Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.
Other people that we haven't had the opportunity to recognize, we thank you very much. It's great to see an audience, especially a young audience here today, and hopefully you enjoy our sitting. Well, I guess I just found out where those young people are from. Welcome from Weledeh School here in Yellowknife. So thank you very much for being here.
Thank you, colleagues, Mr. Speaker. I am very proud to announce that four students will be graduating from Colville Lake School this year are.
Rachele Blancho,
Devin Kochon,
Bobbie Lafferty, and
Troy Tutcho.
The entire community of Colville Lake and the Sahtu region want to congratulate these young fellows or young adults, graduates. We wish them the very best in their education journey and career choices. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, how many people will be affected by the proposed closure of the Fort Smith correctional Complex men's unit? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Fort Smith correctional facility has 32 employees which would mean that there would be 32 employees who would be affected if the facility were closed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How many vacant positions are there open and available in Fort Smith that are not proposed to be cut in this budget? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of March 31st of 2024, there are 492 vacancies across the GNWT. A vacancy obviously can come with a number of different meanings. It may mean that it may be actively being recruited for at any particular point in time. In Fort Smith specifically, Mr. Speaker, there are 647 GNWT positions of which, again, as of the 31st of March, 114 were vacant, and there were 34 positions in total proposed for elimination in the 2024-2025 Main Estimates. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What work has been done to assure the affected corrections employees that they can remain in the public service? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, any employee who is facing being affected by in sort of form of reduction anywhere in the GNWT, anywhere in the Northwest Territories is subject to a process. It is one where there is a notification process and there is, indeed, a staff retention policy and staff retention guidelines. Every effort is made to ensure that anyone in an affected position is not lost as a public servant and so, indeed, that process can take several months, if not quite some time, to ensure that they can best find themselves back in a new position within the public service following those two different documents, again the policy and the guidelines. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I'm hoping that policy can be changed slightly but I can talk to the Minister of Finance about that.
What work can be conducted so affected employees are appropriately trained or assisted to continue to work in the public service at their current or better pay? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have noted the comment about wanting to see change to the policy and guidelines. At the present time, we do have a policy with associated guidelines so at this point I'd not want to try to second guess what position, what individual, what training someone might have. They may have training that is beyond the position that they are in or different from the position they are in. So I would just want to emphasize, again, that every effort is always made to ensure that any affected employee whose position might be eliminated is not lost from the public service, relying on the policy and guidelines. But, again, happy to engage with the Member and see if there are areas that we can improve with a view to improving the public service all of the time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Premier commit to releasing the GNWT Justice Search and Rescue System Review MMP 2022 Final Report to the public as soon as possible and table it in this Assembly when the next opportunity arises? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Premier commit to supporting programming such as Adventure Smart, which teaches Northerners to be prepared and self-sufficient when they journey onto the land or water and partner with NWT businesses, as well as federal, territorial, and municipal departments that operate in the territory's natural environment? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a lot unpack there. I'd probably need to think about it a bit more, understand what the programs the Member's speaking of are, and then we can go from there. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier. Will the Premier allocate funding directly to the training of professional ground search and rescue volunteers with accountability built in to ensure they're being trained to current national standards as recommended by the report? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's plenty of things I would like to do. This is one area where I would like to see something happen as well. What that is, I'm not quite sure yet. This does take resources. But that being said, I've already had discussions with the Minister of MACA on potential future steps on what we can do. Again, that being said I can't make any promises. We are going through the budget process right now. We are really looking to get our financial house in order so that we can pursue activities like this, which falls in line with our public safety mandate. But that's work that still needs to be done. Thank bou, Mr. Speaker.
Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this report was commissioned by the GNWT and was completed and hasn't been implemented. So can the Premier commit to an implementation schedule that will be costed and released publicly so we can know when these necessary lifesaving changes to search and rescue will take effect? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like every other initiative that we would like to bring forward, it has to compete with all of the other initiatives. And so we will weigh this against the other initiatives that the Members have requested, initiatives that other stakeholders have requested, and plan as appropriate. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement today talked about trying to find ways to help de-escalate violence in shelter and programs and opportunities that exist, and I even pointed at our First Nations -- Saskatchewan First Nations training program. Now, there's a lot of good in all of that, of course, but there's also opportunities. So my question will be directed to the Minister of Finance. And I'm going to give her a little second here or two.
The department, this section has the human resource department, and we do a lot of employee training currently right now. And so my question for the Minister of Finance is really not about that specific program per se, but the GNWT has a ton of training to employees. Is there maybe a way to start strategizing and looking at opening it up to NGO organizations to expand it? And we run things like verbal judo that could be extraordinarily beneficial to NGOs as an example and, hence, that's where the first question will start. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. It's actually not new to me; it certainly has come up over the course of some years that I've been doing the budget dialogues. And I'd like to take it away, see if we can continue to work on this a bit. Some of the challenges that the programming that we have does come with costs, and it comes with costs that we pay for our employees. There's also some concerns I've run into around at what point would you be turning someone who's not an employee to be starting to look like an employee, particularly in the case of workers who are in areas of essential services such as shelter workers. They're already -- if they're receiving contribution agreements to the organization from the GNWT, we don't want to wind ourselves up in a situation where there's any blurring of lines as to who is the employer and what services they're providing. I realize in training programs that seems a small thing, but the concern is being where those lines might be. I'm certainly happy to have a conversation around whether there's ways we could make inroads on finding access points, but not necessarily in the same or equal way that an employee might. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I raise the issue of the Saskatchewan First Nations offered a program, and I guess I would say to the Minister that, you know, is something like this in general -- could this be worked into contribution agreements whereas in the GNWT works with the department of education through the Department of Finance under contribution agreements to find ways to bring NGOs supportive training up to a higher standard than what we're currently offering them, which is, you know, one-offs from time to time. So in other words -- allowing the Minister to get a second there. So in other words, I'm just trying to create an opportunity and foster better training and skills so we can help de-escalate violence in shelters. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we're starting to cross paths between different departments, whether it's EIA in the Premier's shop where I know they are doing a significant amount of work in terms of supporting our NGO sector in the Northwest Territories. Obviously ECE and the Department of Finance from the human resources perspective. Let me answer briefly and say anything's possible. Whether I'm going to be able to commit on the floor to a program that's rolled out in Saskatchewan, probably not, but certainly can commit to looking at that program and seeing whether there are elements or aspects of it that, again, as together with my colleagues we can utilize and employ and advance here. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister's identified that the medical travel policy will be reviewed. Can the Minister identify a timeline for reviewing the policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline of the medical travel policy, because of the enormous amount of work that's going to take and collaboration and consultation in the Northwest Territories when we roll -- like, once we start may take -- you know, it could take the life of this government to get it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I like the word get it right. I'm glad that myself and the Minister are on the same page there.
So then, Mr. Speaker, then, my assumption, then, is during the review that the Minister will be engaging with the public as well obviously as Indigenous governments with this process? Thank you.
Yes, most definitely. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke specifically to youth that are living in Edmonton, going to school in Edmonton under the age of 19 and not having the ability to get an escort to come down to attend medical appointments with them, whether that be a CT scan or an MRI or things that often we're sent out to Edmonton for. So I guess my question is can the Minister commit to revising section 6.2 to recognize that a minor under 19 years of age requires an escort or is provided an escort upon request? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've committed to reviewing the entire medical travel policy and looking at all the different things and those are -- I think that is important. But the other part of it is, you know, we hear the concerns, and this is not -- I was on the other side, and I raised many concerns on medical travel. But the understanding of the different programs that medical travel is, so if we're looking for an escort, if they are NIHB, then that doesn't fall -- the escort criteria doesn't fall upon GNWT to approve that exception if it doesn't fall exactly. If it's GNWT, then there's the appeals process that appeals can go in. And then there's other insurances that also cover people that are travelling down for medical travel. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I do understand that. And, again, the concern is had the student been living, say, in Inuvik and had required to be escorted out, then there would be an escort provided, wouldn't be an issue, they would go out both the student -- and I know the Minister is a mother, so she would -- if she had an 18-year-old getting a CT scan, she'd probably likely to be there and not trust the 18-year-old to get the information he's required to get, or he or she is required to get from that doctor. So I guess my question is, then, can the Minister explain whether there's any expectation that departmental staff have a conversation with the family before making the decision on escort requirements, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I can't speak to individual cases that are, you know, throughout the territory, and Inuvik being so small that I wouldn't want to speak to individually making a decision. Our medical travel policy is to assist patients from the Northwest Territories to travel. And I hear the Member that if the Member is away at college, then the travel is already there and I hear what the Member is saying, and, yes, I am a mother and I've traveled many times that I've paid my own way because of, you know, a lot of things. And I'm still covering some costs for some travel. But the instances -- not everybody -- you know, there are circumstances, and that's why I said there are appeals, there are other ways to look at it. And, you know, and if this was an ongoing issue or was the other -- the other thing is that if it didn't generate in the territory as well and it was generated outside the territory for certain things, then the medical travel policy doesn't even apply. So then there's no escort policy. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. My question is for the Minister of Justice. Mr. Speaker, last May in the GNWT response to Motion 75-19(2), maximum allowable rent increase for private rental units, the government stated that the Department of Justice was going to undertake a review of the Residential Tenancy Act during the 20th Assembly. Can the Minister of Justice provide a timeline for when the departmental review of the Residential Tenancy Act will take place? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Justice.
