Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to advise that all five positions have now been staffed. The final staffing process has been completed. The final person who was being put in the position will be starting shortly. All positions are now filled or about to be filled. Thank you.
That is great to hear, that the positions are filled. Previously, when the Minister was talking about the process and they were talking about training and having the positions located in Smith and then taking the training there, now these positions are located in various locations. Has the department started developing training plans for these positions?
I can advise that training has been ongoing. As these positions have become staffed, each of the people in the positions, of course, come with different skill sets and backgrounds. The training has been a combination of specific to the individual as well as training for the equity lease team. Of course, as I mentioned, training will be ongoing and will be adapted as issues emerge. Yes, training has been conducted and will be continued in the future.
That is great to hear. Since the training has started and is individualized, which is great, has the department and the staff started to work on reviewing these files?
Work is ongoing. The equity lease team will be reviewing the files to outline and identify the status of each file and the issues that may be involved. There may be issues such as survey requirements and so on. Yes, work has started and is ongoing.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I thank the Minister for that answer. I am very grateful that the department is still working towards that and we are getting to the bottom of this issue. Can the Minister advise us when they anticipate the work will be completed with these files? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Of course, the work is ongoing and will proceed in stages. In the settled land-claim regions, work has begun. Of course, I anticipate that that work will be less complicated than in the unsettled land-claim regions. In those regions, of course, there will have to be consultation. I am talking about the unsettled land-claim regions. There will have to be consultation with Indigenous governments. As to when the work might be completed, that is obviously going to take some time. It is not as though all these leases are the same. They are not all different, but there are certainly variations amongst the leases. I can't give a final time for this work to be completed. I know how important it is, and I certainly would be prepared to advise the Member opposite as to progress. I realize, as I said, this is an important issue. We are moving ahead. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my statement to the Minister of ITI, could the Minister tell me why he thinks the perception of the NWT as a place to invest in mining improved so much since the last year's Fraser Institute survey? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I think it is quite clear that the message that we have been putting out there to the global industry is getting through to them. We have participated in a number of events the last number of years and got in front of a number of people. We put the message out there that we have a world-leading jurisdiction with extraordinary mineral potential, we have great Indigenous participating around the mining industry, and we have the history getting some of these responsible projects off the ground.
At the same time, I think that the message is getting out there, as well, because one of the big topics of conversation when we are talking to these people is our infrastructure deficit. You can clearly see that, with our engagement with the federal government, we have been successful lately in securing some funding to look towards securing these projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that answer. I think it is clear that Indigenous participation and collaboration are important, particularly in the Sahtu. We have a settled area. What can the Minister tell me about how this is being advanced under the mineral development strategy?
The mineral development strategy recognizes the importance of preparing Indigenous governments and communities to capitalize on mining exploration. That is well said and done. At the corporate and political leadership level, we have been working with our client-service relations unit, which has done a great job engaging with communities and Indigenous governments and facilitating their participation at events like roundup, PDAC, the NWT geoscience forum that we participate in. Those are some of the things that the department is working very closely on with the Indigenous people and community relations unit. They are doing a great job. They are pretty much our boots on the ground. We also have our other initiative, which is REDI, which travels around the Northwest Territories to give the community a better understanding of the mining and resource development and public education outreach for residents of the Northwest Territories.
As the Minister knows, there is an interested party, an interested company pursuing exploration. When I checked with the agency, the Sahtu Land and Water Board, they are pursuing permits accordingly. My third question is: what kinds of things has the government done as part of the mineral development strategy to increase exploration in the Sahtu and/or the NWT as a whole?
I think probably one of the best things that we have done was the MIP program, the Mining Incentive Program. We have allocated some money there, and we thank the Members for helping us increase that for our department. We have $1 million there now for each year to put toward promising exploration projects and prospectors across the Northwest Territories. I can say that we have actually leveraged quite a bit of capital on that. It has leveraged $8.82 million in spending over a $2-million investment for the first four years of this program. In fact, in the Member's riding, Evrim Resources, which he asked me about in the House here a couple of weeks ago, are one of the people that actually leveraged that and found one of the best global gold explorations in the Sahtu last year.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for that reply there. My last question to the Minister is: what opportunities does the Minister see on the horizon for the Sahtu, and how can the Mineral Development Strategy support that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I have said, the Evrim Resources project is an exciting one. That was supported by the strategy and the incentives that we supplied through the MIP program. There are also people like Danny Yakeleya, who is in his riding, who has been successful with some gold prospecting efforts that he has done up in that area, and he has also accessed some prospector training and funding through our program, as well. The other one that we are working on to market is the Cantung project. Along with the federal government, we don't just want to get our money back from this project; we want to be able to lay the foundation for good-paying jobs for residents of the Northwest Territories and opportunities for people in the Member's riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement today I outlined and shared my concerns with cuts to ENR's budget. I would like to just start by asking the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources whether these cuts have impacted our ability to react to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we went through the reduction exercise of a couple of years ago, the department felt that they were able to continue to do the high-quality work that they do with the budget that they have. We have been fortunate that we have been able to tap into a lot of federal money that has been coming forward, allowing us to keep doing the work that we do. We are through the reduction exercise and, as we move forward and the departments start coming forward with some new initiatives, I am sure that the department will look at this as an opportunity to refocus and gear the new initiatives more toward climate change and the mitigation and the adaptation to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for the reply. Many Northerners are genuinely concerned that we are not investing enough in the caribou, that the department absolutely needs to do more. With the recent announcement with regard to the Tlicho all-season road, I would like to know: can the Minister tell us what the government is planning to do to ensure that the boreal caribou are protected and are going to thrive again?
In discussions with a lot of our Aboriginal partners, we understand their concern with the caribou and the caribou numbers and the work that has gone on with them. I know that we are close to finalizing an agreement with the federal government on section 11 funding, and the plan is that we are hoping that we are in the position to make an announcement during this session. I am sure that Members will be pleased with the announcement when it does come out.
Thank you to the Minister for the reply. We are obviously going to look forward to hearing the announcement. Of greater concern to the residents of Yellowknife North, and in particular in the North Slave region, is the decline of the barren-ground caribou. Similar to the last question, can the Minister tell this Assembly what we are doing to ensure that the caribou population of the Barren Grounds will rebound?
In our discussions, again, with our Aboriginal partners and hearing from people across the Northwest Territories, they are very concerned with the declining caribou numbers. I think that we shared the numbers with you, especially on the barren-ground caribou, where the numbers dropped dramatically. Building on those discussions, I have actually directed the department to develop a plan to improve our monitoring, develop and implement mitigation plans, involve our Aboriginal partners, and improve the science related to the barren-ground caribou herds that are currently facing population challenges in the NWT. As we get close to finalizing the plan, I will be sharing it with committee, get some input from committee and, if needed, come forward with a supplementary appropriation.
I have directed the department to do a lot of work on this, because it is something that we have heard from the folks during our tour of the Tlicho, for example, and their concerns. We thought that we needed to start making some significant investment into the protection of the caribou herd.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his reply. The Minister didn't mention this, but we are aware that the department has also put out, recently, an incentive with regard to hunting and trapping wolves in an effort to also have some positive impacts on rebounding of the caribou, but there have been some concerns shared with regard to that particular program. Some folks are fearful that this is going to have a stream of inexperienced hunters start to line up to go out trying to hunt wolves. That may even result in some public safety issues. I am wondering: can the Minister share with us what the wolf incentive program is entailing, and has the Minister given any consideration to the concerns that folks have been raising? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In going back to the tour that we had through the Tlicho, we spoke to a number of elders there, and these are folks who have lived amongst the caribou their whole life. They provided us with some insight, wolves being some of the main predators of the caribou herd.
I have read the story, as well, where we have somebody from basically outside the country telling us that our program is not going to be effective, and somebody from southern Canada telling us that our program is not going to be effective, but I am listening to those who have a Master's degree in the environment, who have lived amongst caribou and wolves their whole life. Those are the ones whom we listened to, and those are the ones whom we should listen to. They were telling us that the wolves were a problem, so we have come forward with the wolf incentive.
We have our folks who are actually out in the area. They are monitoring the hunters who are going out, making sure that nobody actually brings wolves into the area and says that they shot them there. We are monitoring quite closely. As far as inexperienced hunters go, it is a significant distance that they have to go, and I think that the more experienced, well-qualified hunters will be out there. We have heard from hunters that it has been a good incentive for them to go and get the wolves, as well. Again, it goes back to listening to what the elders are telling us throughout the Tlicho. They have told us that wolves are a problem, they would like to see that addressed, and we have listened to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and they concern the living wage, and particularly the NWT Child Benefit. What we know from the most recent calculation, which was the same as 2017, is that this reference family of two adults and two children would not qualify for the NWT Child Benefit. My first question for the Minister is: how was the threshold for the NWT Child Benefit set? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have just taken over the portfolio for Education, Culture and Employment in April. I do not know how the income threshold was developed for the child benefit. I will have to get back to the Member with an answer on how that income threshold was developed and defined.
I appreciate the Minister's willingness to find that information. I hope she will be able to answer the next question, which is whether the thresholds can be changed, and what effort would it take to change them and raise them?
I would like to think that all thresholds can be changed and negotiated. I know that it's a partnership with the federal government, so I will have to check out on how that works, if we define the threshold or if the federal government defines the threshold. However, as stated yesterday, we are in a complete review of our income support. I believe, when we are doing that process, then it makes sense to look at our NWT child benefit, as well, so I will look into that as soon as this session is finished.
I appreciate the Minister trying to answer that question, as well. I also wonder, as well as adjusting the threshold, whether the child benefit thresholds could be sensitive by region to higher-cost-of-living situations and lower-cost-of-living situations? Would it be possible to target the thresholds in that way, by region?
I do know that I will look into that, as well. I can't say if the Child Tax Benefit is defined by regions, but I know that most of our programs are defined by regions. Income support, we just did a review of the regions, and, like I said, we are doing a complete review of that program as soon as this session is finished. Any income that we can provide better to parents, my understanding or my interpretation is that anything we can do to support parents is the best thing we can do and is the best thing we should be doing. My commitment is that I will be looking at all services that we provide to parents within the control of Education, Culture and Employment and doing as comprehensive a review as possible, with the goal of supporting parents.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Minister and I share the same goal of assisting parents to help their children grow up with everything that they need in terms of food, accommodation, and so on, so that the poverty cycle is broken, especially by people who are working full-time. My final question here, and likely for the same answer, I realize, is whether the NWT child benefit could be indexed to inflation. The federal government recently took that step with the Canada child benefit, and it means, of course, that the benefit retains its value. That is an important feature, so can the Minister also look into that?
I will make a commitment to look into that, as well. I do want to state, though, that sometimes, if there are questions that are really specific, it does help if the Ministers kind of get a heads-up. You don't have to even give me the actual questions, but, if you can, tell me the topic because that does give me an indication of what I should be looking for. The NWT child benefit is one that I am not as versed in because that is a partnership with the federal government and therefore it's a set rate, but I will commit to looking into it. I have more authority over my income support programs and my childcare programs. Always, though, if they are direct questions on a specific topic, it's always better to give the Minister a heads-up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I did take the Minister's advice and give the Minister a heads-up about the questions I am going to ask today. In my statement, I raised some questions and points about the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework. Can the Premier provide an update on the status of his involvement in this federal policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for giving me advance notice of his line of questioning. In this case, the federal government has not provided any updates on the validation document or the timelines for the release of the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework as a whole. We have asked for clarification, but have heard only that the final document will likely be ready in May of 2019.
