Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Sebert.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is more project-based. For example, I see a list of projects that have been funded in 2018-2019. If I could just go briefly through some of them, the Native Women's Association of the NWT; supporting families who were victims of homicide, $30,800; Status of Women Council for the NWT; Family Violence Awareness Week, $21,750; Status of Women Council of the NWT, $15,000; International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; Inuvik Justice Committee, $5,670; healthy relationships and consent school presentation. So those are the types of organizations that we have been funding. I see that was for the year funded-to-date 2018-2019, and there are similar projects and similar types of amounts that were funded in 2017-2018. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the detail, but it doesn't answer the question. The question is whether the Minister can direct more of this fund to be spent on the projects that may be eligible for funding. Can he direct that this surplus be made more available to victims-of-crime services through the NGOs? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Sebert.
Yes, certainly there is this large surplus, and perhaps we should be more active in encouraging the types of organizations that I referred to earlier to apply for funding. I think we do need to be more energetic in this area. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Minister make a commitment to direct the board of the Victims Assistance Fund to spend down the surplus by a given amount in a given time so that more people who are victims are able to benefit from this fund? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Sebert.
Thank you. It would be unusual to encourage people to spend down a surplus, but I think we do need to be more active and encourage them to bring forward projects that would be of the type that we should be funding, so I am committed to have our department become more active in this area because, clearly, there are surplus funds. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not exactly sure what "more active" means, but here we have this money, and we are never short of victims in the NWT, victims of crime, and so what I am looking for is something a little more specific than "more active" in terms of dealing with this surplus, to the benefit of the people it was meant to serve. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Sebert.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just looking back over some of the other groups that can be funded or have been funded in the past, to give you some idea of the kind of ambit of types of projects we are willing to fund, and I am going back to 2017-2018: Tides Canada was funded for northern youth leadership for $13,000; Inuvik Justice Committee, Inuvik Justice Committee elders program and young parents program. So these are organizations that are funding very important work in the Northwest Territories. As I said, I think we can encourage groups to come forward. I am not going to encourage them simply because we have a surplus but, rather, because this work is important. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Ms. Green.
Thank you. The detail I am looking for is how that encouragement is going to take place or how becoming "more active," what's that going to look like. That is the detail that I am looking for. How are we going to operationalize this idea? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Sebert.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly, I think I can commit to having staff communicate with the committee. I don't know if we can approach them on the basis, "Hey, there's a surplus that you need to spend," but I think we could approach them on the basis that we are looking for projects to fund. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Ms. Green.
That is everything. Thank you.
Thank you. Next we have Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister advise us what the status of the department's work towards implementing the recalculation services is? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Sebert.
Yes, thank you for the question. You know, progress has not been as quick in this area as it should have been, and I am going to acknowledge that. An Act to Amend the Children's Law Act received assent in the Legislative Assembly in November 2016, and in 2018 the department undertook engagement on the draft regulations with the judiciary family-law lawyers in federal government. We are revising the draft regulations and bringing forward amendments to the legislation. Engagement on the draft regulations has now been completed, and adjustments are under way. This is an important area, and I do acknowledge that we have not moved as quickly on this as we should have. I understand that recalculation of Divorce Act orders requires a memorandum of understanding with the federal government, and discussions on establishing the MoU are currently under way. It is important that this be done. I do recognize that this has not moved ahead as quickly as it should have. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's very, very important. I mean, we see that across Canada it's been implemented and followed through on, so why has the launch of the recalculation services been delayed? What is the stumbling block? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We had hoped to have the recalculation service implemented at the beginning of 2019. However, when we went out for the engagement on the regulations, the federal government came back with concerns on terminology in the act itself. Subsequently, we needed to update the regulations and do the amendments to the act, so that was really the driving piece behind the delay this year, and so we are hoping for it to be implemented towards the end of 2019 now, once those amendments are through and the program model is established. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bolstad. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the answer. So my understanding, if correct, is we are not going to see it during this Assembly, but it's going to be introduced or activated in the 19th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Sebert.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. We are going to try to get this done as soon as possible. I do realize how important it is, and it would be good if we could get it done during the life of this Assembly. We will try. I think I can leave it at that, and I do acknowledge that this should have moved ahead more quickly than it has. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The electronic maintenance enforcement system has been tested since 2016-2017, but my understanding is it's now been delayed. Can you please explain what obstacles the department has encountered in utilizing this system? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We originally had intended some additional add-ons to the maintenance enforcement system for automatic email notifications and those kinds of things. An upgrade did happen, and the system is stable and functioning properly. We are planning an assessment of the system later, once the new information shared services is online, and we will be looking at a potential replacement or a plan in the future for it. Right now, it is operating normally, and it was recently upgraded. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bolstad. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. I greatly appreciate that it is operational. I apologize for implying that it was delayed. Well, actually, I did say it was delayed, so it is great to hear that it is operational. When are we looking at implementing the new upgrade? When is that going to be done? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have a definitive timeline yet. It is ongoing. Because of the shift with the information shared services unit, that work plan and prioritizing all of the department systems will be under way here shortly. We are looking forward to that engagement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bolstad. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. If I am understanding correctly, you're not sure, so it probably won't be done during the 18th Assembly? Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Ms. Bolstad.
That is correct. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bolstad. Next, we have Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in services to the public, we also have the rental office here. We have shared some concern in the past with the Minister with regard to staffing of the rental office. I would just like to start there and see if the Minister can inform us as to whether now the office, based on its workload, is adequately staffed. One of the complaints in the past has been that there has been a heavy workload, and it has been causing a backup in terms of tenants and/or landlords getting their disputes resolved. I would like to start there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Sebert.
Yes. We do understand that there have been issues in the past in the rental office, and I understand now that there has been hired, on a contract, a second rental officer, and hopefully delays will be reduced.
The office has taken some other steps to reduce wait times, increasing the number of hearings via three-way teleconference and scheduling face-to-face hearings outside of Yellowknife more promptly. As I mentioned, the new deputy rental officer began training in December and, as of mid-January, is now presiding at hearings. This is in addition to the existing deputy rental officer, so hopefully wait times will be reduced. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is good to hear that there has been a deputy hired and that we are making use of technology to expedite some of the disputes, but the Minister has still indicated that he is hopeful that this will reduce wait times. What does the department do to actually measure whether these wait times are, in fact, being reduced? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
