Thank you, Madam Speaker. The ATIPP Act, yes, we were hoping that implementation would be speedier, but there have been significant staffing challenges. We are hoping to bring the act into force in spring of 2021. Recently, we did bring Section 61.1 into force to allow for the access and privacy into force to allow for the access and privacy staff to act as ATIPP coordinators for other public bodies. The staff within the Department of Justice are currently examining the fees, and we hope to have the regulations in place to have those reductions that the Member was speaking of by December.
We have not yet had a chance to turn our minds to the classes of records that could be exempt. I sat with the Member in committee room A for endless hours discussing the ATIPP Act, and I think this is a valuable part of it. If we have classes of records that do not need to go through ATIPP, that frees up a lot of people's time. Saying that, I will note that the requests, the number of requests, have remained relatively steady, but it is the complexity of requests that has increased. That alone, this change alone, I do not think is going to alleviate all of the problems. However, I do see it being a significant change and look forward to making it. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister for that early Christmas present. A major change that was introduced in the amendments was extending the legislation to include records held by municipalities. In the spring of this year, the then Minister of Justice told me that a working group was formed with representatives of communities to ensure that they were going to be part of the process to develop those regulations. Can the Minister tell us what is going on now in terms of the application of ATIPP to community governments, and when will this actually happen?
The working group was formed. There was Justice, MACA, LGANT, and the NWTAC. They met in April, but like many other things, the next meeting was delayed. We hope to have that meeting prior to Christmas. That is when the working group will be looking at what resources are required, what is a realistic timeline to make this happen. Then, we can have a plan going forward. I don't want to put this onto the municipalities when they are not ready. It would be a disaster. It wouldn't be good for anyone.
Yes. As a former city councillor here, we do not want to implement this on top of municipalities without ensuring that they actually have adequate resources. One of the other major elements of this review of ATIPP was looking at ways to improve training and development of resource materials for all the different departments. Can the Minister provide a timeline for when this training is going to be completed and new support materials developed?
The department is working on the materials. I do not have a timeline for training, but the departments that need training are receiving training upon request. Just recently, departmental staff trained with the Department of Infrastructure on how to process these requests. It's an ongoing process.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake. Final supplementary.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. Yes. One of the hallmarks of developing this new legislation was the strong consultation and input with stakeholders and even Members on this side of the House. It was, I think, a good way of bringing forward legislation, and the Minister even spoke about that himself. Can the Minister, though, tell me when we can expect to see draft regulations to finally realize the potential of this legislation, and will he commit to share those regulations with standing committee for their review and comment? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
As I stated, we expect spring 2021 for the act to be brought in. We will need the regulations by then. As the Member knows, the Department of Justice is creating a policy for the prepublication of regulations, and these are the exact types of regulations that I imagine would be shared and open for input. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Madam Speaker. Just going back to my Member's statement on illicit drugs, I wanted to specifically target those hard drugs, such as crack cocaine, cocaine, and fentanyl. I actually looked up some weight measurements for what a pinch of salt is. When you pick a pinch of salt and you are cooking with it, there are about 60 milligrams there. That is how heavy that is. To put things in perspective, I looked up the lethal dose for fentanyl, and that is 2 to 3 milligrams. That is not very much. These are the kinds of drugs that are killing our people. There is an opioid crisis going on in western Canada now, and we need to really start addressing this issue. Going back to my questions, my first question to the Minister of Justice, Madam Speaker, is: can the Minister share with us if his department is aware of any increase in the amount of drug-related crimes in the NWT since COVID-19 began compared to pre-COVID times? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. The RCMP monitor the calls they get and what type of calls they get. Unfortunately, I do not have the data right now to compare the pandemic times to the pre-pandemic time, but when I have that data, I am as interested as the Member to see what it says. Anecdotally, we have all heard that there has been an increase in illicit drug use across Canada. I think, last time I checked, there was just over $100 million in surpayments that made its way into the territory. Just that amount of money, I would assume that there would be an uptick in all sorts of different sales, including illicit drugs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
In my notes here, I have "Madam Speaker" underlined quite clearly so I don't make that mistake. Thank you to the Minister for that response. Like I said, we have got to get ahead of this. I agree with surpayments. I think his department, as well, needs to look at ways to make sure that the money gets to where it's needed because there are a lot of these payments that are meant for food, rent, and make sure we get those out to those areas and not get out to the bootleggers and out to these other drug dealers. That is what we want to see. My second question, Madam Speaker, is: can the Minister tell us what sort of antidrug initiatives are currently in place by the Department of Justice within the NWT?
The antidrug initiatives are across government. It's not just the Department of Justice, of course. There are things with the department of education, things that are taught in school. Health has proactive antidrug campaigns. In terms of the Department of Justice, we're part of the opioid task force along with the RCMP. We work closely to try to avoid, and we have been lucky so far, the type of opioid crisis that we have seen in the South. We are also partners in the GNWT's alcohol strategy. We have seen a lot of drug seizures over the last number of months. Every time you turn on the news, it seems like there is a significant drug seizure.
I just want to point out that we see those, and yet, they still keep coming. It's an enormous market. If we do not stop people from buying, they are just going to keep coming, no matter how many seizures you have. It's a demand issue. The RCMP are also working to work more within the community, so training and having better collaboration with communities. If they can become part of the community, you get that inside intelligence, and you are not just the RCMP officer; you are part of the community. There is also, of course, the gun and gangs strategy that is being funded by the federal government, and that is an ongoing program that, unfortunately, is relevant now, with organized crime in the territory.
Thank you again for that response. It's good to hear there are some initiatives in place. There are so many of our people with addictions who are susceptible, and we still have to keep fighting for them. My other question is: can the Minister explain whether or not there have been any changes regarding antidrug procedures, protocols, or initiatives within the NWT since the COVID-19 pandemic has begun?
Changes, not really changes over the past six months. However, as I mentioned, the gun and gangs strategy is under development, and I think that lessons learned during the pandemic will inform that.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. If we are to restore momentum in our efforts to bring about gender equality in Canada, social, economic, and recovery efforts must take a feminist approach and, more so in the North, an Indigenous feminist approach. How does the Premier intend to ensure that economic and social recovery takes an Indigenous feminist approach in the Northwest Territories, and what will that look like in terms of changes on the ground? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. When I hear that economic recovery has to take a feminist approach and it has to take an Indigenous feminist approach, as well, basically, that is saying to me that one size doesn't fit all. There is lots of research that says that once size doesn't fit all when we talk about many things in life. What does that look like? I think that the Department of Finance was one of the first ones to come out of the gate and say that they were starting to do a gender-based analysis of all of their work, and I think that that should go across all departments. Like I said, one size does not fit all, and we do need to look, whenever we do our programs, at how that impacts on the most marginalized of our societies. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Recognizing COVID's negative impacts on mental health and family dynamics, has this government put any special measures in place to assist women who are experiencing family violence during the middle of the pandemic?
I would like to defer that to the Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is an item where there are a number of different things happening that are specific to women in the North and the response under COVID. There certainly has been funding that has been under specific pots of the relief funding that we received from the federal government that is required to go toward supporting vulnerable populations. That would be particularly people fleeing relationships of violence, certainly, the majority of which do tend to be women. There has also been funding that has been directed toward supporting women who would be more vulnerable, for example, by the provision of cell phones for women who would be in relationships that put them at particular risk, in a context where they would have less access to outside sources during the course of the pandemic in a lockdown. Staff who are involved with status of women are continuing to engage because we are actively doing the work around preparing for the national inquiry in our action plan. That has also been continuing to happen throughout the course of the pandemic, and that gives a further opportunity to speak to women in the context of the pandemic, as well. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
We have long heard of the efforts of the NWT to introduce third-party reporting of sexual assaults. What is the status of this work within the Northwest Territories, and what changes can we expect to see this fiscal year?
I would like to defer that to the Minister of Justice.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Sexual assault is underreported in the territory, and I'm sure really around the world. Many survivors don't feel that the justice system will help them, or there could be other reasons why they don't want to come forward to the police. As such, there are some jurisdictions that have a third-party reporting system whereby the victim can go to that third party and they will let the police know anonymously what happened. That person can then access the support services until such time as they are ready to report this. The GNWT has been looking into this. There were some meetings in 2019 and as recently as this August, and we are finalizing what that third-party reporting could look like. We have been in talks with the organization. I don't have a timeline on when we're going to see something roll out, but we are quite far along. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. During the 18th Assembly, the then Minister of Justice informed this House that the Aurora Research Institute was contacted to identify best practices to prevent and reduce family violence. Domestic violence deaths almost never occur without warning. In most cases, there have been repeated instances of violence and indicators of risk, as well as opportunities for agencies and individuals to intervene before an incident that ultimately results in death. What can the people of the Northwest Territories expect to see as a result of the work done by the Aurora Institute? Thank you.
The GNWT Interdepartmental Working Group on Family Violence commissioned the Aurora Research Institute to provide an evidence-based report for the GNWT to use as a guide to shape the actions and the investment of the GNWT in responding to the crisis of family violence. The results of this report show that we need an integrated, community-based approach to appropriately support families and prevent violence. They identified five main themes: education interventions; cultural integration; the justice response; the clinical response; and system transformation. This will require a change to our system, and we started this change by creating a territorial director of family violence to coordinate this work. I look forward to working with our partners in responding to this. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Our 2030 Energy Strategy is one of the key documents in making sure that our government is a leader in climate change. Specifically, one of my favourite sections is Section 4 of that strategy, which commits us to increasing our share of renewable energy used for community heat to 40 percent by 2030, essentially getting more and more of our homes and communities off diesel. Can I have an update on this section, Madam Speaker, from the Minister of Infrastructure?
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, we're on track with the actions. In fact, I would say that we're doing very well. Of the 13 short-term actions in the strategy, we have successfully implemented 11, which is about 85 percent, and we still have a year left of our three-year plan. Currently, in the Northwest Territories, about 25 percent of heating is through renewable sources, such as firewood, wood pellets, and electric heat. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I am glad to hear we're at 25 percent. That's pretty good, and we're on track to getting to 40 percent. I do note that the short-term goals the Minister refers to are to be completed by 2021, so that gives us one more year. Specifically, one of my favourite sections which I've brought up is the support the residual heat and biomass district heating section. Can I get an update on how that short-term goal is working and whether it will be completed by 2021?
We have the enhanced energy alliance programs to support biomass heating. Notably, the introduction of the community wood stove program almost doubled funding to the Arctic Energy Alliance's Alternative Energy Technologies Program to support things like biomass heating. We also introduced $8 million in application-based grant programs until 2024 to support larger-scale private and commercial biomass adoption through the Greenhouse Gas Grant Program for buildings and industry. Related to this, we also introduced smaller and community-scaled biomass heating through the Greenhouse Gas Grant fund for governments, which has over $7 million available until 2024. We continue to support improving the biomass chain supply through the GNWT's adoption of wood pellet heating through buying biomass heat from Indigenous organizations; for example, the Nihtat Energy Limited, which is located in Inuvik. As well, we continue to see great progress in installing biomass heating in government buildings under the GNWT Capital Asset Retrofit Fund, notably with the recent 2.5 megawatts of biomass heating installed at the new Stanton Hospital.
I am glad to hear all of those initiatives. I believe the money we invest through the Arctic Energy Alliance is some of the best dollars we have out there in regard to our response to climate change. I am also glad to hear that we're on track for some of the short-term goals in this section. However, the long-term goals set out in this section are really how we're going to get and meet this target by 2030. Can I have an update of how those long-term goals are and a commitment that we are on track to meet this target?
The 2030 Energy Strategy will be reviewed periodically so we can assess what works and what doesn't. When we do the review, this will assess our progress and reassess targets if we need to. The GNWT will look to address longer-term goals as it renews its 2019-2022 energy action plan in 2023-2024. Of course, we'll be engaging with public members and committee in developing the next new energy action plan.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
I have no further questions, Madam Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madam la Presidente. I have some questions for the Minister of Justice. Back in June, we made some extraordinary efforts to pass something called a temporary, variation of temporary time periods COVID-19 Pandemic Measures Act. What this piece of legislation does is: it allows Cabinet, by order, to extend or adjust a date, deadline, or other time period prescribed in any act that our government has in place. I'd like to confirm with the Minister of Justice whether we've actually ever used this legislation. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Each department is responsible for following the laws of the territory, and I haven't been keeping track of which departments have used this. It's not something that centrally comes to me. I can check to see. I can say from my own departments, neither Justice nor ECE has used this, although I know that there are plans at ECE to use this. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. One of the sections, 2(2), says that an order will only come into force seven days after Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight actually gets a copy of that. I've never seen a copy of an order issued under this legislation, so I don't think it's ever been used. I'm just wondering if the Minister knows, we went to great lengths to pass this legislation quickly, why it hasn't been used? Can the Minister explain why this legislation is yet to be used?
I can't speak for every department. I know that when this legislation was being contemplated, it was clear there were some deadlines that departments weren't going to meet, and I just referenced ECE as being one of them. We didn't want to be in violation of other statutes. That's the reason this was put forward. Like I said, it expires, I believe in December, so there's still some time. I know we'll get at least some use of it, but I can't speak for other departments as to why this was not used. Perhaps, they found other workarounds. There was a lot of attention put to other things during the time when this bill was put forward, and this was sort of a backstop. I think it's a good thing that we haven't had to use it. We found other ways to comply with our legislation without reverting to this, and I think it shows the departments were being proactive and staying on top of the things they actually needed to stay on top of and the worst-case scenario didn't happen in a lot of situations.
