the need now, and we can't get a tank in there, if they apply to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, we will try to do our best to try to alleviate any potential or spillage that is there currently, recognizing that they have to fit within the needs assessment, the income threshold, to be able to qualify for our programming.

However, tell people: if they have an issue, apply, because if you don't apply, if you don't let us know, then we can't provide any services. Anyone who has an issue, apply, and see if we can support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of questions for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, during my constituency meeting, an elder brought up the need for sending elders to Inuvik during spring break-up and freeze-up, as we have a couple of elders in the community with serious health issues. I would like to ask the Minister: will the Minister and his department send elders with health issues to Inuvik for spring break-up and freeze-up? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Tsiigehtchic is unique in the fact that it doesn't have an airport. If we did have an issue, medevacs are certainly more complicated. They certainly would be more expensive as a result of having to use a helicopter.

We do try to provide additional support during freeze-up or break-up by having a nurse in the community during those periods of time, but I do hear the Member. I would say that anything that we do would have to be on a case-by-case basis, and it would have to be determined based on risk, the issue that the senior has. I wouldn't say that every senior would have to be removed, but those with complicated conditions who are at risk, we may want to consider that.

Frankly, I don't know enough about the patients that the Member is referring to. I don't know enough about the conditions. I would love to have a sit-down with the Member to discuss this to see whether or not this is something that would be appropriate, and recognizing that we are trying to provide other supports during freeze-up and break-up. I'm certainly interested in learning more and having a discussion with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At the moment, we have about 10 elders in the community. Of that, two or three have a serious health issue. Would the Minister and his department be willing to, well, if two out of those three were identified as having serious issues and wanted to go to Inuvik, would the Minister house elders in Inuvik, whether it's long-term care or other means by that?

As I said, I know that there are some unique situations in Tsiigehtchic, given, like I said, that they don't have an airport. During freeze-up and break-up, they are truly isolated. There is no road. There is no airport.

I would be happy to sit down with the Member and talk about options that we might be able to deploy here, but every situation is going to have to be unique. We have to make sure, you know, what level of service we can provide during freeze-up and break-up to the individual, and if that is something that there is a big concern about, an individual, and their particular care. I'm open to having this conversation. I'll try to find some solutions, but until we look at them case-by-case, I'm not sure what we can do other than explore options. It may mean bringing somebody in. It may not. It may depend on what we can provide. I'm happy to have that conversation with the Member in order to support the community.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On March 5 the Macdonald-Laurier Institute released its report on the state of justice in Canada, with the Northwest Territories ranking 12th in the rankings of Canadian jurisdictions. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice what his comments are on the findings of this report, and whether or not he agrees with them. Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Justice.