Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of MACA. Can the Minister provide a reason why the Act hasn't been followed by his appointed administrator in Fort Resolution with respect to public meetings and community engagement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we did put a Minister in there, I did contact the MLA and explain that we would be doing this. Mr. Speaker, the first thing that the Minister had to do was find out about the deficit. Right now, we're at $2.5 million, and we're still looking into the situation. So that there is part of the situation. The other part of the situation is this past summer, we've had, you know, fires, evacuations. The South Slave staff has been pretty busy dealing with that, but we now have them back in and we will be working with them on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister. Will the Minister direct his administrator to follow the Act and to ensure meetings are in the public and public documents are being disclosed to residents and to work with chief Louis Balsillie, DKFN, and president Arthur Beck, Fort Resolution Metis Council? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now we're still doing the investigation on the financial stability of this hamlet. Like I said, $2.5 million right now, and we're still looking into things. What I can do is I can make a commitment is that with once we're able to, we will get our staff in there to have a public meeting to meet with the residents there. So we will make that commitment moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister also update the House, this House, on the status report on the issue that led Fort Resolution being placed under administration by the Minister and when will the hamlet of Fort Resolution return to the local government by local leaders? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I apologize to the Member. I may have missed his first part of the question. But I believe what he's talking about is asking when will we get the hamlet back up to be elected council.
As soon as we can address this deficit as we move forward, get the governance and everything in there. We want to be able to have an elected council that is actually on a clean slate. So once that is done and we're able to do that, we will make sure we have an elected council representing the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Fort Resolution, we have a very high young population and we also have a beautiful arena that hasn't been opened for years. The GNWT and MACA spend a lot of money in the late '80s to tear down the Pine Point arena and to relocate it to the community of Fort Resolution and only to shut the doors to the young population years down the road.
Mr. Speaker, right now the hamlet in Fort Resolution are storing heavy equipment in the arena, and that may be hazardous and also a liability to the hamlet of Fort Resolution. Can the Minister commit to look at I know that he mentioned that we there is a deficit but at the same time, like I said, we have a high population but we really need help in that community to keep the kids busy and that kind of thing. So can the Minister commit to also to hire maybe a recreation coordinator and to open the arena in Fort Resolution to the public, maybe in November/December 2023, to keep the young population busy through minor hockey, recreation hockey, broomball, public skating, and to be used by the local schools in Fort Resolution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now we're just trying to provide the basic services for the residents of that community. As the Member said, the arena was closed for a long period of time. To get it up and operational, there's some work that has to be done. We will work with the administrator to see if we can get the money and funds to have a position in there. We used to. But the biggest challenge right now we're also facing is the ability to find people to work. That's one of the challenges that we're facing. I've got numerous phone calls about water delivery and stuff like that, so. And I'm pretty sure the Member's received those phone calls as well. So we will look at this. We will have those conversations with the administrator as well as with the regional staff working with the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of Finance and the Minister of ECC to come into this House today and bring with them their compassion, empathy, and a commitment for financial support for businesses and individuals impacted by the wildfire. I guess the answers to my questions, which will be asked, will determine if they did.
So, Mr. Speaker, has the Minister of Finance given any consideration for additional financial support for those that fled the fires and received no financial support for rooms and meals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members on this side, including myself, have received no shortage of information, contacts, and stories of folks who have gone through all sorts and manner of difficult times in the last while, and not for any lack of compassion or empathy that the circumstances and the supports that we have in place are what they are. There were supports put in place for rooms and for meals. I realize some people may have not been able to access them immediately or may have chosen not to for a variety of reasons. But, again, certainly it's not for lack of there being unavailability. It's recognizing, however, that, of course, as we've done throughout all of the emergencies we've had through this Assembly, that we can try to find ways to better serve residents and to better address the needs as we understand them and as they might evolve. But we certainly are turning our minds to that and continue to turn our minds to that. I'm not going to be announcing a new program here on the floor of the House, Mr. Speaker. But trying, certainly, to look at what collective of people were not or may not be able to access the supports that have been in place. That certainly is an ongoing consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if there has been any consideration for increased business financial support for the communities of Hay River, K'atlodeeche, and Enterprise based on the devastation over the past 16 months on those communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, although the immediate SEED directive around wildfires was created or established still in the midst of the emergency, and in the midst of the evacuation, we did quite quickly start to look at what other options there would be available. And I can say that I do expect, in the coming really short days, that we'll be able to singling some enhancements and increases to the existing programs and that that would, indeed, take into a consideration all of the affected communities but, in particular, looking at those that were affected by the most lengthy periods of evacuation over the summer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm pleased to hear that, and I think the residents and businesses of Hay River will be as well.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me if the criteria for financial business support will be flexible? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we establish programs or modify programs with speed, it is most easy to do that within the context of programs we have, which is why we've done the wildfire within the existing SEED policy, which does have some parameters to it. That said, as well as looking at increases and modifications based on the impacts to different communities I would say that, yes, we are also looking at whether there's some additional flexibility that we could have in terms of what is covered as well as some additional flexibility in terms of the periods to be covered again taking into consideration the uniqueness of this last summer and its impacts on businesses across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, you know, I'm glad with those answers and I think the Minister, you know, heard the pleas, I guess, from, you know, people in the South Slave that have been really devastated over the last while.
So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if she and her department continue to pursue additional financial support from the federal government for businesses and individuals impacted by disasters in the South Slave because we need their support as well; we can't do it on our own. Thank you.
The short answer is yes, Mr. Speaker. I certainly am; I'm certainly not alone in that. I know my colleagues, certainly led in the Premier's office to highest levels of the federal government, are actively putting forward the circumstances that we face here in the Northwest Territories not only for the costs to government but then to the costs to residents and obviously providing us that flexibility to respond. But also, yes, ITI is also directly reaching out to our counterparts. And, Mr. Speaker, knowing that the tourism sector as well is one that has been particularly impacted, I'd note some of the examples given earlier during the Member's statement highlighted areas that were, in fact, tourism businesses. This is a sector that's been particularly affected over the last few years, and I will be attending one last Ministers' meeting with the hope that we can bring some attention to this area that has been affected so much by the wildfires. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on the environmental guideline for contaminated site remediation. I mentioned in my statement that there's no specific legislative authority sited in the document. The most logical would be the Environmental Protection Act. But can the Minister tell us whether this guideline is intended to be legally binding and enforceable? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the guidelines has existed in the NWT since 2003 and has now been updated. The guidelines is one of the many tools under the Environmental Protection Act that is administered by ECC. The guideline describes the general contaminant sites remediation process. Although not legally binding, it sets soil, surface water, and groundwater quality standards for the site remediation to act in compliance with the Environmental Protection Act. Most of the contaminant sites that the guidelines apply to occur on private lands within communities. And in these cases, environment and climate change officers can direct or order remediation of contaminated sites to the standards specified in the guidelines. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It might be helpful to actually amend the document to cite the Environmental Protection Act. But I also wonder whether this guideline will apply to privatelyowned lands or a contaminated site might be located even if the contamination has not escaped the site. So can the Minister tell us whether this guideline will apply to privatelyowned lands and how? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Environmental Protection Act and this guideline applies to the whole of the Northwest Territories, including privatelyowned land.
Environment and climate change officers, under the authority of the Environmental Protection Act, can direct or order the remediation of contaminated sites even if the contaminants had not escaped the site. The land use permits, and water licenses issued under the authority of the Water Act or the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, boards can choose to apply the guidelines or select their own standards. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that because I know one site, in Yellowknife, I'm going to direct his way, probably right at the end of this day. In my statement, though, I also said that the only mention of the public in this document is as a recipient of some sort of vague notice that a site is found to be contaminated. There's no role for the public in the remediation process, nothing about whether any of the information or decisions are public. So can the Minister explain this failure to include any role for the public in the remediation process as set out in the document? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned previously or mentioned before, most of the contaminant sites that this guideline applies to occur on private lands within the communities. The site remediation process is primarily between the owner of the residence or business and the environment and climate change officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Sometimes neighbours want to know what's happening next door, and this doesn't provide any mechanism for that to happen. But the site closure section of this document is particularly troubling. It would enable GNWT to accept contaminated sites where there could be residual environmental liabilities without any financial security and could allow GNWT to accept sites requiring perpetual care at taxpayers' expense. So can the Minister explain why this guideline would allow GNWT to accept financial liabilities and perpetual care at public costs without any public disclosure? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned earlier, this guideline does not apply to sites that have land use permits and/or water license. The guideline does not allow the GNWT to accept financial liability or perpetual care at the GNWT cost. Under the Environment Protection Act, the parties responsible for the contamination is responsible for cleaning it up. If the responsible party is unable to address the contamination and is deemed an environmental emergency, the Act gives environment and climate change the authority to undertake the work required and recover the costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier when I asked the Premier some questions about progress on land claims in the spring, there was some perhaps minor optimism that she would sign a document in the life of this government. I'm just hoping the Premier can update this House whether there will be any signatures in the life of our government. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the MLA's hopeful. I'm hopeful. We've got an extra month, but I'll see. If not in this government, early in the next government. We have a couple that are on the really close. One final selfgovernment agreement is out for section 35 consultation, the Norman Wells agreement. Pending the outcome of that consultation, it could move to the ratification process. I'm hopeful that that'll be probably the soonest one. One reconciliation progress agreement is out for section 35 consultation, the K'atlodeeche First Nation. Pending the outcome of that consultation, it could move to the final agreement negotiation stage. And two final transboundary land and resource agreements are on the verge of starting the ratification processes the Athabasca Denesuline and the Ghotelnene K’odtineh Dene. Pending the outcome of the ratification, these deals could be finalized. So we're hopeful, Mr. Speaker. But it's not really good to count on hope. If not by the end of this government, then my projection would be really early in the next government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, that's a slightly different list than I heard before, that we had Norman Wells selfgovernment. We had the two transboundary; I was aware of those. There was the KFN reconciliation agreement there and hopefully leading to a treaty land entitlement. I understand that is largely federal negotiations. But there was no mention of the Akaitcho AIP which last time I asked this question was out for consultation. Does the Premier have an update on whether the Akaitcho agreementinprinciple is still on track? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would say it's still on track. We had agreed on a draft agreementinprinciple in the fall of 2020. We thought it was going to go out to consultation. The Akaitcho has asked to hold off a while on that one. They want to do some internal review of that as well. So one step forward, one step backwards, that's the way of negotiations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't usually ask openended questions because you know, but it's the end of the Assembly, and I'm just wondering if the Premier has any sort of reflection or a lessons learned, or perhaps that is something the negotiators are doing, about, you know, how we could perhaps speed up some of our negotiations. We have over 17 tables and, you know, to get something signed in four years is, I think, a disappointment. Is there any sort of reflecting occurring either by the Premier or within the department to look how we could speed some of these tables up? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I love openended questions; I can just answer them wherever I want. The reality is is that, Mr. Speaker, if I was to reflect back, there is advice to the next government would be always be flexible, always be open minded, truly hear what people are saying, not just what they speak but what they mean by that. Negotiations take decades is something I've realized. So, you know, I'd like to take credit for all the work. I'd like to be envious a little bit of the next government being able to sign some of these really early on. But the reality is is they take decades; there's three parties that have to come to agreements.
I think the biggest thing that I reflect on in this government's work, though, Mr. Speaker, is that we listened. When I first got elected as Premier and took on the file, I talked to the Indigenous governments. They said there was two things that were really and the MLAs that were really obstacles. One was the core principles and objectives. Many of the Indigenous governments had problems with that, standards that the GNWT in fairness couldn't even meet ourselves. After many discussions with our own departments, we took that off. And so that will forward negotiations.
And the biggest thing, Members at the beginning asked me what is the negotiating mandate not realizing that it's not one mandate just to get some settled, it's negotiating mandates. Every area has a mandate. So I think I was challenged, correct me if I'm wrong, but by Members in the House to publicize them. So, again, I took it to the department and asked them and reflected on it and after many, many discussions, we published them. And, you know what, Mr. Speaker, we never heard a lot of flack from the Indigenous governments. I think that by publishing the core mandates of the negotiating process and taking off standards that no one else could expect to meet will be serve us well going forward in all future land claim and selfgovernment agreements. That's my reflection. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are in regards to the homelessness strategy A Way Home. The homelessness strategy was tabled earlier this year and my first question that I'd like to gain some perspective on is who is ultimately responsible for homelessness and the homelessness strategy within our government? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Homelessness.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Who's there was a couple questions. Who is responsible for homelessness, and who is responsible for the strategy within our government?
Many factors impact homelessness, Mr. Speaker. I think all of society has to look at that and how we treat people, how we give opportunities to people, because I think we all have a role in that to look at. I think that government departments, each department, we have a Minister responsible for Housing. She's responsible to make sure that we have houses on the ground. But we have a justice Minister here. We have an education Minister. We have a health Minister. We have ITI. We have all Ministers have to take ownership and look at what they can do within their departments to address housing and homelessness specifically.
As for the homelessness strategy, Mr. Speaker, the MLA's right. We waited five years for that strategy, and there was no way I was going to leave this government without one. It's where my passion, my heart is as well. So the homelessness strategy has now been taken in under the Premier's portfolio under Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the intent is for this strategy, in the life of this strategy as it works through all of the deliverables, will remain with the Premier's office or if the intent is to eventually shift it to housing or into department land, or is that going to be seen moving forward as almost like a new unit that then lives within EIA? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't really speak for the next government or governments to come. The Premier does have the option to be able to shuffle departments, move Ministers as appropriate, consolidate as we did, or make departments bigger. That's always under the purview of the Premier. However, I did my best, Mr. Speaker, to try to make it sustainable within the Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and that's why purposely I brought the homelessness strategy under the Premier's portfolio in this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
