The GNWT uses data from the hydrometric gauges operated by Water Survey of Canada. The Water Survey of Canada hydrometric stations are part of the national network of stations that have been operating following standardization methodology over their 100 years. Gauges in the Taltson River basin have been operating since 1962. ENR assessment includes an analysis of Water Survey of Canada data and data provided by NTPC.
Again, probably some more questions will be coming in the form of a written statement for those responses. I thank you for those responses. I am going to switch gears a little bit here. I want to think about some of the land users, the hunters and trappers in the area. Some of the images that we have seen in the media with the ice in the cabins, that is really impactful. Again, my heart goes out to them. I want to see if I can get a commitment from the Minister. Can the Minister report back to the House here with timelines on the loss of wildlife, i.e., beavers and muskrats and the lot, in the area?
Officials from ENR have done a field assessment of the flooding and have confirmed that there is some impact on the beavers, martens, and their habitats. Loss of beavers and martens due to flooding occurs periodically, and it's a natural part of the ecosystem. This will release nutrients into the environment and provide a source of food for scavengers, including insects, fish, birds, and other mammals. It is not possible to get an accurate count of the number of muskrats and beavers affected, but this event is not expected to have a large or long-term impact on their population. As such, ENR is not planning any further assessment of the impact on the beavers and martens at this time.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. That's interesting. You're not going to hear the last of that from me, so I'm going to be probing a little more on that. My last question, and this is probably the most important. I had mentioned before, hunting and trapping 30 or 40 years ago helped to put food on tables for a lot of my constituents and a lot of people around the North. Historically, it used to be. Now, it supplements a lot of income, and there is still a loss of income here that happened as a result of this event. My last question is: Can the Minister advise on what financial supports are available for the impacted hunters and trappers? Specifically, I'm looking for relief for lost income, lost or damaged equipment, and damaged cabins. Marsi cho.
I can guarantee the Member will be knocking on my door, asking me more questions, so I greatly appreciate that as we try to educate each other and the public. ENR's hunters and trappers disaster compensation program can assist the traditional harvesters who suffer losses or damage to their equipment or assets because of natural disasters, including floods. The program is available to the NWT harvesters who possess a general hunting license and/or are a land claim beneficiary actively engaged in renewable resource harvesting activities and whose harvesting provides at least 25 percent of their gross annual income. ENR staff have been working directly with impacted trappers on accessing financial support presently. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. If the Minister could provide the current enrolment numbers for the different trades programs at Aurora College and break that out by campus? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will just note that the Member, in her statement earlier, she was telling it like it is. She laid out the state of education well, and some of the things we have to do and the challenges we face, and I agree that we do have to have more northern-born trained persons who can do the work that we bring people up from the South for.
Right now, schools across North America have taken a hit, whether it's JK-to-12 or post-secondary, and the North is no exception. There has been, as most people know, no face-to-face or rather limited face-to-face instruction. Despite that, though, I'm happy to say that, in the fall intake, we had 24 apprentices at Aurora College. They were at the Thebacha campus, where the vast majority of apprenticeship training takes place, given the beautiful facilities there. In Electrical Level 1, there were three students; Electrical Level 2, there were seven students; Carpentry Level 1, there were seven students; Carpentry Level 3, five students; and Plumbing Level 1, two students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister somewhat touched on my next question, which is to ask about the effects of COVID on the enrolment in the trades programs, and if the Minister could provide any of the costs associated with either adapting the programs to the distance learning or for having to take more in-person COVID containment methods. I guess what I'm asking, and you may have already answered this, is: Do we have empty classrooms in these campuses?
Before the pandemic, there were some empty classrooms, and that's really why we were embarking on this transformation. We want to make the college the first choice for students not just in the North, but from across Canada. The pandemic obviously emptied out some classes, and we weren't able to have lots of face-to-face. I'm happy to announce that, in the upcoming September session enrolment, we will have face-to-face programming resuming at Aurora College. There are some caveats around that, of course. This was all vetted through the Chief Public Health Officer, who has allowed this, but the classrooms may include up to 20 students participating in class learning, while still continuing to meet the requirements of the Chief Public Health Officer.
I know this is going to be exciting for those students who have had to rely on distance learning, which everyone knows is not ideal, so there is some progress on that end.
I am really glad to hear that. As we all know, doing trades remotely would probably be quite difficult for students, so I'm glad to hear that we're going to be returning back. I look forward to further asking the Minister at a later date what some of those costs are, around the COVID response. My next question I just want to move on to is the new Blue Seal certification program that the department is rolling out. I have some understanding of that, but I would like to know if the Minister could speak a bit more to how that differs from the Red Seal program and maybe provide a bit of a timeline for its implementation and availability.
The Red Seal is governed under the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program, and that is a common set of standards across Canada. So, if you are a Red Seal in one province, your skills are comparable to a Red Seal in another province. We don't quite have that yet with Blue Seal, but what Blue Seal is building on is the Red Seal. It is a program whereby people who have earned their Red Seal can take additional courses in business and earn a Blue Seal. This is to really build up the workforce and allow perhaps journeypersons who want to rise up to management in companies or help them become entrepreneurs. We have Blue Seal certificates available in Alberta, in Saskatchewan; the East Coast has a similar type of program. I think, a lot of times, all you need is that idea that, "Oh, I can get this certification. I just have to take these courses," and that might prompt people to go. So I think, for really no cost to us, it's a good way to help build up the workforce.
I can't really speak to timelines right now. The bill that would allow this is in front of committee, but I hope to see this happen in the near future.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just before I ask my last question, I wanted to apologize to the translators. I know I've got to get back into speaking a lot slower. My last question has to do with, again, something really close to my heart. Could the Minister provide an update on any programming or initiatives they are implementing to increase the number of women in trades? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the question. We need more people in general in trades, but especially women in trades. I think the number of women in trades is around 5 to 7 percent of the entire profession, which is quite low, obviously. The department has recognized this, and in addition to getting out and promoting trades to everyone, there is also a renewed focus on promoting it to women and young women in schools. What we are going to be rolling out in the new year is a new visual and media campaign to promote women in trades. There is going to be promotion via the radio, newspapers, and social media. There is development of materials for grade 9 to 12 high school students that the career and education advisors will share with students. There are new materials for career development officers to promote with residents, and there is going to be increased profile and promotion of girls in trades through the annual Take a Kid to Work Day. We really need to promote this for everyone, and I really appreciate the Member and all the Members who bring this up, because a number of Members have brought up the need for more women in trades. The more that we all promote this, I think, the more that we can help this cause. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As has become a bit of a tradition, a tradition I hope to put an end to, I open every session asking about the Ingraham Trail fire services, so my question for the Minister of MACA is: Can I have an update on whether there are plans to reinstate fire services to the Ingraham Trail for April 1st? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's comments and the advocacy that he has for the Ingraham Trail. I would like to advise the Member that conversations are still happening between the City of Yellowknife and the department and also with the people at Ingraham Trail, as well. There was a consultation that was just recently completed. I should be able to provide an update to the Member by the end of February.
Also, I wanted to include to the Member, as well, that with these conversations going on and going forward, it is a very unique and different service that we would be offering throughout the territory. We do have a lot of community built-up areas outside of the municipal boundary, so it is something that the department is looking at, but also at other areas throughout the Northwest Territories.
The problem with this issue is that, if services are going to end, my constituents want some time to perhaps set up their own volunteer service. If the city can't reach agreement with MACA, then, perhaps, the Dettah fire services can be upgraded and certified to provide services. However, this all takes time, and it's unlikely to be done by April 1st. As such, the best option here is to get some sort of interim agreement with the City of Yellowknife so that other options can be explored in time. Do we have a sense of how long that will take? I hear the Minister say she will have an update for me by next month, but my understanding is that this would be a bylaw amendment, and we have to deal with both our funding process and the city's approval process, which does not give us the time. I am asking: Do we have a sense of how quickly the city could do this, should they actually agree?
The contractual services that would be provided outside of municipal boundary is very unique for a municipality, but we are working with the city. The conversations are happening, and we are trying to come to an agreement prior to April 1st. I do hear the Member's concern about that specific date, as well, and as a department and working in conjunction with Ingraham Trail and with the City of Yellowknife, I am confident that we will reach something by that deadline.
I am happy that the Minister is confident that we will reach that deadline. I do recognize that there is work to be done all across the territory. I know this is an issue with Hay River providing ambulance services outside of boundaries. I know there is a lot of work to do in this area, but I am hoping that we can buy the time such that we can find a territory-wide plan. I heard the Minister state that some consultation has begun with residents of the Ingraham Trail. I was not aware of that. Could I just get an update on what communication efforts have been done and will be done to make sure that residents on the trail know whether or not they will be able to call for a fire truck?
Presently, the City of Yellowknife will be providing fire services up until April 1st. I will have to follow up with the Member and be very specific on the type of consultation that has been completed, who has been contacted, and looking at the results. I want to have a full recommendation and a follow-up by the end of February, but I will be able to provide the Member with the update of the conversations and consultations prior to that.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are in regards to the Emerging Stronger Plan, and they are for the Premier. I would like to start off by identifying which Minister is responsible for the Emerging Stronger Plan, and what role does Cabinet play in making decisions about the plan? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now, I am the Minister responsible for the Emerging Stronger Plan. We are working on it right now. What role does Cabinet have in making the plan? A lot.
I did hear the Member in her statement say that the business community has lost confidence in the Premier, and I am sorry to hear that. I heard that when we first said, "Lock down the borders," and I had to stand beside the CPHO and say that I support her orders. I heard it when we formed the secretariat, and I am hearing it now again.
I do want to say that there have been tough decisions. Members have said we have had tough choices to make. We have made tough choices, Mr. Speaker, and it has paid off. We are probably the only jurisdiction in Canada that hasn't had a death from COVID. We are probably one of the only jurisdictions in Canada that hasn't had to go into lockdown over Christmas.
What role does Cabinet have? People are thinking that we are only concerned about COVID. We are. The Minister of Health and myself are run ragged dealing with the health and safety of Members, but that's not the only work we are doing. I believe that everything in this session that we will be presenting to Members on the mandate process and most of them are on track, ironically. We thought that there would be exceptions, but other things have happened.
The Minister of ITI has been working with the business advisory council. Because of that work and her work, that's why we got the money from the federal government for tourism and the airlines that was brought in. The Minister of ECE, having to look at distance ed, became a reality all of a sudden, and the support for students because of that work. The Minister of housing working on bringing in shelters and dealing with homes and stuff. The Minister of Infrastructure, the biggest capital budget in the history of the Assembly. Mr. Speaker, we haven't forgotten. The Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, I have been working with the Indigenous governments on a weekly basis, almost, right through this. We are talking about economic agreements. We are talking about the Indigenous government procurement policy.
The work has not stopped, Mr. Speaker, is what I am saying, and all of Cabinet has a strong role to play. Not only Cabinet; we will be talking to Members, as well. All of us have a role to play. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I hear often from constituents that they are very happy with the state of the NWT as far as the safety and the health of our people. They are very excited to get vaccinated, and they're very enthusiastic about that. I encourage Cabinet to really share the successes that they have had and look forward to hearing more about that as we go through session, as well.
The fact of the matter is that, last year, residents were promised a plan, and so now they are looking for the plan and what the future of the NWT holds. What does it look like? How do we come back from this? How do we move into a polytechnic? How do we improve our education numbers? People are really looking to the government right now to identify what that plan is. I am wondering if the plan is to table the Emerging Stronger Plan over the course of this sitting, and if so, if that will be publicly done and if residents of the Northwest Territories will be able to see that?
During the process of doing the draft Emerging Stronger Plan, one of the first things that we did was look across the jurisdictions across Canada to see what they had done. Not all jurisdictions have plan. In fact, some jurisdictions are saying they are not doing plans. Some of them that did the plans earlier are now saying that they need to revisit them because they were done a little bit early. I mean, I don't think the timing is bad, like I said earlier in my first answer. We haven't forgotten the economy. We haven't forgotten people. In fact, it's made our services stronger over this last year because of the pandemic.
Will it be tabled in this session? I want to say yes, but Mr. Speaker, I have learned to be a little bit cautious with that. What I can commit to in this session is that that draft will be done. We have heard from stakeholders. We have heard from the business community, from the NGOs, from the Indigenous governments, from the MLAs, from the general public. We have heard the needs. We have heard the concerns. We are going to present a draft Emerging Stronger Plan that we will provide to the standing committee first, and then, once the standing committee has a chance to give us some feedback and stuff, if there is not too much, I would love to say we will be able to table it. I do commit that standing committee will see that draft.
No, that's very good news, and I understand that other jurisdictions may not have plans to create a plan. We started at a different place than other jurisdictions at the beginning of 2020, and so I think that it is important for us to recognize that and for us to be prepared. What I am wondering is if the Premier can speak to the type of key milestones a plan might have or that the public can expect to see, and when they would expect to see those key milestones turned into actions?
I can't say what the key milestones will be at this exact moment. That is the work that we are doing now. Like I said, we are working with all departments to consolidate all of this work. Not only the work that needs to be done, but the work we've done. The Member is right. Before COVID-19, our economy was in trouble. This is not new. This is something that we had faced, and the Members were wise when we developed the 22 priorities. A lot of that was around making sure that the economy was strong in the North. That work was going on before COVID, and it will continue to do. When we do present the draft Emerging Stronger within this sitting to the standing committee, you will see milestones, and I am hoping that we will be able to get some feedback from the Members on those milestones.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before the Emerging Stronger Plan discussions, we talked about the Emerging Wisely Plan, and that was really kind of the cornerstone event of how we were going to move on through lockdown into re-emerging from our homes and back into the world of the Northwest Territories as we know and love it. I am wondering if there is a plan from Cabinet to re-release that plan based on what we know now and what we can expect for the remainder of 2021 once people are vaccinated, once schools start to, they're going to close for the summer. They're going to reopen in the fall. People are starting to plan and prepare for that, especially when it comes to hiring of teachers, when it comes to plans for summer, plans for business. There is a lot of planning in all aspects of our lives, and so is there a plan from Cabinet to re-release Emerging Wisely so that people know kind of what to expect for the rest of 2021? Thank you.
Since that's the CPHO's office, I would redirect that to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. As far as I know, the CPHO is not planning to re-release the Emerging Wisely Plan. I appreciate that the Member and the public want certainty about what's going to happen in 2021, but unfortunately, we're not in a position to provide that. Much of what is driving our response is happening outside of Canada, outside of the NWT. We know there are new infectious variants that are circulating. We don't have a lot of information about the vaccine potential to stop transmission. That is still being studied. We know that hospitals in the South are overwhelmed. While I appreciate the need for more certainty, we have a very limited amount of control over that, and really, it is only within the Northwest Territories. If we can stick to our containment and vaccination plan, then there will be loosened restrictions within the NWT, but I expect the border controls to remain in place for some time. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 20-19(2) asked by the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh on October 29, 2020, to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment regarding procurement from Indigenous-owned and -operated businesses.
The Member asked for the percentage of capital expenses were spent with Indigenous-owned and -operated businesses. The Government of the Northwest Territories or GNWT, does not currently report based on Indigenous-owned and -operated business. Rather, it reports on whether the company is Northwest Territories-owned and whether the company has Business Incentive Policy or BIP status. We acknowledge that this is something we need to look at and will be included in the scope of the procurement review.
The Member asked what steps has the GNWT taken to identify and remove barriers for Indigenous businesses to participate in the modern economy. The GNWT works every day to support entrepreneurs, Indigenous business and other organizations in driving economic development across our territory. Through the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, the GNWT develops, promotes, and sustains an environment in which Northwest Territories or NWT entrepreneurs, small business owners are encouraged to invest, take risks, and prosper. We do so with targeted policies, programs, and funding initiatives, such as the Support for Entrepreneur and Economic Development Policy and in partnership with organizations such as the Business Development and Investment Corporation, Community Futures Organizations, Chambers of Commerce, and through our regional offices.
The Member asked what incentives or programs does the GNWT have in place for the purchase of goods and services from Indigenous-owned and -operated businesses. Currently, the GNWT does not have any incentives or programs specific for the purchase of goods and services from Indigenous-owned or -operated businesses. The GNWT supports the creation and growth of competitive businesses as a foundation for the NWT economy when purchasing goods, services, or construction through the BIP. The BIP is an economic policy that provides an incentive to Northwest Territories-based businesses in a manner that recognizes the higher cost of operating businesses and manufacturing products in the NWT, encourages Northwest Territories-based businesses to create employment and develop necessary experience and business skills, and complies with any intergovernmental agreements to which the GNWT must adhere.
As outlined above, we acknowledge this as something we need to look at and will be included into the scope of the procurement review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 21-19(2) asked by the Member for Kam Lake to the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation on November 5, 2020, regarding applications to the national co-investment fund. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member inquired about how many Northwest Territories Housing Corporation employees are currently assigned to work on applications to the National Housing Co-Investment Fund. Currently, we have one full-time community relations advisor who is tasked to provide guidance and assistance to parties interested in making applications for the fund. Additionally, several Housing Corporation staff members also provide support in these efforts.
The Member also inquired about what percentage of those employees' time is spent working on applications to the National Housing Co-Investment Fund. The community relations advisor position is dedicated towards increasing access to this federal program, and it is the main focus of the position.
Lastly, the Member asked what communication activities has the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation completed in support of increasing applications to the national co-investment fund. We have been conducting joint presentations with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation at the community level at the request of community leadership. Additionally, we have a dedicated section on our website towards the National Housing Co-Investment Fund. Further, print media advertising is being used by the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to promote this federal program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
