Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. International Women's Day will soon be upon us, and traditionally, it has been the time that the Status of Women Council announces the annual winners of the Wise Women Awards. There weren't any awards last year, and I haven't seen a call for nominations this year. I am wondering if the Minister could tell us what's up with the Wise Women Awards. Thank you.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Wise Women Awards is a very important event. It recognizes the contributions that women have made in society. We did talk about it. I met with Violet Camsell-Blondin, actually, on January 15th to talk about many things. That was one of them.
We had talked about different things. They were talking about maybe changing the time to coincide with October, with Women's History Month. That is probably why you haven't seen anything in the paper now. My women's special advisor has been working with them to look at alternative fundings. We have applied to a few of the mines. We have got a commitment from one of the mines. One of the other mines has asked for more clarification on it, so we are in the process of doing that for them. They can also access some of the money through the Women's Initiatives Grant.
The other thing that I should say that they are talking about is not doing it in the capital, because it limits us. It is more expensive, and it limits the amount of people. One thing that I have learned in the last three years is how community-focused people are. You have an event. It doesn't matter what it is; they come out in hordes. They come. There are big meals. There are gatherings. When we only do it in Yellowknife, those people are limited. Status of Women was looking at actually changing format a bit and having those women recognized in their home communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have some follow-up questions. I just want to be clear that it is up to the Status of Women Council to have independent fundraising for these awards. Do I understand that correctly?
I take it I wasn't clear enough. The Status of Women Council will be able to access funds through the Women's Initiatives Grant, which is from the GNWT, Government of the Northwest Territories. The special advisor who works with my position, with me, is working with the Status of Women to assist them to write proposals to the mines to access additional funding for that.
Could the Minister tell us, of the awards that she is familiar with through her ministries in the last three years, which other awards the organizations are fundraising for?
I am a little bit confused about the question, but I will try my best to answer. Many organizations apply for the Women's Initiatives Grant. We only have $50,000. We try to allocate them, usually, around $5,000 each, sometimes more, depending on the number of proposals and the needed requests. Many of those organizations, Mr. Speaker, access additional funding for their projects. It is not unusual for many people to look for lots of opportunities for funding, and I encourage that. People need to look for funding as many ways as they can.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This government gives out a tremendous number of awards. We recognize people who speak Indigenous languages. We recognize volunteers. We recognize firefighters. We recognize people with the Premier's Awards. As far as I know, no one is responsible for fundraising money for those awards. They are part of the department's budget. I am wondering why the Status of Women is being treated differently in being told that they need to write proposals to corporate funders in order to host the Wise Women Awards. Thank you.
When I first assumed this position a few years ago, actually, I had made the wrong assumption, I guess, that the Status of Women actually worked in closer partnership with myself as the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. It was very clear from standing committee that they wanted us to have a hands-off approach and let the Status of Women be their own entity.
I heard that loud and clear, so I have been walking on very thin ice with them in trying to be supportive versus directive. They are not a government department. They are an independent agency, so, therefore, there would be differences. There are other agencies that I am sure provide other events that aren't 100 percent sponsored by the GNWT, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement, can the Minister of Health and Social Services confirm if the Regional Wellness Councils plan to engage joint meetings with community-based chief-and-council groups? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said a week or two ago, I had some responses around the Regional Wellness Councils. They do have the ability to set their agendas, and if they wanted to have some meetings with other groups, they would certainly be able to do that. It is my understanding right now that that has not been done. None of the Regional Wellness Councils have established or set up meetings with other bodies to share information or to talk. It's not a horrible idea. I will certainly raise it with the territorial authority and the board chair as a potential opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. Awareness of services is a really essential and concerning discussion when we go back to our communities. My next question, Mr. Speaker: can the Minister confirm if there is a human resource career and training strategy in six of the regional centres?
I am not 100 percent sure what the Member is asking. I do know that the territorial authority does have some human resource functions to help them do some strategic planning to ensure that they are supporting their staff. They work closely with the human resource department of Finance to do recruitment and retention, to do staffing. I am not sure exactly what the Member is asking. Within the strategic plan, there is talk about the recruitment or retention of hard-to-recruit allied health professionals, nurses, social workers, and others, but as far as an individual plan by community or region, I am not 100 percent sure if that is what the Member is asking.
I will ask the question again. There is a regional training plan here, or a sessional plan, for each of the six RWCs that are looking at employment opportunities, training opportunities on their respective area for that particular Regional Wellness Council.
The Regional Wellness Council across the Northwest Territories are there to provide us insight, wisdom, and make recommendations on ways to improve the delivery of programs and services in their regions and the communities.
Recruiting and retaining professionals is certainly an issue that affects everybody in the Health and Social Services system. I have reached out to Indigenous governments and, for the Regional Wellness Councils that I have met with, we have talked about trying to find ways to encourage local people to pursue health and social services careers.
The Regional Wellness Council members themselves, we do provide training to them on their roles and responsibilities on the Regional Wellness Council. We don't work to help them get employed, and I am not sure if that is what the Member is saying. I am not 100 percent sure I understand exactly what the Member is asking me, but as far as getting advice and direction on how to encourage young people to pursue those careers, we are certainty open to them for advice and their wisdom.
Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Then I will work with the Minister on training plan opportunities within the department for the Sahtu area, for example. My last question here: can the Minister confirm if there is a plan in place for traditional medicine awareness campaigns in the Sahtu, for example, or in any of the other regions, how traditional medicine and being researched and engaged into some of the systems that they would apply for? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is an area that traditionally over the years hasn't been followed up on or addressed. I made a commitment within this government to work with Indigenous leaders and interested stakeholders to bring traditional healing and wellness into our health and social services system. We work closely with the Indigenous governments here. We put together a working group who actually helped us develop some terms of reference for the creation and establishment of a traditional wellness or a traditional healing advisory group, and we have put that working group in place.
Their role is to provide us advice and recommendations on how to incorporate more traditional healing wellness medicines into our system of health and social services here. They are in early days. We haven't received information or a report back from them, but we look forward to what they are going to be able to produce, and the advice and guidance they can provide us around traditional healing, wellness, medicines, those types of things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I spoke a little earlier today in my statement about the growing tourism sector and how well it is doing in terms of diversifying our economy. I would like to just start by asking the Minister: what is the department doing, or has the department reviewed the growing tourism sector with reference to how fast the sector is growing? How are they measuring it? What metrics are they using? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Based on, you know, a lot of comments that we have had from Members when we were in committee around data collection and stuff, the Department of ITI has definitely stepped up our progress around trying to get more data and build them into our business plans and stuff going forward, so there is more information for everybody.
For the tourism industry, we track how many people are coming to the Northwest Territories. You have clearly heard me saying in the House how much money has been spent and how much is spent by individuals from different demographic markets in the Northwest Territories. This is the type of information that is going to help feed into our 2025 tourism plan going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister sharing some of that information. Maybe I will take that a little bit further and just ask: the Minister referred to good information and good data being collected. Can he share a little bit more with, you know, where would a budding entrepreneur find this information? Where and how is it being collected? If I was a new start-up business and I wanted to find this data so I could feed it into my business plan, how and where do I find this kind of information?
You know, depending on what industry or part of tourism that this operator would want to go into, be it fishing or big game hunting or aurora viewing, we have all this type of data within the department from the number of people who come to the Northwest Territories from different regions, as I have said, different demographics, the money that they spend, the number of viewing days that are possible with aurora viewing, these sorts of things. We continue to grow that database. I suspect that, if an entrepreneur wanted to get that information, which would be good advice -- and I think the Member is asking the right question, if you are going to go into this industry, you need to do your homework -- they can certainly just come directly to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment to get that information.
Thank you to the Minister for providing that reply. Mr. Speaker, we know that there is a major increase of new operators, especially within the Yellowknife region. With that influx of new operators comes some questions and concerns about safety, and in particular, public safety, so I would like to ask the Minister: with regards to road safety, cold climate, conditions on ice, and even going out on trails, what kind of qualifications and training and licensing does a new operator require?
As I have said in the House before, we are one of the only jurisdictions, and few jurisdictions in Canada, that need to have a tourism operator licence in the Northwest Territories. We have had some concerns, I guess, is the way to put it around how some of these operators have been operating, particularly around the Ingraham Trail, so we have attached a safety plan that has to be presented to the department to be able to access your licence. So anyone who is operating, and particularly in the North Slave region, where the Member's riding represents, they have to have these two permits in place to be able to operate in the Northwest Territories in a safe manner.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the reply from the Minister. The Minister indicated that he is aware that some of these concerns have been raised. He indicates that there is training required in order to get these permits. Let's say we have the permits now. What is the department doing to monitor the tourism operators to make sure that they are actually, in fact, doing what they should in terms of protecting public's interest? Does the department go and do random checks, or is there some kind of form of inspection that they undertake? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I have said in the House before, we have implemented where the licence owner has to have identification on their vehicle, a licence plate of sorts, to say that they are a certified operator in the Northwest Territories. We have upped our patrol, particularly around the Ingraham Trail. The safety issue there is something that we have been dealing with ever since I have been the Minister. There are different things. We are doing our pilot project this year around getting to operators into some of our parks during the winter season to get them off the road.
The Member clearly heard concerns from his constituents out on the Ingraham Trail about people just stopping their buses along the Ingraham Trail, turning their lights off for aurora viewing. This is a big concern of ours, along with a multitude of extra traffic that we have there with resupply of the mines. So this is a great concern of all of ours, and we are working on these things to try to improve customer safety, but also to provide a better experience for the visitors to the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the lack of funding for Indigenous languages in the Northwest Territories, and I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, my question is: does the Minister believe that there is an imbalance in the way Indigenous languages are funded compared to French language in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to be careful how I state this one, because I don't want to start a war between French people and Indigenous people.
There is a difference. There is a difference based on constitutional standing of French in Canada and the rights right across all of the territories and provinces within that. It is one of the two official languages for Canada, so that is recognized. All of the work that we are doing with Indigenous languages is exactly around revitalization because we are losing them. It's a concern of mine. It should be a concern for every Indigenous person in the Northwest Territories and across Canada, and I know it is. It's also my understanding that it's a concern for the federal government, and they are trying to work closely to try to support Indigenous communities, so I am hopeful. I know we are coming up to a new election, but I am really hopeful that the next government will also carry that torch and will promote more to support not only Indigenous people but Indigenous language, because language is culture.
I am not trying to play favourites, or anything like that, but knowing that the new bill that is coming out from the federal government does not really give the federal government obligations to work with Indigenous peoples on a closer basis. Mr. Speaker, last year, the federal government under the current agreement for French-language service and Indigenous languages will be 2019-2020. Mr. Speaker, my question is: has the department started to plan for what it wants to achieve for future generations?
Yes, we are actually planning at this point, now. Right now, we are looking at the money that we got, its impact, how it's used, and the outcomes, and we are using that information as well as working with our community partners to look at the new negotiations that will be coming. We are conscious that there will be an election, though, so we are hopeful that whatever government comes in will support this initiative, as well. We are working closely. We are looking at outcomes, and we are looking for as much support as we can get.
I appreciate the outlook from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of Indigenous languages in the territory. I know that sometimes it can be difficult working with many Indigenous governments. We all need to take ownership when it comes to language and culture. Mr. Speaker, another question about negotiations for federal languages funding: how does the department work with Indigenous language stakeholders when it's working with Canada to develop agreements like this?
This was before my time. It's a great initiative, and I am going to support it right through, is we have regional Indigenous language coordinators in every region, and their responsibility is to work closely with Indigenous governments and to lead and manage their regional Indigenous plans, their language plans. As well, we have the Aboriginal language revitalization boards that we work closely with. Those groups are used to consult with, to give us advice, and to provide their opinions as we go into any kind of negotiations or any kind of programming around Indigenous languages or Indigenous services.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have follow-up questions from my statement yesterday. As I mentioned yesterday, the community of Tsiigehtchic in our ministerial tour echoed the need for a full-time nurse in the community, so I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services: as I mentioned, the community wants to know when we will have a full-time nurse in Tsiigehtchic. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, there are no plans to put a full-time nurse into the community of Tsiigehtchic. We do get the public health nurse into the community for one day a week. We have physicians travelling to the community every four or five months. The community has access to services provided in other communities in cases of emergencies, including Fort McPherson and Inuvik. They have supports through the Med-Response team that can support the community health worker in the community in times of crisis. Most importantly, we are working on that pilot that we have referenced several times, to provide emergency response and emergency care in the community of Tsiigehtchic. We have been working very closely with the community. I understand that we are just finalizing phase 2 and that there will be training in the community on the 25th of February, to train local people to provide some of that emergency response in the times of crisis.
I recall as I lived in the community in the mid-90s we did have a full-time nurse in the community, so what has changed since that time? Why do we not have a nurse now?
I was not living in the community, and I certainly was not in this position back then, so I cannot speak for the decisions of the day, but I know that we have a certain criteria for putting nurses in communities, which include size of community, access to services, co-location with RCMP, those types of things. However, as technology changes, Mr. Speaker, the provision of our services can evolve, and we are certainly learning more as we go. The community is continuing to evolve. There may be a situation where it is appropriate to put a full-time nurse in that community, but, with the supports we have today and with the enhancement of this pilot project, I think we should assess that pilot, see how it works out, and then continue to question whether or not it's appropriate to move a position in there on a full-time basis. As a note, Mr. Speaker, we do put a full-time nurse in that community for freeze-up and break-up, so I think there are two periods of about a couple of weeks where there are full-time nurses in that community.
