Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize two interpreters from my riding, Maro Sundberg, who is interpreting in Wiiliideh Dogrib language, and Tom Unka, who is an interpreter in the Chipewyan language or Denesuline language from Fort Resolution. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to take a moment to recognize a Page of Range Lake, Mr. Dexter Edjericon. Thank you for being here, and to all of the other Pages, thank you for all of the work that you provide to us. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to acknowledge and recognize Joe Tambour of the K'atlodeeche First Nations. He is translating, and he has been in the booth for some time. I really appreciate his presence in helping us to bridge the gap in terms of understanding English and Dehcho Dene Zhatie, and I expect him to be here for another week. [No translation provided] Masi. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to recognize one of the Pages, Carter Kasteel, Frame Lake resident. He must be a glutton for punishment, because I know he was here earlier this year, but I want to thank him and all of the Pages for all of the work that they do for us. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome my friend Tina Decouto from Iqaluit, as well, too. She has done a lot of good work in Nunavut. Welcome to the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about the Grubstake and Prime Fur Bonus Programs, and my questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I would like to ask the Minister: when can hunters and trappers expect to receive payments for their monies earned from the auctions in 2019? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Mr. Speaker, challenges with the functionality of the Fur Harvest Management System has resulted in issues with the overall program administration, including manually calculating the accurate grubstake payments and reconciling auction payments for the trappers. We take these issues very seriously, and we are working to address them in a timely manner. ENR is actually working with Finance to make changes to the Fur Harvest Management System. ENR has made the first round of changes, and a working group has been established to resolve major issues by the fall of 2019. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In my region, there are a lot of hunters who trap in the bush, as well as along the coast. It is good to hear that the Minister is looking into this. Also, there are a lot of returning trappers preparing for the fall season. What is the timeline for when the Grubstake Program will be available to trappers this year?
I take the Member's point, because we are from a region where there is still a lot of traditional activity that goes on. They depend on the funds received from a lot of these auctions to finance their upcoming season. One of the ways that we do help them, though, is with the Grubstake Program, which is one of the better programs that are offered to those that continue to live a traditional lifestyle. We don't anticipate any changes to the normal timelines, and I think the plan is on track and will be available in and around September 15th.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a good timeline. It gives hunters and trappers time enough to prepare for their upcoming season. Mr. Speaker, we do have a lot of outfitters, as well, in the region, and they sometimes require export for hides outside the country. My question to the Minister is: will outfitters in the Northwest Territories be able to get CITES forms, CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, permits for export of animal hides out of the country? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
ENR doesn't actually issue these permits. This is done through Environment and Climate Change Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my questions about the provision of school bus services, I have some questions for the Minister of Education. When we approve the budget for ECE in this House, the budget document contains very few details about how that money for schools is spent, and it's unclear what money goes to the local DEAs and how it gets there. So my question is: how are the funds that are approved by the Legislature distributed to DEAs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The MLA is right; the Legislation, it starts with us. We approve the budget that is going forward for schools. At that point, then, ECE allocates the budgets to the district education councils, and we use a school funding formula for that. That funding formula has different aspects; some for inclusive schooling, some for French languages, some per capita for the number of children in school. Then the education authority, at that point, we kind of lose our authority within that. ECE does not have a mandate within our education net to provide direction to any district education council regarding the allocations to be used to fund their district education authorities. So, because we haven't got the mandate and we have no authority over it, we don't track those, Mr. Speaker.
Some DECs have allocated money to their authorities based on the same school funding that we have, and others don't. The South Slave District Education Council, we do know, does fund based on our school funding formula. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
So, because of how the SSDEC distributes funds, the Hay River DEA receives only the funding that is calculated in the funding formula. Now, I haven't gone through the DEA's books line by line, but I know that their budget is stretched thin and they have absolutely no wiggle room. I know the budget amount for busing doesn't cover the full cost of busing, and because their entire budget is already fully utilized, they have no extra funds to put aside to cover the costs of replacing the buses which need to be replaced in the next year or two. In the meantime, the district education council, the SSDEC, has been accumulating a surplus of over $3 million, as of I believe last year. Couldn't that DEC surplus be used to either fund the busing issue that we're having now or help replace the buses?
The basic, quick answer is yes. The district education councils and the district education authorities, under that, are responsible for deciding where they're going to use their funding, the best allocations of their budgets, but it was just last year that we realized that there were huge surpluses within our education districts all over the place so, in my opinion, that's not good. It's not good to have surpluses, huge surpluses, when we have children education services in need. I said that the other day. We need more resources. Part of getting the resources is, if we have money sitting out there, let's use what we've got.
So I did make the direction that people need to use their surpluses; use it or lose it. We allowed them to keep a nominal amount so that they could deal with any emergencies, but the rest, I wanted to see implemented into student services. I brought that up at the council meeting. I thought I worked well with the district councils. They heard me. I said I'm flexible. So, yes, I've actually reached out to them, as well. Usually, within our allocations, we don't usually allow surpluses for capital projects because we do have a capital process within that, but I told the councils that I am flexible; come to me.
In the case of the South Slave, we were working with them, and I told them I'm flexible. It would take a Minister's direction to allow that, but I am willing to work with them. If buses are their priority, my priority is getting kids to school.
As the Minister mentioned, she ordered the education councils to reduce their surpluses; basically, spend this money. I think the SSDEC had to reduce their surplus by about $2 million, but in none of that was any money for buses. So why wasn't there any money allocated for the busing services in Hay River in that $2-million reduction?
Again, the act is kind of vague on the authority of the Minister, and I'm very respectful of them, they're all elected positions, so I'm respectful of their allocations and what they see fit for their regions. We don't tell the district education councils what to use their surpluses on. I felt that was very limiting; it's very patriarchal, it's not how I practise, so we gave the flexibility to say, "Tell us what you're going to use your surplus on."
The sad thing is, Mr. Speaker, that the South Slave District Education Council never identified busing as an issue within their surplus plan, so I never knew it was an issue until it came forward; in fact, the MLA brought it forward with a letter from a parent. That was the point that I knew it became an issue.
Like I said before, my concern is that I want children to get to school, so I have instructed my staff to get down there and work with them and see what we can do to assist them.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We distribute a lot of money to the regional education councils, and I know that there must be some accounting of what they're spending that money on, and there must be some results that they need to produce, and so perhaps we need to start looking at whether or not they are adequately funding things like busing, as well as the other things that we're looking at.
The Minister mentioned that her department had some talks with the employees in the DEC. Can the Minister sort of expand on what steps the department has taken to help mitigate the costs that parents could be incurring in Hay River in regard to this busing and what is being done to ensure that some long-term planning is done so that the buses that need to be replaced can be replaced in a way that's affordable for parents and that doesn't stop children from getting to school? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My direction to my department was, "Get down there, figure it out, work with them, get it solved." I can't really say exactly what was said in those meetings. That was my direction: get her done.
I'd love to be able to stay here and say what was stated, but I can't do that. What I can say is that my concern, again, and the MLA brought it up outside the House, actually, outside this Chamber, actually, and was talking to me, and he is absolutely right. He talked about low-income families and children not being able to afford to get there. Twenty-five kilometres is not acceptable. I don't care if it's winter or summer. I know in his statement he said it's cold here. I lived seven or eight blocks away from the school; I had to walk. I was a block away, I froze every winter. I would not want any child 25 kilometres walking, even in the summer, to be honest. We have bears.
So I've told them to work with them. There are models across Canada that I'm hoping the district education council will look at. There are subsidies for children with low income, based on income that they're making. I'm hoping they'll consider that, but what I really want to stress to families out there that might be struggling financially is that I have talked to my department. Income support does provide services for low-income families under the income threshold. If they qualify for income support, we are willing to include the cost of getting to school and school supplies within our funding formula. So any family that may be in financial need worried about that, please contact income support, as well. We want your children in school starting in September. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member's statement, as I mentioned, it's been a long time coming that our country foods are served in the hospitals, long-term care facilities. You hear it all the time. People are tired of hospital food, that same old stuff all the time. Especially when you are recovering from illness or any operations or anything, you want comfort food, caribou meat, moose meat, geese, these sort of wild game. Right now, luckily, we have a handful of ladies in Inuvik who actually take time out of their day to volunteer to cook caribou meat and caribou soup and bannock for people who are in long-term care. I would like to ask the Premier: can the Premier update the House on the status of country food at Stanton Hospital, which is the plan to start there and move it out to communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Traditional foods are presently being cooked and served to the patients by the Indigenous Wellness Program at Stanton Territorial Hospital with the support of Dexterra, the company that provides food services in the hospital. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Premier answered a part of my next questions, but who is able to provide country food to Stanton or any other hospital or long-term care facilities?
Approved owners of wildlife are experienced and licenced community harvesters or hunters and outfitters who harvest and provide gifts of wild meats according to the Northwest Territories Wildlife Act. Renewable resource officers may donate wild game meats which were unlawfully harvested. Fish may be donated by fishers holding sport fishing or commercial fishing licences. Plants like berries, edible greens, Labrador tea, and spruce tea tips may also be donated by community harvesters. I should point out that no licence is required to harvests plants.
Will the country food program be expanded to other health facilities in the Northwest Territories and long-term care facilities?
Operational guidelines for serving traditional foods in Northwest Territories Health and Social Services facilities have been developed. Obviously, food safety has to be taken into consideration. These guidelines are being finalized and will be implemented this fall. Test sites, such as the Jimmy Erasmus Seniors' Home, have begun to tailor these guidelines in their facilities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are there plans for similar program as the Yukon to ensure that Indigenous patients can access country foods? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes. The operational guidelines for serving traditional foods and NWT Health and Social facilities have been developed following the Indigenous foods program at the Whitehorse General Hospital. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement, my question is to the Minister of Infrastructure on the Marine Transportation Service Company, a division of our government. My first question, Mr. Speaker, is: how is the 2019 summer sailing season looking right now on targets of supplying the customers along the route, particularly and mainly the communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 2019 sailing season is actually on schedule right now as we predicted going forward, even with the low water levels that have been on the Mackenzie River. We have already been to every community once. Presently, two tugs are northbound out of Hay River. They are going to be going to Norman Wells, Tulita, and Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. From Tuktoyaktuk, there is also going to be another tow going north to look after the Arctic communities. When we are finished that, if sailing allows, we are going to help with the North Warning defence system to do their deliveries. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that reply. It is comforting to know that progress is being maintained in the schedule. Having experience on my boat ride between the communities, as mentioned, of Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope, the low-water levels, are these low-water levels creating any delays and challenges to the shipping schedules?
