Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to clarify, in the region -- with the question, does she mean the Monfwi riding? Just need some clarification, Mr. Speaker.
My Member's statement is on Tlicho region so I'm talking about Tlicho region and in Behchoko. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the clarification. Based on the information from Housing NWT, with the housing authority in Behchoko we have four maintenance positions and four administration positions within the authority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker for that information. Can the Minister give us the average time a person is expected to be on the waitlist for a public housing unit when we have four maintenance people working there? So thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, I can't provide an average time on the housing waitlist. I know there's -- from what I understand with the information, there is over 135 families on the housing waitlist for Behchoko, but I don't have an average time waitlist. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have a lot of people on the waitlist for housing, and we know housing is a crisis in the whole of the Northwest Territories. But I think in Tlicho region, we are experiencing the worst, especially in Behchoko, so. And we have four admin staff, four maintenance people, and we have lots of houses that's in great need of housing repair, and we have about at least over ten houses that are boarded up. So with that in mind, can the Minister say how much time or money the Government of the Northwest Territories spends on collecting housing arrears and how much it costs to keep track of all these internal billings? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The time and money to collect and look at housing arrears is something that the work four administration staff do within the housing authority. But to let the Member know that we are working on a territorial housing needs assessment, and this information will hopefully be provided by spring with Housing NWT. But that includes all the unit condition ratings, the information from the bureau of statistics, internal reviews, working with housing authorities.
Something else that we're also doing with Housing NWT in the Member's riding is we're working with the Tlicho housing working group on any housing issues within the riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi on your final supplementary question.
(audio) that response. So how much money is the department spending on collecting housing arrears to keep the office running? That's what I was trying to get at. Is it necessary for the NWT Housing to exist? You know, because we're not getting anywhere with them.
So my final one, will the Minister commit to visiting Behchoko to see the conditions in some of the housing stock? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Minister, I think it's important that I visit the communities, go into people's homes to look at the existing conditions that they live in public housing, and I have told the Member I am open for a visit and willing to go with her into Behchoko and to go to people's homes to talk to them about their living conditions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Next on my list I have is I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in continuing with my -- with questions to support schools, working families, students, teachers, I'd like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment how the department is working to support schools. And, of course, this requires coordination across multiple departments because there are a lot of requirements so we might jump around a bit, but I'm confident the Minister can answer it.
First off, there's a youth mental health crisis in the Northwest Territories, and our schools are on the frontline. So what are we doing to support them and now that we've tweaked the child -- the youth child counsellors program, we've seen changes to therapeutic -- or to the clinical services offered in schools. We've been taking a look at this. So what are we doing to ensure that these new supports, the way we've changed are working and that if schools need additional support, that it will be there for them? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of ECE.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, both at the officials level, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has regular meetings with the education bodies themselves, and twice a year I get together with the education body chairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Therapeutic services are another aspect that is important in schools as there is access to occupational therapists, speech language pathologists. These are highly technical specialized roles that schools need to provide supports to students. They currently don't have access to these. How is the Minister going to ensure therapeutic services are provided in all of our schools in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is no secret, I think, to anybody in the Northwest Territories that access to therapeutic services absolutely is important part of access to education. However, I'm not the Minister of health and social services. But I will continue to point out the need for the access to therapeutic services within our schools. Thank you.
Thank you. To that point, one of the issues is the referral process that gets kids from the school to the health system. This is going to take someone to streamline that process and make it easier for that to happen. I suggest the Minister's in a good position to figure out who that person is if it's not herself. So would the Minister commit to working with school boards and health authority to streamline the referral process for students to get them the care they need? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a subject area that is very important to me, very near and dear to my heart. I can confirm to this House that the Minister of health and social services and I have started conversations to work through this. We recognize this as a challenge, and I can commit certainly to continuing that conversation. And I am also meeting today with the NWTTA and will continue to meet with education bodies, and I will continue to make myself available. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake. Final supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister's going to make herself available, but I'm going to keep asking these questions and I hope it's more than availability. We need some answers, we need some solutions, we need to move forward.
Mr. Speaker, another issue is there's no -- currently, the quality of school infrastructure is up to the school -- most school boards to care for in Yellowknife themselves. The GNWT owns those buildings in other communities and for other school districts. But there's no dedicated funding for technical assessments. Since the pandemic, many of those assessments have fallen behind. Will the Minister work with the Department of Infrastructure, again, to find a way to ensure technical assessments are provided for all schools in the Northwest Territories on a regular basis and that that informs our capital planning? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to talk about technical assessments today with the Member. This one definitely bridges a relationship between my portfolio and one of my colleague's portfolio over in infrastructure. So Yellowknife schools were not originally included in the assessments for many years because they're not technically GNWT assets. However, because the GNWT funds the major capital upgrades, those buildings have been put back into rotation. And I can confirm for the Member that multiple Yellowknife schools are on the assessment schedule for next summer. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go on to my next on the list is from the Mackenzie Delta.
Okay. I'm going to go to the Member from the Deh Cho. No questions.
I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very excited. Mr. Speaker. It would be nice to end today -- well, we're not ending today per se, but, you know, work towards the end of today on a positive note. And the reason I'm bringing this up, in my Member's statement yesterday I talked about the naming of the Whitford building, Mr. Speaker. And there's not a specific guideline through the EIA or housing that says how do we need name buildings that are non-office buildings, but let's follow the office building process and protocol. And section number 5, Cabinet may approve a public engagement process, so may, to solicit name and ideas for owned buildings. But it also says that they could do it on themselves through their own process. And, of course, I want to highlight one sad note which is they only like to name buildings after people who are deceased sadly.
However, that being said, encapsulating everything I said yesterday in my Member's statement and today, would the Minister of housing be the champion to announce today before this House that she will go forward and advocate at the Cabinet table that we name the 53rd Street building, the barrier-free building, the Whitford building from now and onto the future? Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member puts me in a very awkward position because I want to be respectful to the memory of Mr. Tony Whitford but there is a process that we have to follow. There are policies we have to follow. So I'm willing to have a discussion within Cabinet to talk about this, but I can't make the announcement today, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, item -- guidelines, checkbox number 5 says may create a process. So in other words, you don't have to have a process. We could have the political courage and excitement to do the right thing, Mr. Speaker. So I'm asking the Minister if she doesn't want to be the champion today -- that gives you a little bit of room -- maybe she could highlight before this House what process she speaketh of. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd have to look at the information to find out what exactly is the process to naming the building, the step-by-step process. We'll follow that process, and I'll work with the Member to ensure and provide him updates with the process itself. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre. No further questions? Thank you.
Next on my list here I have is the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while I generally appreciate the rosy disposition of the Minister for ECE, I have to express a bit of confusion. Mr. Speaker, the college is bleeding staff. They're missing milestones. There's no public statements on the indications about the transition so I have to say I'm a bit confused. The Minister seems to be quite confident about the transition, but all the public indications are showing that it's not going well. So, Mr. Speaker, if things are going well, where are the results? Where's the urgency? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of ECE.
Mr. Speaker, I didn't particularly hear a specific question the Member wants me to answer other than where is the results. But I want to respond.
Absolutely, it is my goal to lead the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. That is what I've signed up to do, and that is what I'm doing. If I stand here and talk about doom and gloom, I'm not exactly leading people into prosperity, leading people into the next stages. I absolutely support, which is what I have said -- I support the transition and transformation of the Aurora College into a polytechnic, and I will continue to support that project as long as we are funding it, as long as we are -- as a government are funding it and expecting it. And that is through dollars that we approve in this House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And while I appreciate the answer, the Minister's also responsible for mandate and direction, so it's not just dollars.
Mr. Speaker, I've heard things such as the college has been approached by entities offering to build housing, offering to provide a campus even, and the board has been rejecting these offers. What is going on, Mr. Speaker? How could a board committed to transitioning to a polytechnic possibly want to turn away from such opportunities for this kind of collaboration? Again, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to accountability. What is the Minister's relationship with the board, what is the Minister doing to ensure that the board is advancing this transition at the pace that we need it to advance knowing that it is already off track? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm in a bit of a difficult situation here where I'm being held responsible, really, for operational items. And I'm not in charge. I do not have the authority over the operations of the college. However, what I do have control over is the mandate agreement which we set together which we're in the process of setting right now. I also have control over the accountability framework which was just put in place and I intend to use. I also do have control over the funding framework of post-secondary institutions and Aurora College, and I intend to use that as well. These are the three key tools that I have at my disposal and have authority over and will use in this process. That accountability framework is a key piece, and that was just put in place this summer. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister concerned about the milestones that the college is facing? Does the Minister share my concern that the project appears to be significantly off track and that does not appear to be reversing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is always a red flag whether we miss any deadline whatsoever. It is always a red flag. We make deadlines which are commitments to the people of the Northwest Territories and the public. That is definitely a concern of mine. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to Frame Lake for final supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And knowing that we are seeing red flags, the question I have is, is the Minister willing to take decisive action, if necessary, to move the board forward, to move this project forward, to ensure that it gets back on track in a timely fashion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I intend to use the tools that I have at my disposal to guide Aurora College board of governors and to also support them as best as I can through this transformation. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions this time are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Still on the subject of net-zero climate targets but specifically with regard to industry and the mining industry. Has the Minister had conversations with existing mining operators, such as Rio Tinto or De Beers about their net-zero climate targets and opportunities for them to better achieve those targets in their NWT operations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had the opportunity to see some of the results of some of the efforts of diamond mines. Reo Tinto is a great example. They have -- as my colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure spoke to, they have their wind and solar farms that they use up at site. And I know that this is certainly not only a focus of theirs but a focus of multiple mining operations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And through those conversations, has the Minister been able to glean or identify any opportunities for further work in other areas, such as transportation, to reduce emissions and have more clean energy in those operations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in all of the conversations that I routinely have with industry, one of the things that comes up quite often is the relationship and significant pairing between clean strategic infrastructure development and attracting investment to the Northwest Territories, which the Member spoke about in their Member's statement today. Yes, absolutely, I am aware of programs that are tied to net-zero. We, in fact, as the GNWT are seeking funding through the critical minerals infrastructure fund that will help us advance clean energy in the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to look for these opportunities in order to not only support our own goals but also support the goals of industry as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So on the subject of critical minerals, in the Minister's conversations with mineral exploration companies in the critical minerals sector, have certain barriers been identified to those companies striving towards net-zero in the NWT, and could she enlighten as to what they may have discussed in those conversations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, industry has been very candid and transparent on this one. Their number one ask and barrier for investment attraction is clean energy. Thank you.
