Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Will the Minister commit to completing a jurisdictional scan to learn what other Canadian provinces and territories are doing to support their residents with infertility and report back on it to this House? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member. We've done a jurisdictional scan, and there are some large jurisdictions with big populations and big revenue bases that can support specialized services such as fertility treatments. But that is not the case here, and fertility treatments are not covered. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would ask that the Minister maybe share that with me. I've missed it somewhere in my research.
The Minister's alluded to it a bit, but what other options and ideas has Health and Social Services explored to help our residents on their fertility journey; can she elaborate a bit on what work has been done so far? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. So the GNWT provides services to individuals who need a diagnosis and treatment for an underlying medical condition that is preventing pregnancy from taking place, and this is part of our insured health services. So if that service is required here, it would be provided here. And if is required in the south, then medical travel would pay for that to happen in the south. So that's the "why aren't I getting pregnant" answer.
In terms of assisting people who don't have underlying medical conditions to get pregnant, that is not part of insured services in the NWT. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I guess I struggle to understand how we can spend money and support people to learn why they're not getting pregnant but then not help them to get pregnant after the fact when we talk about growing our population. So can the Minister speak to whether or not she would look at changing the medical travel benefits to include those that are seeking fertility in the south? As I mentioned in my statement, a small investment here could lead to further babies being born in the Northwest Territories and future cotransfer payments from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, falling pregnant is not a medically necessary intervention provided by our healthcare system, and we have no plans to change that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think this speaks a lot to how women's health is treated in our medical profession and healthcare system. If it were men that wanted to get pregnant and they couldn't, I'm sure we would have found a cure for it a long time ago, so. I would like to ask that the Minister work with her counterpart, the Minister responsible for Human Resources, and look to at least adding this to GNWT benefits going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for the comment.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT is known as a leader in one area, unfortunately that area is with respect to the national crime rate. Since 2005, except for a small blip, we have been in first place. However, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to justice, we all have a part to play, whether we're a parent, teacher, health worker, police, judge, lawyer it doesn't matter. So Mr. Speaker, I'd ask the Minister of Justice if he can confirm what the resulting factors are that have contributed to the increase in the NWT crime rate while we see the correctional centres are showing a steady decrease in population? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a big question. I'll do my best to keep my answers short.
So the most recent information we have is from the 2021 calendar year, and that shows us actually a decrease in crime during that time. The total crime rate went down by 3 percent in the Northwest Territories driven by a reduction in robbery, a 21 percent decrease in drug offences, as well as a 7 percent decrease in sexual assault offences. On the other side, we saw an increase in assaults and breaking and entering. But that's 2021, and I know the Member there's issues going on right now in his community and so people want to know what's going on right now. And there's a number of factors that influence crime rates.
Socioeconomic factors, the age of the population. In the Northwest Territories we have a very young population. We have a significant amount of poverty in the Northwest Territories, a significant amount of trauma in the Northwest Territories. And when you talk about crime rate, that means different things. So there's the crime rate, just a pure number of crimes, and there's the combination of the types of crimes. So the crime severity index is one way that we can look at the crime rate by taking into account how severe certain cases are.
The crime severity index in 2021 also dropped by 6 percent, and the youth crime severity index dropped by 23 percent in 2021. So when we say we're seeing an increase in crime, we are there's a general trend. We were following the same trend as Canada up until about I would say maybe five years ago, and then we have continued to increase while the rest of Canada has sort of stayed steady or decreased. But we are very similar to other regions that are similar to us.
So Nunavut and northern Saskatchewan, you can almost map our crime rates, the trajectory, overtop of each other; they almost form a single line so. There's a number of different factors that contribute to the crime rate. And I'll also say that we have twice as many police officers in the Northwest Territories per person compared to the rest of Canada. So just the mere fact that we have that many officers would make you think that we're going to be there's going to be more crimes reported. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it seems like more and more people are just being released on bail after committing crimes. Can the Minister explain why people aren't being remanded into custody? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and this speaks to the Member's last question as well. Most of the people who are in the correctional system in the Northwest Territories are there on remand, meaning they have not yet been sentenced.
In the 2010s, there were a number of Supreme Court of Canada cases that spoke to bail and, you know, what was needed in order to detain someone versus to release them. The Government of Canada, in 2019, codified some of that language or those decisions. And now the release of accused persons is the cardinal rule and detention is an exception. So the Criminal Code of Canada and Supreme Court of Canada have both been moving in a direction where it is becoming more onerous on the prosecution, or the Crown, to actually have someone detained while they're awaiting trial. And we can see that in the Northwest Territories here with our numbers.
So between that and COVID, where you didn't want people, you know, crammed in small spaces next to each other, those are the factors that contributed to a decline in the number of people we have in correctional facilities. That being said, we are looking at more precise reasons. So there's a group in justice who is looking into this and hopefully sometime in the new year, we'll have some more concrete information. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide any direction to ensure people who are in custody stay in custody while being remanded and not let out on bail? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could provide direction but no one would listen to me. The decision of whether or not to remand someone, to detain someone when they've been charged, lies with the courts, and so it's the prosecution, the defence, and the courts who make that decision and the courts are independent of course. Here we are in the Legislative Assembly which is one branch, the government is another branch, and the courts are the third branch. And I have no authority over that branch. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I said that we all had a part to play in curbing crimes and crime rate. You know, without involvement of everybody, we're never going to see change. You know, we have there's a relationship between crime and people's help. So if we're going to do something, we've got to do it together.
So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm what discussions, if any, are taking place with the federal government on solutions for the NWT to reduce crime rate and make our communities safer? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Department of Justice attends a number of different federal, territorial, and provincial meetings at various levels. So I've recently attended a meeting with the ministers for public safety and ministers of justice across Canada, and these are the types of issues that we discussed, and I will say what the issues that are being raised here are also being raised across Canada. So this is not a territory issue alone.
There is work in different jurisdictions to look at policing and how police services could be improved. There's been recent talk about Alberta moving towards their own provincial police system because they think they can approach policing and crime prevention in a better way. British Columbia, there was recently a report from an allparty committee in the Legislative Assembly that suggested that recommended that they move toward a provincial policing system so that they could take an approach that is more tailored for them. So I participate in those types of federal- territorial-provincial meetings.
As well, there is a number of different working groups that staff from the department are on with the federal and provincial counterparts. So there's crime prevention working groups, drug impaired driving working groups, guns and gangs working groups, and a number of these. So there are a significant number of conversations happening, which is necessary given that the Criminal Code is a federal statute. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, how can a company who is not BIPed and one who is not BIPed because, according to the BIP policy, would not qualify them to be BIPed, still get awarded a contract with BIP adjustments? This doesn't make sense to me. You know, if the Minister can explain to me where this policy exists. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, a company that is not BIPed can still receive a BIP adjustment. That is pursuant to one of the interpretive bulletins that's associated. If you go to the BIP web page, there's a whole list of interpretive bulletins. What it matters is whether or not there's Northwest Territories content or local content and if, in fact, there's so in other words, the company that's bidding on a contract, if they themselves aren't BIPed but their direct subcontractors are, including or if they have local content, they are still eligible to use the BIP adjustment or the local content adjustments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I know I sent a lot of information and I know the Minister also received a letter from the contractor and the subcontractor, the local content subcontractors. So whose responsibility is it, when there's BIP adjustments, to hold this contractor to account that they ensure that these local content, local suppliers, are being utilized and if not, what happens? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, construction contracts are monitored throughout. There are expectations to have monthly BIP content updates provided. They're monitored certainly by the departments responsible but procurement shared services does also share in that role. And I can say, Mr. Speaker, one of the changes that came about early in the process of the procurement review was to introduce vendor performance management, and that is something that's still fairly new but it has now been added into contracting provisions such that the contractor now knows that they will be subject to those reviews. If they're not meeting the content, if they're not meeting the contents of what they're expected to do, what they've committed to do, that essentially does put them then, now that this has been into the contract, puts them in breach of contract which can bring with it a host of different remedies. One of those remedies may well be, Mr. Speaker, that they become ineligible as not being a responsible company, would be ineligible for future bids. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, will this Minister, you know, review with her clients, like if we have contractors that have ongoing bidding and they're not utilizing local content but they say they are, is there a way to do a review of local contractors that have been doing this and not following this process? I just you know, I can't go back to my community and tell these local contractors who live and pay taxes in the North that being BIPed is nothing, it doesn't mean anything, because that's what we're saying, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation earlier with the Member, and I did receive this letter. So I have details of the specific incident that's given rise to these questions but the questions are ones that should be posed in the context of the work we're doing on the procurement review. Certainly no Minister who is responsible for any project wants to have to hear that, in fact, bids are not being received as we expect them, that the processes and policies we have in place are not being followed. Even vendor performance management, we don't want to have to use vendor performance management to monitor the businesses in the North. We want the businesses in the North to be bidding on projects, using local content, using local procurement. That's what we've heard from the business community too. So when there is this disconnect, Mr. Speaker, most certainly I will go back to the department and make sure that, as we finish up the procurement review, that the processes that are there in place are clear, simple, well known, that they're not spread across the different departments with different versions and different objectives, that there is a central monitoring agency, and that everyone knows that if you're not following what's there that you will face some form of penalty so that we hopefully are not hearing of cases like this that are creating this kind of confusion within the business community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I hope that the Minister will do that. You know, I mean, when I think of local content, I think of somebody who I could walk down the road and go and say hi because I know where they live, and that's "local" in my community, not somebody who shows up for seasonal work and then leaves or whenever there's a job and then leaves. You know, that's not local content to me.
So can the Minister advise us if a onestop procurement policy for all NWT, including Crown corporations, is being considered in this new procurement review and when can we expect this new procurement review policy to come into play? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was doing well on short answers but I think this last one's going to be a bit more challenging.
There's a lot happening in the realm of the procurement review right now. There's been a lot happening in the last year with respect to developing a procurement strategy with Indigenous governments and working with them in concert with them so that any Indigenous procurement is done with Indigenous businesses and Indigenous governments assisting us in driving and developing that. But in the meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, there's also the public procurement side of what happens within government. I can't say right now still if those two pieces will be, you know, two pieces or if it will all be worked in together but I'm expecting it will all be one unit at the end of the day.
I can also say, Mr. Speaker, that we have gotten to the point of sharing with Indigenous governments, and with my colleagues, a work plan that we're on, sharing principles that are the foundation to bring a unified focus to procurement rather than having different organizations and different objectives in different departments.
Mr. Speaker, a definition of a northern business and a definition of an Indigenous business are coming. They're coming in the life of this Assembly perhaps and not right at the end but sooner than that. And, Mr. Speaker, this will apply to the Housing Corporation. It will apply to the Liquor Commission. It will apply to all departments. Northwest Territories Power Corporation is the one Crown entity that I anticipate may be the source of some of the concern here. They are continuing, I believe, to still be under their own processes but I know my colleague at who is responsible for NTPC is certainly following along on what we are doing, and we could certainly have some further conversations on what they might be able to see and benefit from the process that we've undergone. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we cannot express it enough or emphasize it enough that cell phone service is greatly needed on Highway 3. Can the Minister commit to providing cell service between Yellowknife and Behchoko? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is over 12,000 kilometres of highways in Canada that don't have cell service, most of the highways in the Northwest Territories that don't have cell service, and while I recognize that this is the most travelled portion of highway, it is certainly not by any stretch a unique challenge faced in Canada or this territory or other territories or provinces. The costs of putting in cell towers and maintaining them is prohibitive at this time. We are certainly hopeful that with the increase of satellite services that that might assist with through technology to solve this problem. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think she answered some of this already. And so what are the current actual financial commitments that GNWT has made to cover the annual operating costs of wireless and cell phone projects in the Tlicho?
Mr. Speaker, I certainly can say that there are costs, if I understood correctly, that we do cover the cost of having we do cover the costs of internet service for obviously all government services in the Tlicho. The operating costs for cellular on the highway, Mr. Speaker, as of, I think earlier this year, they were estimated at being at least $500,000 per year. That does not include costs for inflation; it does not include necessarily any costs if fuel continues to go up. And, again, that right now would be a minimum if that is what was sought. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, before we continue, I'd like to remind Members and everybody to please turn the volumes and phones on silent, please. Thank you very much. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Since Finance issued the expression of interest to address cell phone coverage along Highway No. 3 in February of 2021, what has been done to address this problem? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So back in February, as the Member's mentioned, there was a request for an expression of interest issued. The point there being let's try to get a sense of what the costs would be. We knew they would likely to be high. But certainly it's good to have an update with some concrete numbers. There was only one respondent to the expression of interest, Northwestel. And then a letter was written to support them when they went out as part of the process they undertook, they went out under the Universal Broadband Fund to see what kind of funding opportunities there might be within that from the federal government. With that information in hand, they had some information around capital costs and capital coverage. But for them to be any further involved, they would be looking for a fairly significant public sector commitment. At a minimum, it would include some portion a small portion of the capital expenditure but, as I just mentioned in my last response, more notably a commitment over the course of at least ten years for a minimum of $500,000 a year, again in today's dollars, not accounting for inflation, just to maintain services on that one small stretch of highway, which in and of itself would make not a dent on any other highway anywhere else in the Northwest Territories. And so at that point, Mr. Speaker, this is where the project is deemed not to be one that falls within the current priorities but, again, looking forward to what might happen technologically to get us to a different place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Can the Minister advise of any proposals for improving cell service along Highway No. 3 that they have received? Have there been further expression of interest or responses to the issue of GNWT sent to businesses in February 2021? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not to my knowledge and, you know, and I expect that there wouldn't have been. I'm going back now somewhat in my memory now but there was early in early on I had spoken actually with proponents from Northwestel very early on in this stage, and it was quite clear to me that there's not a market case for this request. There's not a market for cell towers in this stretch of highway, even being the busiest. There's certainly not a market to cover the rest of the highways around the Northwest Territories or other rural remote regions all around Canada. And I again, Mr. Speaker, what we're hoping is that as some of the satellite options become available and satellite cell services are becoming satellite telephone services become available, this may be a direction that we can take to help improve coverage for across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment who's responsible for the Employment Standards Act. Really, all I can say is I've brought this up many times before, and will the Minister introduce paid sick leave in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
