Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do agree with the Member that communication has been difficult over the last few months. Once COVID-19 hit, lots of us could not be -- usually, we are in the House all the time. There were workplace things that had to be done. There were a lot of issues that came up. Communication is one of the hallmarks of consensus government. Before the pandemic hit, it was common to see Ministers and Members in the House on a regular basis, and both sides of the House would walk the floor and talk to Ministers or MLAs, not only about issues but just building that relationship and sometimes just going for lunch. Those things are gone, Mr. Speaker, since COVID-19, and so, like I said, we need to learn from the lessons that we have experienced over the last few months.
Communications, we are focused on our health and safety, and we kept trying to do the communications through normal processes, so we offered our list of briefings to committee all the time, not even thinking that committee did not have the opportunity to gather as much, just like we were. We realize that was a mistake, so how we are working on it going forward is: we are going to provide more briefings, written briefings, to standing committees in advance, not just waiting to say, "Can we present to you?" We will still give standing committees the opportunities to look at them and decide if they want a briefing on it or not, but we have to recognize that we are not always going to be in the House now.
I do say that we do have an open-door policy within the GNWT. A lot of Members phone me in the evenings. Pick up your phone if you need something. Give me a call. We can do virtual communications, as well, whatever it means. Life has changed for all of us, and I do not know when it's going to go back, so we have an obligation, all of us, to try to make sure that we are still reaching out to each other by the means that we have available.
This government has had a few problems with putting our message out to the public. The big one is the establishment of the Covid-19 Coordinating Secretariat. People were angry, and they let us know about it in no uncertain terms. I would ask the Premier: has she had time to reflect on this, and how will this government address the way we communicate with the public in the future?
Communication is one of the areas that, again, is often undervalued within a government and yet is so critical. It really came to the forefront when COVID-19 hit how much we relied on our communications in the GNWT. I have to be honest, Mr. Speaker. In previous years, when we have had so many priorities and so many mandates, government had to make tough choices, and often it was the decision: do we increase our communications, which we need desperately, or do we provide the program that is in our priorities and mandate? I hate to say it, but oftentimes communications took the hit.
I understand that, but our communications team is trying to do their best and is stretched thin, as I had stated earlier. However, we owe it to the public. The secretariat was a great example and a great example of how the first question: how we are going to relate with Members better? Usually in previous governments, what happened was that we would present an initial brief to the Members; we would take their feedback; we would work on it, give and take; we would go back, present it; and then we would go public. The secretariat, all in all, all of us recognize that that process was not followed properly, and we did not do a good job of communicating, myself communicating, to the public. However, I don't want to lose sight. The secretariat, we should not be focusing so much on the lack of communication.
We need to focus, on the secretariat, about what it is. It's bringing our isolation units, our border controls, our PPE, our 811, and our Protect NWT together so it's cohesive, in one department, and people can get back to work. We are working on our communications. We recognized it was a huge issue. We have spent a lot of time with our communications team to try to get better on that, and we will be coming out in the future with more communications. However, Mr. Speaker, I do want to give credit. The communications team has taken a beating over the while, and they are doing the best they can with the resources they have, as well, and I do want to say that I am proud of all of our communications people.
Mr. Speaker, various businesses throughout the NWT have been suffering financially over the last few months. Can the Premier confirm what communication strategy is in place to ensure that businesses are being heard and responded to in a timely manner?
When I first began here a year ago, I said that I wanted to engage with stakeholders more, businesses or stakeholders, a sector. I do believe that Ministers, again in the beginning, were engaging, out there talking to businesses, doing the best they could, and then COVID-19 hit, and everybody went into lockdown, right across the territory. That impacted our communications, no doubt.
However, now that we have a little bit of knowledge on where we are going, the systems we need in place to deal with COVID-19, all Ministers have been back at it and trying to engage more with stakeholders. It's not only about telling our stakeholders, businesses or whoever, what we are doing. I have been firm about that with Ministers, Mr. Speaker. It's about engaging them before we make the decisions whenever possible. Again, like I said, we kind of have a little bit of a handle on what we need for COVID-19. The secretariat will deal with that. Departments are trying to get back to normal business and meeting our mandate, and stakeholders engagement is critical within that.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The people of the NWT want a champion. They want a leader, and they want to hear from that leader. In this instance: the Premier. They want her to show leadership and create enthusiasm by providing relevant information in a timely manner, not only on COVID matters but, just as importantly, the economy. I ask the Premier: how will she accomplish this, that is, becoming a champion for the NWT?
Again, like I said, rushing, all of departments rushing, all of us rushing to try to figure out what we needed to do to keep our people safe, I dropped the ball on communications. Again, I did not realize how important it was. The secretariat, the issue with the secretariat brought it to the forefront. It told us that we need to do better, and so, like I said, our communications team is doing the best they can with the resources they have. However, we took the time. We stepped back after that, and we took the time. We have met with our communications team and all of Cabinet, in honesty, and we looked at how we are actually going to have more of an all-of-government communication strategy, how we are going to get out into the public more, how we are going to reach the public and work with the media more. We just finished that exercise. You will see more in the coming weeks on how we are going to actually implement our communications strategy going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of Lands is: how is his department going to undo a major poor decision of the 18th Assembly that should have not happened without proper, meaningful consultation on the land leases? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have committed previously in this House to the Member and others, is that I have made a commitment within the next three years to have the public land regulations in place. We are still on stride right now. We have two and a half years left in that commitment, and we are trying to get it done in that timeframe or sooner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister's responses to my office regarding land leases is unacceptable. After getting up in the 18th Assembly 72 times addressing this issue to the former Minister of Lands, why is this Minister not true to his convictions and not proactively changing the way he's dealing with this whole issue?
I empathize with the Member. Yes, I was up there 72 times asking for it, and yes, I found the answers unacceptable. However, as soon as I became the Minister, I directed the department to complete the regulations to move forward. Just so the Member understands, I also was asking questions, written questions, and bringing forth to the Minister about the challenges when we had residential leases and get that changed. For 31 times, I asked them that, and we were able to reduce that fee. I understand the Member asking the question and not being happy with it, but sometimes when we get answers, people are not happy.
I'm very concerned about the contents and tones of the threatening letters being sent to the people of the Northwest Territories who have land leases and especially to my constituents of Fort Smith. Will the Minister consider changing his department's policy and review the rationale of doing the right thing?
The letters being sent out to leaseholders are a legal document and should not have the tone, and we apologize if people see there is a tone to it. What we encourage the Member to do is to get her constituents to reach out to our regional office and to have the conversation with our regional staff so they can better understand what we are trying to do.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, the letters are coming from Yellowknife, not from the regional office, just for correction. Given the effects of this ongoing pandemic and its impacts on everyday life, would the Minister consider, for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, placing a freeze on all land leases for rights-based permanent and long-term residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, I would encourage the Member to get her constituents to reach out to the regional office so they can better understand that. We're in a pandemic. We came up with a solution presently, and so we were happy to waive the fees for a year, starting April 1, 2020, which was $2.7 million from our coffers. It was a commitment we made during this Assembly, during this fiscal year, to do proper things for our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. What is the department presently doing to make sure my residents on the Ingraham Trail do not lose fire services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Member, for your question. MACA is currently in conversation with the City of Yellowknife. They did establish a working group, and we are looking at the property taxation act and also the Area Development Act. We're trying to see what options are made within those acts that would be able to work with the Ingraham Trail and looking at the services to be provided there. Also, looking at if we were able to, under the taxation act, have the residents at the Ingraham Trail contribute to that so we can look at other financial means for providing fire services to the Ingraham Trail. Thank you.
My concern is that the municipality has been asking for changes to the Property Assessment and Taxation Act for decades, and Ingraham Trail residents have been asking for a resolution to how their taxes and fees are spent for decades. We simply have months to resolve this problem. I believe there are some longer-term solutions, such as a volunteer service, perhaps, such as incorporating the Ingraham Trail such that they can have some control in their governance, but that can't be done in the next six months. Will the Minister approach the City of Yellowknife with funding for an MOU to buy us some time to resolve this issue?
Thank you, Member, for your comment. Currently, right now, the working group has just been established. Conversations are happening between MACA and the City of Yellowknife. There has been no conversation about the financial means right now. It is too premature to establish any financial obligation or financial commitment to the Ingraham Trail, but just for the Member that we are in conversations and these discussions are happening.
What's happened over time is that we have allowed more and more people to live on the Ingraham Trail such that it has close to 200 constituents out there, making it larger than many of our communities in the Northwest Territories. Coincidentally, we have not adjusted our Hamlets Act, which has a threshold of 25 residents. They could incorporate tomorrow and would be entitled to millions of dollars such that I do not think it is too early to be having the financial conversation. If we do not address this now and if we lose fire services, I'm going to recommend incorporation, and I'm going to get millions of dollars when this is a $100,000 problem. Can the Minister put a dollar amount to this and go to the City of Yellowknife?
Thank you, Member, for your comments. We have to consider that there is a consultation period that needs to happen within the City of Yellowknife. There are jurisdiction issues. Looking at providing fire services to Ingraham Trail is quite complex. This is not the only area within the Northwest Territories that is affected by this conversation right now. Just for the Member's sake, we are in the conversation with the City of Yellowknife. This is happening, and I will keep the Member informed as we progress.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My other concern is that there are a number of residents who I am sure do not know that their fire services got cancelled after decades, and I'm worried that they are going to call for fire and either we will be liable or the City of Yellowknife will be liable, as no one told them this service was cancelled. Can the department reach out to all those who have cabins on the Ingraham Trail and inform them of the cancellation of the service and our plan to remedy it?
Thank you, Member, for your comments. Within the working group that has been established, we are looking at an approach of how we are going to be addressing and consulting with all of the residents at Ingraham Trail. I will keep the Member informed as the department progresses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Holy, we give an initiation to our new health Minister today. I had a couple of questions for the Minister after hearing my colleague from Monfwi's statement on addictions and addiction services. I have a quick preamble. I'll keep it brief. I heard that there is $1.8 million allocated for on-the-land funds available for healing. For me, I think it's important to have good metrics in place for aftercare and stuff, to make sure that we follow up with our people who are healing and make sure that they're doing well, and also to let us know if we're doing a good job and if our programs, our funds for programs, are successful. I don't expect a response too quickly to this, but I guess my first question is: can we have a breakdown of the $1.8 million so far this year, and where are they being used, and how much has been used so far this year? Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh for that question. The total budget for on-the-land funding is $1.095 million and the mobile treatment after-care funding, and these are often pooled together, is $729,000, so the total is $1.8 million. Of that, $482,631 has been spent, and the two IGOs with agreements in place are the Dehcho First Nations and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Each IGO is allocated the same amount. The on-the-land funding available to each IGO is $125,000, and the mobile treatment after-care funding is $66,350. I can make a copy of this page, and I can make it available to the Member so that he has that in front of him. Thank you.
I think it's important, and I had another question going back to after-care reporting. I'm just wondering if there are measures in place before people go out to treatment that there is a follow-up to say, maybe two months, three months, six months down the road, just checking on them to see if they are doing well and if their treatment has been successful or not and to do those kinds of increments.
Thank you for that question. I am very interested in that follow-up, as well, and it's my understanding that the department will start surveying people who go out to facility-based treatment and check in with them, whether they stay for the full time or they leave early, and to check in with them more than once when they come back, to find out whether they've been able to retain their sobriety.
I did have one final concern. I think maybe it's just a communication case; I'm not too sure. Maybe it could be an opportunity for the department. If all of this money is not being accessed throughout the year, I'm just wondering if that is something the department can look at. In, say, the past couple of years, have there been carry-overs for this fund, for the on-the-land fund?
Thank you very much. I don't have a ready answer to that. I know that it's only recently that this money has been increased to $1.8 million and, given the pandemic, I wonder if there will be a carry-over this year because, at this point, we've only spent about a third of it. I can, however, get you more specific information and provide that in a written response.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho. Yes, thinking about it, I do have one final question. I will start with a beginning comment. There is the new announcement of sending our residents to Lloydminster and Toronto. Again, I feel like this is a missed opportunity. I really feel that we need to get more value out of our programs and where we are spending our money. Again, it pains me to see our funds go to the South, and I really feel this is an opportunity to bring them back. I know we can't address all the issues in terms of drug and alcohol addiction, because it is a problem, we all know that in this room, but if we could revisit not having our residents leave the territory and find more ways to keep the money in the North and not leak money, have this economic leakage, per se. I guess my final question is: is there still an appetite to do this within the department? Marsi cho.
Thank you to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. There is no current plan to establish a facility-based treatment option in the Northwest Territories. The last one was Nats'ejee K'eh. It cost as much to run Nats'ejee K'eh as it does to contract the six other places in the South, and so we feel that it's better value for money to have the facility-based treatment in the South, notwithstanding the fact that that money is not being spent in the North. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to ask some more questions of the Minister of Finance around the Dominion Diamond situation, and I apologize. She doesn't have these questions before her. I know that, in her responses to some questions I asked earlier today, she talked about how the GNWT is involved in these proceedings and that they make sure that the court knows about the business interests at stake. Of course, we all want to see the mine continue, but one thing I didn't hear the Minister talk about was: we have a lot of workers at the mine site. Some of them are actually organized, as well, and there is a $20-million deficit in the pension fund. Of course, we would want to make sure, I hope, that any workers who might get laid off would get proper severance and so on. What is the position of our government with regard to the workers and the shortfall in the pension fund at the site? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is one of the difficult parts of this entire proceeding, is that we see and we feel very keenly the fact that it is residents of the Northwest Territories who are going to be affected, and it is difficult when there are few levers that the government can pull to necessarily protect every single time every single employee who is being affected by what is happening with Dominion.
Again, we want to ensure that we are providing an atmosphere that allows that mine to reopen while protecting our environmental securities, but insofar as being able to do a lot in terms of directly impacting on the protection of those workers, we are not going to be in a position to do much, aside from continuing to advocate at the process itself, with legal counsel at the process, to explain to the court and make it clear to the court that this is not just one small mine with only a handful of people there, that it is actually a tremendous contributor to employment in the North, both directly of those who are affected, but also indirectly to a number of northern businesses. We are playing that role, we are speaking out, and I believe that our message is getting through. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
