Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Alice Jane Pellissey was born on June 30th, 1947, in Fort Wrigley to Wilson and Caroline Pellissey. Alice is the one of thirteen siblings, and she was considered a matriarch of the family. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that Alice was instrumental in helping raise her siblings. She was always trying to help her parents.
Alice was a residential school survivor and attended Grollier Hall in Inuvik. As she got older and wanted to go out on her own, she moved from Wrigley to Yellowknife to help her auntie. Her family and friends would always describe her as a hardworking, happy, and friendly person. She was always about helping people regardless if they were family or friends. This attitude and work ethnic was passed on to her son, Wesley James Pellissey. Wesley was their pride and joy. Later, in life Wesley meet the love of his life Tamarah, and they gave them four beautiful grandchildren. She loved them very much and she would say they helped her stay young. She was always speaking highly of her grandchildren, son and daughterinlaw.
Mr. Speaker, her son shared the moment his mom passed away with me. Wesley and his wife were by her bedside throughout the time at Stanton Hospital. At about 2 a.m., he woke up and knew that she was going to pass soon. After a bit of time, he went up to his mom and told her it was alright for her to go be with her husband. He explained to her that he and his family were going to be okay. After saying this, she left this world to be with her husband. He describes feeling the energy leave her body and most peaceful feeling he had felt. The time was 2:17 in the morning.
Mr. Speaker, her sister Lena described being woken up and being told that Alice had passed on. All the sisters cried, got dressed to go to the hospital to say their last goodbyes. It was very hard for them to lose her.
Mr. Speaker, she was predeceased by her loving husband Eddy Sonnenberg, her parents and brother George.
Mr. Speaker, the family would like to thank the Stanton Hospital for all they did for Alice when she was there. They will be forever grateful. After she passed, the family took her back to Wrigley so she would be buried in her home community. Her son and his company prepared her grave site using his own equipment, one last thing he could do to honour her.
Welcome, and Ms. Terry Hawkins, the chair of the advocacy committee and a board Member for the Yellowknife Seniors' Society. And my constituent, a very avid advocate for seniors, Margaret Marshall. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife South.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Fernanda Martins. I'm not sure she's actually a constituent, this might be in the wrong spot, but she is a resident of Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker. She's here as the senior advocacy advisor from the Northwest Territories Cancer Society. She's here today because there is a motion, of course, on the floor today around taxation of vaping motions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not to be repetitive, I would also like to welcome Mr. Daryl Dolynny to the gallery. He is my constituent of Great Slave. Unfortunately, where I sit, I can't see whoever else is in the gallery so if there are other constituents of Great Slave, I welcome them, and thank all of the senior advocates for their work and bringing this strategy forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone, welcome to the gallery, and I hope you're enjoying our proceedings. It's always good to have an audience with us. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of health and social services what are the barriers to incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA? And I ask that question as residents of Hay River are concerned that this separation is, in part, one of the reasons the community cannot attract doctors or fill vacant health positions which in the end impacts timely and quality health care for our residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is flexibility within the Health and social services Administration Act to bring Hay River health and social services into NTHSSA, but in the meantime they are part of an integrated health and social services system in the NWT where people from Hay River receive treatment anywhere else in the Northwest Territories, and vice versa if someone's in Hay River, they get treatment there. There are a couple of significant barriers. One is that Hay River health and social services has its own collective agreement. And so their staff are not GNWT staff. So that issue was last looked at in 2015 when a working group examined the implications and costs of bringing HRHSSA into the Territorial Health and social services Authority. At the time, the cost of bringing the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority in was $20 million, and the government of the day decided it was beyond its capacity to accommodate that. So I think the time has come to strike again a working group to look at what the cost would be so that the next government can make an informed decision about this. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA was to proceed, what would the process be and the timeline to complete such amalgamation? Thank you.
Yes, thank you. Just to reiterate what I said earlier. Functionally, there is already amalgamation in service delivery. But, specifically, the work that needs to be done involves the public service. So there would need to be some work done with regulators, pension providers, and the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority to complete a detailed cost analysis of the cost of bringing that health authority in. There would need to be negotiations with the Union of Northern Workers because they hold the collective agreement with the health authority staff. And then there would probably need to be some work done on job evaluations and job descriptions and so on. So it is quite a comprehensive list of things to be done. But I think the kickoff point is having the leadership of the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority ask us formally to join NTHSSA so that preparatory work can be done. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA, I see an opportunity to formally expand health services to those communities outside Hay River, which I expect would result and I would hope it would result in an increase in staff in Hay River. Can the Minister confirm if this is something the department would consider in such an amalgamation process? Thank you.
Yes, thank you. Yes, I certainly
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When we're talking about incorporation. Will the Minister commit to identifying the financial amount we are talking about and whether it would have to be allocated in one fiscal year, or could it be accomplished over several years? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't make that commitment for the time that I have left in my term. But I will say that there have been some favourable changes since this issue was last discussed. So the projected cost of bringing Hay River Health and social services into the public service when it was last calculated in 2015 was $20 million and that was based on the functional costs of amalgamation but also on the pension liability. My understanding is that the pension is now in a much more positive position. So it's likely that that number has gone down. But as I said, I think the next government in making this decision will need not just a rough idea but an exact idea of how much it would cost to bring the health authority in. In the meantime, there's no loss of service, including recruitment of doctors to Hay River Health and Social Services Authority. Functionally, we are one health care system but formally we are separate. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I mentioned in my statement that I've lost track of how many studies, reports, and proposals I've seen regarding the inadequate and sad state of the 46yearold territorial museum building. Can the Minister tell us what the current plans are for replacing, expanding, and/or renovating the space occupied by the NWT archives and museum? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, we are currently deliberating the capital budget in Committee of the Whole, so I don't want to go too much into that because that document is properly before committee of the House. But I can say that ECE has taken undertaken work to explore the renovation or replacement of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre and, in particular, as the Member mentions, the need for archival space. So there has been a comprehensive planning study, the development of estimates to explore various options ranging from replacing the entire museum to pursuing more targeted upgrades, including and focused specifically on the archival space. There's been a schematic design for a standalone archives building with a class D estimate. Given what I've seen on class D estimates, I don't put too much stock into what that says because prices have been changing, you know, daily. They seem to be going up. But with all that said, we understand better than anyone that there is an issue and that we do need to pursue upgrades in order to meet our legal obligations, and there have been upgrades proposed. There were upgrades that we were hoping can start in the upcoming year. And ECE will be pursuing a standalone archive building in the future capital planning process, likely in the 20252026 fiscal year. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm excited about a new archives building, and I can hardly wait for the opening. The Archives Act, though, appears to have not gone through any kind of substantive review in over 40 years. To say it is outdated and does not establish a proper framework for archival heritage would be an understatement. Can the Minister explain why the Archives Act has not been updated and whether there are any plans to do so? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I don't want the Member to get ahead of himself. Proposing that a new building be built and having a grand opening are two very different things. So we'll see what happens in the future.
Every year the government proposes a slate of legislation that they would like to see proceed. About half of that legislation actually makes its way through an Assembly and is passed. So I can't speak for previous years, but there's been a number of pieces of legislation and the priorities of the Assembly have dictated what has made its way through and what hasn't. And, unfortunately, despite recognizing the need to update the Archives Act, it has not been updated. But, once again, in the next government, ECE will bring this forward as a piece of legislation that needs to be dealt with. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that and, of course, when he comes back, I'm going to be happy to help him with the ribbon cutting and getting the Archives Act drafted up and ready to go. So in my statement, though, I mentioned that very significant archival records on the history of the political development of the Northwest Territories are stored in a totally inadequate government warehouse. We're kind of lucky it didn't burn down this summer. So can the Minister tell us how long these records have been stored there and whether there are any plans for proper archival storage and preservation of this important historical legacy of the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that it was back in the sometime in the 90s, I'm not sure exactly when, when the archives, they started storing archives off site. And as I mentioned, there are some minor upgrades planned for next year. Hopefully, the Member will support funding for those upgrades. And those would include, at the offsite space, minor space improvements, fencing, so secure access to the documents. New racking so there you know, more stable storage. As well as some temperature and humidity control improvements where possible. So given the situation and the needs, ECE is moving forward with attempts to better preserve these documents. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister. The current Archives Act places the burden on the territorial archivist for the safekeeping of our documentary heritage. There's a lot of that's a lot of responsibility on one person who clearly doesn't have the resources to carry out this important work. That would be a stretch for anyone to conclude that GNWT is taking proper care of our archival records.
Can the Minister tell us whether there has been any advice received on whether the GNWT is in compliance with the Archives Act, and can he share that with us? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, legal opinions aren't shared on the floor of the House. But I will say that the territorial archivist, boy, I would feel for them if they were alone. But in addition, there's two senior archivists, two digital record archivists, an archive and library technician, and an audiovisual archivist. Given all that, though, I know they're still quite busy. And that team knows better than anyone that we do need to upgrade our facilities and work on the act because, you know, the things that need to be stored under the act are part of the issue, actually. So this has been an issue since I took this role. There have been advancements made. You know, government doesn't move as quick as any of us would like, and this is one of those situations. But this is we are marching forward, and there is progress. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, my questions are for the Minister of Housing NT. Can the Minister tell me how many homes of the 100 that's in the mandate that they said they would build in the Northwest Territories were built, not including any RCMP units? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Housing NWT
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. We did we do have a hundred-unit rollout that is currently underway right now.
Mr. Speaker, 47 of those homes in the communities are close to final inspection and would be available for occupancy. Another 14 of those units are being constructed and being delivered to various communities as well. And 17 are occupied today. 32 of those units are at various stages. And I would also like to include, Mr. Speaker, like, during the 100unit rollout, we did have the supply chain issue, the delivery issue, our barge issue that has happened, COVID, and restrictions of people coming into the communities. Despite all of that, Mr. Speaker, we are still on time. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. And I'm glad that we do have some of those houses done and people are living in them.
Can the Minister tell us how many I know another part of the mandate was transferring homes to so people could become homeowners, and that way some of the, I guess, units to offset some of those units so we could build more and have more. So how many units have been transferred from Housing NT to individual families in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question because this was a priority of mine as well too that I take right into my own riding.
We didn't have a very strong interest in people taking over their public housing unit and is not being able to afford those units as well too. I don't have the number specifically in front of me that, the amount of units that have been transferred over. But I know we did have some difficulty, and hopefully housing is listening to me right now so they can send that number over to me quickly so I could provide that to the Member. And also that, you know, I don't want to set people up for failure as well too, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to take too much of the Member's time but to be honest, a lot of our units are not in very in fair condition. We need to renovate them. We did get additional $60 million from the federal government, and in the next government we are committed to being repairing those units in the next Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, I know this question is not something that I sent over to the Minister, but just looking at my community alone, the Inuvialuit used some of the money that they received from the federal government to homeowners like, Inuvialuit beneficiaries in the ISR, to retrofit, put new windows, new siding, new insulation, windows, doors, roofs, you know, and they used they did it by starting with seniors. And so and looking at our units and the Minister just said that our units are old, they need to be fixed up. How did this department work with some of our Indigenous governments? Did they work with our Indigenous governments to maybe transition those homes to homeowners with working together? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question because she is speaking about the distinctionbased funding. And once again, I hope my department is hearing me because I want to get an update on the working table between IRC and the Housing NWT.
What housing has done differently is they've repaired the relationship with Indigenous governments and with community governments as well. And the funding that the Member is speaking about, there was approximately $400 million that was distributed amongst the Northwest Territories to directly to Indigenous governments. My conversation with the federal government was if you're not going to fund the territorial government directly, please recognize our partnerships with Indigenous governments and, in respect, Canada had responded, and this is the response as to getting houses on the ground. We are working in collaboration with them as well too. There is an established working group. My apologies to the Member, I didn't get the update, but I will provide that to her separately. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. She just makes me want to ask way more questions, so I hope I have time to afterwards. Does the Minister have the current waitlist for housing and the empty units available, and when are those units going to be filled with our waitlist? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And respectfully, I am enjoying the questions that are coming from the Member as well. There's been a significant progress within the portfolio, and this gives the opportunity of really highlighting the struggle that we do have with the funding that we do receive territorially but it also highlights the strength we do have with Canada as well too.
And just for the Members, we do have 57 applicants for a onebedroom. We have 12 applicants for a twobedroom. Seven applicants for a threebedroom. And four applicants for a fourbedroom. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tomorrow's the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day. It's Friday. Everybody's tired and want to go home and that kind of thing, and so I'm just hoping the Minister is feeling good today.
Mr. Speaker, after a year with no further progress on the supposed investigation into the caribou harvesting in Lutselk'e, will the Minister now recognize the wrong that was done under his watch and apologize to the community of Lutselk'e and start the reconciliation process as mandated by this government? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these incidents are still being investigated for suspected illegal harvesting in a mobile zone and wastage of edible caribou. I can tell you that I met with the chief last fall and have written to him to offer to work on reconciliation efforts once an investigation is completed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister provide an update to the House on the status of this investigation? We were told it's going to take six months. Here we are a year later. We still don't see anything. And we're concerned that the court already made a decision this is unlawful. And we want to know here today that if you can give us an update on where things are at. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, like I said previously, these incidents are still being investigated for suspicion of illegal harvesting in a mobile zone and wastage of edible caribou. At this point, as it is still an open investigation I cannot speak further to this matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
