Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my question was in regards to tracking. And so I'm wondering how the government is tracking housing needs as it relates to increasing employment in small communities? And I use the example of the communities of Tuktoyaktuk wanting to hire a mental health counsellor but that they could not do that because there was no housing in the community for that person to live in. And so that meant that Tuk was unable to hire that person to work in the community. And so how is that information being tracked by the GNWT and supplied to either Executive or the Housing Corporation so that we know what communities cannot bring in employment into the community because of lack of housing. Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to defer that to the Minister of Housing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Chinna.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will have to get back to the Member because it does fluctuate throughout the territories as well too and looking at those specific programs and services, and I have heard this as well too with the positions not being fulfilled in the communities because of lack of housing and looking at how we are looking at distributing those units as well.
Right now, the delivery that we do have, the priority is public housing and to deal with our waitlists. So I would have to get back to the Member and looking at market housing for GNWT employees. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.
Yeah, thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I think this is a really important subject and really important question because although I know that there is a huge push to increase public housing, and I understand the huge importance of that, there is also a need for us to be or for the GNWT to be able to fill vacant positions in communities that they are creating both because the communities need it, this and there's a huge push to put a lot of these support services back into communities to serve residents of the Northwest Territories. And so it's it's one of those, you know, catch 22s, where you need both, and without properly tracking our needs then the GNWT can't fulfill them.
And so my next question there was going to be a request for understanding how the GNWT is addressing staff housing needs in small communities. And I appreciate that the Minister alluded to providing additional information on that.
And my next question is does the NWT Housing Corporation then have policies that support partnerships for private market rental agreements with Indigenous governments and with community organizations in order to increase those private market rental opportunities for moving these support services into communities so people have a place to live when they take these jobs? Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Chair, I do know that, from when I used to be the housing minister, that there are regular there used to be every few years, they kind of did a crossdepartmental check to make sure that to see how many market housing needs were met were needed. I know that ECE has let us know that, you know, the education bodies let ECE know on a regular basis what they're needing, and I imagine Health has the same. I don't know when that was last done. So I think it might be something that needs to be looked at again. However, I would also caution that might not be the time right now until the Minister can actually have these meetings with the Indigenous governments, until the funding rolls out from the federal government to the Indigenous governments and to the Housing Corp, and we figure out what the Indigenous governments want to do with their money, if they want to get into market housing, which would be something that I would promote them to do to make it sustainable, then it would be kind of futile for us to do that. So I think, though, that I'm hoping the Minister would be open to yes, good. The Minister would be open to once we have the discussions with the Indigenous governments, find out what their plans are, that she would look at again doing a crossdepartmental assessment of the needs in communities.
In saying that, though, I do want to say that when I was the housing minister the issue that I had as well, we asked all the departments what they needed and they gave us a list, and we put houses there. And then when I took over as the housing minister, those those same buildings that were identified by departments needed for nurses, teachers, etcetera, sat empty for years to the point that I got upset about it and said give them away to public housing, reuse them. So there's always a fine balance between assessing what the need is and what actually is the need because you might have three teachers my son's partner is a teacher and so you would think that you have three teachers and they all need their own unit, but then they get together and they meet each other and they decide to share one unit, and you got two units sitting empty. So there's a fine balance between saying this is the number we need and actually this is the number that we actually do need. So thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. WeyallonArmstrong.
Hello, I have a question. I have a question here. It says in here, in this report, that the working group established a working group, and it says it already established a working group to create to review existing employment opportunities in the small communities, etcetera.
I just wanted to ask the Premier if there is a timeline when to complete because the working group is in place already. Is there a timeline to complete and to so that there's more jobs created in small communities? You are aware that right now even, like, for Tlicho community and when you look at the health status report, it's not just Tlicho community; it's other community as well, that where unemployment is high. And people are using income support more. So I just wanted to know if there is a timeline because everybody needs jobs, especially in the small communities. And I just wanted to ask if there is a timeline. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is something that is ongoing. There are timelines listed in the mandate, and there's funding flowing every single year to the tune of over $4 million to small communities to create jobs. So hundreds of jobs are created each year, and the communities just need to opt in and they can provide those funds to different organizations within the community, even private businesses, to create jobs. We are working on in the coming fiscal year, those are going to turn into multiyear agreements so that communities can plan so there's some sustainability with those jobs. It's not just a oneoff and perhaps you can plan a few years out and create some sustainable jobs. We need people to create jobs. We can provide money. But if we just keep providing money, it's basically a different form of income assistance. So we need to all work together to support businesses and communities to create their own industries. And so that work is happening.
In terms of some of the other work, the departments ENR, ITI, ECE, Housing Corporation are all working together on the working group to come up with different strategies to look at the gaps that exist. They all have are creating logic models to determine where those gaps are and then perhaps provide some more targeted supports. Right now it's a pretty the major support is pretty blunt. Millions of dollars a year for employment. And it has been relatively successful. And now we need to figure out how do we turn those temporary seasonal jobs into longterm jobs and eventually businesses and industries. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. WeyallonArmstrong.
Thank you. Okay, I just heard about the housing shortage as well. Housing shortage, I know that we want Yellowknife, we want the GNWT decentralize the jobs to the communities, to the outlying regions to the right now, is there any commitment from the GNWT to transfer most of these jobs that was taken from the communities, take it back to the communities, and let the community run the program and services? I just wanted to ask the Minister if there is a commitment from the GNWT to decentralize these most of these jobs that were moved from the small communities to Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've heard that quite a bit. Decentralization is not one of our priorities actually. It's not in here. It's increase regional decisionmaking was in here. In saying that, though, I mean, there is a commitment. There is a like I said earlier, the Minister of Finance has made a commitment that we all want to see jobs in the communities. We recognize that, you know, like it was mentioned earlier, the stronger our smaller communities are the stronger Yellowknife is. It was made by a Regular Member, and I agree with that statement actually. And so like I said earlier, one of the things that isn't in here but it's being done by the by Department of Finance is that anyone that has a job in Yellowknife that can be done in the communities has that option now. That's never been done before. They have the option, if their supervisor allows it, that they can actually take their job and go into the community, wherever they want, and do that work from there. And like I said earlier, it's a oneway street. We're not allowing that to happen for people that have jobs outside of Yellowknife.
So I'm hoping that many people in the public service will hear this and will take us up on that. That is one way of decentralizing jobs into the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. WeyallonArmstrong.
Okay, well, thank you. Okay, the Premier said something about increase the decisionmaking. So who are these decisionmakers are? Is it the local leaders, or is it GNWT? Who are these like, who are these people that they are targeting? I just I need to know because it's increase decisionmaking is I'm not too sure. They need to be clear on that. Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If you look at the mandate that was done from this, the increase in regional decisionmaking, it will be done by the people that are in the regions. There was feedback that they felt that they couldn't make decisions, that they couldn't they couldn't be the final say, that everything that they had to do had to come through headquarters, and then when we did the review of their job descriptions, it's not true. So I don't know if that's a perception that's come from they're thinking that or somebody that was a supervisor in headquarters that got too heavy handed, but that is what we're trying to correct, is the misperception by people in the regions, such as local LHOs, education bodies, etcetera, that feel that everything they do has to come through headquarters, because that's not appropriate. People are paid at the same levels, and they are expected to do the same work. So they should have the same level of authority to be able to make decisions as somebody in Yellowknife. So that was what that mandate or that priority is about. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. WeyallonArmstrong.
Thank you. I do agree with Premier on that because there are there's people out here that can do the job but it's always the Yellowknife or the headquarters, the deputy ministers, people there, the bureaucrats are undermining the local authority. So that's why like, if people are working in that like that, within that capacity, other people I'm sure they don't feel good about themselves about the decisionmaking. They are being undermined. And I do agree with the Premier what she said, increase the decisionmaking should be left, left alone and leave it to the to the people in the small communities or in the regions. That's yes, I just wanted to say that. That's just more of a comment, and I do agree, and that is very inappropriate. Yellowknife should not be having all the power and control. And right now, that's how we we see it like that. We see that Yellowknife have more power and control over small communities, especially small communities in the regions, and a lot of undermining too as well. So I do agree with what she said, and it's not appropriate, and I hope that lot of these decisionmaking will be done at the local level, and you know, and just leave it there. Thank you.
Thank you. Premier, would you like to respond?
I'll take that as a comment. Thank you for the agreement. I think it's shared by many Members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. WeyallonArmstrong.
Yes, that's it for now. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Edjericon.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just thinking on this subject here anyway. It is good to see that ECE and ITI and NWT Housing Corporation are working together to to establish a working group. And I think it's I think it's a good idea that, you know, when you start looking at working together. But what's missing there is what I don't see there is Indigenous governments. And maybe the Premier could maybe let me know, you know, if we're going to do this, shouldn't we be working with the Indigenous governments on this? Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, this mandate, the priorities were set by the Legislative Assembly, 19 Members that are in this House. Also the mandate was set by the GNWT. So it's only an internal document for us as this Assembly.
However, in saying that, I agree that it's really important to work with the Indigenous governments, and that's why we've started the Council of Leaders table. And in my opinion, one of the most progressive things we've done, not only the Council of Leaders, but also the modern treaty and selfgovernment tables that are looking at implementation of their agreements. A big part of those implementations are the economic feasibilities of those agreements. And so those discussions have started in this Assembly, and I'm hoping that they will last for forever, because I think you're right, it has to be all of us together to do this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Edjericon.
Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your comments from the Premier.
You know, the Housing Corporation's been it's 50 years now. They're looking at a celebration coming up here soon. And, you know, I've been in this field for some time and you know, working in the communities going back to 1986 in Fort Resolution when we were building HAP houses up to 1992 when Canada through CMHC decided not to build anymore public housing and cancelled the HAP program. But, you know, small communities are really dependant, you know, on new construction. And the thing is that what's been happening now is that in the last number of years, you know, the high cost of buying materials and labour and most recent, you know, the COVID and the fires in BC have driven up the cost per square foot cost. And, you know, the communities really depend on this seasonal work. And I know it's been going back to, like I said 1986 to last number of years, and you know, we got some good tradespeople out of out of the communities, even including electricians, etcetera. So what's happening now is that we moved away from, you know, stickbuilt construction to buying modular homes now. And to even think about the modular home going to a community, it doesn't take long to drop a trailer in the community. You could walk out of ten days to finish a unit. And what's the benefit to the people in the community in terms of if you say that we want to promote apprenticeship training, well, there's not much you could do in ten days whereas, you know, if you do one home, it could take you three months to build a home and if you do three units in one community, that's 90 that's 270 days I guess. So you got nine months worth of work if you build three houses in the community, and then you could really look at promoting apprenticeship training etcetera. So I just want to know is this going to be the new norm now, moving away from stick built construction to going with trailers now? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Question for the Premier.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do believe that there's a couple of things I heard in there and so I'm just going to take it, and then I'm going to transfer it to a different Minister actually.
Housing is one thing, and yeah, so I mean, years ago when we thought it would be cheaper to bring in modular homes is that modular homes don't transport well to the far communities in the North. So that you know, it's not going to be a reality for that. However, you always have to do the balance. Is it you know, is it you can get five modular homes for $500,000 versus one stickbuilt for $500,000, and you got like a huge waiting list of people that need housing. So there's always that balance, you know, jobs versus people and housing.
But bigger than that is, you know, having the housing program for three months and building one stick house in the community, that might answer it for a year, maybe two years, but I think ECE is doing some exciting work around the community labour market development plans. And so if you'd allow me, Mr. Chair, I'd like for the Minister of ECE to talk a little bit about what those are about and what he sees coming from those. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Premier. Minister Simpson.
Thank you. And ECE does support communities, including community governments, so that includes Indigenous governments, in those communities to develop their community labour market development plans. And those contain a lot of information that I know we talked a lot today about why we need information to make decisions. And that also allows us to provide funding based on those decisions.
I will say we're also working with the Housing Corporation to better utilize the trades persons that are employed by the Housing Corporation and the LHOs. This is something that the Minister and I had been speaking about since day one of this Assembly basically. We have the SNAP program, the I can't remember this acronym. I've always known it as the SNAP program but it is a way for students to learn a trade, earn some money, and earn some credits all at the same time. And we are doing more to promote this program. And we want to promote it in small communities so that those small community students can learn those trades.
We are also revamping the standards for the housing maintainer program which the college has hasn't offered for a couple years, but that's also a program that, you know, much needed in communities. And I will say that in terms of stickbuilds and modulars, I know the Housing Corporation does a mixture, but even in regional centres where you might build some modulars, I know that there's a number of people from small communities who work on those builds, and I've seen it myself. So there are opportunities, and we want to take advantage of those as well. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Edjericon.
Yeah, and I only got a few minutes left so I'll just couple quick comments I guess and maybe a question.
Yeah, you know, I appreciate your comments and thank you for your response on that from the Premier and also the from the Minister of Education. And I understand the apprenticeship program and the programs that you're talking about because I used to be the chairman for the apprenticeship board once upon a time. But at the same time, you know, these trailers that are that have been purchased most likely come from down south and, you know, we have a northern manufacturer policy in place, and we should be promoting trailers from the North and built here in the North because what's happening is that that way here can really promote the apprenticeship training in this area.
Also, you know, aboriginal governments in the North here really want to build capacity, you know, and I think maybe this working group should be working with Indigenous governments so that they could undertake a lot of these projects themselves. And because sooner or later, it's going to happen anyway with land claims and selfgovernment agreements, etcetera.
So I just want to just throw that out there. But I think we should be supporting northern manufacturers here in the North, also working with Indigenous governments, and do a proper training program that way. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mahsi.
Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's a lot of questions in that and just kind of trying to figure out who to best to answer.
I think I'll start with saying it's multifaceted. It's not as easy as that. The working group is done; there's one aspect of it. ECE is doing things around regional plans. EIA is working with the Indigenous governments on their own economic achievements. And I kind of like that model because I always feel that it's not good to always have your eggs in one basket. The more that we branch out, the more flexibility. But I think I'll take the chance because I did hear about the purchasing of modular units from down south. So I think I'll if you're all right with that Mr. Chair, I'll let the Minister of Housing talk about what she's doing with the modular houses that we're homes that we're taking into the North. I'll use that one. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister Chinna.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So when we had applied and received the federal funding, with that federal funding we were to deliver modular units. And that was the criteria that was build into receiving those additional 30 units for that program. But what we had done as well too is we met with northern modular manufacturers as well too. So we were able to look at northern builds here in the territories. And one of the things that we've done for with the corporation is we've done our best to try to keep that money spending here in the North and try to maximize on all that we can here in the North but also emphasizing on the communities as well too, to keep the money for local employment as well. And modular units versus stickbuilt, obviously there is a dramatic price increase but the Housing Corporation has looked at those builds and those opportunities to try to balance that out through the Northwest Territories.
Right now we have partnered up with one of the companies in the territories as well too. But the other thing that I've noticed is the Indigenous groups are partnering up with local businesses that are here in the North. And that is something that the Housing Corporation works with those Indigenous groups and works with those companies to making sure that we increase local employment as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. WeyallonArmstrong, one question, please. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The one question that I want to ask, I know that in a small communities, most of the employers are GNWT and the local governments and LHO. So I just wanted to ask if they can hold the GNWT can hold a strategic workshop in communities to talk about creating jobs in small communities? Can the Premier answer that, please. Thank you.
Thank you. Premier.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to transfer that to the Minister of ECE.
Minister Simpson.
Thank you. I don't think we're going to be doing that at this time. We've seen a reduction in our travel budgets as well as our, you know, contract services are tight, and it is difficult to you know, we have to make some difficult choices. So we have many avenues where we work with Indigenous governments and communities. And you know, we're going to continue to do that in the best way possible. But at this time, I can't commit to something like that. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any further questions on increase employment in small communities?
Seeing none, committee, we will move to pages 34 to 37, make strategic infrastructure investments that connect communities, expand the economy, or reduce the cost of living. Questions? I don't see any questions. Mr. Edjericon.
