I am not going to write to the federal Minister to ask that question. I am going to look into what we are doing, how we can do it better. When I have the conversations with the appropriate federal ministers and when I am on these FTP calls, I will have those types of conversations and promote the types of changes that we are looking at. The Member mentioned there are a number of different programs that we offer across the GNWT, across departments, and that the federal government offers, as well. Within the GNWT, part of the income assistance review is going to be looking at everything that is offered, what housing offers, what health offers, what ECE offers, because we need to move to a more streamlined approach. I think it will cut down on paperwork; it will make people's lives easier, and it will be more client-centred. I have no problem suggesting that the federal government does something similar, but it's a little difficult to get the federal government to change their programs just for us.
The Member mentioned that one of the biggest difficulties of implementing this is the federal government, but I think one of the biggest difficulties for implementing a guaranteed universal basic income is the amount of money. I think it's as simple as that. If we had $50-, $100-, $800-million to put towards a guaranteed basic income, we could use that money to solve a lot of problems. This is a very blunt instrument. Maybe we put a hundred million dollars into after-care for when people come back from treatment; they have a place to go where they know they can stay sober, and they can avoid all the issues that lead them back on the road to addictions. Then we can take another $100 million, and we can build economies in small communities. We can take another $100 million and do this. It's not as simple as just saying we want to do this. It's a lot of money, and I don't know if a blunt instrument like a universal basic income is something that would work necessarily in the territory, considering how different every community is.
I believe the problem with saying that it costs a lot of money is: we have not actually done the assessment to see what it costs, and we have not looked at the way all of these programs are working together and how much is already being spent. I personally believe we could actually lower income assistance if it meant we guaranteed the money for longer periods of time and with less bureaucracy. I heard the Minister of health the other day mention the idea of putting a seniors' portal such that all of the applications of funding for seniors is in one place, and I laughed because I know how impossible of a task that is. There are different pools of seniors' funding across multiple levels of government, not to mention pensions. Trying to bring one person to bring that all together is extremely difficult. It requires political will. As part of the income assistance, can I get a commitment from the Minister that he will not only look across departments what we're doing but also what the federal government is doing and roll that into the cost analysis.
Yes, we'll look at what everyone's doing. If we're going to review something, we're going to review the money that, a program that's solely about the money that people are getting, we're going to look at what money people are getting from every source. That includes the federal government.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I've got a refusal to do a feasibility assessment. I've got a refusal to do a roadmap. Can I get something from the Minister that he can give me an idea of what we think it would cost because I honestly don't know? I don't know if there's already enough money that we could roll this out tomorrow or whether it is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Can we do some preliminary costing, Madam Speaker?
Last year, about 4,000 people accessed income assistance. If we were to pay each one of those people the max amount that you can get on income assistance each year, it would be about $80 million. That's an extra $50 million on top of the $30 million that we spend now. If we did the real universal basic income where everyone in the territory regardless of income gets that amount, we're looking at $800 million. The very low end of this is $80 million. To the Member's point, if we spend money here, costs elsewhere go down. I get that. Same thing with education, but that doesn't mean that we have all this money to put into these things. I would love to put money into education right from prenatal all the way up to post-secondary. I think that would solve all of our problems in a generation. This would be utopia, but the fact is: there're needs now, and it's difficult to reallocate money that way. I'd be happy to sit down with the Member and have these discussions because income assistance is one of the areas that hasn't been thoroughly reviewed in a number of years, and it's one of the arguments that, by the end of this Assembly, I really want to make improvements to so that we can get to a system similar to what the Member is talking about. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier. My first question is: what is this government currently doing to address the problem of systemic racism? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Across the government, we are taking a variety of actions to address systemic racism. It's a huge issue, and Members have said 50 percent of our population is Indigenous. We've already talked all week about the affirmative action. We need to do something, so we're doing our best. We're ensuring that our decisions, including the creation of new programs and services, are all contemplated using what's called the gender-based analysis plus lens. Everything that we do should be considered there this lens. It's not only about gender. It's not only about women and men. It's about how different groups in our territory will be affected differently by every decision, every policy, every program that we set up.
We're also implementing modern treaties including self-government agreements and land claims. This is an important part of what we do as the Government of the Northwest Territories, and it respects Indigenous self-determination and self-governments. It's something I take totally to my heart. We're also implementing the United Nations Declaration and calls for justice from the Truth and Reconciliation. As well, we have an Indigenous Employee advisory committee, which is committed to providing advice and feedback to HR, human resources branch, with regards to identifying barriers and increasing the representation of Indigenous people at all levels of our public service. It also works to create an environment that supports and promotes Indigenous people currently within the government to the Northwest Territories workforce.
As well, Madam Speaker, we meet with our counterparts in other jurisdictions to discuss best practices at all times. For example, the previous Minister of Justice, she attended an FTP meeting on systemic racism in the justice system. Subsequently, she reached out to the Indigenous governments and began a conversation about what we can do to address some of these issues within the justice system, and that work is still carrying on. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
The Premier touched a little bit on my next question, but I'm wondering if she can expand on how the GNWT is doing this. My next question was about my gender-based analysis that the GNWT does with Cabinet and the Financial Management Board. I'm wondering if she can explain what tools they use to ensure that there is a systemic racism lens used in that work, as well.
The Management Board Secretariat has added gender-based analysis plus to the assessment process for Financial Management Board's submissions, and I think this was new to our government. It wasn't done before if I remember. It's huge. This is a huge thing. The initial focus, again, on a gender-based analysis plus lens is on gender. However, like I said before, the differences for all populations, not only just about biological, but it also considers our social, cultural issues, and how different programs, et cetera, affect different people
We also have multiple characteristics that intersect and contribute to who we are. The gender-based analysis plus considers many other factors. Like I said, it considers race, ethnicity, religion, age, mental, and physical disability and how that interaction between these factors influence the way we might experience government policies and initiatives using the gender-based analysis plus lens when analyzing, planning, and making decisions means carefully and deliberately examining the implementations of our work in terms of gender and other factors. Madam Speaker, it's not easy work, but it's critical work and important if we do recognize that our population is half Indigenous and half other. We really take this work seriously.
Some of the regulations and laws that contain kind of those hidden moments or hidden pieces of systemic racism are often ones that we often overlook and have been in our system for decades. I'm wondering: what work is being done right now to dig those out and make sure that all of those pieces of legislation and pieces of policy work are being used on that lens because a lot of the programs that are getting that lens are new programs? What are we doing about our old existing programs?
I'd like to start by saying that, when I heard the story from the Member about how another jurisdiction had kind of slipped in, I've always said that, throughout my term, that I'm really glad that we're a consensus government because we have a different way of bringing legislation. It's not just if you have a majority government or you have to work more if you're a minority government. Within our consensus government, it means that all Members have a say on how we move forward with that. Again, it's another example how I'm really proud that we are a consensus government in the NWT.
The other thing, too, is that, within our mandate, we committed this government to work with our Indigenous governments to create and implement an action plan that identifies the changes required in the GNWT legislation and policies to best reflect the principles set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We're still committed to doing this work. Again, it's going to take a lot of work, but if we're going to do this, we need to do it right. It is a commitment of this government as we move forward.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. As an MLA, a lot of times, we have specific, case-by-case issues that come to our desks from constituents. Sometimes, we solve that problem at face value without looking at the bigger picture of what's going in on with the constituent and how we sometimes are able to change that situation for our territory as a whole. What I'm wondering from the Premier today is: what does she recommend that people, say, living in Tulita or living in Fort Providence or living in Ulukhaktok, do when they find a policy or a legislation that has a route of systemic racism in it? How do they reach out, and what's the best way that they make change from their communities? Thank you.
I also see that a lot in various portfolios I've had with this program and also as being a Regular MLA. The most effective way of reaching out is to work through your MLA. Your MLAs, that is their job to bring concerns of the constituents to the government but also work with the Ministers. Every Minister here cares about the people. There are some things we can't change easily. If it's something in legislation, that takes a longer process, but if it's a policy, all Ministers care. I've heard the comments behind, and they want to work. If they can change policies, I know that they look at doing that.
Again, Madam Speaker, it's important that, when people feel that, they do reach out, they do call for help. It's not okay to just ignore it. If it's ignored, it will be ignored. Bring forward the issues if you see the systemic racism. Work through your MLAs. Work through Ministers. We will do our best to help. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] When I talked about the Member's statement, I talked about the elders who are living at home, how they are taken care of. A lot times, our elders are not well taken care of at home. I have a question for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. [End of translation] [Microphone turned off] ...issues in my region. In my Tlicho way or Dene way of life, we always, always take care of our elders. Allowing elders to remain in their own home is a win-win all around; for our elders, for our families, the community, and also for this government. We allow family members to live with their parents or grandparents, to look after them, and to care for them. These caretakers' income should not be considered or impacted when it comes to elders' household income in order to qualify for this program.
My first question to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation is: that being said, why doesn't the NWT Housing Corporation and this government use common sense and assist these elders with their housing needs without all the red tape that is before them? We need to step up, be proactive, and do a better job of caring for our elders, and it's also part of our mandate. Madam Speaker, masi.
Thank you, Member. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I hear the Member's comment. I resonate with this very clearly because we have a lot of elders who do reside in our smaller communities. We do have a limited number of elders' facilities, as well. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has constructed nine nine-plexes throughout the Northwest Territories to work with our elders and to have them age in place. The other thing I hear the Member speaking about is the household income, where they're disqualified for programming based on the number of people who are living within that public housing unit or within their private unit, as well. This is something that I really take seriously. If elders are coming forward to apply for housing programs within the Housing Corporation, we are looking at how we are going to be calculating, how we are going to better serve our elders in the smaller communities who are residing in private homes, to try to alleviate those barriers so our programming is more adequate and it's more accessible to our people in our smaller communities.
To the Member, I will follow up with him on solutions that we are working on within the Housing Corporation to try to alleviate the number of barriers that we do have for the elders in the smaller communities to access our elders' programming. Mahsi.
We forwarded that information just the other day with pictures, and it's a real issue. Obviously, the screwdriver has been in place for a number of years, as you can tell. It's all rotten away, and it's unacceptable. The couple applied out of Whati. I'm not going into specific detail with their names. The couple applied, and the daughter is living with them, looking after them. Because of the daughter, they didn't qualify. That is due to the red tape that is before us. When can we see that red tape lifted? It's getting cold. It's almost minus 20, minus 30 in our communities now, and these elders are struggling. They can't fix the issue themselves, so we need the Housing Corporation and local housing authorities to come in, fix that simple issue. Again, it's all the paper, the red tape, "You don't qualify," and just leave it alone for a number of years. How long are we going to leave it alone? Change that red tape now.
In the Tlicho area, we do have a housing working group that opens the door for us as the Housing Corporation, us as a government, to come in and work with the Indigenous groups. This is something I want to bring back. I am looking at maybe a partnership or some sort of programming that we could work with the community, where they could identify these areas and this programming that would adequately fit the specific communities. Also, I just wanted to say that it's really disheartening and unfortunate that a member of our elders' community in the Tlicho area is experiencing this right now. I have received the email, and my department has acted on it. I know this is one of several cases throughout the Northwest Territories, and as the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, we are going to be working and addressing these issues as we go forward, because one is too many of them.
The Minister is correct: there are quite a few elders who cannot speak for themselves. In my region, they speak the Tlicho language. It's very difficult for them to access the NWT housing program. We always say there are online programs, but they can't access online programs. I am glad the Minister and her department are working with the local housing authority to establish some sort of mechanism to deal with these elders, and I certainly do not want to stand here in February or March addressing the same issue that is before us today. I am certainly hoping that it will be resolved by then. Just to continue on with my next question: what progress, and I raised this issue in the House before, has been made in creating a program under the NWT Housing Corporation so that qualified journeymen ticket holders can go into isolated communities such as my community to do this critical servicing of furnaces? We need permanent technicians in our isolated communities now, before it gets too cold.
Also, just in regard to the list of programs, I want to advise the Member that I will provide a list in February to the Member of the elders' programs that we did offer and the number of clients that we did serve within these next months coming up. Also, looking at the journeymen, entrance in trades programming is a challenge for us in the Northwest Territories but also for the Housing Corporation. We are working with the Tlicho Housing Working Group. I will identify this with our Housing Corporation staff to bring this back to the working group, that this is something we need to partner up on and we need to address, to make sure that we are working toward certified journeymen within the Tlicho area to start delivering this programming on our behalf or else in partnership to work with the Tlicho government.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Speaker. An elder once told me, "Enough talking. Do the action now. Fix the problem." There is an issue here, a real challenge for this elderly couple, and I would like to know from the Minister: could we have a dedicated person to deal with these issues? I understand she is dealing with the Tlicho government, the agency, and so forth. There is lots of talk happening, but elders want to see somebody who can service the furnaces, somebody who can service the plumbing. Could we have a dedicated service person, technician, in the community to deal with those during the winter months? Masi, Madam Speaker.
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is really very strong and adamant about Indigenous partnership. I looked at this as an opportunity as I have worked with other communities throughout the territory where we had a similar issue such as this, and the Housing Corporation was able to enter into a community initiative program with the Indigenous groups. With looking at the issue for servicing the furnaces and looking at offering programming for the seniors in the Tlicho area, I will follow up with the Member and look at a possible opportunity that we could access additional funding to look at how we are going to have a representative in his riding. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. There are many small businesses throughout the NWT that are still struggling to survive these difficult economic times. Some are finding work and for various reasons others are not. The NWT Housing Corporation is in a position to provide that support to those without work. I'm referring to those businesses that are located in our regional and small communities. Madam Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation if she will commit to identifying those projects slated for the regional and smaller communities and work with those businesses without work to ensure they are providing some work, even if it means sole-sourcing or negotiating the work. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I appreciate that question because, for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, hiring local is a priority. Hiring local businesses, Indigenous businesses, and what I had provided, I want to say last week, is that 95 percent of our contractors are local. Looking at what we actually can offer I would like to follow up with the Member, as well, and look at his riding because we do have a rollout now of RCMP units that are being constructed. We do have some public housing units, as well, that are going through repairs and there is opportunity. My priority as a housing Minister is to hire local and keep the local people employed, offer training and opportunity. I'm open to hearing the Member's comments because I would like to become very strategic in how we deliver programs at the local level. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
We do not provide enough support to our small community contractors. They are the ones that provide the much-needed employment in those communities and deserve our support and sometimes direction in order to build capacity. I would ask the Minister to commit to either doing away with suspension lists for contractors in these small communities or, at a minimum, work and support the contractors to ensure that they are successful and avoid failure.
For the contracts and tenders that are put out, and we do end up with some carry-overs because due to contract failures, I don't want to see businesses not being able to access to bid again our public tender. We also have to take into consideration the reason and the process that it has taken for us at that time. If we see contractor failure or else a carry-over of a project, we do take an assessment of that. Looking at the contractor suspension, I would look at this very clearly because I would not want to have a contractor suspended. I've seen it already in my time while I've held the housing portfolio. I've been able to work with a client and been able to bring them back and having them work for us again. Again, it's the quality of work that's being displayed that we've got to be very careful of. It ends up costing the Housing Corporation a significant amount if the buildings are not constructed adequately.
As I previously stated, the NWT Housing Corporation projects are essential and the bread and butter to small community contractors and a source of employment for the residents. I ask the Minister: how many projects are slated for those regional small communities this winter, and is the department in the position to add additional projects, if required, if we find contractors without work?
This year, we had a few negotiated contracts that we have entered into with Indigenous groups that have not been finalized, but we have been approached with that interest. Looking at that, I don't have the numbers right on the top of my head, but I'd have to get back to the Member with the number of projects that we do have listed that are slated for the next couple of years. I know the Member is quite concerned about the contractors and also creating employment at the local community level. I want to really just emphasize that that's a priority of the Housing Corporation. We do try and do our best to make sure that our contracts stay local and they stay within the community, and we do emphasize on education and training.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. One area that the NWT Housing Corporation can support our northern businesses is with the transportation of the material going into the communities on the winter road. We have contractors with tractors and trailers down the valley that will be looking for work this winter. Maybe with COVID-19 in front of us it makes sense to use our northern contractors to provide those services. Can the Minister commit to her department to review on how they can ensure our northern contractors who supply trucking services are provided every opportunity to haul the material going down the winter road for their projects this winter? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I think the Member was reading my mind. I just actually just had this conversation with my department. We are in COVID-19 and the Housing Corporation did find it a challenge getting material into our smaller remote communities. I was actually speaking about looking at our supply for this year and slating for the next couple of years for our projects, and how are we going to be getting them into the smaller communities, and the trucking service, as well, and what is available in the territory. I will be looking at that, and I will follow up with the Member. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The Minister of Health and Social Services has spoken about the harm of alcohol to all of our communities multiple times within the House here. We've also heard multiple times about the upcoming alcohol strategy that is expected in the Northwest Territories. I'm wondering if the Minister can just talk to us about what she intends the alcohol strategy to accomplish. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want the alcohol strategy to produce better health. We have some very troubling indicators for heavy alcohol use in this territory. For example, the rate of heavy drinking, which is defined as having four or five or more alcoholic beverages in a single sitting, is 43 percent in the NWT. That compares to 19 percent across Canada. Better health means that people are not falling into the poor health outcomes of excessive alcohol use and also not falling into the personal despair of excessive alcohol use. To that end, the department has hired a federally funded senior advisor on the alcohol strategy who started work in August 2020. She is completing the following tasks: setting up a representative working group to guide the development of an alcohol strategy; reviewing feedback from an alcohol evidenced action workshop held in March on this issue; preparing a full workplan and engagement plan on this issue; and this work will be moving along with public consultation that will begin early next year. Thank you.
I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how they intend to roll out public engagement and make it accessible to everyone, given the COVID-19 restrictions?
I see engagement as a real issue even if there was no COVID. The difficult thing will be to find people with lived experience to participate in the engagement to talk about what will or could have helped them at some point in their journey. I don't have the details of how that engagement strategy is going to work, but I do recognize that hearing from people with lived experience would be a very valuable part of it.
I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to at what points during the development of the engagement strategy will the public be able to weigh in and see how it's going, or will committee be able to see how it's going, as well? Does the department plan on waiting until the very end of the alcohol strategy to then release pieces of it or the whole thing? Where is the public's opportunity to be involved beyond?
