Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize lovely ladies up in the gallery today. We have Tina Hawker, we have Mary Drake, and Michele Lemieux from the Native Women's Association. We also have Sabet Biscaye. We have Louise Elder and Kristen Berkeley from the Status of Women Council. Thank you, ladies, for being here today, and I apologize if I missed anyone.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a moment to recognize one of our Pages who is here today from the constituency of Range Lake, Cameron Mason. I want to thank you for all the work you have provided and to all the Pages for the work you've provided. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to recognize one of my neighbours, Louise Elder, and thank her for her work as executive director of the NWT Status of Women Council. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to thank the Acho Dene principal and the chaperon for assisting two of the great Pages who are here today, Lorrisa Berreault and Elizabeth Nelson. They have done a great job. Thank you very much for being here during this day. As well, I am going to get in trouble for this one, but I finally can get to recognize my honey, the one who makes my life quite interesting. I know she is shaking her head at me already, so I know I am going to be sleeping outside today, but it's all good. Also her daughter, Christina McAdam, thank you very much for being here today. Sorry, I forgot one other one, a former constituent of mine, Mary Drake, and a former CA of mine. Thank you very much for being here.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, who is also responsible for Income Security programs. I spoke in my statement of a number of issues. I see from the Education, Culture and Employment website that there is an updated Income Assistance policy manual dated October 2019. Although the Social Assistance Appeals Regulations require that an officer inform clients in writing of their entitlement appeal, I see no reference to this in the manual or in the correspondence that has been provided to me. Can the Minister tell us whether the department routinely informs clients in writing of their rights when it comes to Income Security programs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, the Member referenced the ATIPP legislation that requires a notice of appeal and appeal rights. The Social Assistance Act Income Assistance Appeals Regulations also contain a provision. It's Section 4(1), I believe, so that is mandated that that has to be done. That is done. I have a copy here of the notice of refusal, which clearly indicates that there are appeal rights. The handbook the Member references, I believe there is an updated policy manual. It's February 2020, and I checked that today, and that does make that reference, although the plain-language handbook might not be as clear, but I will look into that.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I can assure him, though, that, from the correspondence I have seen from my constituents, the appeal rights are not mentioned, so I would ask that the Minister investigate some of the actual correspondence Income Assistance recipients receive when they are refused, and so on. I want to move on. I have repeatedly mentioned the need to index our Income Security programs. That includes Income Assistance, Student Financial Assistance, seniors and other benefits, and those should be indexed, Mr. Speaker, to the cost of living. Forced growth is the norm elsewhere, so I do not believe that our most disadvantaged people should be left behind. Can the Minister commit to indexing of Income Security payments through changes to regulations and/or legislation to help the most vulnerable members of our society?
First, I just want to address the Member's comments. If any Member is aware of incidents where we are not living up to our standards, please let me know. We have a system in place within the actual offices, but I want to work toward a territory-wide tracking system so that we can identify these types of concerns and move to improve them. In terms of indexing, Income Assistance does pay the actual cost of shelter, of utilities, and of heating fuel, so, in that sense, it is indexed. However, at this time, I can't commit to indexing all of the benefits. We look at our mandate, and ECE has a lot in that mandate, and so, over this next year, we are going to be looking at how we can achieve that. There are going to be some tough financial decisions that we have to make, and so I cannot stand up here and say that we are going to make the decisions that the Member is asking for.
I want to thank the Minister for that. It was not quite a "yes," but, look, I am talking about the most disadvantaged people in our society. We need take care of them, as we can and should do. I mentioned in my earlier statement the problems when Income Assistance recipients find themselves in situations where they lose jobs or they maybe lose their housing. It's a vicious cycle. I would like to know if there is any consideration that is being given to repayment plans, like rental arrears plans, to reduce hardships of drastic benefit reductions?
I have spoken about this at length in the House. Right now, there are repayment plans if you receive an overpayment. However, the Member is correct. If someone starts working, their benefits are cut off because they are over the threshold, and then, if they lose their job, that could create immediate financial hardship or the cut-off could result in them having to pay thousands of dollars in rent and utilities and fuel, if it's in the middle of winter, and they might not be able to afford that, so I have committed to looking into the possibility of phasing benefits out. That is a long-term discussion. It would take a lot of research. It would take legislative changes, but I have committed to this House that I am looking into that kind of stuff.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that, and I do want to commend him for taking on that big job. I think he is the right guy to do it. I supported the previous Minister when she conducted an administrator review of Income Security programs. They resulted in some important changes, but what we really need is a systematic approach to change. An example of that is guaranteed basic income, or at least a pilot project around guaranteed basic income. Has the Minister or his department considered a guaranteed basic income pilot project in the NWT, and when is he prepared to make that happen?
I wish I could have more positive answers here for the Member, but the fact is we are not considering this. The work that it would take to actually look into this and do the research is not doable, given what we have been mandated to do by this Assembly. Successive governments over the past number of decades have gone through cuts. The people to get cut are the policy people. We are pretty thin on policy positions. It is tough to do a lot of the work that we want to do. I am not even sure how we are going to do the things that we are mandated to do and that this Assembly is asking of us. To take on a project of this magnitude, I just can't do it at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned in my Member's statement that the succession planning document "20/20: A Brighter Future" was released in 2009. I began my career with the GNWT in 2008 with the Department of Public Works and Services. That was about 11 years ago. For 11 years I was in employment, I never ever got moved up into any position. Perhaps if I stayed another 11 years, I would have been an antique. My question to the Minister is: does the GNWT still practice succession planning? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, succession planning is still a priority. Indeed, it is ever only more of a priority. There are quite a large number of GNWT employees who are going to be retiring over the next five to 10 years. In short, I am definitely in agreement, and I am pleased that the Member has raised this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What actions and initiatives are currently in place to achieve the goals of succession planning, and how do these impact employees in the GNWT's regional offices? If not, why not?
The Department of Finance does work with its regional offices, across all of the territories, in order to use the tools that we have at our hands currently, which includes everything from mentorship to secondments and transfer assignments, but also to be gathering the information to consider, indeed, what kind of succession plans need to happen. It is an ongoing process. Again, as I have said, I am grateful to have that alerted to me. It is one that we are going to have to pay attention to, given some of the demographics we are facing.
Has the department done any analysis or assessment of succession planning best practices, and are these being incorporated into our human resources practices?
There was the workforce development framework released last year under the last Assembly that was the result in part of a jurisdictional scan, looking at best practices. That is still being worked into the process that we have currently. It is hoped that this will continue to evolve into a best practice of corporate-wide resources for all the territory and for all the different regions.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I believe the Minister just answered my last question about developing a new workforce development framework. I wonder if the Minister could provide stats for the succession planning or any movement up to management positions by all employees of the GNWT since 2009? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
That specific request is one that is very large in terms of the numbers and the scope. What I would suggest is that I will speak to the Member and make sure that we can identify, perhaps, the core of the issue that we want to look at here. I agree that succession planning is critical, and I agree that we can always do a better job of it. These are human systems, and they can always be improved. What I was referencing in my previous answer was the fact that there has been some work done, but the work isn't finished yet. It is still being developed. There is much more to come. What I will do is, as I say, I will connect with the Member specifically. If I need to bring something back as a result of those discussions to the House with some specific numbers, I will do that. I want to make sure that we get to the core of the issue of what the concern is around succession planning, recognizing that we can, as I say, always continue to do better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my reply to the budget, I spoke about new information from the community survey, which reveals that one in five NWT households has trouble meeting its most basic needs, including access to sufficient food. The rates of moderate to severe food insecurity have increased over the years. My question to the Minister is: why does she think these rates continue to go up despite more direct and indirect spending by government? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is unfortunate that the rates have been going up. I do want to talk about that. We had a meeting this week with the National Advisory Council on Poverty. During our meeting, we had some excellent discussions. These are 10 members across Canada who are dedicated, they are passionate, and they are knowledgeable. They are members from coast to coast to coast. We sat down and had an opportunity to talk about our anti-poverty work plan; it is the Working Together II. In there, we have identified a couple of key areas, especially food secure. The Working Together II has five pillars, and one of them references food security.
Going back to the meeting with the National Advisory Council on Poverty, we did mention some barriers that we are facing in the Northwest Territories, including the on-reserve funding. On-reserve funding through the national poverty strategy does not benefit the Northwest Territories. We also talked about food security and how important it is for us. I say important because it is one of our 22 priorities here. We will be addressing that in our budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. What new initiatives or approaches is the Minister going to undertake to reduce and eliminate hunger in the Northwest Territories?
I do want to talk about the action plan, because there are some initiatives in the action plan. I look at this, and it is multi-departmental; Health and Social Services is not just the department that is responsible for poverty. Our meeting today included our Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. We also had our Minister of housing and Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Also, our Premier attended. It is not a one-department approach.
I do want to talk about the action plan because here are some ideas, and the Member is asking for some ideas: increasing income support to elders with people with disabilities. I apologize to them and speak on some of the issues that are within each of the departments. I hope that's okay, but this is an action plan that we all have input and have a responsibility for; a commitment to make childcare more assessable across the Northwest Territories; funding to address homelessness in the smaller communities through Northern Pathways, which is a housing program, and also the supportive housing program. We also provide funding to support the Housing First program, the rapid housing program in Inuvik and Yellowknife. These support people who are either homeless or at risk of being homeless. Action to address food security throughout supports to harvesting and to agriculture. Community gardening is another project that, as a government, we all need to enforce. I am looking at ITI, because our Minister of ITI is also responsible for some of these projects in the Northwest Territories.
I recognize that the new anti-poverty action plan is a multi-departmental plan. It is my understanding that it is in the leadership of the Minister of Health and Social Services. That is why I am asking her these questions today about food security. One of the things the anti-poverty action plan speaks to is creating a new food security coalition. Can the Minister tell us whether that work has started?
The Member is correct. That is in our action plan. We are planning to establish a multi-sectorial NWT food security coalition. These are representatives from not only just the government, but also Indigenous governments, community governments, not-for-profit organizations, and this is something that we're establishing. I've looked at the action plan that the Member is talking about, the Working Together II, and, in there, the timeline for creating this coalition is in 2022.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer. Minister, I think we've got to get started before 2022. There is so much hunger; 2,271 youth and children under 15. We just can't ask them to wait two more years while we get to work on this. We need to start immediately. The final question I have is about the federal government's role in helping to reduce and eliminate food insecurity which, of course, they do through the Nutrition North program. My question is: what action is the Minister going to take with the federal government to improve the effectiveness of Nutrition North? Thank you.
I apologize. I didn't realize that we weren't allowed to put props up, but I was just trying to show the Member that I actually have the action plan on poverty, so I apologize, Mr. Speaker. That was not my intent, other than to let the Member know. I do want to go back to the Nutrition North program. The Nutrition North program is a federal program, and our department, we all meet together, and part of the development of the coalition is to come together and really reach out. We've already said, this government, we can't do things alone, and we can't do things in silos. We need to reach out and engage with the partners, Indigenous groups, and non-Indigenous groups. The more partners and key stakeholders that we have coming together, we will have a stronger approach to go towards the federal government for Nutrition North funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice. I've had an increase in enquiries within my constituency in regard to options for people who are in domestic violence situations. I would like to know who the lead department within the GNWT is for domestic violence? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be frank about it. There is not one single department responsible for domestic violence, nor is there a Minister responsible for domestic violence. What there is, fortunately, is a recognition by this Cabinet of that gap, and a recognition of the need to fix that gap. What I would offer instead is to commit to the Member that I will take it upon myself to ensure that there is an answer to that question in the life of the Assembly, sooner rather than later. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response from the Minister, and I appreciate as well that she stopped herself when she said the length of this Assembly, because I think it's really important, with us having the second-highest rate of domestic violence in Canada, that we need to give this an owner right away, preferably by the end of this sitting. My next question is: will the Department of Justice, or whoever the lead department is for this, commit to putting together an information resource that we can distribute to people to let them know what their options are for the next chapter of their lives that does not include domestic violence?
