Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure and also the Minister of Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Can the Minister explain to me what policy process was used to negotiate the fivekilometre access road to the wind project, which was awarded to a consortium led by an Alberta company? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation follows a different procurement services than the GNWT. So, I mean, we brought that to Cabinet and Cabinet approved the work going forward with the business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this money was approved in the House by the Members and by processes, loopholes, it gets moved around, it gets moved to the Crown corporation led by our deputy ministers. So can the Minister explain the process in the negotiation to select that they used to select the contractors? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member was cutting in and out there so I think I kind of understand what she's asking.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if this is a new policy or process that we are going to be moving money around to Crown corporations so we don't have to follow government procurement, can you provide me or this House with the copy of how that's done so that maybe all the other aboriginal groups can negotiate in the same way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have done that in the past; we have worked with Tlicho government and some negotiated contracts for some of the work, which included some P3 projects and, you know, right now the Department of Finance is going through the procurement process so hopefully that would guide some directions on how this government goes forward on some contracts. Thanks.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, Mr. Speaker, I understand that there's big projects, or P3 projects. This is a fivekilometre road, an access road. It's not even a road; it's an access road. So if this is the new process, it's the first time that I have heard of it. If we are negotiating with Alberta companies, then I think that it's time that we reviewed that process because I am sure that there are at least four other aboriginal road building companies in Inuvik, Fort McPherson, and Tuk, that could have been negotiated with. Not being led by an Alberta company where the money's going to leave the North in the time of economic recovery that is needed for our region. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government, and this Assembly, had said we would work with Indigenous groups to look at ways of doing things differently. So the Inuvik Wind Project, we reached out to the Gwich'in businesses. The Gwich'in, and they provided us with their list, and that's how we were able to say do some of that work going forward. Yes, it is a fivekilometre work and you look at the total Inuvik Wind Project and that's probably just going to be one piece of the bigger work that needs to be done to complete the wind project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions are for the Minister of Finance or ITI.
Is the department monitoring the increased cost of living in the NWT and if so, have there been any specific areas identified as worrisome? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are constantly revising both the fiscal framework for the GNWT and revising the general outlook for the economy. We are doing that work, both the Department of Finance's responsible in terms of understanding our revenue forecast, you know, understanding our growth and our expenditures, the impacts of, you know, fuel costs, inflation, interest costs on us. I know that that work also happens at ITI in terms of understanding costs to business, understanding impacts, again for instance freight costs, transportation costs. And similarly, Mr. Speaker, I know that the Department of ECE is also continuously doing work, looking at the space in terms of the employment market and what might be happening. So there is always examinations happening.
Cost of living involves all of those things. Cost of living involves fuel costs, heating costs, transportation, the impacts on, you know, the market basket measures so it's a difficult one for me then to sort of turn around and say are we going to have measures to respond to it. Reducing the cost of living is already a mandate item.
We have done a mandate review just this week, updating the public on some of the work that is happening to try to achieve that goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess what I am trying to get at is, you know, people are struggling in the communities. And so what can this community do to lower the cost of living for residents considering other jurisdictions are taking actions to offset some of the costs? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And without knowing exactly what measures are being referred to, I am assuming that this is in reference to the fact that Alberta is offering some money to folks to offset the fuel, as is the Yukon. And again, I have said this earlier in the House, Alberta stands to benefit from the rising fuel costs so it is not really the kind of comparison that is fair to be made here in terms of, you know, considering that we have to ensure that we are able to provide programs and services across departments to every community, to every resident in the Northwest Territories. And the need to continuing to do that responsibly throughout the entire year, not only as, you know, a handout for everybody.
So, yeah, are we going to be looking at initiatives over the course of the year? Well, Mr. Speaker, I will look at the last two years where we were struck rather significantly by the impacts of COVID19. And the approach of this government was always that we would not look to see what the federal government is doing. I am not going to take you know, avoid any opportunity to have funding come from a much larger source but they were going to be there to full gaps and were going to be there to identify areas of particular need. There will be no change in that approach here. If in fact rising inflation does not slow down, if in fact the costs of fuel does not come down, then we will be doing what we have done in the last two years over the last crisis which is looking for the gaps and being there to make sure that we provide those safety nets. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the government working with private sector businesses or considering to assist with lowering their cost of doing business so that that can be passed on to residents? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll sort of reference again a bit of what happened more under COVID19 not as a full response. I realize that what's happening now is different but I want to give the example so that folks know exactly the approach that this government plans to take and that I would it be taking with the departments for which I am responsible.
When we came back in January and omicron was still rearing its head, no one quite knew how that would unfold, I asked that we make a point to check in with the chambers of commerce so that we could better understand directly from them what impacts were being what the impacts were on the private sector from what was now clearly a bit of different type of COVID situation. So I had the opportunity to sit down with the chambers then, and now it's quite clear that we are looking at a whole another type of financial situation whether it be from inflation, from fuel costs, or both. So I will certainly commit that we can have that check in again with the chambers, with other organizations in the community, and hear firsthand from the business community where their pinch points are, what their challenge points are, and where they need government support, if they need government support. There is already quite a lot in the budget that we are hoping to see passed that is meant to ensure that there is stability, that there is stability in procurement, that there is stability in our programs. And if there is some that they see as being better tuned, then that's the end, that's the kind of approach we like to take. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we hear that, you know, people are considering leaving the NWT and we, and I know of some people that have left because of the cost of living.
Is the department tracking the number of residents living the NWT due to the cost of living? And can the Minister commit to providing those numbers as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't to the best of my knowledge, we don't do exit interviews with residents as to reasons for their departure. I can say that the mining sector, who are also quite keen to keep their residents or keep their employees here in the North, they do do some work in this space. So what I will do, Mr. Speaker, is just check back with the statistics bureau, see if there are what data we do have around departures.
I know that questions earlier this week looked at our immigration and were looking at the growth of population. And it really has been sort of stagnant and just no matter efforts that have been made through past Assemblies, the population seems to be continually quite stable. As for the reasons to that, again, Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that we are going to have that. I will do my best efforts. As I say, I think that the mineral resource sector actually might be the best source. And if I recall correctly, it was a combination of factors, everything from, you know, concerns around costs to not having family to, you know, a number of different reasons that may arise from wanting to move somewhere; you know, other opportunities, etcetera. What we do want to do though, Mr. Speaker, this is always going to be a jurisdiction that likely has some higher costs. It also has much higher wages. And it has a way of living that we think hopefully will bring people to the North so I will also be following up with my colleague at ECE around our efforts on immigration, to see if there is things there that we can do to make to continue to bring people to the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I guess further to the conversations that I'm hearing today between colleagues on this side of the House, the Minister of Infrastructure, the Minister of Finance or ITI here today, one of the things that has struck me is this idea of getting projects done on time and on budget right now. And one of the things that we have just heard as well acknowledged by Minister Wawzonek on screen was, you know, the rising costs of living in the Northwest Territories and inflation as well.
So if, you know, costs of wood, steel, all have gone up over the last period of time, how really are we completing projects or expecting businesses to complete projects on behalf of the GNWT on time and on budget? Especially if projects still have the same scope, Mr. Speaker.
And so I am wondering, are conversations between the Department of Infrastructure happening with the federal government about existing projects to ensure that projects aren't being completed on the backs of northern businesses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. I mean, you look at some of the infrastructure projects and the costs overruns and this government, going through our budget stuff and in a current deficit, it is difficult to look at some of the infrastructure projects, especially if it is our mandate item. You know, we have a mandate to be able to 22 mandate items is a lot to, a lot to go through. We have heard it all week here, so I mean, we are looking at specific projects, going to the federal government, seeking additional money to be able to at least advance some of these projects. And it is a challenge, like I mean within each of our different departments and trying to push some of our projects forward. So it is a challenge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on this one here I was looking for kind of commitments around what conversations are happening at federal tables in order to protect NWT businesses in contracts that they have entered into before COVID, before inflation, and that they are now bound to in this new market. And especially where we heard today a contract was signed in 2019, it is now 2022, and the work is still being expected to be on time well, it's not on time, on budget, under the same scope. And so you how is the GNWT working with the federal government to protect northern businesses in these existing contracts? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I feel like it's not just Minister of Infrastructure but it's Minister of Finance, the Premier, all having discussions at the federal level to be able to advance and seek additional funding for these projects. You know, some of the contracts that we have are that's the private contractor's role, to be able to to do the work within the contract scope. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess what I am going to do is kind of shift here to just a GNWT focus and take the feds out of the equation.
So even within the GNWT, there are existing contracts. We have hundreds of millions of dollars of carryovers from Infrastructure every year and some of those are contracts that have already been set before COVID, before the inflation. Like even a contract that was set at this time last year would have been incurring additional substantial additional costs this year. And some of those might have people in certain business situations where really they are almost expected to now pay out of pocket to be able to work for the GNWT, depending on the sector, depending on the project.
And so what is the GNWT then on its own, its own contracts, what kind of conversations are they having with northern businesses about those existing contracts to make sure the work gets done without costing northern businesses money to work for the government? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. I mean, you know, we look at some of our contracts and staying within scope is difficult. And, you know, we do experience costs overruns in some of these projects but we do as a department, Infrastructure anyways, work with the contractors to make sure that we stay within targets and within milestone and budget as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Mr. Speaker, I know colleagues have questions so I will sit down, thank you.
Okay, taken as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to try again with the Minister of Infrastructure.
In all of these supposed meetings that they've been having with the joint venture, were there any participation by project officers, engineers, technical staff, directors, or have they all been high level with Indigenous governments? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. This line of questions is taken on notice earlier. It has to be on a different question, sorry.
(Audio)
Okay. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've had a number of meetings at all levels. I mean, I've reached out to some of the contacts within the JV. My deputy minister had meetings with National Defence. We've had several different meetings that have occurred. As for who is involved and what's their credentials, I don't know that at this time. Perhaps maybe they are engineers. I know one of our ADMs is, and he's been at the meetings, so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pretty surprised that given this is a massive project in the Minister's backyard that she doesn't even know who is showing up to the meetings or the technical qualifications of her department.
Could the Minister commit to please providing me with minutes of those meetings as well as the attendance lists? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the project staff are meeting biweekly with the joint venture on some of the work package on the work project number 1 and the project stakeholder meetings. So these meetings are happening.
In terms of getting Ministers to sit down at these meetings biweekly is probably not, you know, the best use of my time. But I do follow up. I do get updates from my deputy minister, from ADMs, and follow especially on this project. I mean, the Member's calling it on my backyard and I mentioned earlier I want this to happen. You know, this is a fiveyear project and I think that's important that we push this project through within budget, within timelines. It is fiveyear. I mean, I've been talking about this all week. It's just thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister misunderstood me. I actually don't want her at the meetings. I was asking about the technical staff, the lower level. It is my understanding that only high level meetings are occurring at this point. And as we need to have this lift of material go down this year, does the Minister commit to directing her department to find the money to start the lift this year? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I mentioned this week, and I've you know, I have to be involved as Minister for this project. I mean, you know, I feel like it's it's important to our region and it's an important project.
You know, in terms of, you know, getting this work done now, we've been saying we need to sit down, review the technical level of this project and work with project staff at all different levels. So this work is advancing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'm still confused at all of the delays and discussion around what essentially is putting down dirt onto the ground; something that we do very well as a territory, something the contractor does very well and has done for several years in that area.
So can the Minister please commit to whether or not she is going to have that lift done this year so we are not delayed by one year? It doesn't matter that there's five years on this project. It is it is a stage. There are phases that need to be completed for anything else to run. People are counting on this money. And the Minister is not holding her department to task. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Until I know what this means, I'm not going to commit to doing this. We still have work to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a Return to Written Question asked by the Member for Great Slave to the Minister of Health and Social Services on March 8th, 2022, regarding mental health supports for residents.
1. Staff Turnover Rates
Within the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority, there are health care professionals who provide a holistic array of mental health, addictions, and wellness support services across the Health and Social Services System. Therefore, positions cannot be easily or accurately categorized into just the three positions of mental health counsellors, child protection workers, and family support workers.
For the purposes of our response, we have included all frontline professionals providing some degree of mental health, addictions, and/or wellness support to NWT residents. This includes Case Managers and Aides; Community Health Representatives; Community Health Workers; Community Wellness Workers; Counsellors; Family Preservation Workers; Healthy Family Workers; Social Workers, including those with Child Protection Worker designation; Wellness and Recovery Workers; and other Mental Health Support positions.
As of December 31st, 2021, there were 242 budgeted positions in the Northwest.
Territories Health and Social Services Authority and the Tlicho Community Services Agency, Health and Social Services that provide mental health, addictions, and wellness support to residents of the Northwest Territories. Of those positions, 240 are indeterminate, and two are term.
Of the 242 budgeted positions, there are 25 that are currently administratively vacant. These are positions that are not being actively recruited for within the next three months. Positions can be left administratively vacant for several reasons, including, but not limited to:
A position is identified as being funded, but has not yet been established;
A position is being reevaluated by Job Evaluation;
Funding for a position is being used to double fill another position; or
The vacancy will be of too short a duration to fill through the regular recruitment process. A shortterm vacancy are usually filled with casuals.
As of December 31st, 2021, 45 of the 242 positions were vacant and being actively recruited for within the next three months. This translates into an actively recruiting vacancy rate of 18.6 percent.
In terms of staff turnover rates, unfortunately these rates cannot be provided by individual positions. Turnover rate is determined by the number of exits divided by the number of positions. For the 2021 calendar year the turnover rate for the 242 budgeted positions was 20.5 percent whereas the accession rate was 19.4 percent.
Later today at the appropriate time I will table a document that will give a breakdown of budgeted positions that provide mental health, addictions, and wellness support, by community and by occupation, including the actively recruiting vacant and administratively vacant positions. The document will also break down employee accession and turnover by occupation.
2. Mental Health Vacancy Coverage Planning.
Coverage approaches to staff vacancies are determined by several important operational factors. For example, coverage may be determined by:
The number of available staff to provide coverage in a particular community or region;
The needs of the community;
The preferred modality of coverage, such as virtual vs. inperson or a hybrid approach; and,.
The length of time coverage is required, such as shortterm vs longterm.
Regional Leadership have several shortterm and longterm coverage options available depending on the circumstance. Options range from:
Temporary shortterm coverage from existing team Members, if operationally possible;
Temporary shortterm coverage from other regions, such as by distance or planned travel;
Casual term hiring for temporary coverage ranging from six months up, with an option to extend if required;
Specific to the Community Counselling program, use of contracted counselling services is available for short and longerterm coverage when active recruitment efforts are impacted by low applicant rates and/or unsuccessful screening;
Crisis support: When there are vacancies and a community crisis occurs, regional and territorial resources are scanned and made available to provide immediate support where possible. Crisis response plans can include a number of intentional and sequenced responses including virtual care, simultaneous inperson support, extended hours of service and other organizational supports such as EFAP services, depending on the circumstance; and.
Community and regional level communications are crafted to ensure relevant stakeholders are aware and updated to any temporary service impact or how to reach service providers.
If there are questions regarding region or community specific timelines and current coverage plans, this can be provided.
3. Rates pertaining to Suicidal Ideation and SelfHarm.
The collection of data related to suicide attempts is complex and is currently recorded in a combination of paperbased and electronic medical records. There is currently no single, reliable and accurate data system that enables us to track people across multiple sites in different systems. With that said, hospital discharge data and data collected by the Community Counselling Program are of assistance. Hospital discharge data is collected by the Department of Health and Social Services and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and contains four potential combinations of selfharm, including suicide attempts, with or without suicidal ideation.
The territorial hospital data will capture significant presentations of selfharm and suicide ideation that also initially present to RCMP, emergency medical services, and health centres.
Where the intention for selfharm or suicide is not clear, medical coding used for this data may not capture all the cases. Not all suicide attempts are disclosed or reported to formal systems. Selfharm also tracks behaviours such as nonsuicidal selfinjury, commonly known as "cutting" types of behaviours, which will confound statistics.
The document to be tabled later today will present territorial hospital discharge data surveyed for the years 20162017 to 20202021 for the total number of people (unique clients) not accumulated or repeat events, and data collected from the Community Counselling Program regarding the number and percentage of people who presented to the Program with suicide ideation or suicide attempts as their primary concern.
The Department of Health and Social Services will continue to work on refining data collection and exploring one, cohesive system for health records across health centres, Community Counselling Programs, and hospital settings.
4. RCMP and First Response Indicators pertaining to Suicidal Ideation and Self Harm.
The Department of Justice has supplied information about the number of RCMP calls where the primary reason for the call is a mental health crisis for the years 2018 to 2020. This category of call is not specific to selfharm or suicide ideation. There is no breakdown to distinguish between different types of mental health crisis or to allow for specific suicide ideation or selfharm calls to be identified. In 2018, there were 1228 calls identified in this category, in 2019, 1458 calls and in 2020, 1503 calls.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
