Sorry, I did not confirm that. Yes, I would like to table the document, and I would like to have the chance to review it and look at the changes going forward.
I am pretty sure there are going to be a lot of happy people in the territory today in regard to that. Thank you, Minister. Will the Minister commit to ensuring the policy and all of the Housing Corporation policies are posted on their website ASAP?
I did instruct my department to have the policies available online. I am not too sure where we are at with that right now. I am not too sure of the technical process or the administration for that to happen, but I will inform the Member when the policies are available online.
Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I was so excited at question one that I forgot to ask: what is the timeline? Can this Minister give me a timeline on you getting rid of the T4 system and just people being able to go in every month, they show their pay stub, and then get their rent assessed on a timeline?
I don't want to commit to timeline, because there are going to be a lot of reviews that are going to have to take place in order to look at this policy. However, I also want to be mindful that I feel that the intent for the policy was to accommodate the consistent income earners, but, looking at the T4 slips, it's not working for the seasonal workers. I see that, but also that the rent scale also accommodates -- I don't want to say "accommodates," but also works with the Northwest Territories, that we are the lowest at the rent scale for the rest of Canada. The rest of Canada is at 30 percent. We are at 19 percent. I just want to be very mindful of that, but then I see where the rent scale is very confusing to understand and very confusing to administer, but I am looking at the best results for the residents of the Northwest Territories.
If there need to be changes within that policy, I want to review it and speak with the Member, just to make sure that we are meeting the needs of the Northwest Territories. Looking at the T4 slips, I am not going to commit that this would happen anytime soon. I have to take a look at it first, before we end up making the changes, because our administration has to follow through with that. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. One of the recommendations from the standing committee in reviewing the Environmental Rights Act and approved in this House was the passage of anti-SLAPP legislation, or a law to prevent strategic litigation against public participation, and that that should be introduced in the 19th Assembly. Can the Minister tell us whether or when anti-SLAPP legislation will be introduced in this House? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is my understanding anti-SLAPP legislation is outside the scope of the work performed for the Environmental Rights Act and most likely would not be the responsibility of Environment and Natural Resources. However, in getting a heads-up with this question and understanding and looking at that one part of the report, I have reached out to my honourable colleague, the Minister of Justice, and we are more than willing to have conversations and with the Member, as well.
I am feeling kind of SLAPP-happy right now. I want to thank the Minister for that, but talk is cheap. I am happy to be part of that conversation. My next question: I have reviewed the ENR website and could barely find any mention of a public registry for the Protected Areas Act, let alone some of the other legislation that the department is responsible for, including the Environmental Rights Act. Can the Minister tell us when or whether his department is considering a central environmental public registry to capture all of the reporting requirements found in the various environment and resource management bills, allowing the public a one-window access point to information, as is done in Ontario, for example?
The Environmental Rights Act and the Protected Areas Act are bills that were passed in the last Legislative Assembly, including registries. To implementation, ENR would start by meeting the information required in each of the acts. When implementation occurs, we will be looking for opportunities to centralize information as resources allow while not duplicating the comprehensive land and water board registries.
I want to thank the Minister for that. Look, I am trying to find ways to save this government money, and having a central registry is one way to begin to do that. There is similar reporting that is required from ENR around the Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program. That is under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. There is state of the environment reporting under the Environmental Rights Act. Can the Minister tell us how all of this environmental reporting is going to be coordinated?
The purpose and process and timelines for the environmental audit and the state of the environment reports are different. A state of the environment report is required to be tabled within three years of the revised Environmental Rights Act coming into effect and every four years afterwards. An environmental audit is conducted every five years by an independent body, and the next audit is due to be completed in 2025. The department continues to ensure that it meets reporting requirements in our environmental legislation and that this report is coordinated where appropriate.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. Just because he says it's coordinated, it doesn't actually mean it actually is coordinated, so I am going to have to push that with him. There is nothing, though, on the ENR website about the Environmental Rights Act. There is a general page that talks about how the bill or the legislation was going to be reviewed in the last Assembly, but there is nothing there to help promote the understanding of the new legislation. Can the Minister tell us when his department will finally take a more proactive role in promoting this legislation, and will a plan be shared with the relevant standing committee?
I thank the Member for these questions. I've heard that ENR's website needs to be improved, and we're looking at that to make sure we have the information and we can easily find out, including the Environmental Rights Act. The environment website does include a web page for the Environmental Rights Act. The department plans to conduct a public awareness campaign on the Environmental Rights Act, and the department has already updated its plain-language summary of the act to support the public awareness campaign. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] As Cabinet and Members, we work under this policy. It's in front of us to use, so when these Ministers come into our community, they have to give us notice, two weeks', and send us the documents. This is the question I want to ask the Minister. [End of translation]
As Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, we adhere to what we call a process convention. Madam Speaker, according to the process convention, Section 11(b) states, "Ministers will, whenever possible, provide a minimum of two weeks' advance notice of any public meeting being held by their departments in a Member's constituency." That did not occur in my riding back in December. I'm just wondering, Madam Speaker, a question to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation: is the Minister up to speed and also familiar with section 11 of the process convention that we have in place? Masi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. My apologies. No, I'm not familiar with the process convention policy, but, back in December, we were just newly elected. This was a project that was coming around, that was coming to closure. It was the Whati community plan for strategic housing plans. At that time, I went and I asked my department if the MLA for Monfwi was contacted; at that time, he was out, he had prior engagements, but just for that celebration that had happened, the celebration did not go forward. There was a death in the community. The celebration was put to a stop, and we just had discussions about the plan, but the celebration did not go forward. We did have a meal, but it was silent. There was a death in the community. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
[Translation] The second question I have regarding the process convention is that it's stated in the policy that you give them notice for five days in advance to return your question or written question. They have five days to return that answer. [End of translation]
When the Regular Members request for information from ministerial offices, the general rule of thumb is that the turnaround time should be within five days or less. We understand that, sometimes, five days needs to be extended and, as long as the Minister's office lets Regular Members know about the necessary extension, we are generally fine with that. It has been well over two weeks since my request, so I'm just wondering if the Minister is familiar with the general rule of thumb, the five-day rule, within the process convention. It is very important to have this timeline turnaround.
My deepest apologies to the Member for the request that was not received within 10 days. I would like to ask him if he would be able to resend that request to me, and I will follow up with that immediately. My sincere apologies.
Yes, I definitely will do, and I clearly hear the Minister's apology. This is an area that, obviously, we need to improve; not only her department, but other departments, as well, so I'll be speaking to that in my probably last and final question.
Myself and my colleagues on this side of the House are getting extremely frustrated with how the government is operating and how our side of the House is being treated. In her letter to me, the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation mentioned that she would like to collaborate with me for the betterment of my constituents. Communication definitely needs to be improved in this area. Will this Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation and her department commit to making improvements with respect to giving proper notice and on responding to queries from Regular Members? Clearly, Madam Speaker, this will be a message to other Ministers, as well.
I would just like to advise that I was actually in Behchoko in February, and we did meet with the local housing authority, and the MLA was present. It was his meeting request at that time. Going forward, I will keep the Members very aware of when the NWT Housing Corporation will be in their community, but going forward, I don't have a scheduled plan for community visits right now. Once our session is complete, I will be sure to forward that information to the Members.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Madam Speaker, as the Minister responsible for human resources, is she confident that the Affirmative Action Policy is solid and that her direction as Minister is being followed?
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am very confident in the skills and abilities and dedication of the staff in the human resources department. These individuals work hard. They are working hard to be developing a representative workforce. That doesn't mean that that work happens over a day, and it doesn't mean that we have a representative workforce right now. Not to take away for a moment from the hard work that happens within that department. I do have every confidence that they are working toward that goal. That goal, however, as was already noted, has been noted more than once in this House, is more than simply that of one department; it is a goal for the entirety of the government. It's a goal that we are all going to be working toward. It's one that involves everything from early childhood indicators, to education, to better health outcomes, so that people are ready to work and able to work, so that they can benefit from the variety of programs that we have in the GNWT's HR. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Does the Minister feel confident that the Affirmative Action Policy is objective and serving the people of the NWT in an honest and sincere manner?
The Affirmative Action Policy is one that has different classifications depending on the types of jobs to which someone is applying. A P1 individual, for example, is someone who is Indigenous Aboriginal to the territory or someone who is Aboriginal and spent more than half their life in the Northwest Territories. There are also the P2 classifications. Depending, for a management position, there are 1A and 1B classifications. They are quite rigorous. They are clearly stated and, indeed, if someone meets one of those classifications and passes the requirements for a position, they are hired even over a candidate who may not be so classified but who may actually have scored technically higher in their application process. I have inquired and ensured that that continues to be applied, and I am happy to receive any information from any member of the public who may be concerned, and we have followed up with every one of the requests that we've received in that regard.
Is the Minister responsible for human resources confident that the Affirmative Action Policy is being accountable and transparent to the people of the NWT and the bureaucratic processes in place dictating it?
I understand that the Member has some concerns, perhaps arising from specific incidents. I am not sure. If that is the case, I want Members in this House to bring specific concerns to me. I have had specific concerns brought forward. We've actioned them. We take them back to the department. We run investigations. You make enquiries. Individuals who don't receive positions have appeal rights in some cases. I would encourage those who have access to such appeal rights to exercise them. Appeals are done by independent individuals, not Members of the GNWT. Indeed, very often workplace investigations, in many cases, can be done by individuals outside of the GNWT. There are a lot of different layers where independents come into play, external to the GNWT. In addition to that, Madam Speaker, again, there are obligations on all staffing to ensure that they are applying policies that are appropriate and following those policies that we have rigorously.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Thebacha, final supplementary.
Madam Speaker, could the Minister honestly say, before all the Members of this House, that the Affirmative Action Policy is actually working for the people of the NWT? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
The Department of Human Resources is constantly working to ensure that it is doing the best it can to be a representative workforce. To that end, as I've said before in this House in the last month, there are a variety of programs. They are continuously making efforts to be responsive as new ideas arise to be innovative. For instance, developing the building capacity in Indigenous governments program that is being worked on right now is one where it's helping to build capacity in communities with secondments between the GNWT and Indigenous governments.
There's a constant effort to find new and better ways to improve the workforce, not only in the GNWT, but in some of our partners across the territory. One of those tools is the Affirmative Action Policy. I have already offered to this House to give a technical presentation to standing committee to go through that policy, to consider reviews that have been done, and to engage in a dialogue with all Members of the House if there are ways that we can continue to improve that policy for the betterment of the Northwest Territories and the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Mahsi cho, Madam Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, going back to my Member's statement on language. Can the Minister share with us what work is being done to having more official languages on NWT signs and landmarks? Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Currently, we have official language guidelines, and these guidelines lay out the signage rules for government buildings. In addition to English and French, exterior building signs are to be translated into the local official languages. For the main directory board signs, the ones you see inside, the official Indigenous language appropriate to the local area should appear before English and French. Currently, the department under the Indigenous languages action plan, there's so many different names here, I can't keep them straight, but the Indigenous languages revitalization action plan, essentially, there's a lot that's going to be happening within the next two years. I just looked at the guidelines, actually, and the copy I found was from before division, and it's my understanding that that is the most recent copy. Some of the work we're going to be doing in the next two years is updating those, as well as updating the regulations. Infrastructure is doing work to update their guidelines around signage on buildings. The standing committee, with the assistance of the department, is going to be looking at the Official Languages Act. In the next couple of years, there's going to be a lot happening in terms of updating the way we display Indigenous languages in the territory. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you for the response from the Minister. That's encouraging. I think, if our ancestors are watching, I think they would be very, very happy to hear that. My next question is: would the Minister be open to having an interactive "welcome" and "good-bye," so to speak, in all our official languages at our points of entry? What I mean by that, our visitors' centres and our border at the NWT-Alberta border as well?
I am not quite sure what the Member means by "interactive," if that's the people working at the centres or if that is like a touch screen type thing. That would really be up to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment who runs those. I would definitely encourage it. I know that at the north of 60, for the 60th parallel visitors' centre, when you enter the park, we have the big sign, which is strictly in English, but then, as soon as you enter the park area, the sign includes all the Indigenous languages.
Thank you for that response from the Minister again. Encouraging. My last question for the Minister goes to language workshops. It's applicable to all of our interpreters who are assisting right now as I speak. Can the Minister commit to having more workshops for our language interpreters, especially assisting with legal, medical, and scientific terminology in the life of this Assembly?
The interpreters at the Legislative Assembly do an amazing job, and I'm sometimes in awe of all the languages that are spoken in this building. It is really like nowhere else. No other legislature around the world, I'm sure. To the Member's point, one of the additional actions that I discussed under the action plan is going to be updating the different terminologies. ECE is going to undertake that with Indigenous language experts and update the different terminologies for the legal terms, medical terms, et cetera, and are going to provide support to interpreters and arrange training opportunities. Just the kind of work that the Member is talking about is the kind of work that we look forward to doing in the next couple of years.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
