Thank you, Madam Speaker. There is no plan to implement cell towers between here and Behchoko. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories can install electric charging station by 2024. Can the Minister commit to providing cell service between Yellowknife and Behchoko by 2024? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the vehicle charging stations, or the level 3 charging stations that are going in to Behchoko, are a project that is administered through the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. They apply to the GHG Emissions Fund, which is a largely federallyfunded initiative. They then apply and are able to get funds through that program. And this is in response, Madam Speaker, to the fact that the federal government is making it mandatory by 2035 that there be zero 100 percent, zero percent emissions vehicles sales. So they'll be a period of time when vehicles can still run without that but any new vehicles are going to have to be zero emissions. So, Madam Speaker, we do need to have a plan at this point in time to be taking that seriously, to be ready for it, and that's what Northwest Territories Power Corporation is doing. The funds that might be available for any and all other capital project, Madam Speaker, would go through the usual capital planning process, the initiatives, and be aligned to the mandate of the government. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Can the Minister provide information on how many electric vehicles are on the road in NWT; how many people in Behchoko drive electric vehicles; how many people drive electric vehicle on Highway No. 3? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'll work with my colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure, to see what information can be provided. I can say that research went out regarding what might be done to help encourage the use of electric vehicles. Having more charging stations was one of the recommendations that came with that research. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. You know, I made a promise to keep asking about this for the life of my four years, and I'm hopeful one day that someone in the future Assembly takes it up and continues to ask too. But my question for the Minister of Infrastructure is there any hope of the hours of the DMV being altered so they, you know, are possibly open at any time outside of the government's normal 9 to 5 business hours? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the Member continuing to ask questions, but my answers are going to continue to be the same. The Department of Infrastructure is not considering opening the Yellowknife DMV on the weekends. This would have significant costs, Madam Speaker, to doublefill these positions and additional security on the weekends. It would require two extra people to work all times for safety reasons. We already currently provide five days a week, by appointment and walkins. Many services are also available online, Madam Speaker. The worklife balance for our staff is so important, and walkins, many of these services are available online. One of the things that I want to say is the worklife balance for our staff is important, and I'm not willing to make them work on the weekends. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I understand that there was just recently a customer service review done at the Department of Motor Vehicles, and this kind of has led to us keeping the appointmentstyle model. But I'm curious whether there is a plan to move any more services online for the DMV? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, many services are currently made online and are accessible any time of the day, including Saturdays. For example, you can book driver examinations; you can print out your driver's abstract; you can renew your vehicle registration; renew your driver's licence all on the website, Madam Speaker. We are also investing in changes to the DMV services website so that we can improve the user experience for existing online services. These are upgrades that are anticipated to roll out by the end of this fiscal year. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my first set of questions, if we get through a couple, are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
On October 20th, the department issued a communique identifying renewed plans for the youth advisory committee. I'm wondering if the Minister can tell the House how the department plans to use this committee to provide agency to NWT youth? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the youth advisory committee is something that I was hoping to establish early on in the life of this government. That was derailed by COVID. So we have reestablished it or we are in the process of reestablishing it. Hopefully there will be a meeting in this calendar year. And the purpose of this youth advisory committee is so that I can hear directly from youth. I have lots of discussions with staff, I have discussions with members of the general public, with MLAs, but I don't have a lot of discussions with actual students in the actual education system, let alone from all of the regions. So what this youth advisory committee would be would be two members from each education body, and they would gather, and we would have discussions about initiatives that ECE is undertaking and about other issues that are affecting them as youth, and mental health issues I'm sure will be on that agenda at some point. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, does the Minister set the agenda for each of the meetings, or does the Minister work with the youth to set the agenda for the meeting? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So as this committee has not even been struck yet, we don't have a process for setting agendas. But I would love to hear from youth and know what they want to talk about. I don't want to tell them what they're going to talk about; I'd like to hear from them. We will be putting forward items obviously, but I would love it if the youth would put forward some agenda items themselves. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, is this committee solely to talk about issues, or will there be opportunity for youth to drive change within their communities? So will this committee also come potentially with the power to change policy, the power to change or provide recommendations to school boards, to communities, and will it come with funding? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So this is still as I said, we have not even struck the committee yet. So I think it will evolve into something that well, my hope is that it will evolve into something that provides the Minister of the day with information so that when they're making decisions, they have that perspective. And so in that way, that very direct way, youth will be able to drive policy change at the departmental level. I can't speak to the education body level because this is a Ministers advisory committee. But I will be sharing those recommendations with all of the different education bodies. There won't be funding for the youth to, I guess put on programs or whatever they might do with the funding, but the idea is that the voice of the youth will be part of the discussion about what needs to change, and will influence those changes. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for Human Resources. I wanted to follow up on my questioning of last week around fertility treatments and subsequent benefit payments. So can the Minister speak to whether or not fertility treatments of any sort are covered by the GNWT's employee benefits plan? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, our benefits plan is that of the public service, and we really don't determine the benefits. We rely on what is covered for by them as the insurer. At this point, Madam Speaker, it is my understanding that that is not a coverage that is within that plan. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I do appreciate that that's the current situation, but given the number of emails that I've received since I spoke about this topic last week, there does definitely seem to be an interest and a need amongst members of the GNWT. So could the Minister speak to whether or not she's been approached about including fertility treatments in the benefits package. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, no, I can't say that I have been directly requested to look into this other than, of course, here on the floor of the House. And certainly in that regard I'm live to the fact that it's an issue. But, again, it would not necessarily be something that we would direct. It would be a matter that we'd be looking at alongside the insurer. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Given that I did some rough calculation or number crunching there around how this actually would benefit the territory from a population growth perspective, can the Minister commit to looking at the numbers and seeing whether or not the cost benefit analysis does show that providing fertility treatments in the Northwest Territories would actually be good for our bottom line? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I certainly do keep in mind that growing a population is a significant benefit with respect to the territorial formula of financing. I'm not sure I'm going to take the tabletop math necessarily right now and make policy on that, but I'll certainly go back and see if the department wants to speak to, you know I know there was a motion that has previously been on this floor about looking at population numbers, whether including infertility treatments in the benefit plans for public servants is going to get us there. Again, Madam Speaker, I'm not sure I'll be in a position to respond to a policy request on that basis alone but can see if there's any other information on might be happening at the national level with the benefits plan that is used by us for public service. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I will state that even a partial benefit to allow for either subsidy of the IVF treatment itself or the benefit the medical travel benefits or the per diems, any little bit would help. I've recently been contacted by people where it's $20,000, and both partners have underlying conditions. They're looking at 60 to $70,000 in order to have a baby likely. So more of a comment. If the Minister wants to respond, that's fine. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we are live to the cost. There's a lot of different potential treatments that people may find very costly, things that are deemed as nonessential or elective that may not be covered through healthcare and may not be covered through GNWT public service insurance or any other private benefits insurance of which many companies do offer that. So, you know, again, that is part of the process of evolving, what we look at in terms of our benefits. At the moment, Madam Speaker, it is not included. Again, we do keep an eye on what's happening nationally. We keep an eye in contact with our insurer to ensure that we remain competitive in that space. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Madam Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services put together the Child and Youth Care Counsellor Program, and this is a program that came out of actually talking to youth and finding out what they wanted and really having that conversation about mental health and how to fill that need. Given where this program is at now, I'm wondering what kind of work Health and Social Services is doing to evaluate this program? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Madam Speaker, I'd like to redirect that to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.
Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So I've had a number of conversations with the Minister of health about this program. Our officials have been meeting with each other, and we both have met with the education bodies. And what the result of all of those meetings are is a review. We've expedited a review of the program. We are looking at making some changes this year to address some of the issues that have been identified and coming up with a new model, hope to be implemented in the upcoming school year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the Member's response. How will youth be involved in this conversation and this review that's taking place? We heard that there's been conversations with the school bodies themselves, but these don't often include youth representatives and include youth voices. So how are youth going to be empowered to partake in this conversation? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So earlier we talked about the Ministers youth advisory committee that we are putting together, and that's going to be the perfect avenue to have these discussions. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the reason I started this conversation by asking to speak to the Minister of Health and Social Services was because I wanted to find out if there was an avenue for funding for what youth are looking for in their communities potentially through there. So the department of health has their suicide prevention fund, and currently to access that fund, you have to be with an NGO, you have to be with an Indigenous government. There's a list of about four or five places or people, rather, that can access that. But youth specifically, as individuals, are not part of that. And what I'm looking for is a way that youth can access funding in order to realize what they would like in their communities. And so I'm wondering if there's no funding available through the youth advisory council, how the department then sees it possible for youth to access funding to do what they want to do in their communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And as part of the review, there will be discussions with youth. And as I said, we are looking at how we can amend this model going forward. And if there are, you know, recommendations that we do some of the things that the Member is talking about, then we can definitely explore that. However, I don't want to just say youth will have money to pursue different programs because they're students; they don't necessarily have the time; they don't necessarily have the expertise, the connections to, you know, develop and roll out programs. So to just give students money without any sort of a structure might not be the best approach. It's actually our job as government. We are supposed to come up with those solutions to support the youth. We don't want to tell them what to do, we want to work with them to figure out what they need to do or what they need, and then we are the ones who develop and implement those programs. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I guess I kind of respectfully disagree because if that was the case then we wouldn't have funds like the Suicide Prevention Fund who ask communities to decide what they want to do, and we do pass over the money. Youth in the territory really or around the world is considered 29 and under. And there's some pretty inspiring and empowered people under the age of 29. And I had the opportunity to sit and listen to quite a few of them who have a lot of ideas of how to help one another and how to provide that peer support. So as part of this conversation, will the Minister be speaking with the youth advisory committee about what they need to provide that peer support in a healthy way since really they're already doing it. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think that's a great suggestion, and I'm happy to have that conversation with the youth advisory committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
