Debates of October 20, 2020 (day 40)

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I asked a series of questions of the Minister of Lands, and he rightfully said some of them should go to EIA. I apologize for my often frustration with the Minister of Lands, but it is a mandate issue. They often do not have the tools they need to resolve issues. Mr. Speaker, one of the responses from the Department of Lands was that an Indigenous government can get land outside of a formal land claim process by a lease application. I think the idea of asking an Indigenous government to lease their own land from us is insulting. My question for the Premier is: can we develop a process to transfer land to Indigenous governments that is outside of the formal land claim process, a process I know we only plan on settling two agreements in in the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will start by saying that we did put in the mandate to settle two land claims in this government, but if we can get two, that is not where we are stopping. I just want to make sure they are clear with that. That is a goal. It does not mean the end. Yes, you can get land outside of the formal land claim process. Land is transferred from lease to fee simple sometimes. However, you need to be careful because there may be conflict in interests. Land withdrawals are there for a reason. They are there to make sure that the land is guaranteed so that, when Indigenous governments sign their land claims, they have that land there and it's not a whole bunch of cabins all over the areas, that it's already given out for fee simple. There is an application process that people can do, but it really indicates the need to bring forward these land-claim negotiations so that everybody knows where they stand. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I imagine such a process requiring the consent of the Indigenous governments presently in negotiation. To me, that is how we would implement UNDRIP; that is how that would best work. However, this is an issue even in settled areas. There are Indigenous governments up in the Gwich'in and Inuvialuit region where we have settled the claims, who want access to land and they cannot get it because we go, "No, no. We settled those claims." Going forward, the relationship with Indigenous governments should be the same as municipal governments: we will give them land when they access it, when they want it. What I am asking for the Minister of EIA is to develop a process guide of how we could do this, much the same to what we were doing for municipal affairs. Will the Minister or the Premier develop such a process?

Land withdrawals have a purpose, like I said. They are reviewed every time that they expire. The goal of the land withdrawals is to preserve the encumbered land for eventual identification and selection in the land use process. I am not going to commit to developing a strategy, Mr. Speaker, because there is kind of an unspoken strategy. There are three areas that are usually talked about with Indigenous governments and the Governments of Canada and the NWT, and it usually goes around royalties, land, and cash. Those are the three areas. That is the strategy, and Indigenous governments, as they move forward, they choose and pick what works best for their people. If you want that written out, I can write that out.

I believe we are in a massive trust deficit with our Indigenous governments, and as we in Canada negotiate how much land, how much royalties, how much cash they get, this process drags on for decades. Then, little issues such as small parcels come up, and we have no method for resolving those and building the trust, such that we will never settle the claim. We are just stuck in this cycle where we can not build the trust. Mr. Speaker, I think this is also reiterated in the lease-only policy. We administer leases; they are very costly, but we do not reach out to Indigenous governments and say, "We want to get rid of this land. We will give you the money for it if you want it. We will completely accept your consent." Is the Minister willing to look at the lease-only policy?

I know that the Minister of Lands is looking at the lease-to-own policies within his department. However, I do want to say that, in regard to land leases, we have to recognize that the priority is on resolving the outstanding negotiation. That is the priority and has to be the priority, but I am willing to listen to the Member more if the Member wants to come and meet with me at any time to hear what his issues or his concerns or his recommendations are. However, again, my priority is on the land claims and the rights of Indigenous governments.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Do you think that it is acceptable to notify a business moments before that they are part of a public health notification? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have an opinion on that. There is protocol that is followed. Thank you.

Since we are not actually able to question the CPHO in this House and you are the department that is responsible for that, perhaps you could inform us of a way that we could go about getting answers to our questions? As well, I would also like to know how you interact with the CPHO to keep yourself informed.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Please direct your questions through me in the future. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you. Myself, the Premier, and the Finance Minister meet with the CPHO weekly, and her staff, and we bring forward our questions, she brings forward hers. The CPHO historically, before your time, was invited by AOC to brief the committee on questions related to COVID, so maybe you want to speak to your committee about inviting her again.

I will. Could I ask if the Minister spent the weekend being informed and briefed by the CPHO?

I am not sure of the relevance of that question. The answer is no, I didn't spend the weekend being briefed by the CPHO. That doesn't mean I wasn't briefed by other people, but I don't feel like that is something that I need to discuss in detail here.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll clarify. I was asking because the Minister was unaware of the protocols that have been followed. As the previous Minister, that would have been the first questions I asked. Thank you.

Just to reiterate, the protocols were followed to the best of my knowledge. The CPHO has a standard practice with public advisories, contact tracing, testing, and so on. To the best of my knowledge, the acting deputy CPHO was taking care of business with respect to the presumptive cases. Thank you.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I will speak in my language. As MLAs, we have a lot of responsibility in this House. We are here to represent the 40,000 people in the Northwest Territories, and there are only 19 MLAs here. Some days, it's a very difficult job for myself. I've been here for almost 16 years. I really wanted to represent my people, so that is the reason why I am here. I know the operation of the government, and we want the best for our people. That is the reason why we ask questions. Some days, it doesn't seem like we're getting the answers. Although we ask the right questions, we don't get the right reply that we want. The government here, how they reply to the MLAs is not accurate, sometimes. We ask questions to each other, and they reply to our questions. Also, we, in turn, return those answers to our people, and we tell our people that this is how we operate here and this is the answer we get.

In the Northwest Territories, the people, the membership, are waiting for our answers, so we always try to ask the questions, and we expect a reply. Sometimes, getting that answer is very difficult from the Ministers. If the Ministers don't reply to our questions, it's really hard to go forward and to give that information to our people who are asking these questions. We do have a new government in place, and at that time, we all agreed that we would work well together. How is that coming along today?

Mr. Speaker, it's been one whole year now. There are a lot of things that have happened since then, and now, we are dealing with COVID-19. Back in March, there were five cases in the NWT. Ever since then, there were no cases since then, and this past Friday, there might be potential cases in the NWT. There are a lot of things that are happening around us with economic development, and the businesses are asking questions. They are begging the government, and they are asking us as MLAs. They are asking us these questions. They want changes. They want changes in their communities and in the NWT, and the governments are not listening to us.

Ever since we've had COVID, there are a lot of questions out there. When we look at all this, we take our people's questions and forward them to the government. They, the people, are the ones who voted us all in here. It's not because we want to be here; it's because people asked me to be here, and they nominated me to be here. Whatever they want, whatever their concerns are, I bring it to this table and ask these questions. They write to us, they email us, they phone us with all their questions so that we can forward them to the Minister. That is our job standing here, to question the government.

When we ask the government questions, they are supposed to give us an answer. Some days, it seems like they just cut us off with no answer. That is not supposed to be the case, here. I wonder what my elders are thinking, Mr. Speaker. We need to have respect here, and I don't see the respect here. For myself, when I asked a question today, it's the elders who were asking me this question. They asked me to ask the Minister, and we are trying to help the people who have gone off the path. That's what I was trying to ask, and they are not giving me an answer. What am I going to say to my elders? I have no answer for them.

Some days, it's very difficult to stand here to ask questions, but it is our job to ask these questions. When I look at the situation, we need to go forward together. Some days, we're not working together at all. It seems like our government is falling apart, but the 19 of us, we need to fix this. We need to bring forward all the issues that are not working for us. Sometimes, 19 of us cannot fix everything; it's the people who support us, behind us, who are standing behind us and trying to push us forward. That is how we're supposed to work. This is not happening at all.

With my Commissioner's address, I wanted to speak. You can say whatever you want on Commissioner's address. We need to hear from our people. I asked that same question last week. Let's listen to our people and forward their questions because they're the ones who put us here, and it doesn't look like we're doing our job because the questions are not being answered. All the MLAs, we need to have that respect among each other, and also the elders, the babies, the children, and all the people in the community. There are approximately over 40,000 people. We need to listen to these people and try to go forward. It seems like we don't seem to remember them, some days. Every time I stand here, I speak on behalf of the people all the time, for my membership, for my Tlicho region.

Not only that, but today, the question I forwarded today was for everybody in the NWT. It is our job to talk, some days, for the NWT. The government I want them to understand what I'm trying to say. Maybe they're not remembering what I'm saying. I was a Minister for eight years, I understand the difficulty of a Minister's position, I was there. We cannot always follow the rules and regulations of the government. We need to put our people first, what they want. When I look at this, that's the situation we are dealing with today. I know because I experience it.

Mr. Speaker, I also sat in that chair. I know the whole process in here and with that experience I am saying this. We always have to represent our people. Our people are number one because they are the ones that put us here. When it comes to questioning, we should always have an answer for someone. As MLA, one of our jobs is to relay the answers that we get from the Ministers and bring it to the community, as well, whether it's going to be the chief and council, the leadership, elders right to babies. We are supposed to have an answer for all of them, but it's not the situation today.

I wanted to speak on this issue because I believe the process is not working for our people. It's not only going to happen today. I might have to bring this up again later on, but right now, that's all I want to say because it's the people that voted us in here today. They are the ones that forwarding these questions to you. It's not my words; it's my peoples' words. I thank you for giving me this opportunity, and I want to be able to work all together. Masi cho. [Translation ends]

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: "Inuvialuit Water Board Annual Report, April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020;" and the "The Natural Resources Conservation Trust Fund Financial Statements for the Year Ended March 31, 2020." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table the following document: "NWT Resource Production 1999 to 2019." Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that, on Thursday, October 22, 2020, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Hay River North, that the following Member be appointed to the Board of Management of this Assembly: The Honourable Shane Thompson, Member for Nahendeh; and further, the following Member be removed from the Board of Management as an alternate Member: Ms. Katrina Nokleby, Member for Great Slave; and that furthermore, the honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Ronald Bonnetrouge, be appointed as Deputy Chair of Committee of the Whole. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Notices of motion. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that, on Thursday, October 22, 2020, I will move the following motion as well: now therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Hay River North, that the following Member be appointed to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment: Ms. Katrina Nokleby, Member for Great Slave; and further, that the following to the Standing Committee on Economic on Government Operations: Mr. Ronald Bonnetrouge, the Member for Deh Cho; and further, that the following Member be appointed for the Standing Committee on Social Development: Ms. Katrina Nokleby, Member for Great Slave. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. WHEREAS Referral of Tabled Documents 165-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 1-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT; 166-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 2-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT and TD 167-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 3-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT have been tabled in this House;

AND WHEREAS these responses required detailed consideration;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes that Tabled Documents 165-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 1-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT; 166-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 2-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT and Tabled Document 167-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 3-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT be referred to the Committee of the Whole for consideration. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The motion is in order and nondebatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Hay River North, that Bill 11, Legislative Assembly Officers Standardization Act, be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this bill amends eight statues, the standardized provisions related to officers of the Legislative Assembly. The amendments include: standardizing the terms of reference of statutory officers, such that appointments are each for a four-year term; the process for resignation, suspension, removal, and appointment of statutory officers and acting statutory officers; and provisions governing terms of employments of statutory officers. This bill also addresses other matters of a minor and uncomplicated nature in these statutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. To the principle of the bill.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour. All those opposed. Any abstentions. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Speaker, I am now seeking unanimous consent to waive rule 73(2) and have Bill 11: Legislative Assembly Officers Standardization Act moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to move Bill 11: Legislative Assembly Officers Standardization Act moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Are there any nays? There are no nays.

---Unanimous consent granted