Madam Speaker, each year on November 11th, Canadians pause to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who gave their lives for our country so that we may enjoy the freedoms that we have today. I encourage residents to reflect on the bravery of Canadians, both past and present, who have put their lives on the line to protect the peace and safety that make up the fabric of our society. The heroes who have stepped up in the name of freedom and democracy have done so in conflicts that span every generation.
During some of our darkest days, Madam Speaker, Canadians left their families behind to fight against the evils of the time, to keep our country safe. For that, we are forever grateful. We must remember those who have been forever changed by war, those who never returned home, and the families, friends, and communities who continue to feel the impacts of those losses. They defended democracy and helped build peace here at home and around the world. They gave up their future for the future of others, and it is important that we take the time to reflect on this selflessness and honour those who answered their country's call.
Remembrance Day is also a time to honour and thank all members of Canada's military for their service in times of war, conflict, and peace. Over the years, Canadians from all walks of life have stood in cooperation and friendship with our allies as we have contributed to the fight against forces of tyranny. Madam Speaker, we can never repay the debt we owe to the many men and women who have paid for our freedom with their lives. What we can do is remember their sacrifices and pay tribute to their bravery and patriotism, lest we forget. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Members' statements. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. National Skilled Trades and Technology Week is a Canada-wide event designed to promote awareness of the many opportunities in skilled trades and technology. Awards are being provided to apprentices who have achieved the highest mark equal or greater to 80 percent in their theory examination for their trade and level, as well as those who have achieved journeyperson status in 2019-2020.
Today, I am pleased to acknowledge the hard work of a couple of constituents from Inuvik Boot Lake who are on their path to getting their journeypersons trade status. I would first like to acknowledge Joel Hanthorn, who successfully completed the second year of his Construction Electrician ticket. I would also like to acknowledge Joseph Lemieux, who has successfully completed the third year of his Plumber/Gasfitter ticket.
The trades are important to keeping the people of the North safe and our economy moving ahead in a positive manner. Madam Speaker, there is always a need for tradespeople in the territories, to build our houses, keep our roads and airports open, keep our ferries running. We need tradespeople to heat the lights and keep the water running. In short, Madam Speaker, we need tradespeople for everyday lives. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I, too, want to acknowledge the National Skilled Trades and Technology Week here in Canada and, as my colleague from Inuvik Boot Lake has just outlined, some of the important features that come from this opportunity to encourage the trades and for young people to gain skills.
Madam Speaker, I am also very happy to take this opportunity to congratulate one of my constituents, Slavimir Rohak, for achieving this award and obtaining one of the highest marks for the Level 2 Heavy Equipment Technician. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Members' statements. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today, I am going to be recognizing one of our Northwest Territories Housing Corporation employees. The employee worked for us at the local housing authority in Tsiigehtchic. It is with great sadness and regret that I convey the news of the passing of a great Northerner, Ms. Elaine Blake of Tsiigehtchic. I want to express my whole-hearted condolences to her family and friends, and to the residents of Tsiigehtchic for their loss.
Elaine had been the local housing association manager in Tsiigehtchic for nearly 14 years. Prior to working as a housing manger, she was the housing coordinator for the community of Tsiigehtchic and, prior to that, she was also the contractor for the Petroleum Products Division of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Elaine was a long-term resident of Tsiigehtchic and had moved to the community in 1980. She was the mother of two boys, Jeremy and Darby, and two girls, Charlene and Sasha. She is also survived by nine grandchildren.
Madam Speaker, Elaine was very active in the community as a volunteer, helping with Mackenzie Valley Jamborees, Canoe Days, and spending her free time cooking for elders. She was an avid canoer. She enjoyed travelling the Northwest Territories to spend time on the water canoeing and in competitions. She also enjoyed sharing traditional activities with her children and grandchildren.
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation will be missing her and her tireless work, and her commitment to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation's provision of affordable and quality care and the safe and adequate client service that she had provided. People tell me that she went door to door and always opened her door, and she was always available for people at any time, in any circumstance. She went above and beyond to meet the client service of all public housing tenants. She addressed them seriously, and she addressed them with professionalism.
Madam Speaker, our communities need more Elaine Blakes to display and to help us with our client service at the community level. I ask Members of the House to join me in a moment of silence to celebrate the life of Ms. Elaine Blake, a northern hero. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Members, we will have a moment of silence.
---Moment of silence
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a Return to Oral Question asked by the Member of Deh Cho on October 16, 2020, regarding long-term care facility.
The former health centre building in Fort Providence was deemed surplus by the department when the new health and social services centre was constructed. It was determined by Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Infrastructure that the building had reached the end of its useful life from both a technical and program perspective. It would have been cost prohibitive to upgrade the facility and meet current healthcare design and infection control standards to continue to be used a health facility.
The Department of Health and Social Services has determined that building long-term care facilities in communities outside of regional centers is not feasible because of the high cost of building and operating a long-term care facility and the need for adequate nursing and personal care staff to operate it safely.
The Department of Health and Social Services is committed to improving homecare services to enable elders with care needs to remain living in their community longer. As part of the mandate commitment to support seniors to age in place with dignity, we are working with our partners in other government departments to identify gaps and help improve other services and housing options that meet the growing needs of seniors.
With respect to the former health centre, the Department of Infrastructure is responsible for the disposal of the property in accordance with the GNWT Disposal of Improved Real Property Policy. I have been advised that, in early October, the Minister of Infrastructure provided the Member with an update on the disposal process for the former Fort Providence Health Centre, which is being done in accordance with this policy. I understand there is currently an assessment of the building under way and the Department of Infrastructure has already received interest from local groups. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd like to recognize Eleese Scott, who is a guest in our gallery. She's the Chief Governance Officer with WSCC and a resident of Range Lake. I'd also like to take a moment to recognize the media, Madam Speaker, who have been here every day. Your work is critically important, and our work would be a lot harder without you. Thank you for being part of our work. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would also like to recognize Eleese Scott, Chief Governance Officer, and Debbie Molloy, President and Chief Executive Officer for WSCC. I greatly appreciate the work that these ladies do. They're very responsive, and they do great work and so does WSCC. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Welcome. It's been a while since we've had anybody in here. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would also like to recognize Debbie Molloy. She does great work as the President and CEO of WSCC but also great work as a Yellownife North constituent. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Marsi cho, Madam Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Finance after my Member's statement today on affirmative action. My first question for the Minister is: will the Minister provide statistics on the number of direct appointments to the public service that have been made per year over the last five years? Marsi cho, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can pull those numbers out and give some information for the Member back to 2016 to 2017. Actually, before I do that, Madam Speaker, let me just take note that there are currently 5,922 employees in the public service, not including casuals. As for those that were direct appointment in 2016-2017, we have 122; 2017-2018, 97; 2018-2019, 124; and in 2019 and into 2020 the number changes quite a bit because there were significant changes to the collective agreement. The number is 301, owing to the fact that there were a number of modifications in response to the collective agreement. Thus far, there are 76, but I would note that there were a number of direct appointments arising from what was the response to COVID-19. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you for those stats. It's really important we have the public understand a little bit more about the direct appointment process. It leads more to my next line of questioning. I would like to find out how many people find their way into the public service permanently by starting out in a casual position and getting direct appointment into an indeterminate position. Will the Minister provide a breakdown of how many of the direct appointments were for people appointed into an indeterminate position from a casual one?
In the last five years, out of all of the numbers I had just read, 224 of those went into an indeterminate position from a casual one.
Okay. Thank you for that from the Minister. Will the Minister also provide a breakdown of how many of the direct appointments were Indigenous, P1 status?
I am trying to do math quickly. I don't have the breakdown for Indigenous Aboriginal Northwest Territories individuals here. In the last five years, I have 335 direct appointments were for Indigenous people, but again, in the way that the public service works, that can mean Indigenous to the Northwest Territories, not necessarily Indigenous Aboriginal. I will see that I get a full breakdown for the Member.
Thank you, Minister. Supplementary, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
My apologies for interrupting, Madam Speaker. Thank you for the response. We could get that particular breakdown in writing, that would be much appreciated. My last question, and again I want to speak a little bit to this a little more. This direct appointment process, it's been criticized in the past, has been had before. There has been some political patronage there. There is no transparency or accountability, either. I think there should be more checks and balances there. There are other ways that this could be handled rather than running it through Cabinet solely.
Again, it would be nice to see an HR representative or even one of my colleagues from the Regular side sitting on these direct appointments, just an idea. Anytime we do this and there is some sort of secrecy here, what's the legal term, act of omission, we have to tighten up those loopholes. That's my comment on that. My last question is: will the Minister commit to developing options for new, more accountable, and transparent direct appointment approach? Marsi cho.
I'd like to take that since it's a Cabinet question. Currently, the requirement for direct appointments is to be reviewed by Cabinet. It's established under the Public Service Act. That ensures that department appointments are being used appropriately. However, Madam Speaker, the Public Service Act is currently under review, and part of that review, we can consider changes to the direct appointment process. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. My statement referred first to this government's mandate commandment to increase food security through food industry, increasing country food harvesting, and improving Nutrition North. Of course, there are several tasks there. Can the Minister give us a brief update on the current status of this mandate commandment on increasing food security? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ITI.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. There are quite a number of initiatives taking place right now. There is, of course, the sustainable livelihoods program that is led by ENR that was introduced back in August of 2019. That includes a significant amount of work in terms of food security with respect to on-the-land and harvesting mentorship of young people to engage in on-the-land harvesting and on-the-land food security. In addition to that, there is work happening over in Health and Social Services. They are responsible for meat regulations, responsible for anti-poverty funding, responsible for nutrition supports. In addition to that, Education, Culture and Employment is responsible for supporting students and income support individuals who may require supports with food security.
Furthermore, there now is the Department of ITI with which I am standing to give a bit more information. ITI is responsible for the agriculture strategy and for the implementation of that. We have recently put in place a senior advisor for food security. I think it is envisioned that this individual will help coordinate all of this work that is clearly happening across the GNWT, and currently, that person is conducting an inventory of all of these different programs. I have not mentioned an exhaustive list. I've given only the highlights. One other one, I suppose, is the fish strategy with which ITI is responsible, and we have advanced that project just in the last month. I have two hours just tomorrow, in fact, where I will be sitting down with the department to see where that's at. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that. Could say something about fish there, but we had a great fish lunch today, too. I mentioned that the pandemic did disrupt some of our supply chains, put our food security at some risk. There was a lot of renewed interest in local food production. I mentioned some of the wonderful projects that took place this summer. It's not clear, though, whether we took full advantage of that convergence of events and interest. Can the Minister tell us what lessons we've learned about building food security during this pandemic?
There certainly has been a lot of work done in ITI around the supply chains, monitoring those supply chains and ensuring that they are supported. I would say that the course of the pandemic and the need to maintain the supply chains was an opportunity to develop a lot more relationships, and good relationships, across the supply chain, both from the grocery store and all the way to those who are transporting the food. In addition to that, there has been certainly a renewed interest in terms of food production.
I would be remiss not to note that, while there is a lot more interest in food security, which is certainly helpful to all of those programs I mentioned earlier, the convergence is not entirely complete. There of course are challenges between: do we provide, for example, free seeds of potatoes, or do we encourage commercial production? It's not quite so simple, and there has to be a balance struck. However, I think this opportunity over the summer was a chance to start having those conversations so that we can be better going forward.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I have looked for data and reports on the output of the agricultural sector here in the Northwest Territories, and it's really hard to find anything. The ITI website has an agricultural sector profile page, but there is not much quantification there. The Bureau of Statistics doesn't seem to have much data on its web page, either. Of course, if you can't count it, how can we measure progress on building food security? Can the Minister tell us what steps she is taking to ensure that we can actually measure food security improvements with real targets and measurement of progress?
There was an initial sector-wide survey done back in 2017-2018, as the agriculture strategy was getting rolling and being implemented. That does need to be updated, and another round of surveys does need to take place in order to compare to that baseline. I would note that one important thing that has happened this year, Madam Speaker, is the formation of a territorial agri-food association that can also help advocate for these issues and help ensure that, when we are gathering the data, we are, in fact, going to the right places to gather the data from that membership. Hopefully, there can be, in fact, more information and more quantified information going forward.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. I really look forward to counting carrots in the future. We are going to get some hard statistics. I spoke about how ITI's efforts on agriculture seem to be largely focused on business and commercial food production. I think that there is some real urgency in building a food security strategy here for the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister commit to developing a real food security strategy for the Northwest Territories that incorporates food self-sufficiency, including agriculture, country foods, inter-settlement trade, and programs that deliver on targets, with regular evaluation reporting? Can the Minister commit to a food security strategy for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
The need to look at food security and to improve food security is part of the mandate of this government, but the ITI lead is focused largely on the commercial side of that. It is not the only side of the food security issue, and that is why Health and Social Services, ECE, and ENR are also involved, because each department has a part to play. Again, I can certainly reaffirm the commitment to achieve what's in the mandate, but I cannot stand alone and say that there will be a particular strategy developed. I would again point back to the fact that we do have now the senior advisor of food security who can ensure that this work is being coordinated so that we can achieve the mandate item around food security. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that the Department of ECE in income assistance does lots of great work, and we have probably one of the most generous income assistance programs in the country. I think the department even inherently recognizes some of the benefits of a basic income. During the pandemic, one of the first things we did is we payrolled people for three months to give them more guaranteed time to report. We also got rid of the productivity requirements such that they got their money whether they failed to show up for a meeting or whatnot. I believe the roots are there, but I believe we need to break out and look at what every department is doing and what the federal government is also doing to really make a proper guaranteed basic income. My question for the Minister of ECE is: as part of our income assistance review, will we conduct a feasibility assessment of a guaranteed basic income? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I pretty much agree with everything the Member has said and earlier in his statement, as well. I will just answer the question. Are we going to conduct a review or a feasibility study for universal basic income? No. However, that is because I do think that the Income Assistance Program has a strong foundation and that we can build on it. In many ways, it's just a tweaking of a few rules here and there, and we have something that is very similar to what the Member is talking about. We have already made some of those changes, and he mentioned those, as well. He is doing my job for me today, so I think I will leave it at that and wait for the next question. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Numerous studies have said that the biggest issue for implementing a guaranteed basic income is actually jurisdictional; it's getting the federal money streams to line up with the provinces and territories. I know every time the federal government rolls out a new program, we in income assistance have to go change and see whether we are going to include it or not, is the first decision. Then we have to recalculate the seniors' subsidy; sometimes, pensions get involved; sometimes, income assistance gets involved. It causes this bureaucratic mess of programs not aligning. The federal government, this Liberal Caucus, has made a basic income one of their number one priorities. Our Arctic framework number one goal and the number one priority is ending poverty. I believe, when that framework comes out with lobbying, we could get it to be a guaranteed basic income. Is the Minister willing to write to the federal government and lobby for us to be a pilot project for rolling out a basic income?
