Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, my statement was on Arctic sovereignty, and I have questions for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, I am concerned that the Canadian Arctic Policy is dragging and that it may have negative effects on our Arctic regions. Apart from the engagement with the federal government, Mr. Speaker, what government partners in Canada and abroad does the GNWT work with to advance its Arctic Policy positions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories participates on the Canadian delegation to the Arctic Council, which provides the opportunity to work on issues of importance with the federal government, the Indigenous permanent participants, as well as other international partners. Through the Arctic Council we share our priorities with other governments in the Circumpolar North, and also learn from best practices in other jurisdictions.
The Government of the Northwest Territories also regularly participates in the Arctic Circle Assembly. Participation in this forum has allowed us to both increase awareness of our territory and policy positions and build on our network of contacts with other nations and subnational governments on an east-west basis, as well as a north-south basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's good to hear that the GNWT is involved in activities outside the Northwest Territories, especially the Arctic Circle, which is a very important arena for development in the Arctic. Some policy specialists have also highlighted our infrastructure limitations, for example, limited airport capacity and the lack of deep-water ports. How does the Premier and his government address these types of infrastructure issues when engaging with the federal government on Arctic sovereignty?
When we attend these different international meetings, we learn very soon how the Arctic in some Arctic countries drives their economy and how their federal governments are investing heavily in large infrastructure. It's the same here, where we need more investment and improved transportation, energy, and communications infrastructure, because we know it's essential for the growth and prosperity of Northwest Territories communities. This is also how we support Canada's work on Arctic sovereignty. As a result, much of our engagement with the federal government has focused on improving key infrastructure that will benefit communities and grow our economy. An example of cooperation in this area is that the federal government has supported this recently with funding to construct four double-hulled barges.
I appreciate the response from the Premier. For many years the GNWT has maintained a policy on the application of traditional knowledge in the planning and delivery of its programs and services. My question is: can the Premier give us some background on how this policy is applied in the GNWT's work on Arctic sovereignty and policy planning?
The Government of the Northwest Territories has had a Traditional Knowledge Policy in place for well over 25 years, and as with any work of the Government of the Northwest Territories, traditional knowledge is considered in work related to Arctic policy. It is a priority in particular of the permanent participants of the Arctic Council. The Government of the Northwest Territories engages and supports Canada in this work. The Government of the Northwest Territories' knowledge agenda recognizes the importance of incorporating traditional knowledge into NWT-based research programs. This is important when working with international scientists working in the Northwest Territories. When Canada was chair of the Arctic Council from 2013 to 2015, the Northwest Territories contributed significantly to a circumpolar project dedicated to promoting Indigenous traditional knowledge and traditional ways of life. This work led to an Arctic Circle compendium of best practices.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs responsible for amateur sport. CBC's revelations this week about sexual abuse in amateur sport is a call to prevention. One clear and obvious precaution is a requirement for criminal record name checks for persons with access to amateur sports players. Can the Minister tell us whether there is a requirement for criminal records name checks, not just for coaches, but for all persons with care and oversight responsibility for young athletes? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I just want to thank the Member for bringing this very serious and disturbing issue to Members of the House, as well as all our residents across the Northwest Territories. I can assure the Member that the department and the organizations that we do work with do support the Northwest Territories athletes and that we take the responsibility related to the protection of our youth and those who are participating, whether it's in sport, recreation, or even in the arts, very seriously.
Our current requirements include the necessity for coaches to submit regular criminal records and vulnerable sector checks, certification by coaches in various training programs including coaching ethics and education sessions, as well as education for parents and athletes through either national or territorial sport organizations on preventing, identifying, and dealing with situations that may be harmful to our athletes and our youth.
It was a very informative article, and in the article it does say questions that parents and caregivers should be asking. I encourage all parents and caregivers who watch over youth and their children who participate in recreation and sport to look at the article and ask those questions when they're putting their youth and some of our most vulnerable people into these programs.
I appreciate the information from the Minister. If the Minister will send me an email with that link in it, I'll certainly make it known. Parental responsibility is obviously part of the equation here. Further, does the Minister require a list be kept by Sport North of people convicted of abuse in connection with young athletes, and is there a way for the public, meaning primarily parents and caregivers, to access it?
As I mentioned, all of our partners that we work with do take their responsibilities very seriously when working with our youth and our athletes. That's something I'll have to take a look into in terms of the policy for having that information shared with parents and the general public, as it is in a legal term, but it's something that we need to look at. Next week or later this week I will be meeting with my federal, provincial, and territorial counterparts in Red Deer prior to the Canada Summer Games, and we will be discussing it. One of the agenda items, actually, is prevention of harassment, abuse, and discrimination in sport, with this article being released and with the support of Minister Duncan and some of the work that she has done vocally through the media. I will be bringing this up as something that we need to discuss and look at creating some type of policy and what we can do at the national level.
The article was very hard to read, and the stats that the Member did share that are shown in the article are very tough to read, and we want to make sure that we address them. I will assure Members of this House and our parents and our residents that I will be bringing this up at the federal-provincial-territorial meeting and seeing how we can have an impact on this, address it, and ensure that our youth and our athletes are safe.
Again, I appreciate the Minister's response. I understand that this is a very sensitive topic for all of us. One of the things that the federal government has done is tied funding to sports to policies and prevention around sexual abuse of amateur athletes. Is there any equivalent in place for territorial funding of sports organizations?
One of the opportunities I will have this week is to bring up such concerns as that with our federal government to look and see how we can access more funding for education, creating awareness, a promotional campaign, and I think that all jurisdictions will probably have the same type of focus when we have the meeting on that agenda item. We are also going through a territorial sports strategy and working with our partners, as well as our territorial sport organizations. I think this is the time to have those discussions and I encourage anyone who might be going through something like this. It is a very sensitive topic, but I do encourage anyone who might be going through this experience to speak up. I really thank the Member for bringing this to the attention of the House, but also I am sure all of our sport organizations, our partners, our TSOs, and our schools are listening as we are having this discussion right now.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it sounds as if the CBC series was timed very well in terms of having this issue already on the radar of various government officials, such as the Minister. My final question is: if there is a young person in a small community who feels victimized by somebody who is a sports official or coach in their lives, where would that youth go now, today, to report that abuse, and what would the follow-up to a complaint like that be? Does the Minister have that information? Mahsi.
I would encourage the child, as I mentioned, to speak to somebody who they trust, who they can speak up to, whether it is a teacher, a parent, a close friend, or perhaps somebody of adult supervision in their lives, whether it is a care provider, but I encourage them to speak up, as I mentioned in the previous response. Anybody who is going through this doesn't deserve it, any type of abuse. I will be bringing it up at the national sports meeting that I will have later this week and see how we can address that, look at getting funding, and how we can create more awareness and prevention education within the school system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to assure the House that I gave these questions to the Minister in English beforehand.
[Translation] My notes show that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment was at the meeting of Yellowknife MLAs with the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 on December 13, 2018. We discussed the need to change the term of office for trustees. Has the Minister received a formal request from the Yellowknife district education authorities requesting changes to allow for a four-year term? Thank you. [Translation ends.]
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I was at the meeting with the Yellowknife Education District No. 1, so I did hear the concern brought up there. It has been raised to me verbally. At this point, though, I know that the Yellowknife Catholic School Board is also interested in submitting a similar request, but they haven't formally requested this until after their February board meeting, so I am expecting these to come forward immediately. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[Translation] Thanks to the Minister. Does the Minister agree that the significant additional costs for the Yellowknife district education would be better spent on our children's education rather than holding their own elections? [Translation ends.]
Absolutely. We need to really look at where we are spending our monies for education and make sure that we are giving the best supports to not only school boards but ultimately to the students, because they are the ones who we are impacting and they are our future. I do want to say it is a little bit difficult because currently our act is structured so that the terms fall within the municipal government. Right now, it is structured within a two- or a three-year term, so it will be a little bit of a challenge.
[Translation] The situation for the Francophone school board is different in that its commissaires now represent two communities with different terms of office for their respective communities. The best solution may be to allow our district education authorities to set their own terms of office, with the approval of the Minister. I am sure the Minister is aware of this complication, but I am wondering whether her department has contemplated a solution for the term of office issue? [Translation ends.]
Yes, as soon as the issue was brought to my attention actually, we have been discussing it and how we can actually make it more efficient and make it work for the population. We do recognize, like I said, there are a few glitches within that that we have to figure out. For one, the Commission scolaire has a different schedule, being with two communities. That makes it an issue.
The other thing is that, if we change it right now, the current term for the Yellowknife ones are three years. Our municipal government is four years. Then how do we bridge that gap, or how do we let the public know that that is going to happen because these are elected officials. They were only elected for three years. We know that that can be a problem. We are on it. We are looking at it. We are going to start consulting, but we need to figure out a way that can protect the interests of all stakeholders.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
[Translation] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the answer. I understand that there is a heavy legislative agenda finally before us. I am wondering whether the Minister is of the view that what should be a small change to the Education Act can be made during the life of this Assembly, and if not, how do we make sure it gets dealt with before the next election, which is due in 2021? [Translation ends.]
At first, I agreed. I thought it was a small change to an act, too, and I thought, "Can we get it done?" Then I asked the department. Wisely, the department kind of put me back a bit and they told me the reality is that we're dealing with, like I said, a couple of issues. One is that the Commission scolaire doesn't fit within the package as it is now. Two, how do we deal with the three-year term moving into a four-year term, addressing the gap and the public perception?
We are looking at it seriously. I cannot commit that it will be done within the next couple of months, but the good news is that we have a couple of more years until the next election. I think it is a point that should be brought forward in the transition report to keep doing this, so that we can actually have it dealt with before the election. It is not appropriate to be wasting our money and making school boards spend extra money when they don't need to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently I had some parents reach out to me in regard to the lack of library books in the Liidlii Kue Secondary School. It is my understanding that the previous principal had the majority of these books removed from the library. This is a concern. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of ECE: why would a school remove books from the library? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a variety of reasons that things actually get thrown out, or books get taken out of libraries. It is a normal procedure. I just want to ensure that, when I first heard the concern, this wasn't a book-burning exercise; that wasn't happening. It is regular that teachers and principals have to go through their books in their libraries to make sure things are still current.
Books get outdated very quickly, covers of books get ripped up very quickly, and cultures change. We are really aware of that. It is very common, actually, to go through books to make sure that we are still appropriate for the generation that we are in, and the students that are accepting that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Minister for that answer, and I am glad we are not burning books, because I think we need to worry about our education and the history of it. Can the Minister explain how the principal decided what books were to be removed from the library?
The first thing that was brought to the principal's attention was actually brought by staff members who were complaining that the books were outdated, that the resources weren't being used, that they were old, and they were sitting in boxes for years. They wanted better access to them. Then the principal actually went to the superintendent of the board to get their approval and was approved, and so then the process began.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Can the Minister advise if there are any steps to replenish the books that have been removed from the library?
Yes. There is a yearly fund that is given to schools to actually purchase more resources, such as library books, if that is their wish. I should note that, within that region, also, the District Education Council is in the process of setting up a virtual library called OverDrive. The current plans will see this virtual library up and running before the end of March 2019, so I am excited to return to the region and actually take a look at what that virtual library will look like, because it will be my first experience, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer, and I look forward to going with her to see what this OverDrive looks like, because I was thinking it was a vehicle, but I guess it is now a library term online.
Mr. Speaker, parents and community members still have concerns about re-establishing a central library in the Liidlii Kue Secondary School. Who would they bring their concerns to? Is it the local DEA, the principal, or the DEC superintendent? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There are regular reporting or conflict procedures to deal with in schools. Ideally, like any good communication, it is speak to the individual, so speak to the teacher. In this case, though, when we are looking at books, it would be speak to your principal and then, if you are not happy with the principal's answer, go to your superintendent for the District Education Council.
If you are not happy with the superintendent, then you can put out a written letter into the board, the District Education Council, but I really want to stress that most of these issues can be dealt with at the local level. It is very appropriate to deal with these issues with your principals to follow the correct procedures. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation based on his Minister's statement today. I would like to ask the Minister why they are not developing housing plans for all 33 communities at once. Thank you.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my Minister's statement, the overall plan is to get a community housing plan in all of our 33 communities. Right now, we have six. We have three that we have actually signed agreements to participate in, and I mentioned those. They were Whati, Fort Liard, and Paulatuk. We are working with another three communities; Deline, Jean Marie, and K'atlodeeche First Nations.
As we have been getting these programs, we only have so much staff to get out and work on facilitating these community plans. They have been doing a great job getting into the communities. If the plans aren't put in place, we are giving information and updates and working with leadership.
In the meetings that I have had with leadership, there is a great interest in getting these plans up and running. If we can try to move them faster, we will try our best, but really, it's our resources and the work that we have been doing, as you have heard in other Minister's statements that I have had, with the co-investment fund and some of these National Housing Fund programs. We are trying to get those out the door, as well as working on just maintaining our housing stock throughout the Northwest Territories.
It's a new initiative, it's a great initiative, and we are going to try to get it out to as many communities as soon as we can, but really I think it comes down to resources and also making sure that leadership and community stakeholders are available to have these very detailed meetings moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
