Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the NWT Metis Nation and their efforts to establish a final selfgovernment agreement with the Government of the Northwest Territories. My questions are for the Premier.
Is the Government of the Northwest Territories prepared to offer the NWT Metis Nation an amount of land that is equitable to other NWT claims? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, the Government in the Northwest Territories remains committed to land claim agreements that are comparable across the Northwest Territories. So absolutely, we're looking for a comparable agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if the Government of the Northwest Territories is prepared to prioritize the selfgovernment and land claim agreement with the NWT Metis Nation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this government remains committed to making negotiations and land claim and selfgovernment agreements a priority. It's one of our 22 priorities of this Assembly. It was a priority from the last Assembly, many before. It remains a priority, and it will remain a priority until it is until they are completed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us what the Government of the Northwest Territories is doing to demonstrate its commitment and ability to achieve an NWT Metis Nation final agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are actively engaging with the NWT Metis Association and Canada and ourselves around negotiations. We're talking about flexibility, what we can do. And that process will continue throughout. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if she anticipates a final agreement with the NWT Metis Nation will be established before the end of the 19th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd love to be able to say yes, that these final agreements will be signed tomorrow, today, at the end of the day. The reality is that we're one member at the negotiation table. There's three members. And so we're trying to do our best to make sure that these agreements are done in a fair equitable manner that meets the needs of the the NWT Metis Nation people and also the needs of the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha oh sorry, just checking.
Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions are for the Minister responsible for human resources.
Mr. Speaker, whatever one's perception of those vaccinated or not vaccinated against COVID19, we must follow our laws, legislation, regulations, and policies, which, in the creation, must be made in conformity with the Constitution and followed as we create new laws and rules.
So therefore, can the Minister confirm how federal government restrictions respecting air travel for vaccinated and unvaccinated public government employees in the NWT played into developing our COVID19 vaccine policies? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Government of the Northwest Territories vaccine policies were initially being developed, this was back in August, and if I recall correctly it was actually before the time that we had heard what the final federal policies might be, we were doing our best to develop our policy for the needs of our communities, having heard from Indigenous governments and communities here in the North and being aware of the vulnerable population we have in the North and seeing the evolution of COVID19 to that point. And around that time, Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions started to come out with other policies, their own policies at around that same time, and but we really we were doing our policy, you know, based on our analysis and not waiting on that of others or dependant upon that of other jurisdictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Considering the federal exemptions came out, you know, sometime in December and continued on. So after review and clarification of the federal restrictions on air travel for the NWT, of the employees placed on leave without pay can the Minister confirm how many have returned to work and received compensation for the time they were on leave? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, there of course is the GNWT's vaccination policy but then there are also some employees who, because of the existence of federal policies either in the places where they need to attend, such as an RCMP detachment, or because of the concern around travel, they would have been doubly impacted because of their job descriptions on on those policies. And the federal government had put in place an exemption initially to January 31st, and it was our exemption that or our understanding that that at that point, people who were subject to needing to travel under their job descriptions would be on leave without pay because that exemption was no longer in place. That exemption was in fact renewed, and so there were, I gather, a total of I believe six or seven employees who were impacted and who were placed on leave without pay and who are since now welcomed back to return to their duties as a result of not having to travel and who can then comply with the GNWT's policy where if they're choosing to not provide a proof of vaccination, they can undertake PPE, protective protective equipment and testing in order to comply with their policies and, of course, any loss of pay during that period they would be compensated back for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister confirm if changes to COVID restrictions in the NWT will result in the elimination of revision of current vaccine policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, as I think folks are generally aware, we are anticipating that there will be some changes to the overall restrictions and approach to COVID19 under the chief public health officer chief public health office and the associated orders as of April 1st. Mr. Speaker, when that occurs we certainly will be reviewing revising and updating our own policy accordingly. It's always preferable, Mr. Speaker, in my view to communicate directly with employees first and not necessarily to make statements here in the House that affect them, but I would say that employees should be expecting to have an update from us imminently. We're just again wanting to make sure that we are acting in tandem and in lockstep with what's happening with the chief public health officer who I know has been looking at numbers right up to right up to the end here to make sure that what we're doing is, in fact, the safest possible approach for well, for residents, but in our case, for employees as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this has been a stressful time I guess for everybody, you know, vaccinated/ unvaccinated, you know, for everybody in the territories and throughout Canada. And more so, I guess for, you know, those those employees who were, you know, placed on leave without a paycheque and it was even more stressful on them and their families.
So due to the employees placed on leave without pay who could have continued working while meeting the federal restrictions for air travel, will the Minister offer a public apology to those employees who mistakenly lost their employment or placed or were placed on leave without pay? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I when we discovered that this that the change in the federal exemption hadn't been applied, it wasn't again, it was not it was something that we were not aware of, that their changes were not a public change. It was a change not communicated to to the Department of Finance. So as soon as we became aware of it, the employ the affected employees were contacted. I certainly, Mr. Speaker, I don't mind, and I think it's appropriate to say that I would not want to see hardship caused to any employee, any member of the public service, including those seven. I'm sorry that they went through that process. They've been contacted. They will not see any loss. They'll have their their compensation, their salaries dealt with appropriately so that they don't have to suffer any financial hardship or consequences. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to pick up where I left off two years ago with my questions on the status of creation of a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories.
Can the Minister update us on the jurisdictional scan that was underway in February 2020 and provide a copy to regular MLAs and the public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wasn't the health minister at that time, and I did not make this commitment. It is my understanding there was a jurisdictional scan done and it has been it has been completed, that it is primarily about information sharing, which is a huge issue with respect to our path forward with child and family services and Indigenous governments. So it doesn't speak about the power or the role or the responsibility and so on of a child and youth advocate. That's not what it's about. It's about information sharing.
The focus that we have now is to work with Indigenous governments for them to exercise their lawmaking power under the federal act respecting First Nations, Metis, Inuit children, youth, and families to draw down responsibility for their own administration of child and family services. So we're looking at community or regional or Indigenous government based solutions rather than a broad territorial office of an advocate. We're not looking at a child advocate at this time. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'll go back and see what kind of commitment was made by the previous Minister on this topic but that was just disappointing to hear the Minister say this.
So, you know, the department has come up with this quality improvement plan in response to the auditor general's findings, and of course the Minister's just raised that there are consultations going on with Indigenous governments. So can the Minister tell us if the creation of a child and youth advocate is a specific topic of these consultations with Indigenous governments or other groups? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you. In the negotiations to date, this hasn't been a topic of discussion. I note it's also not a topic of discussion in the recently tabled Child and Family Services Act Review Report from the standing committee. The point of Indigenous governments creating their own child and family services law is that they they won't need an advocate. It's their law. They decide how it's implemented. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, there are other children that may not get covered by these negotiations, but I'll just park that one for now.
The auditor general in that report was not complimentary of how we have been carrying out child and family services. The report of this House or one of the standing committees that supported a child and youth advocate with regard to the auditor general's report, so. When does the Minister actually expect that we could ever establish an Office of Child and Youth Advocate for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the child and family services system has been through a complete overhaul since the second of the OAG reports was tabled in 2018. And we created the quality improvement plan that the Member referenced which is now in its in its last days. We are going to create a bridge plan which will move over both the completed and incomplete actions that came out of the quality improvement plan.
We also as as the Member knows, we are going to revise the Child and Family Services Act to align our legislation with the federal legislation that came into effect in January of 2020. The basis of that legislation is that we act in the best interests of the child and that the best interests are for the child to maintain their connection with their family, with their community, and with their culture. So that will be the basis of the changes that we that we're going to make. As I say, other than the Member bringing this topic to me today, it hasn't been a request that I've heard otherwise. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. But I don't know where she's been for the last five years, then, if she says this is the first time she's heard this raised. In fact, I can probably cite where the Minister herself raised this issue in the previous Assembly. But, you know, these offices are found across the country, we're the last jurisdiction without one, and I would like to get a commitment from the Minister that she's actually going to seriously examine this issue of establishing a child and youth advocate for the Northwest Territories. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's true, as a Regular Member I did advocate for this. But I have to say how much has changed in the child and family services environment.
The colonial approach of "father knows best" with some kind of office that takes care of the whole NWT is no longer considered best practice. The best practice now is for Indigenous governments to write and implement their own child and family services law and be accountable to themselves and their Indigenous Members for the provision of child and family services. That's what we're working on. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding child and family services.
I heard the Minister say there that they are planning to update our legislation to bring it in line with the federal legislation. And Mr. Speaker, one of the key principles in that federal legislation is section 15 that says no child should be apprehended solely on the basis of his or her socioeconomic status including poverty, lack of adequate housing, or infrastructure, or the state of health in his or her parent or care provider. And Mr. Speaker, I I am concerned that we are still apprehending many children for those exact reasons.
So my question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is when we bring this legislation forward, will we adopt the same principle, that no child should be apprehended due to their parents' socioeconomic status? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that that the Member is duly concerned about children being removed from their homes where poverty rather than parental neglect is the primary issue. That is something that we're aware of. And we do have voluntary service agreements and brief service agreements which will assist families with their with their needs for shelter, food, and so on so that the children are not removed because of poverty.
This is obviously a systemic issue. It's a question of an inequity within the system. Some children have much more than others and that shouldn't be that shouldn't be a matter for child and family services except to support all families equally to ensure that children thrive. So there is a wholeofgovernment committee looking at integrated service delivery which would address all these areas. It would take into account housing, income assistance, health and social services, all the social envelope departments, to create an integrated service delivery model for families where neglect because of poverty is the issue and to find a wholeofgovernment remedies to that. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that. My concern is that with the service agreements they are relying on, you know, additional other GNWT resources to be provided, and we all know that there is a strain on those resources. And so what I think needs to happen here is either the child and family services workers have their own resources or there's some sort of prioritizing. We all in this House want to have integrated service delivery. But the reality is, is that there's just not enough houses for them to house all the homeless people presently. And I think we need to prioritize that anyone facing an apprehension can immediately get access to that. So I'm wondering if the Minister will look into some sort of prioritization for those voluntary agreements that CFS workers can, you know, essentially jump the line, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member's point but I don't think that priority or access to their own resources is the issue here. The primary issue that is discussed every day in this House is housing. So, you know, the family may live in conditions that are overcrowded, the housing is inadequate and potentially unaffordable. So those are the kinds of issues that need to be addressed on a across departmental basis. It's not a matter of money. It's a matter of finding a place for a suitable place for families to live, and that's why I think that work on this integrated service delivery addressing poverty for families shows a lot of promise to come up with a holistic solution for families where their socioeconomic circumstances are the primary reason that their their children aren't thriving. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that and, you know, I have had constituents and I know people who've they worked with integrated case management and they are moving towards an integrated service delivery model. I guess my question, though, is, you know, in times of emergency, I believe those CFS workers need their own resources. They need to their access to their own funding that is separate outside of waiting for, you know, our a shared vision of GNWT having all of its services delivered.
I'm wondering if the Minister could speak to whether there is potential to provide specific funding that is unique to how child and family services wants to spend it in the case of an apprehension or a plan of care agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to say that apprehension is always the last resort. And so at this point, we do have these service agreements available that family preservation workers, social workers can sign with families to ensure that their basic needs are being met. I don't know if it would be useful for these workers to have a another way of accessing money, whether that would improve the service delivery, the timing of it, and so on. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what the process is of getting money now and how onerous that is to meet a specific deadline. So I will make a commitment to the Member to look into that question and determine whether, in fact, having family preservation workers and social workers with their own pot of money would, in fact, facilitate getting the money into the hands of families. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and they're in regards to the action plan to improve student outcomes.
Yesterday I did a Member's statement in regards to support services. And looking at the action items or the action plan to improve student outcomes, I've noticed that a lot of the action items relating to literacy and support services have been delayed or put on hold and so I have a couple of questions for the Minister.
And the first one is the action item, develop a junior kindergarten to grade 4 literacy and numeracy strategy in collaboration with education bodies is currently on hold, and I'm wondering why. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Generally when we release strategies/action plans, they're quite high level, relatively big, but I said, no, we're going to get down into the weeds with this one and so we have timelines; we have dollar amounts; we have very discrete actions. And what comes with that is the fact that things don't always work out the way you would like. Sometimes you don't have the money. Sometimes other things get in the way. And sometimes positive things happen that can even set you back. So in this instance, with this particular item, the development of a literacy and numeracy strategy is is intimately tied to the curriculum, and we are now changing our curriculum from the Alberta curriculum to BC's curriculum. And once that's implemented, we begin implementing that in the 20232024 school year, then we can start developing and rolling out that strategy. Thank you.
