Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university has been identified as a priority of this Assembly, and we are in the midst of that process. That process calls for the board to be re-established at a point in the near future, a couple of years from now; 2022, right now, is the plan. Before that is going to happen, we'd like to make some changes to the Aurora College Act because, you know, the act isn't quite as arm's-length as one would think. It states that the Minister may give direction to the board respecting the exercise of its powers and performance of its duties; the Minister shall determine the policy respecting the operations, programs, and practices of the college; the Minister may remove board members at any point during their term; board members need approval on many things to create policies.
We have an act, but it does not create a board that is free and clear of government interference. In fact, the power essentially lies with the Minister; the act makes that pretty clear. I want to make some changes to that act so that we do have an act that requires an independent board because, if we want to become a university, we have to meet national standards, and right now, we're not there. Over the coming years, we're making the decisions that are going to put us in that position so that we can reinstate a board, and that board is going to take control and carry us the rest of the way to the creation of a polytechnic university.
I will just apologize right up front, Mr. Speaker. When I was a Regular Member, before I was the Minister, I was frustrated by not knowing what was going on with the college. Nothing was clear to me, what was happening. I felt that one day, ECE was going to say, "Now, we have a university." That's not what is happening. You know, there is a lot that's been going on, but we haven't been getting that information out there, so I've told the department, I've told the college, "We need to expedite that. We need to get information out there so that people can see."
There is a plan. There has been work going on, and there are things to be excited about, and so I've expedited that. Tomorrow, I hope to make a Minister's statement -- I've basically just committed myself to making a Minister's statement tomorrow on this -- to get some of that information out there, because the public deserves to know what we're up to and they deserve to be as excited as I am about this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Obviously, we're looking forward to the statement. As the government has stated, we need to be open and transparent, and, if we have nothing to hide, let's lay it on the table. It's going to be almost five years, in 2022, without a board of governors. During the polytechnic university transition period, we need that expertise, which we don't have today; until 2022, 2024, 2025, whatever the case is. Why does the Minister believe a duly appointed, arm's-length board, as envisioned by the Aurora College Act, is incapable of transitioning the college to a polytechnic university? This is a very important question that I would like to have answers to.
The type of board that the Member is describing is exactly what will complete this transformation. Right now, based on the foundational review and the government's response to the foundational review, we have moved to a public administrator instead of a board, and that is to ensure that this process is streamlined, so that everyone is on the same page and that we're moving in the same direction while we strengthen the foundation, because that's what's going on right now, is we're strengthening the foundation. We're identifying the issues that occurred in the past, that I spoke about in the last Assembly as a Regular Member, that everyone is concerned about, and we're fixing those so that we can institute a board and we can move toward having this world-class university that we're all waiting for.
My third question is: how does the government justify turning a temporary measure into an ongoing four-year suspension? Now, I'm hearing it's going to be five, or potentially six years. Is this going to be an ongoing discussion that we're going to be having? Define the term "temporary measures." We heard 2022, the last time. Is that the final date that the board members are going to be appointed?
This is why I'm excited to get the information out there, because, right now, that's the plan. I don't like to say we're going to get something done regardless of whether we're ready or not. I've seen, when government tries to do that, things don't work out well. There are also legislative changes that need to happen, and that means the Assembly is involved. Right now, that's the plan, 2022. That's temporary, that's during the life of this Assembly, and that is going to lead us toward the creation of the university.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. I certainly hope that is the plan, 2022, not 2023 or 2024, when our term is up, here. My final question is regarding the polytechnic transition period. I'm just curious to know, because I haven't seen any of these areas, if we have any Aboriginal or Indigenous persons or resource people who are involved as part of the management team during this transition period. Masi, Mr. Speaker.
I am involved. All of the Members of this House are going to be involved. I've offered a technical briefing to the Standing Committee on Social Development, but we have crazy schedules right now, so we haven't been able to get in front of the committee to show them what we're up to and hear what the feedback is. Further to the expertise that was mentioned earlier, there are people at the college also assisting with this. It's not just some people in Lahm Ridge Tower in downtown Yellowknife. You know, we have people with a lot of experience working on this.
One of the first things that I did during the very first briefing I had with the department about this is I said, "We need a much stronger Indigenous government engagement strategy," or approach. I don't even want to say "strategy"; approach. So I actually pushed some of the timelines back because I wanted to make sure that we're developing a university that is going to meet the needs of the people it's serving. I don't want to create a university and hope people buy into it; I want to build that from the ground up. So the Member can rest assured, we're going to have that input. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I had a question for the Minister of Finance, but I just want to say what the Minister from ECE said about having plans to move forward and taking steps to be more open and transparent to the people of the Northwest Territories. They deserve that. With that, my question to the Minister of Finance is: would the Minister commit to having the Department of Finance do more public communications around the budget process, including supplementary appropriations? Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an occasion where I'm tempted to simply say, "Yes," and sit down, but perhaps I'll elaborate. I'll elaborate very briefly, only in that this is a conversation that we've already been having in the Department of Finance, recognizing that what the finance department does can sometimes seem unnecessarily opaque, and it doesn't need to be that way. In my past life, a lot of what I often did was translate things from legalese into good public communication, and it is my hope to bring some of that to what happens in our Department of Finance so that we can all better understand the documents. So I certainly will do that, and I'll certainly be going to the Members as I'm working through with different ways we can do that.
I can say that we have already set up, this Friday, an opportunity for media to have a conversation with myself about the process of the budget and how a budgeting process unfolds and how that comes together, in the hopes that, as we move through this session, the public is better informed as to the different stages of what happens throughout the year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for the response from the Minister. Not quite what I wanted to hear, but, you know, I try to look at it this way: the States have the CIA; Canada has CSIS. You know, they have their secret committees, but we're the GNWT. We're a consensus government. I think we need to be more open, wherever we can, and I'm hoping that that's the way moving forward. People deserve transparency, as I mentioned earlier. I guess my next question is: can the Minister commit to having the department do more to inform the public about the various GNWT budgets, such as the capital budget and the main estimates, and have a little more of an education piece for the public?
Again, the short answer is yes. I'm more than prepared to make that commitment. So, in addition to the fact that there is an effort to have some general media engagement this coming Friday about how a budget process unfolds, in addition to that, we're already working on having a bit more of a social media strategy to introduce people to the different parts of a budget and to the different processes. There has been some information already going out on social media to that regard. We are also actively, right now, working with stakeholder organizations across the Northwest Territories, in order to provide them with opportunities to have sort of budget fundamentals, to understand what the process is, understand what the budgets are, and we certainly look forward to being able to bring that kind of presentation out into the public in many forums.
So, again, the short answer is yes. The long answer is we're already doing some of that work and we're going to continue to find ways to do that work. It is certainly of interest to me to make sure that people who are coming to the government, who are asking for support for various projects, understand the best possible time to do that, understand what goes into that process, so that, when they come forward, they can give all the best possible information to the right parties early on, so that we can actually deliver on a budget that is effective and that does achieve the priorities of the people of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in the House, the housing Minister advised that we do not work through legislation, and that "the Housing Corporation works solely through policy." Given that the NWT Housing Corporation Act sets out the Minister's authority, will the Minister please clarify what she meant by her remarks? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Member, for your comment. The Housing Corporation is established under the Housing Corporation Act, and we do work with our policies in order to deliver our programs and to best meet the needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for that. If there are policies guiding the use of T4 slips as proof of income, I have not had any success at finding them online as of yet. What policy guidance governs the local housing authorities, and will the Housing Corporation commit to making their policies easily accessible online?
I would just like to elaborate on the T4 slips that are required for the rental scale for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. When we were establishing our rental program, we found that, when we established and we set our rent using the T4 slips, they were mainly to accommodate the people who had disabilities who were on income support and who were high-income earners, so it would just eliminate the time that they would have to be spending and reporting to the LHO offices. Going forward, we do have an assessment that is required that can be completed and filled out, and that is the responsibility of the client.
There were two questions that were asked. I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker. Can I have the Member repeat the second? Thank you.
I am wondering if the Housing Corporation would be willing to commit to making their policies easily accessible online.
This is a conversation I am having with my staff currently. We were looking at making our programs available online so that people would be able to access, as simple as even completing their rental assessments, access to the policies that we currently have, more communication with the general public, more communication with our clients. I have also wanted to just express that I have instructed my staff to also start advertising. One of our first advertisements just went out in the newspaper. Throughout the next three years, we will be seeing that consistently. I would like to make the programs more accessible to the people, also, who don't have the access to the internet or to technology and that they are able to get into our LHO offices and being able to program-deliver productively.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have created an arm's-length corporation to enable housing to be more flexible. My question for the housing Minister is: how will the Minister make sure that deep and transformative innovation are part of the everyday work of the Housing Corporation? Thank you.
With the delivery of the programs for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, we have had a lot of successful stories going forward that haven't been advertised. I think to make it more accessible and make the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation more integrated with our clients and with our stakeholders, we have had opportunities with Indigenous governments and building relations with them, building programs with them, as well.
I would just like to elaborate on the Northern Pathways program that we have had. I am very excited to speak about this, that we do address the homelessness. That is one of the largest areas of concern in the Northwest Territories, and we did work with the K'asho Got'ine land claim organization out of Fort Good Hope, where they took the initiative to deal with their homelessness on their own with the support of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and funding from the federal government. Also, I wanted to address that we had similar initiatives that were completed, homelessness strategies, in Aklavik, Fort Simpson, and Behchoko. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My statement earlier today raised the issue of completing our network of single-service window centres across the entire NWT. Would the Minister of executive and intergovernmental affairs briefly describe the services performed at these centres and how effective they have been in increasing access to government programs and services? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, the government service officers in the single-service window centres are actually a real success in the smaller communities, in all honesty. In the last 10 years, we have had over 70,000 people use that service in the small communities. What do they do there? Because in the small communities we don't have the big government buildings like we do in the regional centres or like here in our capital city, often they have people who fly in from different regions. A worker will fly in once or twice a month or whatever.
Like we have heard many times in questions in the House, people have income support; they need housing; they need all kinds of services, medical access, et cetera. The government service officers' task, these single-service windows, is to actually be there as that connecting point so that people know what programs are out there, how they can get the forms in, et cetera.
The other thing that I am really proud of that they do is actually go into elders' homes. They help them in Indigenous languages for people who struggle with English as a second language. That is phenomenal. That is something that we couldn't pay enough for. Basically, in a nutshell, I am a strong advocate. I think they are a great service in the small communities, and it is one way to help people have access to our programs and services in a timely manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that great promotion of the hard work that our GSOs do, and I recognize that, as well. We just need to complete the network. I want to ask the Minister whether there is a plan to actually complete the network for all of our communities, including the regional centres, and, if not, why?
I don't know if there is actually a laid-out plan. I could do a plan that says we have so many small communities and this is how many we have and this is how many I want to get to. I am more big on getting the work done. I do know that we are still working on it. The next one will be going into the Deh Cho region. My commitment is, because it is a great program, I think that we need to make sure that we try to get them in every single small community before we even start talking about regional centres or the capital city. I know people would like it everywhere. The reality is that the whole point was to be able to have access to services and programs. That is what my goal will be, to make sure all the small communities are covered first.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I, too, agree that we want to complete this network, probably with an emphasis on small communities, but Yellowknife actually has the largest Indigenous population of any communities in the Northwest Territories. There are a lot of unilingual speakers right here in Yellowknife, as well. We have to find a way to provide services for them. There is already a model for how we could do some of the regional centres. We have the Services TNO office here in Yellowknife. I want to ask the Minister whether she can tell us whether there has been an evaluation of the services provided through Services TNO and whether this can serve as a model for all regional centres.
Yes. I believe that there was an evaluation done. The 2018-2019 service evaluation was conducted. It was shown to be very positive; 352 requests came through in one year from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, requests in French. The difference with that model is that model is actually based in Yellowknife and provides services to the whole Northwest Territories. The single-service window model is specifically each small community having access to somebody where they can walk in. Not everyone in small communities has internet. Maybe some of them don't even have cell phones. It is about being accessible on the ground for them. That is a different model. It is the same concept but a different model.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. There are actually a lot of people in Yellowknife who don't have access to a computer or cellphone, either. We have got to find ways to reach out to them and provide the service. Here is another idea I would like to toss the Minister's way. We have a great Service Canada storefront operation here in Yellowknife. I have used it myself for passport applications. It would seem to make sense that maybe there is a way to get that office to offer information about GNWT services. Would the Minister commit to investigating whether the Service Canada office in Yellowknife could offer access to GNWT services? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
At this point, we haven't actually thought about putting a single-service window in Yellowknife. I have no problem asking Service Canada if they would consider keeping some of our brochures. I am not sure if I would want to go to the point of asking them to keep all of our application forms, the information, all of the different aspects of every department because, even though people in Yellowknife or in the major centres may not have access to internet or telephone, there is access to government buildings here that they don't have in the smaller communities. My priority will be on the small communities first. After that, I am open to new ideas. I do think that we need to have more interest, but my priority at this point is making sure that the small communities where they have no government offices have single-service windows. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I have questions for the Education, Culture and Employment Minister. Mr. Speaker, does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment have sensitivity training in regards to local workers in our communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Client service officers undergo quite a bit of training. They participate in statutory training which includes review of the legislation, regulations, policies, code of ethics for income security employees, code of conduct, and service management. They are also trained in certified service professional, mental health, first aid, motivational interviewing, verbal judo, non-violent crisis intervention, and, starting in May 2020, all CSOs and managers will be training in trauma-informed practices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As part of ECE service-level commitments, the department's website says they conduct periodic customer satisfaction surveys to ensure services for the community such as fuel, rent, wood for our elders. When was the last time these surveys were done on the needs for each community?
I don't have those numbers on hand, but that's a good question, so I will find out, and I will get back to the Member.
Thank you, Minister, for that response. I have a lot of people on income support in my riding. I think a survey would be really needed. We are privileged to have that income assistance because people go through tough times in our small communities right now. Will the Minister commit to having a client satisfaction survey in my riding of Nunakput and maybe the whole territory or northern communities?
I will speak with the department, and I will find out how they go about doing these surveys. This is relatively new, the service standards. It's an exciting initiative to post in a government office that: this is what you can expect; we are going to treat you this way, and, if not, then, there is recourse for it.
If the Member has issues with income assistance, if there are service issues, I am always happy to hear them. I have gone to the Member's office, and we have put constituents of his on the phone, and I've heard directly from them. I am happy to do that. If there are enough concerns, clearly there is probably something I have to look into. I commit to doing that with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
