Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are several directors of family violence shelters in the Northwest Territories today in the Assembly, and I would like to recognize April Davies from Fort Smith, Sutherland House.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too, have a constituent from Tuktoyaktuk, Ms. Sandra Elias, who is one of the directors for the family violence shelters in the Northwest Territories. Welcome, Sandra. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In addition to Ms. Rogers being a constituent of Inuvik Boot Lake, she is also the director of the Inuvik shelter, and she is here for the Family Violence Shelter Network meeting. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery, welcome to our proceedings. It is always nice to have an audience as part of our proceedings. Masi.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge a former constituent, Jack Sigvaldason, who died this summer.
Beginning in 1971 with the feisty Yellowknifer newspaper, "Sig," as he was known, built Northern News Service into a consortium of seven newspapers across two territories, running the NWT's largest printing service with a payroll approaching 100 people.
In June 2012, Jack Sigvaldason was awarded the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to journalism and democracy across the North.
Please join me in applauding the life and work of Jack Sigvaldason. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about housing issues in Nunakput, and my questions are for the Minister of the Housing Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, with the agreement between the GNWT and IRC being a step in the right direction, my question is: will this agreement bring up the number of housing units needed in Nunakput in 2018? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the 2016 federal budget, the Member is right, $15 million was allocated directly to the IRC for 24 public housing replacement projects in the six Inuvialuit Settlement Region communities. These will not be additional units, unfortunately, for the Housing Corporation's portfolio, but will be replacing aging buildings with more energy-efficient and modernized units.
The IRC did secure the additional funding in 2018-2019 to also deliver an additional 10 public housing unit replacements for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. We continue to look forward to working with them and working with the plan to develop more housing units in the ISR region. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response, although, with the population rising in all of our regions in the territory, I think housing needs to grow as well with the population.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister give detail to the agreement and the importance of hiring local subcontractors in the four Nunakput communities and the need to grow local capacity?
Most recently I had the opportunity to open the six-plex in Inuvik and also look at the work that was being done with a local contractor working under IRC. We are working towards a common goal, Mr. Speaker, and that goal is affordable, adequate, and suitable housing for the Inuvialuit people and the residents of the region.
That memorandum of agreement details the IRC and our role as the NWT Housing Corporation with respect to planning, construction, inspection, and other aspects of project implementation, and also confirms the arrangements to transfer the constructed asset to the NWT Housing Corporation for a nominal price, which the Housing Corporation will be responsible for the program afterwards. We continue to look forward to having those kinds of arrangements with the IRC.
Partnerships are essential, especially when it comes to housing. Partnerships can possibly eliminate some of the errors that have happened in the past, where homes have remained unfinished.
Mr. Speaker, with the cancellation of the MTS shipments to the region, MTS has declared that only essential equipment, gear, and dry goods will be delivered. Mr. Speaker, there are building materials that are stuck in Inuvik.
Homes are essential to the region. Mr. Speaker, will the building materials that were scheduled on MTS barges be delivered to the communities in Nunakput region on the upcoming airlift?
I have been assured that the cancellation of the MTS shipments will not impact any new construction within the Nunakput communities, with the exception of Paulatuk, which had some mechanical materials, including water and sewer tanks, scheduled for the barging. We are assessing the situation to make sure that we address it, and I will confirm and commit to keeping the Member and his constituents updated on that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that. Mr. Speaker, they mentioned that they are replacing homes, and hopefully the four homes that are being replaced are not taken offline before completion of this, which may be next year if we don't get the materials.
Mr. Speaker, my final question: with the population growing in the Northwest Territories and in Nunakput, how many more homes will this open up, specifically in Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok, and Tuktoyaktuk, with the agreement between the IRC and the GNWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In the 2018-2019 capital plan, we have major retrofits planned for 11 units in the Nunakput communities: 10 public housing units and one health unit. We are also, in 2019-2020, planning for five major retrofits and also looking at bringing in materials and labour to construct other market rental units for nurses and for teachers.
As I mentioned, I will continue to keep the Members apprised of the work that we are doing in all of the communities across the Northwest Territories. We also do have a new home program, where we are looking at creating 11 units across the Northwest Territories to get people who are in public housing units right now into new home ownership programs, and we will keep Members apprised of that as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I talked today in my Member's statement about maybe direct funding, direct funding from the Housing Corporation. I have some questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. On Friday, the Minister responsible made a Minister's statement on housing in the Tlicho region. Part of that was striking a working group to begin working on some of the critical housing issues, as he referred to it. I would like to ask the Minister if he is prepared to work with other working groups, like perhaps a working group that covers the communities in my riding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think, over the last few years, we have been seeing some very strong partnerships, strong, positive partnerships. As you heard, I just talked about our partnership with the IRC, the Tlicho Minister's statement that I gave on Friday. Working with the Tlicho leadership there was a very positive relationship. Yes, I am willing to work with the Member, work with their leadership, to address the housing issues in their communities.
I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister would be willing to move the community housing plans up, to maybe address the community housing plans for the communities in Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh as soon as possible?
As you heard last week, I did mention that a community housing planner has been hired. We are in the preliminary planning work. It is under way, and we want to make sure that we address the communities that do have some of the higher housing needs. The housing plans will identify areas of need, as well as direct resources to increase opportunities for strategic planning, and we will be working with the leaders and the stakeholders in the communities to develop a very detailed plan to address the needs, and I mentioned them last week. I will work with the Member, and I will work with the NWT Housing Corporation to make sure that the communities that are in the biggest need in the Member's riding are addressed.
One of the items I spoke on during my Member's statement was a program rolled out by the Housing Corporation called aging in place, which is a good program. There are a lot of seniors taking advantage of it. It addresses a lot of the annual maintenance items, and some emergency items. There is enough money to do that, but there is not enough money in that specific program to really allow seniors to age in place. By that, I mean it's not really enough money to make a unit barrier-free or make a unit senior-friendly, and so on. I would like to ask the Minister if they would take a second look at either expanding that program to a major program which can allow housing to be set to a barrier-free state or a senior-friendly state?
Currently, we are going through a strategic renewal process. That program in particular, we will be taking a look at. We also do have other work that we are doing that I will be more than happy to share with the Member, such as the community housing support initiatives, that we work with Indigenous governments as well as NGOs to provide funding. As we go through our strategic renewal, we will be updating Members, we will be updating committee, as well as all of our stakeholders across the territory.
Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I have often advocated for is to have staff from the NWT Housing Corporation, program staff and technical staff, go into the homes of the various individuals who need housing, and especially seniors. I would like to ask the Minister if there is a new way of approaching at least the homeownership seniors, seniors who own their own homes, and go into the houses with the program officers and technical officers at the application review time so that the seniors do not have to then go to a central location where the officers are waiting to receive the applicants. I would like to ask the Minister if he would give direction to his staff to make sure that, if there is a senior household homeownership person, that officers are entering into their homes to take the application.
That is a concern that I have heard from various Members during my tenure as Minister of Housing. We will take a look at it and ensure that we work with our seniors. They are one of our most vulnerable peoples, and we want to make sure that they can have adequate and safe living place, and we want to make sure that we support that. We will take a look into that. We will work with our district officers and our local housing authorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I have called the Minister's attention to the Aurora College foundational review recommendation for the creation of a degree-granting polytechnic, and I am aware that she is now working on that. With the social work program report, the Minister has a thorough road map in hand for creating a degree-granting program at the new polytechnic. Will the Minister use this report to make a start on our course offerings in the new institution? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, yes, once the associate deputy minister for post-secondary renewal is in place, he, she, that person will be responsible for utilizing both the Aurora College foundational review and the internal review on the social work program that was done by the college.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that there is already a loss of one of the three instructors and that the college is now down to just a handful of students who are finishing up their program. What is the Minister's intention for this program in the meantime, before the review is implemented?
For this school year, the program is providing support for students who are trying to finish up. Next year, it won't be happening. It's really important to note that the internal review did not just give an outline that says, "Here's to go." It gave options, similar to the Aurora College foundational review. Some of those options were either stay with the program using the University of Regina, looking at other universities so that the credits are more transferable, or doing a standalone university, and each one of those takes time to be able to research them and get them correct.
What I am trying to have the Minister answer is: who will be left in the social work program at this time next year? What resources will be allocated to it?
I cannot really identify who will be left in that social work program this time next year. That is an operational decision that will be made by the associate deputy minister for post-secondary renewal when they, that person, assumes their position.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I regret that the Minister has had a full glass of mumbo-jumbo for lunch and we are not getting anywhere with trying to understand how to preserve the strengths of this program within the time that is still allotted to it. It's not too late to have the remaining staff start working on how the implementation of the reports' recommendations could happen, and so what is standing in the way of this? It cannot be the hiring of this associate deputy minister. He is working at too high a level to start worrying about which elective social work students are going to be taking. So, once again, I would like to know from the Minister what she is going to do to preserve the strengths of the program in the short term. Thank you.
It is well-known that my degree is also in social work, and I have a personal commitment. The Social Work Program is also identified in our Skills 4 Success in the top 10 positions in the Northwest Territories coming up, but I need to put aside my personal biases. This needs to be a review that is done by the person who is the expert, and that will be the associate deputy minister of post-secondary renewal.
There are things, yes. The current staff that are in the Social Work Program can help with program curriculum, but can they build the relationships with universities across Canada? Is that the role of a professor, to go about and look at the different universities, the different options, and then decide the best path forward? I beg to differ, Mr. Speaker. I believe that is a higher-level position, to be able to build those relationships.
Both reviews, both the Aurora College Foundational Review and the social work review said, "Build relationships with post-secondary educations." That is the first step. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier in his role as Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs.
During my statement earlier today, I questioned the likelihood and safety of offshore petroleum development and production. Does the Premier have any confirmation that such offshore development is going to take place in the next few years, and if so, can he table it in the house? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is industry interest in the oil and gas resources in the Beaufort Sea. There was evidence of that when industry successfully bid $2.3 billion worth of work, and also, we know that there are recoverable estimates of seven billion barrels of oil and 82 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the offshore.
However, at the present time, with the current moratorium, all activity and interest is on hold until there is certainty. If and when the moratorium is lifted, companies will make decisions on whether or not and when to conduct future exploration and development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Premier for that. Of course, there hasn't been any drilling since 2006, but a lot of resources will need to go into negotiation of this multi-party offshore petroleum resource co-management and revenue sharing agreement. Can the Premier describe how our government is preparing for such negotiations and what the costs will be?
