Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year the Minister said to the House that there would be a postseason evaluation. I understand that what went wrong to present the sailing schedule from last year? Considering the evaluation, can the Minister assure this House that MTS will reach all communities in Nunakput earlier than August this year and stick to the schedule? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we've made improvements. We have our "lessons learned" report. The plan is for us, for our tugs to leave August 15th from Tuk and, you know, we hope to get the Inuvialuit settlement region communities by the end of August. That's our plan, Mr. Speaker. However having said that, we are faced with some challenges, challenges including the fire in Hay River for example. You know, that set us back ten days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is vessels in the Beaufort Delta, in the Beaufort. I just want reassurance that the Minister and department make sure that the goods in regards for the communities. Again, I said earlier in my Member's statement the high cost of living in regards to carbon tax, we have to be able to make sure that everything that could be barged into the community makes it in. And so I want reassurance from this Minister, are they able? Because the ships are in the communities already, are they able to put get the goods into the communities quicker? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Marine Transportation Services has been working closely with Transport Canada as well as Canadian Coast Guard. These relationships are key to ensuring that MTS can try and keep as close as possible to the current planning for the 2023 sailing season.
Mr. Speaker, as the Member is aware, I am looking forward to coming into the Inuvialuit settlement communities in the next couple months, to be able to visit the communities. It would also be a good opportunity for me to talk to some of the leadership about any questions or concerns they have about our sailing season. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if Cabinet's new homelessness strategy titled A Way Home: A Comprehensive Strategy to Address Homelessness in the Northwest Territories, which will be tabled later today, will actually reduce the number of homeless people in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that yes, the hope is that with having a homelessness strategy that we will reduce the number of homeless people in the Northwest Territories. The strategy works best as an integrated approach, both internally but we recognize we also have to work with partners outside of the GNWT. Not only are we looking at trying to alleviate some of those that are potential of being homeless but also to address chronic homelessness so that people that are homeless will not be living on the streets for 10, 20, 30 years as I've seen in my experience. We do know that homelessness will never be eradicated completely but this strategy is to try to lessen, to try to lessen the chances that people will become homeless and lessen the time that people will be homeless. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier explain what outcomes Cabinet is expecting to achieve with the introduction of this Government of the Northwest Territories homelessness strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a number of things that we're trying to achieve within the homelessness strategy. I think the bigger one is to make sure that all departments in the Government of the Northwest Territories are actually working together instead of in silos, which we often see, making sure that people do have the wraparound support, the integrated case management that they need to succeed. Those are major objectives. But the other thing is data collection. And as I've said earlier, I've said many times, is that before I never realized the importance of data collection and so I always thought get the work done, nevermind about the data. But I was wrong, Mr. Speaker. And it's important to get data collection, not only to identify how many people are homeless but, as I've said earlier, is that since I've been in politics I'm seeing women on the street that have succeeded, that I knew that had been in the shelters for 20, 30 years and have become healthier, stopped whatever substances they were using, actually got into the field of helping people.
So we need the data to find out what worked with those people as well. We can't be doing services that we don't measure. So two things: Really integrated service, working together instead of in silos; and, making sure that we know what's working and what's not working and how many people we're dealing with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I understand the final version of the Government of the Northwest Territories homeless strategy will be tabled later today. So can the Premier explain why the Government of the Northwest Territories homeless strategy has taken this long to complete and finally be tabled? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I remember correctly, it was a commitment made by a housing Minister. I'm not sure if it was this government or the past one, I have a feeling it was the past one, that committed to doing the strategy. When that was said, I mean, because of my background being a social worker and working so long with these people, that I knew that it wasn't going to be just as easy as we've stated. So we soon realized that it wasn't only housing that was needed. It was housing, it was health that was important, it was justice, it was income support, education, culture and employment. The problem was, Mr. Speaker, is that we had two years of COVID and the same departments that needed to work on this strategy were struggling, working desperately to save the lives of people. So once COVID kind of subsided, we got a handle on it, it's not gone evidently, but once we got a handle on it then we've started to focus back on to this and it was brought to my attention, as I thought earlier, that it needed to be an allofgovernment approach. So at that time then housing handed it over to myself as Premier for an allofgovernment approach.
Mr. Speaker, it could have been done. I could have said that there was a strategy when I first tabled or brought forward the draft. But I realized really quickly that we didn't have the feedback that was needed. We did not ask the people, and I'm a huge advocate of asking the people that experience it. They have the expertise. So we took a step back and we spent time to actually interview people NGOs, community governments, Indigenous people, the general public, and people with lived experience so that we could actually have a more comprehensive strategy and the feedback from standing committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier explain when Housing NWT is going to alleviate the number of people who are on the housing waiting list in Fort Smith and how a great solution to end homelessness, like the tiny home project from the Salt River Nation, be dealt with; and lastly, how all other communities around the NWT will be better served by this new strategy titled A Way Home? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since I'm in charge of the homelessness strategy, which is a governing thing, the questions I think are more related to daytoday operations of homelessness so on that, the Minister responsible for Homelessness is responsible. I'd like to defer that question to her. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Minister responsible for Homelessness.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish it could be that easy, but we do have 33 communities throughout the Northwest Territories that we do have to provide adequate housing to as well. And looking at the housing wait list throughout the Northwest Territories, I want to say significant investment has been made throughout this government.
For the Member's riding, we do have just a second, sorry. We do have $3.1 million that will be invested into the Member's riding for this current year delivery and constructing four public housing units and repairing 41 housing units, and $542,000 for homeownership repair.
For the 20232024 fiscal year, we're looking at $2.6 million addressing also new construction of public housing units and money put into home repair as well.
And we are also still working with the Salt River First Nation as well too and the Fort Smith Metis Council as well. They were a part of the distinctionbased funding that this government had supported. So the message going forward to Ottawa was if you're not going to fund the GNWT, then recognize those Indigenous agreements and fund the communities and the Indigenous governments directly.
So with that, Mr. Speaker, we are working very closely with the community of Fort Smith. I know that housing is a crisis throughout the Northwest Territories, but we are doing our best to address these issues as a government in whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Can the Minister tell us has the Fort Simpson LNG redesign plans or relocation plans been decided upon by the Northwest Territories Power Corporation board that Minister did promise last sitting. And if so, what are the significant changes; is there anything changing with respect to the location or the cost? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe I heard about four different questions in that. So I'm going to just add that this is an important project that we raised with the federal government in the context of funding.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure and Northwest Territories Power Corporation continue to assess the optimal project approach which will form a future federal funding application to the feds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if I think I'm hearing right, that means that we actually have not put in the ask yet to the federal government for more money, which I was under the impression through the last few sittings that when the plan did not go ahead last fall, like when I asked, that it was because the government was getting more money.
Can the Minister clarify whether or not they have gone for more money for the LNG plant, or are they still preparing the application? Thank you.
Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, we have funding for the LNG storage and power plant however we need to secure funding to move the current plant off the island. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My apologies for not understanding. I just don't find this to be very clear what has been going on. When I asked before, I think two sittings ago, what was going on, why the plant hadn't been started when the funding had already been announced for the LNG, the Minister told me they were going back to get more money from the federal government to create an entire LNG plant instead of the one that is supplemental to the diesel plant. Has that changed, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're bringing some of the options to the board of directors meeting which is happening next month. That meeting will be able to determine some of the options and some of the federal funding that we need to apply for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess I am confused, but I did think that we were already in the path of getting more money. What I'm hearing does sound like it's now going to be at least a couple more years before there's any shovels in the ground on this project. And I can tell you 100 percent that that diesel plant is not going to make it five more years at minimum. The road has already been eroded away leading up to the side of it, and once you are not able to drive beside the road you have safety issues and even accessing the site. So can the Minister please tell me what she is doing to accelerate this project so that the people of Fort Simpson are not without power in four years? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the power corporation and infrastructure are working together to ensure that we have power in the community and, you know, as result of our meeting next month, I'm sure we would progress some of the plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are related to my Member's statement on the trades’ safety tickets and their expiry dates.
Can the Minister responsible for Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission explain what organization or regulating bodies determine how long a certification is valid for and is there a rationale provided for that length of time? As a hypothetical example, why would chain saw safety be valid for three years, and another safety certificate be valid for five years? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The determination of the certificate's expiry is at the discretion of the developer or provider and often with the input from the relevant associations or committees, such as the Canadian Standards Association, expiration dates are usually based on extensive research that are put into the competencies of that person being trained. Some of the areas that are considered when setting expiration dates may be the risk of the work, how often is this task performed, how often do practices change in order to keep the training up to date.
The differences between the length of the certification is related to the competencies. Evidence of the association or committees show that the person will lose their knowledge and gain - that would lose their knowledge and gain during the course of over a period of time and their competencies may diminish. Best practices and technology changes are considered. Shortened certification requirements help to ensure training is kept up to date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is what role does Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission have in ensuring that safety certification expiry dates reflect the unique context of the NWT, including small communities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Outside of first aid, WSCC does not have a role in the certification expiry dates. This would be the discretion of the provider such as the Northern Safety Association or other safety certificate providers. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain if it is possible for an individual to have the expiry date for their safety certificates extended beyond the expiry date without having to retake a course? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The only time this had occurred was during COVID when the person training was not able to be granted an extension under those circumstances. But other than that, first aid, which is legislated, is the discretionary decision made by those who have developed and provided that specific training. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when one takes a chain saw safety training course, you learn the safety aspects surrounding the use of the chain saw. You learn to fall the tree safely, when to use emergency chain lock, using Teflon chaps, safety glasses, and a helmet. So the next time you take the course three years later, it is all the same. The same thing with taking fall arrest training, elevated work platform training, confined spaces training, and first aid.
Can the Minister engage WSCC to look into removing the expiry dates for all safety tickets? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to bring this back to WSCC, but I want to assure the Member that we don't offer those training certificate programs for smaller communities and the programs that he has identified and looking at those terms and the expiry dates of those as well, too, that we don't have a say on when those certificates are going to be expired because we don't offer those programs. 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 Health and Social Services. I want to continue the conversation that the Member for Thebacha started today in regards to homelessness, and I'd like to specifically focus on youth and specifically youth who are exiting the care of the government and who are entering homelessness.
Mr. Speaker, given the disproportionate representation of youth from or in the child and family services system experiencing homelessness in the NWT, will health and social services provide a dedicated navigator to solely provide wraparound care to youth who have aged out of care or are transitioning to independent living? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. I remember the Member's statement, and I wanted to localize the number of youth who have applied for support services agreements related to their housing situation. In 2021, that was 18 youth who applied for that out of a total of 68 youth who were in that program.
What I want to say is that as the Member may remember, the child and family services action plan is currently bridging between two plans but the new plan, which will be publicly released in August, will have a dedicated focus on youth supports as you might expect. And as part of this plan, the department is considering piloting specialized positions which will, of course, be subject to funding through the business plan process. So we're interested in the Member's recommendation as we work to provide better services to youth who are homeless. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions have acknowledged the challenges of youth exiting government care by creating legislation, policies, and resources to directly help youth transition from care. There are some creative solutions out there that help address this. One example that I wanted to highlight in the House today is agedout.com. It's a web page dedicated to BC young adults who have aged out of government care, and I really highly recommend people take a look at it.
Even within this website, Mr. Speaker, youth can apply for low income housing. The application is right there online, among many other resources. So I'm wondering if the GNWT will work with Home Base YK and the Foster Family Coalition to build resources for youth aging out of care to strategically stop the cycle into homelessness? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our concern is for youth who have some interaction with child and family services. I think the youth homelessness issue is bigger than that, and it does require a number of parties to come to the table to try and understand the scope of the problem and what the solutions are. I know that there are some resources available now. I'm not familiar with where the gaps are, but that is something that would obviously be useful not only here in Yellowknife, with the largest homelessness population, but in other regional centres. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question was specific to youth aging out of care. Even when I was putting together my questions for today, I actually spent a lot of time looking around on the health and social services website. It's information about what youth have access to as far as funding support, access to housing; none of this is available online. So any youth who is exiting care that wants autonomy in being able to figure out what services they have available, this doesn't exist right now. And it certainly doesn't exist in a venue that is targeted directly to these youth. And so that is exactly what I'm asking for, is resources specific to youth aging out of care.
My next question, though, Mr. Speaker, and maybe the Minister will want to speak to this in the same breath is will health and social services commit to including a provision in the upcoming revamp, or bill that's being brought forward in the next Assembly, to the Child and Family Services Act that specifically calls for health and social services to offer suitable housing options as a mandatory clause for youth exiting care. So will they turn around and offer a provision of suitable housing for youth who are transitioning from care of the government? Thank you.
