Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. There is work happening in this space and one of the ways that we support the supply chains is by actually being one of the larger consumers of biomass products and wood pellet products. For instance, about 32 percent of all GNWT heating load is right now met with biomass which does make us a fairly big player in terms of supporting the local resources that there may be in order to have a supply of wood pellets happening on a regular basis, and this may well be an opportunity for those in the Sahtu, where the almost $2 million program we had in place to support freight costs, could actually be employed by those in the region who are bringing up or trying to bring up wood pellet supply. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So is the GNWT working, perhaps with Arctic Energy Alliance, to help get more subsidized wood stoves and pellet stoves into Norman Wells as soon as possible, given the crisis, to relieve some of the dependence on heating oil in that community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our Department of Infrastructure does work quite closely with the Arctic Energy Alliance. On this particular area, though, right now in terms of subsidies for wood pellets and, indeed, subsidies for quite a number of energy efficiency programs, this is right now unfunded. This was one of the areas where the federal low carbon economy leadership fund was reduced rather significantly and took a significant hit on our budget in this space. So we are actively asking the federal government what they're going to be doing to bring that back and recapitalize it. We'll get that money out the door through Arctic Energy Alliance the minute we do. But beyond that, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to follow up and ensure that officials at the Department of Infrastructure are touching base with SSI. We do right now work with other Indigenous governments to do exactly this, to get wood pellets -- wood pellet stoves brought into communities working through local governments. So I will follow up on that today and see if we can't initiate some action like that with the Sahtu region. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I certainly appreciate that we've been looking to the feds up until now for these kinds of programs, but we're also seeing that the costs are falling on the GNWT of the consequence of having this dependence on heating oil. So with that in mind, is the GNWT looking at opportunities to increase energy efficiency and conservation in any buildings or homes in Norman Wells that are currently relying on heating oil again to relieve some of this dependence and the high costs that that community's experiencing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the good news here is that all of the largest GNWT assets in Norman Wells actually are already equipped with biomass heating systems. This is five systems over a thousand kilowatt hours are all operated through a pellets system. And the benefit of that, again, is that it creates the local supply demand -- or rather it creates local demand which then encourages a supply chain and a bit of an economy of scale in that regard. So with respect to whether or not there can be changes also brought in to smaller units, smaller assets, I'll certainly go back and see if there -- what hasn't been converted and whether we can work, again, with the community government and beyond so that they have some energy resiliency and alternatives. Thank you.
Thank you. Final supplementary, Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so finally, with regard to energy security, will the GNWT be taking a greater role for next year's fuel supply to ensure that fuel is transported to Norman Wells over the winter road rather than taking a chance on next summer's barge? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure took a fairly significant role last year. You'll recall that just a little later, less than a year ago, we were already in a situation where because of last year's challenged barge season there was some resupply of fuel that had to happen by air into the Sahtu. That came with costs. It came obviously with some uncertainty right in and around the Christmas period. We were able to get resupplied, and then started into the winter road season. We widened the winter road, had increased patrols on the winter road, had increased signage, had increased checkpoints to try to support more trucks moving more efficiently bringing up more load. And, again, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT through the fuel services division was able to resupply all of the communities that we are responsible for to a point that they can make it to the winter road season this year. It came as no particular surprise that water was low. It came as no particular surprise that the water could be challenging. And here we find ourselves with the one community that was serviced by the private sector not fully serviced and not fully supplied. So do we remind our partners in the private sector? Certainly do. One good news I will give you, Mr. Speaker, just today we've committed with Imperial Oil to have a task force ready to roll so that we do not find ourselves back in this situation next year and that no one has to find themselves back in this situation next year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of housing. When we were here last session, we talked about the units in Inuvik, the long waiting lists, and the units that needed to be repaired. I think it was something around between 12 and 17 that still were being repaired. I was just wondering if I could get an update of the status of the repairs in Inuvik. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. The information I have today on the status of repairs to Inuvik public housing units is that we have two units that are about 50 percent complete in the modernization and improvement of that public housing unit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister Kuptana. I understand that some of the work's being done on M and I. I also understand, I think, there's likely about seven units that still require repairs. And I say this because we do have some folks living in our apartment building up that housing leases that we know is a known area for drug consumption and drug selling in there. So our list is quite long.
Is there any other money, I guess, outside of the maintenance and improvement funding that the local housing authority gets, any other money committed outside of that to repair those units? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the local housing authority in Inuvik is provided an annual budget allotment and much of that budget is for maintenance of public housing units in Inuvik. They have been doing minor repairs and trying to get many of the units up to par for public housing tenants. So that work is ongoing, Mr. Speaker. We're hoping to get more done over the fall/winter, so hoping to provide better news for the MLA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I know the Minister understands, living in the Beaufort Delta herself, the importance of this work. I guess can I get a commitment from the Minister on -- I know there's at least five units right now that have no funding allocated for them from what I understand in speaking with the local housing authority. Can we get a commitment of a plan going forward to get all these units repaired within the next 12 months? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will definitely look into it to see what -- the details for the question from the Member. I cannot commit to getting the completed -- the work completed. I have to look at the budget, see what we have allocated, especially for the riding. But I will follow up with the Member on the details. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Housing NWT. Final supplementary supplementary.
Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's -- well, it's been back to school for a bit for parents in the Northwest Territories. As one of them, I'm always keen to help support students in their education journey and working families as well. One of the biggest things that's happening in our school districts is the change to the BC curriculum. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment speak to the progress of the implementation of the new curriculum in NWT schools? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are in our second year of implementing the new curriculum into our school system. We are working on a phased-in approach. It is a five-year phased-in approach, and that is because we recognize that there is significant amount of work to be done, and we want to ensure that we are affording the proper time to do it in a -- you know, a very progressive way, where people can learn about the curriculum and then implement it with students and have resources to be able to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, how much money has the department put aside to help transition schools over this five-year period? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the question is how much money is going specific to -- or specifically to education bodies for the task of implementing the new curriculum, the answer to that question is there is no funding allotment specifically for this. The reason being is that the education bodies are already funded for curriculum coordinators within schools and support coordinators, and they're also already funded within the school funding formula for evergreening material as well within our school systems. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I find that alarming. I know the Minister and I were at the same meeting but for one district in Yellowknife, the cost of implementation is around $600,000, and if it's not coming from the -- it's coming from resources that should be going to just support the schools and support our children in those schools. Will the Minister reconsider this approach and fully fund the transition that the government has mandated on school districts? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I sit at the same meetings as the Member, and I'm always keen to have conversations with our education body. I have a meeting tomorrow with the NWTTA, and this is one of the conversations that is on our agenda as well.
Within the request for new resources or new funding allocations, the department works closely with the Government of BC to determine what types of new resources would be required, and one of the things that was learned in that conversation is there is no expectation of additional resources because there is already the bodies within the school systems that support teachers to administer curriculum. What we're doing is we're switching that curriculum. We do have training provided to teachers. We have online platforms. We have online platforms that we share now with teachers from British Columbia where we can share lesson plans and also training for how to implement this new curriculum.
In addition to that, teachers are supposed to still be able to use their previous education material. So there might be a desire to bring on new material, absolutely, but that is why that funding exists, but there is not a need to completely kind of throw every piece of material or book that was used previously in order to really move into the BC curriculum. So that's why there's not a large chunk of money to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary, Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's true that you don't need to replace every book but we're talking about software licenses, professional development, and the costs that have been communicated with me and with other Members of this House are clear, there is a cost to this. It is not being able to be dealt with by coordinators in the schools, and when we download the costs on to parents, on to teachers, it means more improvement days, more professional development days, and less instructional time. So will the Minister work with school boards to provide additional funding -- maybe it's not the full amount, but additional funding to help cushion the impact of the extra costs of the curriculum change and ensure that we have as much -- and protect instructional time for our kids? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to be clear, there are no additional PD days being allotted. One of the agreements that was made -- or STIP days. One of the agreements that was made with education bodies was to allot time from their existing professional development days and dedicate it towards the implementation. So while I absolutely hear the Member, I do want to share that some education bodies have come forward and have said that, you know, this is how they are implementing the new curriculum, these are some of their success stories, these are how they're participating in that work. So this is not a sentiment that is shared among all education bodies. But I definitely want to ensure that I am hearing the details from each education body and that we are having conversations about this and are ensuring that at the end of the day, teachers are supported to teach our kids. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to stay focused on the four priorities that we have going for us in this government.
Can the Minister of Environment and Climate Change confirm how many fire towers are currently in use in the NWT and explain how they are operated? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Deh Cho. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for the question.
Currently, we have 11 fire towers across the Northwest Territories. Nine of those are camera-based towers. One of the towers is -- two of the towers are located in the Nahendeh riding, one in Fort Liard, and one in Somba K'e. The Fort Liard tower is person operated as well as the one in Somba K'e. It is a unique situation. It also has cameras attached to it primarily for this season in that the person that holds that position was on leave for the 2024 season. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing the local employment opportunities for the hamlet of Enterprise, can the Minister confirm the number of people the Enterprise fire tower employs throughout the year.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the tower in Enterprise was a manned tower which recently the incumbent in the position resigned within the last couple of seasons. Since that time, cameras have been placed on the tower in Enterprise, and the position has been transitioned into Hay River and turned into a monitoring role to assist with the monitoring of the many camera sites across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thanks to the Minister for that answer. Can the Minister commit to creating local fire tower jobs for the upcoming wildfire season? That's we're talking about next year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. As we look at our current array of inventory towers across the Northwest Territories, many of this infrastructure was inherited from the federal government and much of the infrastructure currently doesn't meet the standards to be in service. So we've looked at many opportunities to use technology across the NWT as part of a larger plan and part of the plan is associated with the funding dollars that were provided from the federal government. So part of this plan involves putting towers in and around communities and areas of high value to get the most opportune return on those towers. And part of that work will be as the plan moves forward looking at the opportunity to create more monitoring positions because one person can only monitor so many sites at a time so as that program advances, there will be other potential opportunities on the horizon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary, Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for the Sahtu, that, pursuant to Rule 3.5, that the ordinary business of the House be set aside to discuss a matter of urgent public importance requiring immediate consideration; namely, the humanitarian crisis in the Sahtu, specifically in the town of Norman Wells, where the town council has unanimously declared a local state of emergency on October 15th, 2024. The people of the Sahtu urgently require an indication of the kind of short-term and long-term strategies that the Government of the Northwest Territories will employ to ensure that necessary support is provided to residents and businesses and is of territorial significance as local authorities do not have the resources required to provide the required humanitarian relief to the residents of the Sahtu. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members, the Member from Range Lake is moving to set aside the business of the House to discuss a matter of public importance requiring immediate consideration pursuant to Rule 3.5. This is an extraordinary measure and will likely require debate on whether or not this is an urgent question. It is also the first time this provision has been used in the 20th Assembly. I will call a short break so Members can review section 3.5 before we proceed. Thank you.
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Members, the Member is seeking to set aside the ordinary business of the House. I will allow him five minutes to make a statement explaining the matter to be discussed and the reason for urgency. Member from Range Lake.
Mr. Speaker, our rules permit the House to discuss a matter of urgent public importance requiring immediate consideration subject to the following conditions:
The Member proposing the motion shall give written notice to the matter proposed to be discussed to the Speaker at least one hour before the sitting of the house;
No more than one matter shall be discussed on the same motion;
The motion must not raise a matter of privilege; and,
The motion must not raise any matter which can be debated upon a motion with notice.
Mr. Speaker, you can be assured that the conditions pursuant to our rules have been met by this motion, but there are other tests that could be applied as the House considers this debate. For that, we can turn to a precedent in the House of Commons, in particular, the speakership of John Fraser from 1986 to 1996, who had to decide on 149 specific cases of motions calling for emergency debate. Although the House of Commons' practice is different than ours, there are commonalties that the House should consider when debating an extraordinary request for emergency debate.
On October 17th, 1986, Speaker Fraser wrote: In considering an application of this kind, the Chair must take three factors into account. In this case, I would say the House must take three factors into account. The issue raised must constitute a genuine emergency. The Chair used that word in the sense that it is something which is of such urgency, it calls for immediately for something to be done about it. It is not enough -- and I would ask the honourable Members to understand this -- that it be a matter of great importance. It is in the view of the Chair that the issue is of great importance, but the issue must call for immediate and urgent consideration. The Chair must also take into consideration whether or not there will be other opportunities to debate the matter and other opportunities within a reasonable period of time. End quote.
Mr. Speaker, it is without a doubt that the people of the Sahtu are in such dire straits with respect to the state of emergency that's been declared that immediate and urgent consideration is required. The community has reached the limit of their capacity to resolve the matter and is turning to territorial and, indeed, national authorities for help.
Mr. Speaker, in the House's consideration for this motion for debate, I ask us to consider the longstanding tradition in this House of government members treating motions as advice to government and; furthermore, responding in 120 days as grossly insufficient to provide an immediate and urgent disposition to the humanitarian crisis in the Sahtu. Yes, a Member might move such a motion within the time afforded by this sitting but the response from government would fail to meet the moment at hand. The people of the Sahtu are calling out for justice and relief at a time of great distress, and I submit that there are no other opportunities afforded by this sitting to adequately consider their needs and meaningfully respond but for an emergency debate.
Mr. Speaker, of the many examples in the House of Commons of emergency debate, most of -- or a select few have been about regional matters such as the cod fishery in Newfoundland or the takeover of Dome Petroleum by Amoco Corporation. These were all decisions handled by Speaker Fraser. These matters speak to urgent and immediate matters of public concern respecting regions of Canada that were then raised -- or deemed important enough to be raised to the national forefront in the House of Commons. The comparison to this motion at-hand with a region of the Northwest Territories hard hit by an issue of urgent and immediate concern should be viewed in the same light by this House. We cannot afford to wait a moment longer to leave this matter unresolved, and there is no other mechanism afforded to this House to adequately consider the emergency at-hand. I ask this House to give leave for this emergency debate and set aside the business of the day and to proceed without further delay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members, at this point, I will only hear debate on the question of whether or not the need for debate is urgent. That means why this debate must happen today and the regular business of the House be set aside. The House will then vote on the Member of Range Lake's motion. If the motion carries, I will then allow debate on the subject itself. If the motion fails, we shall continue on with the orders of the day. If the motion carries, the debate will continue until such time there is no one seeking to talk or we reached the hour of adjournment. If there is no one seeking to talk and we have not reached the hour adjournment, I will adjourn the debate and return to the orders of the day.
To the question of whether this debate is urgent. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will support the proposal for the emergency debate on the particular topic about the emergency in the Sahtu. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member who brought forward that the situation is urgent, time is of the essence, it is important, it is specific, the issue we are raising. This is why we need decision makers to talk about this. We need to talk about allocating resources and respond to public need on the basis of the public trust.
Mr. Speaker, in essence, there needs to be an urgency debate that facilitates the discussion that has to happen and including the inspirational work that we need to do that we need to remind people in the Sahtu they matter. That's why this discussion cannot wait.
Mr. Speaker, our audience may be here at this very moment, but everyone is listening far and wide. Even the Minister defined this as a crisis today -- and I haven't read Hansard, the specific wording. So if you're recognizing a situation in the Sahtu as crisis, I think it meets the goals and objectives of an urgent debate.
Mr. Speaker, speaking further to the motion of why we should have a debate, we cannot dull this urgent call by finding ways to turn this into a protracted process. As my colleague also mentioned earlier about Members do have options such as motions and Member's statements, but we must call into question the effectiveness of how they deliver the message and the effectiveness of the response. I am going to just elaborate a little further on what he had said.
When Members pass a motion, the government has up to 120 days to respond. Mr. Speaker, if they were kind and didn't use all of their time, they would respond tomorrow. But if they had to do a lot of work, which I respect would be required, the earliest that they may be able to respond to this urgent crisis would be February 5th. That's 110 days from now. Do the people in the Sahtu have 120 days?
Mr. Speaker, if the government took -- which isn't unnecessarily reasonable, depending on the case -- their full 120 days as prescribed, that means they wouldn't be back in the House responding officially to this problem not until February 25th of 2025.
Mr. Speaker, the people of the Sahtu need this discussion today because it is a real crisis. I've spoken to people who are asking themselves they cannot stay there so we need to show them -- sorry, stay there under the circumstances if there's nothing happening other than us sitting and waiting, Mr. Speaker. Nothing tells the world more they matter than us talking about their issue. And on that note, Mr. Speaker, it's easy to say this doesn't affect my riding but, Mr. Speaker, it's affecting every riding in one way or another. Hence, it's a territorial issue.
Mr. Speaker, I won't go through the measures of test such as time and urgency and whatnot, but I'll end with this pointing out the fact that the House of Commons, as my colleague has said, has talked about a number of subjects from fisheries, forestry, agriculture, fur trade, and they have all been judged acceptable topics for urgent debate, Mr. Speaker. Even grain, which probably doesn't change overnight, this situation is a situation that would change overnight, Mr. Speaker. Fisheries and all of those other subjects probably had time to deal with but tell me, Mr. Speaker, is cost of living, affordability, no gas, no opportunity, people can't buy food, is there a better reason why we shouldn't be talking about this subject? And I'd say I can't think of a more paramount issue that should be drawing the collective attention on the Members of the Assembly. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I genuinely believe this is a crisis we need to speak about. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. To the motion.
Question.
