Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those that come to grips with the fact they need treatment find themselves placed on waitlists for openings in southern treatment centres. And I know that, because I've got relatives that are they come to me and they got to wait for a month or two months or maybe even a few weeks or two days, and sometimes a day is too long. So, you know, we have to do something. So what do I tell them? I'd ask the Minister, what can I tell them to provide them some hope that we're going to be there to provide them the services that they need in a timely manner so that they continue to live? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the best thing the Member can do is refer his constituents to the community counselling program. That's really the gateway to all services related to addictions and aftercare. And so I would invite him to do that. I also want to caution him that having a northern treatment centre is no guarantee that there won't be waitlists.
When Nats'ejee K'eh operated on the Hay River Reserve, there was a month of men's programming followed by a month of women's programming. So if you missed the intake for your gender programming, you could wait up to eight weeks until the cycle started again so that you could go into the treatment program that was appropriate for yourself.
And I also want to add that during the time that Nats'ejee K'eh operated, it was never more than onethird full. There were people who preferentially wanted southern treatment because they wanted to get away from the circumstances of their addiction in the North, and they wanted additional privacy.
So this is a very complicated conversation. It's not just a matter of writing up an RFP for a building. There are many considerations about how a treatment centre would work, how it would be funded, and who would use it. I appreciate the question. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the other day during question period, the ITI minister said that to attract greater economic opportunities and investment in the Northwest Territories, our territory will need greater access to clean and affordable energy. Does the Minister agree that the Taltson Hydro Expansion will be instrumental in strengthening and expanding our economy for future generations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, I could not agree more wholeheartedly. The Taltson Hydro facility, and obviously it's one of the big three infrastructure projects that the entire Legislative Assembly has prioritized for this, for our 19th Assembly. It is part of the 2030 Energy Strategy. It is an opportunity for equity participation by Indigenous governments. This project has quite a number of potential of reasons of why it can be a dramatic change to the economic landscape, and I most certainly agree with the statement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, does the Minister agree that all sectors of the business community are unanimous in their support for the Taltson Expansion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm hesitant to speak directly on behalf of the business community in this role but I can certainly say the engagements I've had to date with mineral resource companies, exploration advanced, and even the operating mines, all certainly agree that they are keen to see the advancement of green energy options in the North and certainly ask about the work that's happening at Taltson. And similarly, any businesses that are in the construction industry that are in the would have an opportunity to benefit from greener energy certainly are asking for updates, and they have a lot of interest in this project. So over the next year as we get into a point of further planning, I'm sure we'll continue to hear positive remarks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this Minister is both ITI minister and finance minister. So she knows the memorandum of understanding with Indigenous groups and the construction of the Taltson Expansion is essential to the project's successful completion. Can the Minister tell us if she and the rest of Cabinet are prioritizing the MOU to move forward with the work on the Taltson Expansion?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, it is in the role as the Minister of Finance, along with the Minister of Infrastructure, that we are the two of us are collectively on the steering committee which is as part of the memorandum of understanding. The memorandum of understanding is an opportunity to really approach the design of the project differently. So we're at still a very early stage. We're at the stage of kind of conceptualizing what this could look like, what the project might be. And going through the MOU process is really an exciting opportunity to engage Indigenous governments at the front end. And yes, so we are very much committed to that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit, in her capacity as ITI and finance minister, to engage with all Indigenous groups near the Taltson Dam, whether in a bilateral or multilateral meeting, to move forward in a positive way to get this project underway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there we are very much committed to the MOU process, and I will certainly ensure that we continue to use that MOU process to engage with the Indigenous governments who have also signed on to that process. That is, again, as I've said, an opportunity to design this program and to design this project differently. Once there of course is a project on which to consult Indigenous governments in the region or in any affected traditional territories, that also, of course, will happen, Mr. Speaker. Consultation and engagement is essential for any project in the Northwest Territories, but definitely the MOU process is the chance where we can bring folks together to help us to really design what this could look like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment. It was good to see that there is finally some improved transparency and accountability to the regular meetings between ITI senior officials and the Chamber of Mines. Can the Minister tell us why and when the decision was made to making summaries of these meetings public and why there was no announcement of this change? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism, and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I recall correctly, the first time this came up last spring we had made efforts to ensure that meetings were going to be posted in a public fashion, and I do believe that it was actually last session in December that I had informed the Assembly again of the intention to make these summaries public. Putting up some notes on the website is not normally the kind of thing around which I would be doing formal news releases or otherwise but happy to have the information out here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The new summaries kept of these ITIChamber of Mines Engagement Group meetings, they continue almost no details as to what's actually discussed. Several times an item is listed as a topic with no detail following. Can the Minister tell us what is going on in these meetings and why the meeting summaries are remarkably short and lacking in detail? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, those meeting minutes are not intended to be transcripts and there is certainly a danger when there's, you know, the idea that people's comments are being written down not exactly as quotes, not as transcripts, but then being treated as such. So I have asked, and I will verify that the meeting minutes are an accurate reflection of the topics that were discussed, of the attendances, of any action items, of any follow-up, and that's really what I would hope people can take from it so that they do understand the work that the Department of ITI, but also the work that's happening from other departments. We've also made an opportunity taken this opportunity to expand and, you know, for example, Mr. Speaker, although it wasn't one of these group meetings, when there was meetings with the chamber during round up, there was ITI, ECE, ENR, we were all present; we were all there together. So again, these are opportunities for the public to understand the topics and the work that's happening, not to act as a transcript. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. As short as these meeting summaries actually are, I've learned more about the move to map staking of the Mineral Resources Act regulations than I've ever seen before, and I want to suggest that the department become more forthcoming with all interested parties.
So can the Minister tell us when her department intends to publicly release a full schedule and plan for the development of the regulations under the Mineral Resources Act? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Mineral Resource Act regulations project is really quite massive, and obviously it contains I shouldn't say obviously. It contains quite a number of different components, and putting all those components together with a schedule in and of itself has taken some effort, even as the different pieces have advanced.
So what I can say, Mr. Speaker, firstly, there is, I believe, an outstanding offer to brief standing committee about this work. I'm again happy to reiterate that offer and to give that briefing and to ensure that that is made available, and in doing so we can have the very detailed project schedule, which I mean I've seen it; it's extensive and long and fairly complex in terms of all its interrelations. So if that's an appropriate forum to engage all members of the Assembly, I would certainly be very happy to undertake that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I've been waiting with baited breath for two years for this plan so I can really hardly wait.
The recently released meeting summaries show that a panterritorial study on northern mineral resource investment has been given to the Chamber of Mines before it was even publicly released. Can the Minister explain why this privileged access by the mining industry to publiclyfunded studies continues, and what is going to be done to ensure other stakeholders have access to this sort of information and input going forward? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, there is a joint research project that was done, the Northern Mineral Sector Investment Study. It was a joint project between Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, it was tabled. It is document 53119(2 and I'd be thrilled if folks would look at it. It's a it does have a lot to say about how to increase resource exploration in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question's for the Minister of Housing. Will the Minister of Housing confirm how many units are being leased currently in the Nova Apartments in Inuvik of the 45? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I also just want to acknowledge the questions coming forward to the Housing Corporation because it really engages and really gives us a strong argument and statement with the federal government of how much housing is needed in the Northwest Territories. I just wanted to acknowledge and say thank you to my colleagues for the questions coming forward.
Right now in Inuvik we currently lease 38 out of the 45 at the apartment building located in Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Wow. Wow, Mr. Speaker. 38 of the 45, that's that's $950,000 a year according to our O and M that we currently pay per unit. You know, will the Minister commit to looking into purchasing, if possible, because this could potentially house an additional seven families off the waiting list in Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Housing Corporation tries to find, and the partnerships in the smaller communities as well and outside and inside of Yellowknife and looking for housing opportunities. And I know that this number is quite like, 38 out of the 45. But we don't have that amount of money right now in this government to be purchasing buildings such as this. I know that we did just purchase one here in Yellowknife for $2 million, and that was an opportunity that we were one of the bidders among ten of them here in Yellowknife as well too, and we were successfully able to purchase that. But unlikely when we're looking at other opportunities through the Northwest Territories, I don't know if we would be able to find another opportunity such as that. We don't have an additional $10 million set aside to be purchasing these buildings. And I understand throughout the Northwest Territories that this is a significant amount, but it's the least amount that we do have, and we did jump at the opportunity when this building was being built to try to alleviate our waitlist in the community.
The other thing that I also pursue as a Minister is our federal funding that is out there with the federal government. We've been quite successful with the rapid housing program and also the coinvestment, and also just with the conversations with the Indigenous groups as well.
As those conversations continue, we are talking with the Indigenous groups in Inuvik as well and looking at their possibilities to submit for coinvestment application to work with the corporation and working with those with the waitlist and those existing leases in Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's been a long time since we've had college family units as well. I know, and you know, in Inuvik there's a huge vacant lot known as the Blueberry Patch. Will the Minister look at working with the Minister of Education on utilizing this vacant land formerly known, like I said, as the Blueberry Patch in the collaboration possibly with an Indigenous government to build family college units, housing units for our community as they both lease units privately off the market as it stands in Inuvik. And this you know, with all the federal money coming in and the focus on housing, I think right now it might be a great opportunity for the two to work together to actually put some units in that Blueberry Patch. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question as well too because we do have vacant land throughout the Northwest Territories that we do not have the funding to construct and to start building on those properties as well too. I want to highlight the property as well in Hay River that we're trying to work and look at opportunities that we possibly can have to rebuild the seniors complex.
I am familiar with the Member's area as well too as the Blueberry Patch where the college housing was once built and now has been demolished.
I would like to inform the Member as well that we continue those conversations with the Indigenous groups, and if there's an opportunity that we are able to successfully see a coinvestment application going forward, I would like to speak with the Indigenous groups as well if there is a possibility that they may require this property to be built on. I think partnership is a great opportunity in the Northwest Territories, and the Housing Corporation can compromise with those opportunities going forward. But presently right now, we do not have additional money in our budget to be constructing a whole apartment complex.
The other I want to just highlight is that I did ask the department to provide a 160unit I guess putting their numbers together, what would it cost for us to acknowledge the same situation here in Yellowknife, with the 162 leases that we do have here in Yellowknife with Northview, what would it cost the Housing Corporation to build on our own the same thing in Inuvik. We just don't have the money in our budget but it's something we are speaking about. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know what, all I have to say is my colleagues in this House have been saying over and over and over again to the housing minister ask us for the money, and we'll we'll we'll we'll say yes, if you put it in the budget. So, you know, we have one more cycle in this House, and you know, I know that there's money that's been awarded, announced for Indigenous governments and for this government and, like, I'm not sure with the new announcement in the news if that money's going to come to us in the territory but, you know, I hope that this Minister focuses the next year on actually getting more houses and our waitlist cut short. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And absolutely, like, you know, if I were to put forward and forecast the additional money for the department, in respect that we do have other programs and services that do suffer when we are reallocating money to the corporation as well, and I respect my colleagues on this side as well as trying to find a common balance of what it is that we can provide.
And I also want to highlight that the that the progress that I've made with the federal government in receiving the 90 units throughout the Northwest Territories and also wanting to provide a second submission to the federal government to acknowledge our shortage in seniors housing as well too.
And I also want to acknowledge the announcement of the $80 million that was provided by the federal government. I don't have information on that. I would have to follow up with the department. But in response to those vital programming, the Housing Corporation did invest into a position that does work with the Indigenous groups to provide further information on completing applications and what further housing opportunities are out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier today about the need to make sure that we continue to produce traditionally tanned moose hides. And one of my concerns in this area is I know many harvesters do not take the hide when they harvest a moose. It's quite a bit more work. Harvesting the animal to take the hide completely. And if you have no one to give it to or you're not willing to put in the weeks of time yourself, it's not really worth taking it out of the bush. And I'm just wondering if the Minister could look into some sort of incentive to make sure people try and take the hides from moose. I know we pay people, I believe it's 50 bucks and you get a free hat if you bring in a moose jaw, and I know we advertise in a number of other areas to take all parts of the animal. And I'm just hoping the department can look into some way to make sure we're not leaving these beautiful hides in the bush. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ENR is open to discuss possibilities for moose hunting and hide tanning incentives and training through our online program. I think we talked about it in Committee of the Whole yesterday, and we said that we'd look into that there.
We know tanning is often a family and the communitybased activity where knowledge is passed on to the youth. This is why ENR, ITI, ECE, and HSS have been providing financial and inkind support to the NWT On the Land Collaborative to ensure that these skills are retained.
ENR is happy to have conversations with organizations interested in running hide camps and programs on a casebycase basis and encourage anyone interested to, reach out to ENR on the land unit to discuss the available funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to commend the department on their work to date working with ECE to get the hunter ed program in the schools. I know we're piloting it in nine schools. I also know there's been some work through Bush Kids and other initiatives to have kind of traditional knowledge in schools. But I would really like to have the Minister work with his ECE colleague to get hide camps into schools. Is this something the Minister could look into doing? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, educational bodies and schools have programs in place to bring in cultural programs to the schools. ECE has some funding for cultural programs and often gets funding from other departments, organizations to supplement school or communitybased initiatives. ENR and ECE recently launched the hunters education as a high school credit program, as the Member talked about and I said in my Minister statement here today. The implementation of this pilot project can inform the development of other future harvesting programs.
ENR has also provided funding to schools throughout the NWT to take a kid trapping what which supports other land skills based skills. ENR will continue to partner and support external organizations such as schools, Indigenous governments, and Indigenous organizations to develop, deliver landbased learning opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the department has provided support through a variety of funding mechanisms for hide camps. In the past, I know they've supported the Dene Najho Urban Hide Camp which happens right in Somba K'e Park here in Yellowknife.
I'm just hoping the Minister can give me a total of how much money we have provided to support this area and exactly where one can apply, where the funding comes from? Thank you.
Thank you. In my Minister's statement today, I talked about the land On the Land Collaborative. The collaborative supported eight specific hide tanning programs since 2006 for a total of approximately $195,000. ENR Takes a Family on the Land program can support tanning given its focus on mentorship. The next applications call for this program is expected to open April 2022.
Through ECE, the arts NWT Arts Council has funded individual handing time individual hide tidy or tanning projects and provides support to organizations such as the Northern Life Museum in Fort Smith. All our application programs are advertised, and interested organizations are encouraged to contact on the land units for more information. And if they have challenges with that, reach out to our regional offices. Our regional office staff are more than willing to help them with this sort of thing as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister may have answered my question there but I'll tell you 200 grand for those eight camps was a great deal, and I know many people are running these not necessarily with government support, that they're communitydriven initiatives. But I've talked to some of the organizers and they'd really like to, you know, take these to another level, perhaps fly in elders, fly in people to help support, you know, turn them into bit of kind of an educational aspect as well. And I just would ask the Minister that perhaps the department, you know, with this fund, reach out to people who run these camps and get the word out there that anyone who wants to run a hide tanning camp, the GNWT is willing to support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I think here we're telling people that we're interested; please reach out to us. We don't know all of the time what camps are out there and that, so we encourage them to reach out to not just, like I said, the on land unit but our regional office. We're more than willing to work with them, work with the schools to do this. So the Member is right; this is very much about, you know, being able to pass on traditional knowledge, and that's what we're all about, is trying to be able to do this. So if the Member is aware of certain things, please have him get them to reach out to our regional offices and we'll work together with them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
