Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. One of the game changers during this pandemic has been virtual healthcare. I'm sure most people in this room have had a virtual appointment with a healthcare practitioner or a mental health counsellor, and it certainly has opened the possibility of care without having to leave home, which many people appreciate.
We also do, as the Member has said, have people in new roles and that has prompted us to look at things like the scope of practice, whether people are working to the scope of their practice or whether, in fact, we need to change the skill mix to provide care more efficiently. So these are lessons that we are reflecting on now and we expect to respond to. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. One question that has come up quite a bit actually as MLA for Kam Lake are questions regarding the backlog of surgeries, specifically elective surgeries that aren't considered urgent but do add to the quality of life and the ability of different residents to be able to go grocery shopping, leave their homes, return to work. And so I'm wondering how Health and Social Services intends to address the backlog of elective surgeries in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So it's true that early in the pandemic some surgeries were postponed. And during this most recent outbreak, the Omicron outbreak, there was a period of about three weeks where Stanton again postponed elective surgeries, especially if they'd require a hospital stay because they were trying to preserve the hospital beds for people who were admitted because of COVID. But these surgeries have since resumed, and following this most recent outbreak, there's a triage of the elective surgery list going on with prioritization and scheduling happening as soon as possible. So I expect that residents who are waiting for elective surgeries will hear from healthcare professionals as soon as possible about when they can expect their procedure to happen. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for that. I think that there are residents who will be very happy to hear that.
My last question for the Minister is in regards to cost. Cost of COVID has been quite extreme everywhere, not just in the Northwest Territories. And I think when we first began this, we were counting down the days until we could wipe COVID costs clear off the books, but the reality of it is that there still will be a cost to managing and dealing with COVID because people are still expected to do the work that goes with that. And so I'm wondering if the Minister has a dollar figure as to what the expected cost increase to the NWT healthcare system will be to maintain COVID health requirements and services here in the territory? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question, but at this time, I don't have a specific dollar figure. What we're trying to work out is what kind of increase in our public health capacity we need to continue doing testing, contact tracing, vaccinations, and managing outbreaks. And so it's so difficult to tell exactly what kind of resources we're going to need for that. And here's why:
Since the Omicron variant, we've had 6,000 cases in the NWT, three times as many as we had prior to the beginning of Omicron. So the amount of staff that has been involved in responding to that outbreak has been enormous, and many of the staff themselves have been affected by this outbreak. So this is an area that we are trying to plan for, and we recognize there are some significant challenges because of the uncertainty of what future outbreaks will be like and what they will require. We just have to consider the difference between the impact of Delta and the impact of Omicron to understand how variable COVID19 responses are. But having said that, we are certainly prepared, within the coming week or two, to share our preliminary thinking with Regular Members about what kind of resources we need to manage COVID as an endemic disease. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a few more questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services, please.
In my Member's statement today, I did speak about the burnout and the exodus of healthcare workers. And we're not only seeing that in the territory, but you're seeing it nationwide and you're seeing it globally as well. People are tired. And I think people's expectations are also changing as well for what they want out of life. The good news is that the Northwest Territories has great things to offer, including some good work life balance and some great people to hang out with, and we need more people to move here and work in our hospitals. And so I'm wondering if I can ask the Minister of Health and Social Services how Stanton is planning for the loss of potentially additional healthcare staff and what they're doing to attract new healthcare professionals.
Before we left in December, we had a large conversation in this house about the OBS ward. And as we stand here today, the OBS ward has not yet returned to full capacity and so having a conversation about healthcare workers in the territory I think is a very important one. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is obviously a crucial area. We don't have healthcare if we don't have human health resources. So because of the large vacancy rate in our health workforce and because of our mandate commitment to increase the size of the resident healthcare workforce, we've developed a threeyear health and social services system human resources plan, which will be made public in April. Some of the work is already underway that is laid out in that plan, including exploring financial incentives, improved access to training, ongoing outreach to understand the issues impacting retention of nurses and other health professionals, and strengthening approaches to recruitment.
The fact is that staffing at Stanton always fluctuates. And the good news is that as of December 21st, the vacancy rate had gone down by 4.2 percent compared to June of 2021. That doesn't solve all of our problems, but we're going in the right direction. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that, and I look forward to seeing that plan when it's shared with Regular Members. I think it's one that not only Members but a lot of people from one end of the territory to the other are looking forward to seeing.
Currently, Stanton is very reliant on agency nurses, and I know that this is common right across Canada, and I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to whether or not this plan incorporates agency nurses as a key component and longterm plan for continuing to maintaining staffing levels at Stanton or what the future of agency nursing is in the territory. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the question. The fact is that we need to continue to provide health resources in whatever way we can, whether that's hiring locums or agency nurses or, best of all, having people become our resident indeterminate staff.
So, we've worked particularly on hiring local indeterminate staff. I'm pleased to tell the Member that all 11 nursing graduates from Aurora College in 2021 were hired into indeterminate positions. The Indigenous Gateway Program has provided us with ten new hires. The Health and Social Services summer student program has provided us with 81 summer students last summer. So we are doing our best to hire the people who are trained and available locally, and we're also very interested in helping people upgrade their skills, if that's what they are interested in doing. We have funds available for that. But as I say, the bottom line here is that in order to keep our healthcare system going, we hire locums. We've always hired locums. We just recently started hiring agency nurses. And they are probably part of our future. But our preference is, of course, to, first of all, retain the staff we have and, in the event of vacancies, then to hire local staff wherever possible. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I was furiously writing as the Minister was speaking, and I have about 25 more questions but I'll start with one.
Mr. Speaker, do graduates of Aurora College currently have a guarantee with the GNWT that following graduation of a nursing program that they can secure employment with the Government of the Northwest Territories? I know that right now it is hopefully a given but is that a guarantee that is afforded to students who complete the program. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't believe it's a guarantee, but I will inquire and return with that information. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Another thing that the Minister alluded to were funds for education. And one of the things that I'm finding with different constituents that I serve is that funds for education aren't clearly accessible depending on what department that you work in. Some people work in departments where it is part of their mandate to provide that training because it helps with the job that they're currently in, whereas other GNWT employees may have found themselves in a position where they want to go into nursing; they want to be part of the solution and they want to serve the people in a healthcare capacity that they've grown up with, that they care about; these are their neighbours and their family members. But their home department doesn't have a healthcare mandate, and so they don't have access to the same education dollars as their colleagues in other departments. And so will Health and Social Services work with the Minister of Finance in order to set up a whole of government approach to helping GNWT employees access education dollars to become a healthcare worker? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question. At this point, there is a dedicated health human resources unit in the Department of Finance so we, in fact, already work closely with them to recruit people and to provide for training and other opportunities for staff. So that would be decided on a casebycase basis, what kind of support is available and to whom and when and how that relates to the department that the person is coming from. So this fund for skill enhancement is in place, and we want it totally spent. If people are interested in expanding their skills and taking up different roles in the healthcare system, we're more than willing to see that happen. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions are opening up. Their borders are opened up. You can cross them as you please. And I guess you can here as well. But I guess, you know, people are coming across and, you know, some of them are asking me what it take to come across. I said, well, with the way enforcement and monitoring's going, I said, it's either a SIP plan or Tim Horton doughnuts, one or the other.
So, you know, I'd ask the Premier when can we expect the border monitoring personnel to be asked to stand down and the border wide open? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We work closely with the CPHO, and the CPHO is determining that now based on science and like I think the Minister of Health and Social Services says, we will provide an update to Members in the short future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 3119(2) asked by the Member for Frame Lake on December 2nd, 2021, to the Minister of Infrastructure regarding Access to Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programs.
A request was made to provide details of the Department of Infrastructure’s work with the Arctic Energy Alliance, including information on how the Department ensures maximum access for Northwest Territories residents, additional funding allocated to enhance accessibility of these programs, and which programs ran out of money before the end of a fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, the Arctic Energy Alliance’s Regional Coordinators in its five Regional Offices outside of Yellowknife engage with every community in every region of the Northwest Territories. Even during the past 18 months, when the ability to travel was affected by COVID-19, Regional Coordinators have continued to reach out to all communities to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy, and to encourage participation in their programs and services.
Additionally, the Arctic Energy Alliance has developed two programs that provide specialized support for low-income residents: the Community Woodstove Program and the Low-Income Home Winterization Program. Both are based on partnership models, and the community partners are responsible for identifying eligible residents who would benefit most from these programs. The Arctic Energy Alliance has also recently increased rebates amounts for various programs to better meet the needs of clients. More details on these programs are available in the Alliance’s annual reports.
Mr. Speaker, regarding the questions about additional funding allocated to enhance
accessibility of these programs for residents, the Government of the Northwest Territories and Arctic Energy Alliance conduct a review of the Alliance’s budget every fiscal year in the third quarter and reallocate budgets from undersubscribed programs to programs with more uptake than expected.
This process allows the flexibility needed to meet unanticipated demand without the government having to appropriate new funds each year and avoids having to repay contribution funding for undersubscribed programs. The downside is that clients end up on waitlists until this process is completed, which historically happens at different times of the year due to variable public uptake.
Mr. Speaker, the core ongoing budget that the Government of the Northwest Territories provided to the Arctic Energy Alliance is $2.74 million dollars. In 2021 - 2022, the Government of the Northwest Territories provided an additional $2.744 million dollars in supplemental funding under the federal Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund starting April 1, 2021, as well as an additional $1.09 million dollars in Low Carbon Economy funding through a supplementary appropriation last summer carrying forward unspent federal funding from the previous fiscal year.
Most recently, $100,000 dollars in federal Low Carbon Economy funding was reallocated from the Community Energy Plan Implementation budget to the Energy Efficiency Inventive Program to better manage the program to fiscal year end. The total budget for the Arctic Energy Alliance this year is $6.6 million dollars, which is the largest budget to date.
Mr. Speaker, there have been no Arctic Energy Alliance programs that have run out of money before the end of the fiscal year in the last five years.
This year, only two programs are experiencing increased uptake: the Alternative Energy Technology Program and the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program. The Arctic Energy Alliance is actively managing these through waitlists and the internal relocations of funding. This year, the last Energy Efficiency Incentive Program rebate issued before a waitlist was established, was for an application dated August 31, 2021.
The Alternative Energy Technology Program has a pre-approval requirement; that is, a project is given pre-approval and is issued a purchase order to ensure budget is available for the rebate when the project is completed. The Arctic Energy Alliance continuously assesses projects that have started to determine if they will be completed in the current fiscal year. If that is unlikely to happen, available funding may be moved to other projects.
With the substantial number of pre-approved projects in the current fiscal year, the Arctic Energy Alliance felt it was prudent to notify applicants who applied after mid-June 2021 that their projects were not guaranteed funding and they would be placed on the waitlist. Some projects that were waitlisted in June have since been issued rebates with funds reallocated from projects that were not able to be completed. It is too soon to tell if we will be able to cover Alternative Energy Technology Program demand for this year through reallocations.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 3219 asked by the Member for Frame Lake on December 7th, 2021, to the Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment regarding map staking versus claim staking for mineral rights.
Presently, the Mining Regulations outline the work requirements to keep a mineral claim in good standing. Later today, at the appropriate time, I will table a summary of the claims that have been recorded since April 1, 2014.
At the moment, regulations for the Mineral Resources Act are being discussed at the Intergovernmental Council Secretariat table, which will define work requirements at the claim stage. When these work requirements are determined, we will then address requirements for the claim issuance processes related to the Online Mapping System. The new system will incorporate measures to avoid speculation and nuisance staking. The regulatory framework will ensure that any claims issued are within the proponent’s reasonable ability to conduct exploration work. This framework will also allow the government to receive the geoscience knowledge produced from exploration work, regardless of whether the proponent intends to keep the exploration property active after the initial period.
The work to develop online map staking will take into account best practices across Canada and around the globe. We expect to develop a territory-based system with protocols to prevent large scale staking without intent to explore. These restrictions will be an essential component of the new system.
Indigenous governments have been clear that they want a modern system that moves mineral tenure issuance online. The online system will allow for other considerations such as environmental and political concerns. We are continuing to discuss these factors at the Intergovernmental Council table.
Economic and behavioural analysis is ongoing with the Intergovernmental Council. We need to confirm work requirements and other general regulations for the tenure issuance process before we begin significant work on the online system. This analysis will be based on a cross jurisdictional review that highlights the patterns of use and economic impacts seen post-implementation. Development projects must contribute to the economic well-being of all Northwest Territories residents.
Public engagement is underway this spring. Beyond the close collaboration on the Intergovernmental Council, we are engaging with the public, industry, and regulatory boards this spring. Formal Aboriginal consultation will begin next year when the draft regulations have been completed.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 3319(2) asked by the Member for Monfwi on December 9th, 2021, to the Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment regarding communitybased postsecondary education programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To date, how much money has the Government of the Northwest Territories spent on relocation costs to hire non-Northwest Territories residents for employment in schools within the last five years? From April 2016 to present, the Government of the Northwest Territories has spent just over $3.7 million on the relocation of non-Northwest Territories residents to the NWT for employment in schools.
Since 2018, how many northerners have graduated from Aurora College diploma programs in nursing, education and social work? Since 2018, 67 Northerners have graduated from Aurora College in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, 12 in the Bachelor of Education program, and 21 in the Social Work Diploma program. It is important to note that the Social Work Diploma and the Bachelor of Education programs suspended student enrollments in 2017 to complete reviews of the programs. The graduation numbers are for those students that were already in the program when enrollments were suspended.
How many people in the Northwest Territories have a grade 12 education and are on income support? This data is not tracked by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, as this information is not a requirement to qualify for assistance.
Can the Minister provide data, showing how many Indigenous teachers, social workers and nurses are in the Northwest Territories? As of November 30, 2021, 52 of 670 or 7.8% nurses, 36 of 123 or 29.3% social workers, and 126 of 661 or 19.1% teachers employed with the GNWT are Indigenous Aboriginal.
Yellowknife Education District No. 1 or YK1, Yellowknife Catholic Schools or YCS and the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority or HRHSSA do not have an Affirmative Action Policy for hiring and do not collect information on Indigenous status of their employees. YK1 has a total of 215 teachers and YCS has 114 teachers. There are 42.5 Registered Nurse, 23 Licensed Practical Nurse, and one Nurse Practitioner positions, along with six social workers and three social worker support staff positions, within the HRHSSA.
When will Aurora College complete the report on the teacher and social work program, and open doors to students? The timeline for the completion of the Social Work Diploma and Bachelor of Education Program reviews has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, external reviewers have been engaged virtually, have completed their review and provided their recommendations. Following best practice, the external review recommendations are being examined internally by Aurora College program staff prior to the release of an institutional response that will outline next steps for each program. The institutional response from Aurora College will be released in Spring 2022. Although no decisions have been made, it is likely that Aurora College will have social work and education programming in the future. Pending the results of the program reviews and other considerations, such as identifying and securing a post-secondary institutional partner to support program delivery, a Social Work program could be reinstated for the 2023-2024 academic year and the Bachelor of Education in 2024-2025.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to report that Bill 38, the Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents:
Follow-up letter to Oral Question 79119(2), obstetrics care; and, Follow-up letter to Oral Question 84919(2), healthcare wait times. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents:
Follow-up letter to Oral Question 81219(2) and Oral Question 83519(2), cost of fuel in Nunakput region and marine transportation services to Nunakput; and follow-up letter to Oral Question 87119(2), cold weather testing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Follow-up letter to Oral Question 79819(2), land ownership issues in small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Justice.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Follow-up letter to Oral Question 82219(2), Territorial Policing Services Agreement; and Follow-up letter to Oral Question 85319(2), Immigration Strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Honourable Premier.
