Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement today, I alluded to some differences in definition between the federal government and the GNWT and how they refer to "northern" or "Indigenous" content within their procurement guidelines. I want to kind of get away from that a little bit because assumptions can be concerning when it comes to procurement, and I want to have a very good understanding of how the NWT is benefitting from the Giant Mine Remediation Project. What I am wondering from the Minister of ENR today, Mr. Speaker, is: how many contracts have been awarded to NWT businesses, both as suppliers and contractors, and what dollar value percentage of the entire value of the contracts does this represent?
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I answer the questions, I want to clarify that, although the GNWT is a co-component of the Giant Mine Remediation Project, the Government of Canada is ultimately the project authority when it comes to procurement. The percentage of contracts the Giant Mine Remediation Project in 2018-2019 awarded was 91 percent; 79 percent of that was northern Indigenous suppliers, and 12 percent went to northern non-Indigenous suppliers. This, the 2019-2020, saw 83 percent of this amount given out; 81 was to northern Indigenous suppliers, and 22 of that was to northern non-Indigenous. In regard to the dollar value, in 2018-2019, there was $26 million out of the $28.8 million that went to northern and non-Indigenous suppliers; 2019-2020 saw $45.85 million out of the total of $49 million.
Before I go on to my next question, I would like to request that those numbers be provided in writing and also the definitions used for each of those, as well, pretty please. Thank you. My second question, Mr. Speaker, is: a significant focus of the Giant Mine Remediation Project needs to be training and apprenticeship; this is an opportunity for the Northwest Territories to develop made-in-the-North experience for remediation workers for a future remediation economy. How many apprentices are currently working on the Giant Mine Remediation Project?
Thank you. In regard to apprentices, I do not know the exact number. Right now, we know that 62 percent of onsite employees report themselves as NWT residents.
The numbers again today are very different than what is being reported in the annual report from the Giant Mine Oversight Board, and so I would love to be able to figure out with the Minister where the discrepancies are coming from and to better understand if it is a difference in definitions used or if there is something else happening. However, my next question, Mr. Speaker, is: companies that do not follow their contract responsibilities under the federal Aboriginal Opportunity considerations are fined by the federal government; given that the repercussions of that and the damages of that are felt by the NWT and not by Ottawa, what is the process for those fines? Do the fines go to Ottawa? Are any amount of the fines left behind here in the Northwest Territories? Is there any NWT benefit to those fines?
There are contract deductions are brought back to communities mostly impacted by Giant Mine via contribution agreement. In 2019-2020 the federal government provided approximately $957,000 in funding to positions within Yellowknife Dene First Nations, North Slave Metis Alliance, City of Yellowknife, and Alternatives North. In addition, approximately $450,000 has been provided to Yellowknives Dene, Dechinta Naowo, for environmental monitoring training program.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question was in regard to specifically the fines received by the federal government for contracts that don't fulfil what they call their "Aboriginal criteria" for their federal procurement process. It's outside of other contracts that the government provides for remediation or for partnerships with Indigenous governments. This is very specific to people not following what they say they are going to do with the procurement contracts that they have with the federal government. Maybe I can request that in writing. I can do that tomorrow in a written question for the Minister.
My next question is: one of the recommendations of the Giant Mine Oversight Board was for the federal government to appoint a special envoy to develop and implement a comprehensive and integrated economic strategy for the Giant Mine Remediation Project. This role or this position would act as a liaison between the federal, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous agencies. What I'd like to know is: has this been done with the federal government, if the Minister knows that? If the federal government has not done this because this is so important to the Northwest Territories, would the GNWT be willing to appoint a GNWT staff member to do this work? Thank you.
The project team met with Giant Mine Oversight Board in August, discussed the specific recommendations and to clarify the intent of the special envoy. The GMOB clarified that they would like to see focused attention on solutions to help remove federal procurement barriers within the federal government. The project team committed to bringing this forward to senior management in Ottawa on a broader scale. It should be noted that through the project's socio-economic working group and senior advisory body, the project team already works closely with Yellowknives Dene First Nation, North Slave Metis Alliance, Tlicho government, City of Yellowknife, Alternatives North, and Parsons, to address socio-economic aspects of this project. I'd also like to note that Parsons and the project team will be hosting a three-day online industry day event, October 20th to 22th. The Member talked about it in her Member's statement. The intent of the industry day is to provide local contractors in the community with advice, advance information on upcoming work and procurement opportunities at the site. More information can be found on Parsons' website. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Through my Member's statement today, I mentioned that some of our responses for COVID in terms of cases. It's important that we keep our Aboriginal governments up to date because they each have their own populations to deal with, their own people to respond to. This goes to those three presumptive cases that we have, that currently we're looking at. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. My first question is: when will the Department of Health and Social Services let the public know when these presumptive cases are positive or negative?
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for the question. The issue here is that our rapid testing machines are not validated for positive tests because we've had so few positive tests. In fact, none since these machines were procured. The situation is that we need to have them validated by the Alberta lab. There is some transportation time. Then, we get into the queue in the Alberta lab, and they provide us with the results. As soon as those results are known, we will inform everyone via public health advisory, the way we did on Friday with the presumptive cases. I can't speed it up. There are factors beyond our control. We are as anxious as everyone else to hear whether these cases have been validated. In the meantime, we have taken the precaution of treating the presumptive cases as positive cases and responding on that basis for maximum precautions.
Marsi for that response from the Minister. I understand there is an investigation as well. Are there any big updates on this investigation?
I'm not exactly sure what kind of investigation you're asking for an update on. I don't have any more information to share than what I just said.
I came up with some of these questions on the fly, so my apologies for that. My last question is: are we going to be expecting any more cases aside from these three presumptive cases?
I have no way of knowing whether there are going to be additional cases. There was some contact tracing going on, I haven't seen the results of that. If there are additional cases as a result of that the public will be notified through the public health advisory process which we used last week through the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. If a person tests positive after being in a community already, what is the government's response or protocols around contact tracing? Could the Minister please walk me through a scenario of what would happen in that instance? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for the question. There is a protocol in the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer that a team who are trained to do contact tracing then figure out who the contacts are and then confidentially call those people and make them aware that they are a contact of somebody who has tested positive. They give them advice on the next steps to take in the event that that has happened.
I heard her mention that there had been training on contact tracing. Has the staff of the Department of Health and Social Services as well as the CPHO had formal training, certified training, on contact tracing?
Yes, thank you. The training is done by the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer. I'm not sure what the Member has in mind with formal training. There is a national protocol that is being followed. I don't know if that's what she means, but this is not something unique to the NWT. There is a formal process, or a national process, that is followed in contact tracing.
I'd ask then, if there has been training done, if the Minister would supply me with records of training for the staff of the CPHO and the HSS. In the recent cases of COVID in Yellowknife, were these protocols followed?
I don't have an answer to the Member's question.
More of a comment: I can't believe the Minister doesn't know if her own protocols were followed in a case such as this.
Thank you. I'll take that as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will continue my questioning of the Minister of Lands. He refuses to create a process guide for transferring land in fee simple for Aboriginal titled Indigenous governments because presently he cannot. We have a land lease only policy in the Northwest Territories. I believe it is a Cabinet policy. My question for the Minister of Lands is: is he willing to get rid of the lease only policy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lands is undertaking a broad review of the effectiveness of the Land Lease only policy in collaboration with EIA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that there is a review and work is being done. Will part of this review consult existing lease holders and see whether they can transfer their land to fee simple? I believe a great example is: I think we have six agricultural leases in the Northwest Territories. That's about six famers who would be better off getting mortgages, getting loans, and running their farms if they had their land. Will such work conduct a review of leases we can convert to title?
As I said before, we need to consult with EIA and with our Indigenous governments moving forward.
That's not quite the answer that I'm looking for. That would be an answer that we are going to get rid of the lease-to-own policy and replace it with something that allows fee simple title. In this same vein, presently, about half of Akaitcho territory, half of the southern Northwest Territories, is withdrawn. Does the Department of Lands have any role or plan to decrease the amount of land that is presently withdrawn in interim land withdrawals?
The quick answer is no, but the Member should ask the Minister responsible for EIA that type of question.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the problem I'm trying to get to. Right now, I am not prepared to support putting a multi-billion-dollar road through Akaitcho territory when half of it is withdrawn, the other half will likely go to Akaitcho, and we have no guarantee what their mineral staking regime will look like. We have not provided investors certainty in this area, and I don't believe it's just EIA. I think it's EIA, ITI, MACA, and Lands, and this huge gap in land administration in the Northwest Territories. My question is: will the Minister of Lands work with EIA to come up with a comprehensive strategy on what we are going to do with land outside of the formal land claim process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[Microphone turned off] ...the Member, but to make him feel better: yes, we will work with the Minister of EIA. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to just ask a couple of more questions, if I may, of the Minister of Finance on the large emitter carbon tax grant program. I think she almost started to make a commitment that she was prepared to review the current program and the policy that is in place, so is the Minister prepared to do that? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am hesitating only because I don't want to get mired in reviews on a program that hasn't even really barely rolled out. I agree with some of the comments the Member has made around ensuring that there is enough flexibility in this program to really capture true innovation, and so that we are really encouraging a sea change in terms of how we deal and how we can really use this funding to advance green opportunities and green mining. Whether it's maybe a small-scale, internal review that happens, that much, I think, is probably safe to say. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister for that. She's almost there. If I had had a chance to look at the guidelines and the policy, I would have given her that advice back in March, but of course, everything kind of shut down with COVID. One of my concerns is that renewable diesel, and I'm not talking about biofuels, renewable diesel, as I understand, at least one of the diamond mines is very interested in trying to trial it and maybe even use some of the money that is available through the large emitter carbon tax grant program, but it doesn't make any sense to try to apply, the way that it is currently formulated. Has the Minister heard about this proposal to look at renewable diesel at one of the diamond mines?
I don't have the details about some of the different proposals. What I do have is some engagement that has come, frankly, from my other hat, from the diamond mines who are looking for opportunities to be innovative. Whether that is through renewable diesel project or others, I think I take the point that there are some ideas out there that are going to be innovative where, right now, if we're demanding proof of a 5-percent reduction as part of the application process, that may be a difficult target to be able to provide that advance proof of, if what you're trying to do is something innovative. There has to be a way to modify what we're doing to ensure that we're capturing that true innovation. That is something I've spoken about many times, and again, as I say, it may be simply a matter of an internal, small-R-type review that needs to happen so that the eligibility criteria are not excluding otherwise valid, good projects that will advance green energy and green mining.
