Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report that consideration of Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Public Highways Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on March 13, 2020, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment for review. On February 10, 2021, standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Infrastructure on the bill and completed a clause-by-clause review of the bill. The committee reports that Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Public Highways Act, is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole as amended and reprinted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a document today dated January 8, 2021, to the Honourable Premier Caroline Cochrane, regarding GNWT officials travel for non-essential purposes, from the Grand Chief of the Deh Cho First Nation. Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Tabling of documents.
Merci, Monsieur le President. WHEREAS the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures, in Committee Report 6-19(2), considered the question of remote sittings of the Legislative Assembly and made recommendations regarding changes to the Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly;
AND WHEREAS, on November 5, 2020, the Committee of the Whole adopted all the recommendations contained in Committee Report 6-19(2);
AND WHEREAS the current Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly were adopted on December 10, 2019;
AND WHEREAS a copy of an amended Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, which includes the rules for remote sittings, was tabled on February 10, 2021, and identified as Tabled Document 305-19(2);
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that this Legislative Assembly repeal the Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly originally adopted on December 10, 2019, and adopt the newest version of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, identified as Tabled Document 305-19(2);
AND FURTHER, that the new Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, upon adoption of this motion, come into effect immediately. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried.
---Carried
I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Committee would like to consider Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2021-2022, with Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess and resume with the first item. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
I will now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to continue on with Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and we will continue on page 126, Indigenous and intergovernmental affairs operations expenditure. Madam Premier, are your witnesses here?
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I have witnesses.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Welcome. Madam Premier, will you please introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With me today, I have Mr. Martin Goldney, the secretary to Cabinet and the deputy minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and Ms. Amy Kennedy, the director of Shared Corporate Services for Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Welcome back. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. There are three areas I'd like to question on page 126. Maybe I'll start with the lines around implementation, intergovernmental relations, and negotiations. There is no increase in any of those lines. You know, I was in the 18th Assembly. The candidate who eventually became the Premier promised that all of the ongoing negotiations were going to be completed in the four years. Do you know how many agreements we actually reached in four years? One. It was an agreement in principle for self-government in Norman Wells, for the Metis local there. One agreement in four years. Madam Chair, I don't want to be back in that position at the end of this Assembly, and I continually hear from negotiators, people involved in the negotiations with Indigenous governments, that the problem now at the table is GNWT. It's not the federal government anymore. They are a minor player, for the most part. The problem is our government. That's really not a great place to be, to start with.
I know that we have a new Cabinet and they promised new things, but there is nothing to deliver on that promise in this budget, no additional resources. Anyway, my question for the Minister here is: do the negotiators at any of these tables have new mandates that have been developed by this Cabinet to try to move this forward, and why is there no new money in here to try to help move these negotiations along? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. At the beginning of this Assembly, we did have a presentation to the Executive on the negotiations. They do have mandates. They know exactly what. As stated yesterday, Madam Chair, the difficulty is that, when it becomes too financial, monies et cetera, they need to actually come back to the executive for approval. The negotiators are not executive. They do not have that authority to make excessive decisions without a Cabinet approval. That is a common process. In the last government, they said that they would all be done; probably not the best commitment to make on the floor. We never committed to that.
Why is there no new money? We have spent the last year and a bit that we have been in the government actually working on those relationships. Again, because of COVID-19, it has allowed me to actually meet more regularly with Indigenous governments. We have built relationships. We have had governments come to us that had said they were not going to work with us, and, because of the relationships that we have formed over this new government, they are coming back to the table. So I do have hope that, within this government, I am not naive enough to say that we will have them all done, but you will see progress within this government. If we need extra money because of that, then I will go back to the executive and ask for supplementary funding. However, at this point, Madam Chair, I do not see that we need it. I think that the negotiations are going fairly well, considering the detail and the difficulties with negotiations. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Look, I am happy to work with the Premier and this Cabinet on this, but I am going to narrow my question right down. Have new mandates been provided to any of the negotiators since this Cabinet came in, yes or no? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's difficult to say, and I would like to say yes or no. I hear the Member wants that, but it's difficult to say exactly what the mandates were before. I never was privy to that. What they have is there are three areas of negotiations that they have, and, like I said, in those areas, it's a trilateral negotiation. It's the federal government, the Indigenous governments, and ourselves; land quantum, royalties, and cash. When those issues come, when they are about to sign, they come back to Cabinet, and they ask what we are doing, and then we give direction with that. At this point, Madam Chair, I know I hear people saying they do not have the mandate and stuff, but I am not exactly a hundred percent sure what they are talking about. At this point, like I said, there is nothing that specifies that "thou shalt do this," but I will look further into it. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I am not going to belabour this because my time is getting burned up here, but, if the Minister does not know whether the negotiators have actually had their mandates changed in any way since the new Cabinet has come in, we have got a real problem here, Houston. If those negotiators have not received new mandates or direction from this Cabinet and we are a third of the way through our term, I am seriously worried. I am going to leave it at that, Madam Chair, for this area, but I want to move on to my next one. That is a little bit of a warning that, if we are a third of the way through and we have not given new mandates, I do not know where we are going.
I want to turn to the line here about Aboriginal and intergovernmental meetings fund. Last year, in the main estimates, it was $300,000, but we spent $600,000 during COVID-19. We spent $600,000, twice what was budgeted. Now, it's going back down to $300,000, and, as I understand it, Cabinet continues to sign new agreements. We have seen news releases on, I think, one or two of these recently. How can the money go down when we are signing more agreements and more money was spent during COVID but we are budgeting less for the next year? It just does not compute. Can I get an explanation, very briefly? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I may ask my DM to expand on what I am saying. There is a cycle of how the MOUs are done. One year, the Indigenous governments will meet in Yellowknife, and the next year we will meet in their communities, et cetera, so that does make an impact on the budgets regarding where the travel is. Madam Chair, I would like the deputy minister to expand.
Thank you. Deputy Minister Goldney.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With that particular fund, the GNWT provides that, those funds, directly to Indigenous governments to support their participation in meetings. It was recognized that this year there was an expectation, particularly given the engagement requirements during the pandemic, that Indigenous governments needed extra support, so that was why there was an increase identified for that period. If we do find that there are increases required, we can certainly revisit those needs, but that was the rationale for that increase for that period. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I would like to respectfully say that, if it was increased during a year with COVID, we are probably going to need more money for the year coming up, but I am going to leave it at that.
I want to move on to federal engagement, where the positions, the support money for that office in Ottawa has been cut. I was sceptical of that work to begin with, in the last Assembly, but I guess I pushed this with the Premier, some of my colleagues on the other side several times, about the importance of not just meeting with a party that is in political power, that holds the majority in the House of Commons. We are now in a situation where it's a minority government; there is going to be an election probably within the next year, and I heard from the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment the other day that his job is not to talk to the opposition parties. I am sorry. Cabinet's job is to talk to the opposition parties when they go to Ottawa, not just the party in power, because, guess what, a year, year and a half from now, they may not be in power. If we want to have any influence on federal policy, you have got to work with the opposition parties. They are the ones who raise issues in the House of Commons and so on. I want to hear from the Premier directly: what is our position and approach in working with opposition parties in the federal House of Commons? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The protocol within the GNWT is that Ministers deal directly with federal ministers applicable to their portfolios; the Premier deals directly with the Prime Minister or the leaders of parties as appropriate. Yes, the Ministers have not met. We do not know who the ministers of the opposition will be, but we do know who the leaders will be, and so I have made phone calls to all of the leaders of the oppositions, and we are lining them up again. We will continue to have phone calls, making sure that each party that will be putting their name forward understands the needs of the North, and, as many commitments as I can get from that, then that is our goal. So I am meeting regularly and will continue to meet regularly with the opposition members as well as the party in power at this point. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First off, I would just like to make a comment that I am glad to see this is one area where the travel budget has gone down for once, so perhaps there has been a little bit more of a COVID lens put on that one. As well, I am really happy to see that there is an increase in funding, or more than was spent in 2019, towards the Metis organizations. I guess my question is around the NWT friendship centres and the fact that we are no longer funding money there. I know that I have been approached by friendship centres, EDs et cetera, asking for that funding to continue. I think the friendship centres in the North do really good things, and I am just curious to understand why we have gone from funding at $250,000 in 2019-2020 to nothing. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I do remember this. It was in the last Assembly, and I was part of that Assembly. The original intent of the $250,000 was to actually build capacity for the friendship centres so that they could access other sustainable funding. The goal was that they would hire a coordinator, and that person's job would be to actually solidify funding. Sadly, Madam Chair, I am not sure if that happened as much, but what I can say is that the friendship centre has met with Cabinet, has presented to us on their needs. My worry is that that it's more than just throwing money. We need to work with these friendship centres, too. If we gave them $250,000 to develop a position so that they could actually build the capacity for fundraising, and that didn't work, Madam Chair, then I think we need to reach out to them as well and see what other support we can give them. Perhaps it's proposal writing. Perhaps it's business. It's more than just money. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you for that. I agree that we don't want to just give people money and set them up for failure. However, to go from such a large amount to nothing, and then just from the conversation that I have had with them, it sounds like this is hurting them and their bottom line and their ability to deliver services. While maybe that $250,000 was a one-time thing to do a certain role, they are crying out for money and funding. They provide good services, so I would like to encourage the Cabinet to think about adding a line here at least to give them some additional funds, particularly in light of COVID.
This will probably be a pretty self-explanatory question, but I'm looking at the special events funding to Indigenous organizations. We have always been at what looks like typical budget of $50,000 a year and obviously was less in 2019-2020, and I'm guessing that has to do with the cancellation of certain events. Is the department looking at any way to increase this past the $50,000 or to help the communities adapt or change their events to a virtual form or to make them more social distant? We have seen adaptations to drive-thru type scenarios, although that does increase greenhouse gases, so I don't know if that's our solution. I am just curious to know if the department is looking at anything like that. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There are two events that we usually support. One is the Aboriginal Days, and the other one is Treaty Days. The Member is absolutely right, Madam Chair. Things are different, and it might be different this summer, but the budget is there. We need to be flexible. I will reach out to them. If they are looking at other methods, then absolutely, we need to be flexible to be able to work with them. If they are looking at virtual, we will still provide it. The funding does not say, "This is what thou shalt do." The funding is to support the event, and if they are doing the event anyway, then I don't see any reason that we would say no. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would actually even ask maybe a little bit further, if this funding is not accessed for specifically National Indigenous Peoples Day or the Treaty Days, that you do just open it up as a general pot to the communities to put on well-being events or high spirits type of events. I can't get my language right after five days of this. I really do think that the more the government can do to raise the spirits of our people by funding events in communities, that will not only put dollars into those communities, they have an effect of raising people's spirits, and I think that we are going to need to see that more and more over the next few months. I am already hearing people fatigued with winter, and we are only at February 12th, so I think it's only going to get worse. More of a comment than anything. That's all, Madam Chair.
