Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start for thanking the Member for drawing attention to this Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. It's a very significant problem all around, but especially in the Beaufort-Delta. She will be pleased to know that the program rolled out as planned in January of 2020. The response rate was low in Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok, so the kits were sent again in November of 2020 to those communities. In total, there were 1,157 FIT kits distributed, and the screening rates in the smaller Beaufort-Delta communities, that is, excluding Inuvik, doubled from 7.9 percent to 15.64 percent, and screening participation rates for the whole Beaufort-Delta region, which, of course, includes Inuvik, rose from 6.7 percent to 11.8 percent overall. Thank you.
Thank you to the Minister for that, and I'm glad to hear that that rolled out as planned. Those who are at risk require a colonoscopy. Can the Minister provide what the wait lists were before the pandemic hit for colonoscopies in Inuvik and Yellowknife?
I don't have information about what it was, but I do have information about what it is. Right now, the wait time from a positive FIT test to colonoscopy through the Territorial Colorectal Cancer Screening program in the Beaufort-Delta is approximately 88 days, so let's say three months. Our target for improvement is to ensure that patients are seen more quickly than that, and we are now working on a pilot project that will help us to identify where we can make improvements to reduce the amount of time that it takes to go from a positive test to a colonoscopy.
One of the issues that I know sometimes happens in the Northwest Territories is that, if you can't get in in Inuvik, because we do have an endoscopy room, you get bumped to Yellowknife, or vice versa. I'm just wondering, with the sterilization issues that happened at Stanton, did this impact any of the wait times for people accessing colonoscopies in our endoscopy rooms?
No, that's not a factor. The reprocessing of endoscopy instruments is in a different machine than that which was giving us trouble through the fall.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that. That's good to hear. I am very concerned about the pandemic's impact on cancer diagnosis and treatment, due to travel restrictions, appointment availability, and fear of travelling out of the NWT to the Alberta Cross Cancer Institute. Can the Minister tell us if the department has had these issues, and how are they handled? Because I would really hate for residents to be delayed for diagnosis and treatment, which could decrease the risks for survival. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
All services remain available now, as they were before the pandemic started. The travel restrictions have not impacted residents' ability to travel to Alberta, to the Cross Cancer Institute for Cancer Treatment, although people may have decided not to go because they were concerned about the number of infectious cases in Edmonton. There is regular communication between the Alberta Cross Cancer Institute and NWT residents, and that is facilitated by medical oncology and haematology oncology. These are two cancer speciality clinics that continue to be offered virtually at Stanton Territorial Hospital, and this is done in coordination with the cancer nurse navigators and oncologists. These clinics are managed virtually, unless the oncologist decides that the person has to be seen in person. Required diagnostics and virtual appointments are made in the NWT as often as possible because we are aware that some people are leery about travelling into regions with increased COVID infection rates, but all of these services are available to residents of the NWT, just as they were before the pandemic. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Enterprise is a proud community, and many residents lucky enough to find local jobs are counting their blessings. My question to the Minister is: in light of the gas bar business coming up for sale once again, is it possible to explore ownership of the business by the Hamlet of Enterprise? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can say that the Department of ITI has been recently quite involved working with the community to support some of their economic development programs and projects. The deputy minister has been there several times, as has deputy minister of ENR, working with the community, again, specifically on their economic development. I am confident that they can, again, reach out to the community, continue that involvement, and continue to support them in looking for economic development opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am aware of ENR and ITI being into the community, but that was strictly to discuss another issue dealing with an AWP. The ownership of the gas bar, the convenience store, and the motel creates the jobs for residents of Enterprise, and it's always going through different ownership throughout the years. This is a really great business opportunity for the hamlet itself since no one else would be able to take it on. I am just wondering if it's possible for ITI and MACA officials to meet with the hamlet to discuss the options available for the purchase of this business opportunity with the help of ITI and MACA.
To the extent that there can be support from ITI with economic development or support to individual businesses with respect to their business plans, whether it's through economic development type supports or whether it's through the BDIC, with respect to, for example, loans, I can certainly ensure and direct the department to reach out so that they have all the available supports there for them.
As far as the government actually stepping in to buy private market assets, I don't want to give any false hope that that is not likely to be something the government is going to be doing, but we are there to support the private industry. We are there to support private businesses, and as I can say, if there is this reoccurring challenge, then yes, I will certainly ask that the department follow up with the business and make sure that they are navigated to the right supports that are available for them.
Mahsi to the Minister for that answer. I spoke about tourism potential for the hamlet through an aggressive campaign of incorporating signage from the border leading up to the community. The hamlet has the right to advertise the falls as their own as these are in their background. They also have the right to compete with campground attendant contracts. Can the Minister commit to having their officials meet with the Hamlet of Enterprise to discuss these tourism initiatives, including discussion on the campground contract opportunities?
It turns out that today, in fact, the tourism development officer from the South Slave is meeting with the SAO from Enterprise. I will personally follow up so that I can see what transpired in that meeting and will communicate with my colleague the MLA to let him know also what transpired at that meeting and to hopefully advance whatever projects might be discussed and whatever ideas might be discussed.
With respect to the campground contracts, those do go through a procurement process. I will follow up with the MLA to ensure that he is aware and that the SAO in the community is aware when those contracts are coming up so that everyone is well-placed to put themselves forward for those.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I spoke to the fact that Enterprise is the first community on Highway No. 1 from the border. It's sad to say there is no visitor information centre at Enterprise. I mean, goodness, we have all the ITI staff in Hay River, all the business advisors, and no one is speaking tourism business opportunities to the Hamlet of Enterprise. This is potential employment for the residents of Enterprise where there are limited jobs. Can the Minister commit to having all available staff meet with the Hamlet of Enterprise to realize the tourism marketing potential and associated businesses, including the campground contract opportunities? Mahsi.
As I said, it just turns out by happenstance there is a meeting happening today at the SAO level. I will follow up on that and see where it gets to. There are staff across the South Slave who work on tourism.
Mr. Speaker, just a few years ago, I was told that, in fact, money had been advanced to the community of Enterprise to look at building visitor capacity. The project didn't go forward, but I certainly wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding of the willingness of ITI to work with the community to see if they are interested in pursuing something and to see what funding might be available in one of the many different tourism supports and tourism programs that we have as applicable.
Again, I will certainly follow up. If sufficient information didn't get through today at the meeting that they are having, then we will make sure that the staff in the South Slave offices are there and available to the people of Enterprise, to the community of Enterprise, so that they can make good use of it. To the extent that we can promote tourism in the North, that is the goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier. Many of the non-governmental organizations, like the Tree of Peace and others, provide services or subcontracted services to accommodate residents that perhaps are not able to get them otherwise. As I mentioned, many of these workers have not had a cost-of-living or salary increase in many years. While I understand the GNWT does not fund these organizations directly, can the Premier tell me what she is doing to ensure that there is more funding for NGOs that support our communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within my department, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, as long as the budget gets approved, there is extra funding for the Status of Women and Native Women's Association that we proposed for this Assembly. Also, in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the GNWT did increase the NGO stabilization fund by actually doubling it from $350,000 to a fund of $700,000 now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am glad to hear that. I hope the Premier will consider doubling it again. My next question has to do with the alcohol educator program, which has had the same rate of program funding for years. Again, I understand that it is not directly funded, at times, from the GNWT. However, given the increased need for rehabilitation services that these NGOs often provide, can the Premier commit to instructing her Cabinet to increase funding to NGOs that do provide rehabilitation and after-care services?
I can't stand here and give direction to a department to actually increase their funding. Departments have various reasons why they do funding based on capacity, based on needs, based on assessments, all kinds of reasons. What I can say, though, is that I come from the NGO world before I came here, for many, many years. I hear what the Member is saying. One of the biggest things that I hated when I came in was that smaller NGOs that don't have the capacity often don't get the money. Larger NGOs that have either the capacity, or are smart enough to get MLAs on board, are actually getting increases, and that's not fair, Mr. Speaker. I brought it up in the last Assembly, and I brought it up in this Cabinet, and I will see it during this term: we need a fair, equitable model to be able to fund NGOs so it's not the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, that NGOs have a formula. That I will commit to in the term of this government.
I am really glad to hear that. I do agree that the squeaky wheel gets the grease in the North often. I do appreciate the look to make that fair across the board. One thing I often hear when speaking with NGOs is that they are in this constant loop of having to apply for project funding or funding that has a lot of restrictions or has to be used in a specific manner. Oftentimes that funding will then be removed a year or two later when the program has actually started going. It then becomes somewhere within the NGO to find the money to continue on with the works. I think a lot of that speaks to the lack of core funding for our NGOs. They probably know the best way to spend their own money. My question is: what is the Premier going to do to ensure that NGOs like the friendship centres have stable, adequate core funding to cover operating expenses and pay their staff wages given the recent cuts in her budget to friendship centres?
There's a conversation. Core funding is a sensitive topic, I understand. Core funding is something, that's an issue. Like I said, I came from the NGO world. The NGO that I was administrating got $30,000 a year core funding for 30 years, Mr. Speaker. We were feeding women hotdogs if we were lucky enough to buy them. NGOs got huge core funding. I'm not going to say that we're going to increase core funding right now. I need a formula that says, this is what's fair for NGOs, and that, I can commit to.
Kind of a second question within that is the friendship centres. Absolutely, I worry about them. They provide valuable services. What I've committed to doing is: I don't have an increase in my budget for it this year, but what I have committed to do, and I've already talked to my department, is we're going to meet with the NWT and the Nunavut Friendship Society and see if there's a way that we can actually support them to get the capacity. The original funding was to build capacity for fundraising. It wasn't to be core funding. Evidently, it worked somewhat in that they got a lot of money. Didn't work because they weren't sustainable in doing that. We're looking at other measures. Maybe, perhaps, I can second someone. We're looking at other ways that we can actually build the capacity so that they can be sustainable financially.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This might be more of a comment. I think that the Premier's comment sparks in me the thought of this conversation we keep having around the hoops everybody has to jump through and the fact that there does need to be dedication positions that are literally just there to apply for federal funding which is going to be the best method instead of all of us fighting over territorial money, which is very limited. More of a comment: I urge the Premier, if she's going to second somebody from her department, that that be their goal, is just to get more federal money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do appreciate that comment. I do think that it should be focused on federal funding, not only, but territorially as well. It kind of gave me a hint, and so maybe, I'll be looking at that position, a position, actually, that can work with NGOs, not just the friendship centres. I'm not committing, but I heard the remark, and I'm just going to start thinking my head around that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, the Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm following up on a commitment from the Minister of Finance who is responsible for the Chief Information Officer of a commitment to have an open government portal for the GNWT. My question is: when can we expect to see that open government portal? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, the open government portal has been delayed somewhat. I had been hoping we'd be further along at this point and have some more information moving forward onto the portal. I can say at this point that, at least now, we do have the technology ready to roll out that will be implemented. What they are working on next is a data management framework. I acknowledge, and I must say, that the number of steps required to ensure that data is managed properly insofar as both being a collective of all of the different items of data and high data usages across different departments but also in terms of the data that may have personal information on it, but managing all of that and putting it out on the portal needs to be done carefully and cautiously. That work is, as I say, this is a status update of where it's at, and I will align that against the timeline and provide that back to the Member very quickly so that we have a sense of the updated timelines. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think, perhaps, the Minister should also ask the department update her briefing note because I'm going to read from the June transcript where it says by the Minister, "I will have a timeline by the time we are back in the fall as to how exactly this is going to unfold." "Fall" being 2020 there. We're in 2021, Mr. Speaker. My question is: what is the timeline for getting that timeline back to the House?
If only all the things that I read were in a briefing note, my life would be simple. No, this is not in the briefing note, Mr. Speaker, and it is being updated in real time. I can say right now, ISSS, which is responsible for the framework, is expecting to have that completed by fall of 2021, with the portal operational in 2022. I hesitate because, if there's any way that I can push that along a little bit, I certainly will. I am conscious that this is something that is a huge part of having a more open and transparent government. I do want to work towards having it available more quickly, but that is the current timeline: fall of 2021 for the framework and the portal to follow thereafter.
I'm happy to receive that timeline, and I look forward to this portal. My question is: do we have an idea of what sort of information we expect to initially populate our open data portal?
At this point, that one, I am going to take back and say I will get back to the Member on it. I know there was some initial anticipation of what might get out there with respect to, for instance, the vital statistics and various health information. Again, subject to how the framework has unfolded and subject to the application of that framework to the technology that is now landed on as being useful, I would like to confirm if, in fact, we are still going to proceed with the vital statistics and health information first or not. That was always the intention.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the issues I've struggled with in this work is it kind of seems to be all over government. The open government policy lies with EIA; ATIP implementation, which requires a lot of open disclosure, lies with Justice; the actual records lie with Infrastructure; and the ISSS and the Chief Information Officer lie with Finance. My understanding is that there's a steering committee to kind of coordinate all this work. However, I've never seen any of the work of that steering committee. My question for the Minister is: can there be some public reporting of the open government steering committee? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This should be really good news. The government is too easily told that we are siloed and don't work well together, but in fact, this is an occasion where, yes, there is information across departments. Multiple departments are high government information creators and drivers and users. The interdepartmental working group that includes the Bureau of Statistics, population, health, Environment and Natural Resources. There're ITI elements involved that have high use of information. This is an occasion where they are, indeed, working, and a very active group. Yes. Let me begin by certainly ensuring that we offer standing committee a briefing, and we can then take that feedback and determine whether there're yet further ways that we can speak to the work that is happening to advance open government but starting with a committee briefing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, I spoke about Bill C-92, federal legislation, the bill that just passed. This government has an important obligation under this Bill C-92, federal Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis Children, Youth and Families. It sets a mandatory standard for territorial government when it comes to child apprehension and family intervention. It's also gives the territory an obligation role in the devolution of Child and Family Services to Indigenous governments, so I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Could the Minister tell this House what actions were taken to coordinate her department's response to Bill C-92. What reviews and committees were established? Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for highlighting this area. The department is very supportive of the federal bill, and we are working to ensure that it is rolled out successfully in the NWT. When the act came into force in January of 2020, my predecessor sent a letter offering briefing and discussion to all Indigenous governments. When I became the Minister, I repeated that offer, and I have raised it at every bilateral conversation that I've attended since I became Minister. The key to this piece of legislation is that the conversation has to be initiated by the Indigenous government or Indigenous government organization. It's not for us to tell Indigenous governments that it's time for them to create their own Child and Family Services law; it's for them to tell us that they are ready to do it. Thank you.
That leads to my next question. As agreements are in place with Indigenous governments and provincial jurisdictions across Canada, we should be in that position, as well. Mr. Speaker, the primary instrument for devolving Child and Family Services to Indigenous people under Bill C-92 is a tripartite coordination agreement. This agreement is between an authorized Indigenous government, the federal government, and territorial-provincial government. There could be many tripartite coordination agreements in the NWT like Indigenous governments. Question to the Minister: how many of these agreements has the territorial government been a party to since the act was passed in the federal Parliament?
