Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I was speaking in my Member's statement about clawbacks in regard to Inuvialuit beneficiary cheques in regard to getting our yearly payment as a beneficiary. Is it correct, in my understanding, that beneficiary cheques used to be exempt from income support on clawbacks since 2007? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spent a lot of time trying to learn the file, and I think I've done pretty well. I'm not up to date with what happened in 2007, so I can't confirm what the status of the program was in 2007. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Why does the GNWT feel payments to beneficiaries across the Inuvialuit beneficiaries be clawed back from income support clients? Why?
I understand the Member is using the term "clawback," but it's not like we're taking people's money. What happens is that the Income Assistance Program is there to provide people with their basic needs, and so, if there is money coming from another source, then that money goes towards the basic needs, and the amount, that gap, is lessened. That's the situation here.
With that said, this is the first time I am hearing about this, and this is different from money that comes from an impact benefit agreement or a land claim. This is money that is earned through the corporations, I believe. It is earned income. With that being said, I am willing to look at this. Like I said, it's my first time hearing about it, but I'm hearing lots of suggestions from the Member. I am happy to sit down and look at the different types of income that is exempted.
When they are deducting disability benefits, old age benefits, land claim payouts, how much does it save the GNWT on all these clawbacks which should be given to the people? These are disability, old age. People need help. We are the highest paying for groceries in my riding. We are the most northerly riding, and we pay the highest prices. Why are they clawing back what little they get when our government doesn't have jobs to provide up there?
The Member is right. People in the Northwest Territories, and especially in the Member's riding, pay more than anywhere else in Canada, and that is why the Income Assistance program in the Northwest Territories pays much more than any other program in Canada.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to amending the income support regulations to exempt claims for beneficiaries from all land claim groups? They do get benefits once per year. Would the Minister commit to amending their clawback system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I already committed to the Member to have a look at this. This is the type of work that I am glad is getting brought up here because these are the things that I was looking into prior to COVID sort of derailing things. It's nice to get back to business as usual. I have made an offer to the standing committee to make a presentation where we could sit down and have some more in-depth conversations on this, and I look forward to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Earlier today, I mentioned the recent Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories decision on the Acho Dene Koe First Nation case on the relationship of community investment plans to regulatory requirements under oil and gas legislation. Can the Minister tell us whether she has read or been briefed on this important case and what, if any, changes her department is going to make to ensure that Indigenous governments and all Northerners benefit from resource development? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am aware of this case. We are working to update our benefit plan guidelines that do exist under our oil and gas legislation. When it comes into force, the MRA will give us the ability, in law, to establish measures that will generate benefits for all Northerners.
Mr. Speaker, I must remind the Member that Indigenous governments and all Northerners are already benefitting from resource development. Every producing mine has an associated socioeconomic agreement in addition to independent IVAs that are negotiated with Indigenous governments. Since 1996, under our SEAs, socioeconomic agreements, almost $30,000 jobs have been realized for northern and Indigenous persons at our diamond mines. These same mines have spent over $16 billion with northern companies and service providers. Our government receives royalties that ultimately benefit all people of the Northwest Territories. Indigenous governments also share in resource revenues under the devolution agreement. We are already benefitting, Mr. Speaker. Let's not forget that. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I am not prepared to engage her in a debate in question period about whether there are benefits. My purpose here is to make sure that we benefit more from resource development. In August of last year, the Assembly completed its review and passed amendments to our oil and gas legislation that, among other things, would have done away with much of the secrecy around our management of those resources. Can the Minister tell us when those amendments will finally be brought into force and what is the source of the delay?
I am not sure that that work is delayed. Nevertheless, I can tell the Member that it is close to completion, and I am anticipating that we will be able to identify a target coming-into-force date fairly soon, possibly as early as the end of this month. There are two things in particular that have taken some time. The Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations, or OROGO, wanted the opportunity to develop two sets of guidelines and interpretation notes, which will help explain their application and administration of two of the amendments. These have now been drafted. More critically, our government needed to update our technology infrastructure to be able to host a secure, public-facing, online database. That is the work that is now almost done. When it is ready, we will go live and bring the legislation into force.
That's great news from the Minister. I am glad to hear that we are weeks away from flipping the secrecy onus. I certainly pushed very hard to get the public registry as part of the legislation. In my statement, I also referenced the extraordinary power and discretion of Cabinet and the Minister in deciding what, how, and when benefits might be secured from mineral development through enforceable agreements or plans. Can the Minister tell us what the implications of the Acho Dene Koe First Nation court case are in relation to securing benefits under the Mineral Resources Act, and when will those provisions actually be brought into force?
I don't believe that I am the first ITI Minister to admit that I can't predict the future. The one for-sure thing we can take from this court ruling is that, when it comes to petroleum projects in the Northwest Territories, a very clear distinction was made between benefit plans and agreements that might be signed between project proponents and Indigenous governments. Now, as far as our work on the Mineral Resources Act is concerned, I can tell you that, as we get back to the more regular business of government, these regulations will become a focal point for our government. This work will take time, and our planning for it is under way. The MRA is a brand new act. We are building some of the regulations from the ground up, and that will require research and input from multiple parties. What I will do is assure the Member that, as our work moves forward on this file, I will keep him and the rest of the Members of this House involved and informed, as already committed to during ITI's main estimates review.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for another piece of really great news. Of course, it's a challenging time in the Northwest Territories for resource development as we have so little control over commodity prices and financing. What assurance can the Minister provide that securing benefits for Northerners from resource development to fulfill the promise of devolution is truly a priority as we enter an era of economic recovery? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I am happy to provide the Member and this House with that assurance. Absolutely. It is part of our mandate, and I think it has been evidenced most recently in the rollout of our approach to COVID. I have said numerous times that we will need our resource sector to anchor our recovery. Mining and exploration are the biggest source of private sector jobs and income for our residents and, when they return to full operations, will once again be major buyers of products and services from Northwest Territories companies. We have worked with our mines and resource companies to ensure their safe and continued operation. We have taken steps to protect mineral tenure in the Northwest Territories by suspending payment and work requirements as we work on more comprehensive and coordinated relief measures. Also, the Mining Incentive Program has been adapted to support Northwest Territories prospectors and company-led mineral exploration projects to ensure that their projects this summer will be in line with orders and conditions of the Chief Public Health Officer. All of this, Mr. Speaker, because we recognize the importance of mining and resource development in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. As I am aware that the department is working about the District Education Authorities on their plans for reopening in the fall, today, there was an article released by CBC that the DECs were not informed about the decision that they have to fund from within COVID supplies. I hope this is not the case, as they don't have the budget. My question is: is the DEC responsible to cover this cost? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every single day, there are meetings between the assistant deputy minister of education and culture and all of the superintendents in the Northwest Territories. Every two weeks, I meet with the education leaders, the chairs of the 10 DEAs and DECs in the territory, and there is constant communication. We always make sure that we let the education bodies know what we are thinking, and we always want to know what they are thinking because, the way education is in the territory, it is so decentralized that we have to collaborate.
In terms of the costs, where we are right now is figuring out how we're going to reopen schools. The Chief Public Health Officer released a document that outlined how schools should be run in terms of the safety precautions that need to be taken, what sort of PPE is needed, what sort of distancing is needed, class sizes, and things like that. Since the day that that was released, ECE has been working with the education bodies to figure out how that could be implemented in the upcoming school year. I believe every school now has completed a plan. The Chief Public Health Officer is going to look at two of those plans, one from a big school and one from a small school, give feedback, and from there we can figure out if there will be extra costs. Then we can start talking about costs, but right now, we're not even at that point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In the way that this has been rolling out, it's been so quick with COVID. It's not the schools' fault that COVID happened, either. I'm just wondering: if the department is going to be working with the DECs, will they have to cover the cost initially? How is this going to work? I know the Minister says it's not, but there has to be some kind of idea. Are they going to provide money, advanced money, or are they going to use within and bill back to the Department of Finance or wherever this COVID fund is? Are there COVID relief funds for schools?
To the specific question: are there COVID relief funds? No. Those would have to come through this House, and that hasn't happened yet. Our budget, our main estimates, which we passed yesterday, that document was finalized before anyone had an idea that COVID was even coming to North America. There is nothing in there, and nothing has been in the supplementary estimates yet. However, we have allocated the full amount for the year to schools, so I don't think it's urgent that, on day one, we need to start making payments or deal with this because that entire amount is going to be available to them.
We're not going to leave schools hanging. That's the bottom line here. Students have had a rough break these past few months, and we need to make sure that they get back on track. We need to make sure that schools are supported. We're all in this together. ECE is in it with the education councils, and we're going to work together to make sure that what needs to get done gets done.
Before I arrived here, I wore a different hat. I'm very familiar with the Beaufort-Delta and the sizes of the schools and the number of students, and I'm very familiar with Inuvik East Three Elementary. We have a new school. Junior kindergarten got implemented. They took over the music room, the computer room. We have no space in that new school with junior kindergarten numbers, and I don't know where they calculate they can fit students in. We have on average about 450 students coming into our school in the fall that is already tight-fitted. How is the Department of ECE going to ensure that these students have proper-fitting PPE going into the fall?
That's a good question about proper-fitting PPE. We can't just say students have to wear PPE and then not have stuff that fits them. Those are conversations that are happening right now. In terms of just PPE in general, ECE has received, I can't recall the numbers, but thousands of pieces of PPE have already been donated that are going out to the schools. The boxes of them are sitting here downtown right now. We're working on that. The Emergency Management Organization is procuring PPE for all government departments, including ECE. I can get back to the Member on those details because I have to say I don't have those exact details. It's a good question, and it's something we're going to have to work on.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of ECE to collaborate with ITI. I know that there was money available for supplies. As a past nurse, knowing that PPE is one-size-fits-all, so with little kids in junior kindergarten, they're not going to fit general PPE masks and gloves and things if they're going to need that. Can the Minister work with the Minister of ITI to maybe create some jobs in my community and in the rest of the Northwest Territories communities to maybe have some people sewing some masks and get on it in the summer and get some for the schools so that they can come up with a plan on how to do this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do have the numbers about the PPE that have been donated. There have been 3,000 face shields donated. Those are going to be worn by the adults in the school, so that will be a couple each. Then 20,000 face cloth masks have been donated, and those come in various sizes for students. That being said, there will need to be more, so I'm happy to work with the Minister of ITI and figure out how we can do that and create some local employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] As I spoke in my Member's statement earlier, when Chief Jully Bruneau asked for a school, that was about 50 years ago. Again, today, I ask about Education, Culture and Employment that is under education [End of translation] ...for a new school in our community of Behchoko. I would like to ask questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about his capital plans for a community school. The first question I have for the Minister is: what criteria does his department use for deciding whether to build a new school or simply rehabilitate an existing building? Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a technical question. What happens is that there is an evaluation of the school done, the structure of it, and a determination made of whether or not it would be more cost effective to retrofit the school or rebuild it. When I say "retrofit," I don't mean just patch it up. I know that the Member said that in his statement, "patch it up." The school I went to, the school that my father went to, is 50 years old. It just got a retrofit, and it looks brand new. It's not just a patch job here and there; it's a full-on renovation. That determination is made on whether the school can safely be retrofitted or not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Just moving on, my next questions is about feasibility. What has the Minister's done to determine the feasibility of replacing Chief Jimmy Bruneau School with a new modern school today?
There was a technical evaluation done on Chief Jimmy Bruneau. It's a big school, and part of it is still good. What the technical evaluation showed is that the bones of the school are in great shape. There is part of it, the residence, which can't be retrofitted, and there is work to be done on the bus garage. Other than that, the Department of Infrastructure has looked into it, and the technical evaluation says that the school is in good shape and would last another few decades, I believe, with a retrofit.
In the next few decades, it will be a 100-year-old school. This is not acceptable. The school is deteriorating. We may not see it on the surface, but it is. The maintenance crew obviously has been telling us, as well, but I'll move on to my next question because this is a question from my leadership and my community members of Behchoko. The education department has no problem promising to replace J.H. Sissons in Yellowknife with a brand new school. Why is Chief Jimmy Bruneau School, which is five years older, not receiving the same treatment or consideration?
Just like people, the age of buildings isn't always necessarily the best indicator of what kind of shape their in. J.H. Sissons was in a shape where it needed to be replaced, whereas Chief Jimmy Bruneau is in much better condition. The Member is correct that there have been conversations with the Tlicho government. He accompanied me to Edzo, and we sat in the school and spoke with the Tlicho leadership. They made very clear what their preference would be. I made some commitments to them, and I followed through on those commitments. I am almost at the point where I am going to be reaching back out to the leadership.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, my leadership has demanded a new school. I am glad that the Minister is following through with that. This is a very serious issue that is before us, a 50-plus-years-old school. It requires, obviously, demand from the school that they replace it with a new school. The next question I have to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, obviously, is a decision. Which of the two options, school replacement or renovation of the existing school, is the Minister leaning towards? This is a question from my leadership, Mr. Speaker. Masi.
Like I just said, I travelled with the Member to Edzo, and we sat in the school and had a conversation with the leadership. I am going to go back to the leadership, and we are going to have a discussion. I don't think that it's appropriate to have that discussion here on the floor of the House before I speak with the leadership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Just to go back to what I said in my Member's statement earlier, it is always good to have more inclusion. I tried tying my Member's statement into how we should go forward with the GNWT and stuff. When I looked at the Affirmative Action Policy, there was a line here I thought that I should quote. I thought it was important. It says here, "No individual seeking employment, training, or career advancement opportunities in the public service should be disadvantaged or discouraged by attitudinal or systemic barriers." I thought that was an important statement because it had to be said, and it still has to be said now; we're still talking about it now.
Going forward, we are still seeing this problem of disproportionately Indigenous people in jails, Aboriginal people in jails, low graduation rates, and stuff. I still get calls about hires. We're still getting all those people from down south who are getting our jobs, taking our jobs away. That's what I am hearing, but it would be nice to get some questions here. My first question to the Minister of Finance is: what is the current status of our Affirmative Action Policy, and when was the last time that this policy was reviewed? Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
