Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, I should say thank you to the MLAs from the region who invited us there and invited me to attend and helped arrange some of the meetings that we had. It definitely it helps myself, it helps the department to have that hands on and have eyes on. You know, I my own I'm certainly not an expert so I'm hesitant to conclude that it is inevitable which businesses will or will not be experiencing impacts beyond what's available in the Disaster Assistance Policy. I mean, I can certainly say that there is, you know, some of the businesses were essentially wiped out. So, you know, what conclusions there are from that, I would think are probably obvious. But that's the work that's happening right now, is to try to quantify them as best can be done to do that as quickly as can be done, and then to then go back to, for instance, Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Similarly, agriculture. There is national programs. We are already having those conversations, not waiting for the final numbers, but with that groundwork in place and then with the numbers coming in, it's my hope that we'll be in a position to react quickly once the final numbers are available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if her department will assist those in the fishing, agriculture, and tourism sectors with funding to offset loss of revenue and wages, something that I'm sure isn't included in the DAP process. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not a standing or standalone program that offers support for lost wages or lost revenue. And as many will recall, early on in the COVID19 pandemic, both not only our government, the federal government had to be creating and crafting those types of programs sort of in the moment and in order to respond. So I can't say necessarily what type of additional programming or programs might become available, might need to be crafted. But I can certainly, again, indicate that we are in touch with the businesses in the community. We'll continue to do so. If there's community businesses that aren't being connected with or haven't had those connections, you know, I certainly would want them to reach out, whether through their MLA or through their regional ITI office, because hearing and understanding exactly the needs, what are those areas of need, and what is being covered by insurance, what is being covered by disaster assistance, and what gaps are there going to be get these businesses back up and running as quickly as possible. You know, the more we can help be flexible by understanding those specifics, the more we can then tailor any programs that might need to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now what's happening in Hay River is that the businesses that have been impacted are basically cleaning up, trying to repair, you know, damages. And the reality is that no one will break even. But what I'm hoping is that we can get them to close to break even as possible.
You know, the ones that are working, you know, they're making a paltry $20 an hour under the DAP process. So Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if her department has identified or set aside funds specifically to assist those businesses affected by the flooding in the South Slave?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this I think actually draws on the Department of Finance.
So when there's emergencies of this nature, emergencies of any nature, you know, there's certainly money that gets set aside in our supplementary reserve for requests and issues that come up over the course of a fiscal year. Individual departments, once they have their appropriation on April 1st, may have flexibility. You know, this is depending on what's going on in the department. Projects might get deferred. Different work might get deferred in order to have some flexibility in a budget and to provide some shortterm relief or shortterm programs or enhance certain programs.
Beyond that, though, Mr. Speaker, there of course is just the simple reality that the government right now, we were protecting a significant surplus. So we do have some flexibility within our own GNWT budget and are keenly looking at what's happening in the South Slave working with MACA, asking everyone to register with the Disaster Assistance Policy so we have a good handle on what the needs are going to be, and then, as a wholeofgovernment, can be looking at what types of gaps there are and going back to the federal government to see what they can help us with to ensure that we are responding in a way that is flexible and responsive and really truly meeting the needs of those communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Justice in regards to the Builders Lien Act.
Multiple NWT businesses are asking and calling for modern legislation in regards to the builders lien legislation. Following public engagement in March of 2021, the Department of Justice tabled and public shared published a What We Heard report. And in that report, it indicated that a bill would be brought forward later in 2021 but the bill still has not been tabled. And so I'm wondering what has held up this work. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the department is currently drafting the bill for the new Builders Lien Act, which will replace the existing Mechanics Lien Act, which is quite a bold piece of legislation. The legislative proposal, which is one of the very first steps in turning a need into a law, was submitted in summer of 2021, was approved in late November, and the drafting began earlier this year.
The department was hoping to introduce the bill last year but, you know, things take time and it's fallen a bit behind. Nonetheless, we are considering all the feedback that the Member referenced and hope to have this bill ready soon. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if we can expect a bill to be tabled in the House in the fall session? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's the plan.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, based on feedback from residents, can the Minister give us an idea of the scope of what will be included in the bill from what they heard in the What We Heard report? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there's been really no major amendments since 1980s on that bill so that's why it's a repeal and replace essentially.
So in terms of scope, the purpose of the legislation is to ensure that parties who contribute work, labour, or materials to a construction project in the NWT are paid and to provide a remedy if they are not. Lien legislation also creates stability and predictability for owners of construction projects by setting out obligations they have to other parties involved in the project. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Minister. Minister, can the sorry, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if the bill will include mediation or arbitration as an alternative to court solutions? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the department has considered mandatory arbitration within the bill but is not contemplating this further based on the feedback that we received from the public. However, nothing in the bill will interfere with or prohibit the application of the Arbitration Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions are for the Minister of Housing. And I appreciate the fact that she came to Hay River last weekend and toured the assets looked after by the Hay River Housing Authority. So the questions I didn't provide them to you, but they're easy to answer.
What support is the department providing to those housing tenants displaced from their homes? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the questions. And I did travel to Hay River over the weekend as well. And I was glad to see that we do have the LHO and the manager very active at the ground level.
Right now, the Housing NWT is in the process of renovating and repairing the current units in Hay River that have been affected. Also we are looking at we also provided sea cans for people's belongings that have been damaged that are required. We did honestly provide as well too emotional support. I was very, very impressed by the LHO being at the ground level, and such a traumatic event. I was very, very glad to hear that the staff at the ground level has been very available and very cooperative with the community. It was something very tragic for that region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Minister is correct in saying that the LHO has been very supportive of the residents. They've done a great job in assisting them in making the move, especially out of Whispering Willows.
So what additional supports or supports are being provided to the Hay River Housing Authority and the board? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now the Housing NWT, we did have employees going down to the community immediately as of last Monday, and they were doing the assessments of our public housing units in the community as well. But I need to bring this back to our department because I know this is going to be a really lengthy process but it is going to end up coming with a financial contribution to the LHO as well too. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me if there is a timeline to complete renovations to housing units, more specifically, I guess, Whispering Willows because that impacts, you know, a vulnerable sector of residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm happy to also report that the LHO as well at the ground level had been very cooperative in trying to help us find additional places for our residents in our public housing units. The last update I did get was three to four months depending on availability of the contractors and the specific repairs that need to be done in Whispering Willows. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me whether her department is in discussions with the federal government to try and get the empty houses that they have sitting in Hay River for use as temporary accommodation for some of the families that were displaced? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been able to enter into an agreement with the federal government to have access to the four federal housing units in the community, but that administration will be handled by Municipal and Community Affairs as this would be for homeowners. Housing NWT is providing assistance to our public housing tenants. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
This is a question for Education. Will the Minister commit to reviewing how it allocates funding to small communities particularly to see if they are adequately funded and resourced? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will never be enough money for Education. I think that's fair to say. You know, we can always do more. But I can say that we have made some changes to the funding formula that do benefit small communities. The way communities are funded, they're based on school population and at times there's a bit of a cliff when the school falls below a certain number of students it can experience a drop off in funding. So we have smoothed that slope for a number of different funding streams. And so that is something that happened this year that is benefitting small communities.
As part of the larger Education Act to modernization initiatives, we will be reviewing how schools are funded. Because I've been saying since day one I would prefer to see funding that ensures equitable education across the territory. Thank you.
Will the Minister commit to providing more flexibility on how funds can be spent so communities and staff can be more creative on program delivery?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So where there's a district education council or like the TCSA, the department provides a lump sum of funding, and there are essentially three pots of money. One pot of money has to be used for inclusive schooling, and so that's ensuring that there are supports to support students at different levels in the same classroom. One portion has to be used for Indigenous language and education. And the rest can be used for anything. We don't really have strings attached to it. The delivery of education is the responsibility of the local education body. And so ECE is quite hands off and allows as much creativity as an education body can muster. Thank you.
Thank you. This is one of the example that, you know, I said I had six examples so I'll add one more. We still have time.
Has ECE advanced the piloting of a support network that meets the need of students, educators, and principals, is centered on Indigenous view, and when is the pilot completed?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have that information. Perhaps I can check the dashboard. Everything in the action plan that was a response to the Office of the Auditor General report is online in the progress tracker. And so when an item is in progress, that is noted on the online tracker. So I don't have that information but I can check that out and let the Member know. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Another example is in 2020 in 2020 and 2021 school that did not align their calendars saw some of their NDL students missing up to 25 percent of NDL class periods for some courses during the academic year.
What has been the progress in working with educators, administrators, and district education authorities in aligning the calendars of schools offering northern business learning programming? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now that is not a simple answer. So what I can say is that northern distance learning has produced some amazing results. You know, I hear great stories about it. I hear about students who, you know, in small communities who are taking these, you know, advanced level courses, academic courses, and making their way to university. And it's not obvious that they would have that opportunity in their community if not for northern distance learning. So it is a very valuable project, and I'm I don't want to say proud, but I'm happy with the investments that this government and the previous government have made into that program. It's been expanded. However, its progress really hasn't been helped by COVID, both because communities, you know, understandably, did not want people coming in to their communities to install the hardware and things like that associated with northern distance learning. As well, there were of course school closures and things like that that that slowed things down.
That being said, we are making some progress, and it's been unfortunate that education bodies have been busy dealing with other things with school closures, with school reopenings. It has really hindered a lot of the progress that we would have liked to see.
I can say, though, that because education bodies themselves determine their school calendar, they submit their school calendars for approval, there have been some progress. So I know in the Beaufort Delta, for example, the school calendars have been synchronized this last year.
Now, I haven't spoken with the chair about this but I presume it is for things like northern distance learning because that was that's where it's from. Northern distance learning originated in the Beaufort Delta. And however, the DEC, the district education council, the overarching body, their decisions are sometimes at odds with what the communities want. So I've heard from local communities that their desire is to have calendars that differ from their region has not been heard.
You know, in different the territory is vast. And even though there could be a single district education council, it covers education bodies over a large area. And you know, one of the main issues is the hunting season. You know, we face that situation here in the Assembly when we look at our calendar and how we want to, you know, when we want to meet. Basically our calendar here is crafted around the different hunting seasons around the Northwest Territories.
Similarly, we hear those concerns from education bodies as well. And so while we have there has been movement in aligning calendars within regions, we are not at the point where we have a territorywide calendar yet. And I'm not sure given local bodies' desires that we'll get there. But we are working on it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Way to run the clock there.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, Plain Language Summary for Bill 52, Elevators and Lifts Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, Plain Language Summary for Bill 53, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Lands.
