Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure that really gets at the heart of what I'm getting at, but I'll try and ask my next question, which is will the Minister ensure that coordinated plain language information, including evacuation notice alerts and orders, fire bans, road closures, wildlife or sorry, pardon me, wildfire perimeters, air quality measurements, which are already there, road construction, campsite closures, by way of list of a small sampling could be made available through the NWT Alert Site? That's the new site that they've put up and stood up, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As this is a new development central focused area for getting communication out there, the department will continue to work on it and hopefully we can get as much information on there as we can like the Member's suggesting, and I think those are all great things. It's just a matter of working on the site to get the communication and the information on there that is needed. So we'll continue to work and develop that site to have more information. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be related to, or taking up where I left off on my Member's statement, with respect to midwifery.
Mr. Speaker, I was enjoying a good read. It's not a good read in the context of happiness, but it is a good report regarding the reclaiming power in place. It's the final report of the MMIWG. And I happened to notice a familiar name, Ms. Lesa Semmler in there. So I'm sure she's very familiar with the report. So specifically, I want to point to the page, without going into context, is it talks about the teachings of midwifery and postnatal care of women and children.
So that said, Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Health and Social Services is, how is the Minister meeting that objective of supporting midwifery in the Northwest Territories in line with the statement that ties to the report which also ties to the mandate which also ties to the business plan of the Government of the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I'm so glad that the Member, you know, in his Member's statement agrees with a lot of the things that I also agree with. And midwifery is near and dear to my heart. So one of the things that what you know, with all of the things that are happening in the Northwest Territories is what we are doing is we are focusing the midwifery on the programs that we currently have. So Fort Smith was the first program. We expanded into Hay River. But currently right now, Mr. Speaker, we are barely filling those positions in those two communities where there are no prenatal services and no other services that will be providing to those members in those communities that deliver. So this is where we need to focus on midwifery because midwifery is to be able to birth closer to home with your family and those people in those communities. That is where we want to make sure that these programs are successful so that's where we're refocusing that area to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm really glad we agree. So then I am looking forward to the next agreeable answer from the Minister when she explains the role of the Midwifery Advisory Council on how the services of midwifery are being rolled out in the Northwest Territories to serve sometimes the first choices of expectant mothers to go through that process. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to also hear how the Minister expresses the advisory committee's advice on how we do job postings and reaching out in recruitment of midwives. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. I think that's a couple of questions in there. So I'm going to turn to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the positions that are currently in the communities are governmentfunded positions and, yes, I hear the Member of how we would use a midwifery advisory, you know. We have created these positions with collaborations within the department with them and, you know, moving forward this is the thing, is we need to make sure that those positions in the communities that Fort Smith, like I said, and Hay River, which do not have birthing services. Inuvik and Yellowknife have birthing services right now, and so we're going to switch our focus to make sure that we can support those communities. And if it means working more with the advisory on how we do that better in those communities so that these programs are successful and women can birth closer to home in those communities. I also want to note that because we are, you know, having a hard time recruiting for the Hay River, which that community also supports Deninu Kue in their prenatal/postnatal supports. So by not supporting Hay River, you know, we're not supporting Deninu Kue for those people to have that prenatal and postnatal support. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister is when is the last time there's been any recruitments in the Yellowknife area that can support the regional centres? And, again, Yellowknife represents half the population, so I'm coming back to what is the Minister looking at from a dollar and cents point of view of recruiting more midwives in Yellowknife to support community birthing options, such as midwifery? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The more support that I put in Yellowknife, the less people that I'm going to have working in the frontline that are actually doing the midwifery program. And so the support that we're leaving in place is to the one position to support the two communities to be able to be effective. You know, if we keep taking away and we put it in Yellowknife, then that's going to be taking away positions or midwives that could be working in those communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very curious on how the Minister reconciles taking away from the communities by supporting the expansion or fulfilling the current program of midwifery in Yellowknife that supports the communities. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain exactly how this takes away from the communities, she keeps saying that, by not supporting the Yellowknife midwifery program? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the position there is still a position to support the two communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my statement, I spoke about the importance of the transition of the Aurora College to a polytechnic. Mr. Speaker, I spoke about the funding for the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Innovation that the college has been doing for the past three years. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. I'm wondering if her department would consider funding that centre to continue the important work that they're doing? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. So the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Innovation was established in May of 2020, closed in 2023. That centre was actually funded by CanNor, a project through CanNor. As far as I am aware, there has not been any additional funding through CanNor that has been given to the college for this centre. And I as Minister have not received a request for additional funding for that centre for Aurora College. It's not something that we could fund from dollars from within at this time. But if I were to receive a request, it is either something I could work with the college on either supporting them through negotiations with CanNor. CanNor has been very generous in their diversity of programs they have supported in the Northwest Territories, or I can have a conversation with the chair about what funding is required and if they even want to reopen the centre. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. I can tell you the funding, I believe, was in the neighbourhood of about $500,000 per year. They did apply but did not receive the continued funding CanNor on that program. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I've also addressed in my Member's statement the actual transition team and the important work that that team had been doing up until such time as the board of directors were put in place, understanding now that the college is an arm's length organization, but still much important work that we could do as a government to assist them, would the Minister consider funding a transition team, either with the college allowing them to get the expertise they need to continue this work to get back on track, or as a combination with GNWT employees as well?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transformation team for Aurora College was in place until 2023 at which time it was disbanded. At that time or sorry, in the life of the transformation, the $1 million that I've been speaking about with Members on the floor of this House this week and last week was agreed to by ECE senior management, along with Aurora College senior management, to be used for the purposes of transformation, and that's where it's at right now, is that Aurora College was going to use those dollars for that purpose. As far as putting kind of putting the band back together again, that's not a request I've received from the board of governors for Aurora College. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. Yes, I'm aware of the $1 million in funding that was received. It was received and was to be used to develop the new Bachelor of Education program, which hasn't been rolled out yet. So what the college has been using that funding for was to develop the general studies program, which will eventually then turn into years one and 2 of the Bachelor of Education program and, if I'm not mistaken, the social work program as well. So that's what that $1 million is currently being used for.
My question is, and I believe the transition team at that budget was around $3 million per year. I think a little over $2 million in salaries for expertise and O and M. So would the Minister consider a request from the college to, again, look at funding that over and above the $1 million that's given for the Bachelor of Education program?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I absolutely welcome any conversation with the college about supports that they need in order to continue forward with transformation, which is a key part of their mandate and a key part of the mandate document that was agreed to between Aurora College and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment of the day. That mandate document expires in July of this year, and I have no doubt that transformation will continue to be a key part of that mandate document and therefore, given that up like, for the last six months, we've had a great working relationship. I happily have had a great relationship with the chair for many, many years, and intend to continue that. So by all means, I welcome I welcome any dialogue whatsoever. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister. And, listen, I appreciate I know the Minister's passionate about this project, as we all are.
One final question, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to given that I said in my statement that the timelines are delayed, they're going to miss some of the milestones that was originally laid out in a GAN chart that we've all seen, where they wanted to be. Can the Minister commit to tabling where they are and how those milestones have changed? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely, I think that that is something that will need to be publicly shared and reflected. I think it's also important that we reflect on the good work that has been done by the Aurora College transformation team as well as Aurora College. There are a total of 80 deliverables in this transformation, of which 66 of them were completed by the Aurora College transformation team. And since Aurora College has taken over, they have continued on the along on those milestones, and they've completed an additional three milestones in the last few short months. And so good work is still being done on that. And so I think it's really important that we also celebrate our good milestones as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Colleagues, we're 18 minutes in. Three people have asked questions. So, please, shorten your answers so we can get everybody through with the process. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I emphasized the critical state we're in on the low waters here and the shipment down the Mackenzie River. My question is to the Minister of Housing.
In this new fiscal budget, can the Minister confirm the list of housing units destined for the Sahtu? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What Housing NWT can confirm, related to the cancellation of the MTS barge to Tulita, was that there was one new duplex scheduled for delivery into Tulita for the 20242025 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that answer.
Moving on to my next question here, Mr. Speaker, on February the 29th here, I requested from the Housing NWT Minister housing inventory for the Sahtu. Due to the MTS cancellation, is there what is the new shipping alternative plans for materials as well as new units? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The cancellation of the barge is unfortunate, so we're not able to get much of the supply into the communities in the Sahtu. But what we're able to do and Housing NWT has pivoted to delivering the replacement duplex on the winter road and looking at building it to specifications for winter road travel, and shipping that unit on the 20242025 winter road season to Tulita. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And moving forward, there's always the cost of capital costs of delays so there's a factor to that, and I'm not too sure what that cost is because I'm not privileged to the materials, but I want the Minister to keep that in mind here, it may come back to haunt this government on the cost of capital or the cost of loss. All of a sudden your sheet of plywood already doubled if you went to six months in purchasing, for example.
My last question, an Indigenous madeinthe North to the housing crisis is being proposed by leadership of Fort Good Hope. Will the Minister accept my invitation and suggest proposed dates for the meet and greet of the leadership in Fort Good Hope? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to MLA McNeely for the invite. I've met with Fort Good Hope, the K’asho Got’ine Housing Society a couple of times on virtual meetings, but I'd be pleased to meet with them in person. We can discuss dates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Can the Minister answer my half portion to the last question, proposed dates, can the Minister come back to me on proposed dates; is it next month or July or August? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Minister of health suggested 2027. It will be definitely sooner. We'll talk over the next day or so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Housing NWT. I'm glad you didn't take the Minister of health's advice there. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to let the young people know the drug dealers and cartel do not care about them. With that in mind, the RCMP have been noted in the media saying they need a response unit. How can the GNWT support the RCMP to respond to the increase in drugs and crime with a response unit? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't quite know what I can say here. I know the budget is before the Committee of the Whole, so I don't want to speak too much about it. But I look forward to that budget passing and us getting our crime reduction unit up and running. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are communities in the NWT without consistent RCMP presence. Can the Minister explain what is being done to improve effective level of policing in NWT communities?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in the communities without RCMP present all the time, they have there are RCMP who are dedicated to travel to those communities at regular intervals. And with everything that has gone in the past few years, I guess four years now, the intervals might not have been as regular as we would have hoped. But at the Behchoko detachment, there are two officers who are dedicated to going into Gameti.
In addition, the RCMP had taken new approaches to combatting the drug trade. We've seen the increase in drugs over the last four or five years and because of that, the RCMP have sort of adjusted their tactics, and we have seen just since last year a big increase, 30 percent increase, in arrests, almost twice as many charges laid, over twice as many drugs seized and taken off the street, a number of dozens of handguns seized. So a lot of work is happening to prevent drugs from getting into communities, and also we have those proactive patrols into communities. And that being said, there is more work to be done. I have more initiatives that I want to bring forward, work with the federal government on them. So there's a lot more work to be done on this. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, he's very right in all the stuff that he just said. But Gameti needs a detachment.
The RCMP have also noted publicly there is an inability to hold offenders accountable. What can the GNWT do to assist the RCMP to hold offenders accountable? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the big issues now is that over the last number of years, you know, in the last 2010s, there were changes to the Criminal Code, there were decisions from the Supreme Court, all of which have resulted in people who are arrested not being remanded into custody but granted bail. And they're arrested, they're back out later that day. And some of these offenders, you know, they are innocent until proven guilty, but then they're arrested again the next day or the next week, and they continue this pattern. And so we are seeing that the deterrent of not being remanded is not working. So what I have been doing, along with all of the other Ministers of Justice and many Premiers across Canada, have been lobbying the federal government for bail reform to ensure that we can better protect our communities. And later this year, I will be hosting all of the Ministers of Justice in Canada for one of our annual meetings, and this will be raised there as well. So there's continuous lobbying efforts across the country to address this, because this is not just a territorial issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is sad to see our young people, who were once full of life, now look defeated. We can just look in Yellowknife downtown. You can see that, you know. And even in the small community as well. So what can the GNWT do to make it difficult for drug dealers to operate in the territory? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, me and my spouse are from the territory and sometimes we'll run into someone who went down that path, and we can see that impact where, you know, our paths diverged and someone has gotten into that life and it is it's tough. It's tough on us to see. And so I know that when it's in your family, when it's someone close to you, when you see it every day in your community, it is difficult. So this is a serious issue that we are all feeling the effects of one way or another. And so there's a number of things that we're working on to try and address this. Looking at ways to shut down known drug houses. That's one way. We want to introduce the SCAN legislation, which would allow premises to be shut down as opposed to evicting the residents. So it's a different process, another tool for the RCMP. There is the civil Forfeiture Act, which I will be bringing forward, which will allow the government to retain proceeds of crime without a conviction in certain cases. So we are taking steps, both the government and the RCMP, to address these issues. Ultimately, I always say this, drug use is a public health issue. It's a tough battle to fight. I always look at the United States. They spend over a trillion dollars on the war against drugs, and they're not winning either. So, ultimately, we need to work on the demand side of things because if there's a demand, the supply will make it in. Thank you.
