Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes.
That's interesting because no one I've spoken to has heard about this people plan or that it was -- or that it's going to roll out in 2025. Can the Minister commit to going back to -- hosting a town hall, another town hall, where she can attend and explain this directly to workers? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this work is going on internally within the NTHSSA, and so what I can do is I can have a conversation with the governing council to ensure that they are working with their frontline staff, their management, and so everybody is aware of what's coming down, and if there is input that's needed and if they're not feeling heard, then I will ensure that I inform the governing council to ensure that this is getting done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to return to -- I wouldn't want to say my favorite subject, but it's certainly a subject that's important to me -- e-scooters and the regulations thereof. Mr. Speaker, I e-mailed the Minister a couple months ago about an opportunity. It appeared it wasn't the right opportunity to slide it in some miscellaneous changes and as such, my worry is -- I thought we could do a quick fix by saying e-scooters or e-bikes are similar and will be treated similar as bicycles or motorcycles. There was an opportunity there.
Mr. Speaker, Quebec looks like they're banning them. Other jurisdictions are banning or putting regulations -- I should describe it better like that. That said, Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister of Infrastructure say today about regulating the safety and usage of e-scooters, the one you sit down and/or stand up? Thank you.
Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this did certainly come back through my office, and I recall that it was not deemed to be appropriate to put into the miscellaneous statutes bill. Mr. Speaker, there is some work happening on a national scale. So some jurisdictions, larger jurisdictions than ours, are in a better capacity to maybe perhaps do their own thing, but there is also a national level working group that is trying to tackle this issue, and we are relying on them so that as a smaller jurisdiction we can benefit from the work that happens in the larger jurisdictions and not have to necessarily reinvent a proverbial bill. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer. Disappointed, but appreciated the answer. Mr. Speaker, there are more regulations on bicycles and pedestrians than there are on these e-scooters, and they contemplate heavily on the concern and safety of both the riders and the public, Mr. Speaker. Is there any way we can bridge some mechanism by defining e-scooters in a manner of saying that they will be treated such as in a similar way as bicycles? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, an e-scooter is not a bicycle and the concern there being that it is much more akin to some other sort of power-assisted type of device and wanting to ensure that we are appropriately defining and in alignment with what's happening in the rest of Canada, what qualifies as a bicycle, what qualifies as an e-mobile device, and what the appropriate types of regulations would be. So there is, as I mentioned before, Mr. Speaker, the Canada Council for Motor Transportation Administrators, is a national body that has a working group on exactly how to figure out what qualifies as what so that we don't overregulate, we don't underregulate, and we are taking into consideration the experience of jurisdictions that have had more experience in this space. So not going to move forward without some background information and have good policy that's based on evidence. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister commit to doing in this upcoming summer season? Now, we're months away but now is the time to contemplate any adjustments and changes, Mr. Speaker. And may I remind the Minister I'm saying treat it as, not defined as, in the sense of I'm not redefining the definition of what an e-scooter is. I'm saying treat it in the same manner based on the principles of safety and concerns. There are no lights on these things, speed regulations, no helmets, etcetera, etcetera, Mr. Speaker. What can the Minister commit that we will have ready so we can implement in the new spring/summer season? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I've said, I will go -- I've been waiting to see what is happening on a national level. I'm happy to go back to that group and receive from them and push them to see what their recommendations are. If it's possible to put those into a regulatory process, that's a little bit faster. If we're talking about a new piece of legislation, that is obviously not typically a lot faster. So let me go and see what they are recommending on a national level so that we can then look to where we could fit that into our process. In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure certainly can look to what we could do with our own staff in terms of patrolling it and just making sure that we are maintaining safety as best we can on the roadways for which we are responsible. Municipal bylaw, of course, would be responsible within the municipality. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the opportunity to ask one more question -- or maybe more, who knows?
Mr. Speaker, the polytech continues to be a significant concern in Yellowknife and they view it as a territorial institution, not just a Yellowknife issue. But because I live here, I get asked about it regularly by people I see at the grocery store, etcetera.
Mr. Speaker, let's start off first with is it the intent of the government to ensure that the push forward on the initiative of a polytech, and can the Minister elaborate on some timelines as how she sees it rolling out or developing? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. And this is a different set of questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the board of governors is currently working on a new set of timelines for the transformation and once those are finalized, those will become public. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe the Minister can speak to what the timelines actually mean when they refer to transformation. Because when I tell the public they're transforming, nobody really knows what that means. And definitions and wording mean everything hence can the Minister explain what transforming from the intent of an Aurora College into a polytech means in a manner that the public can appreciate, because a lot of people are really confused by that definition. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline of the transformation has everything from new legislation that would be polytechnic university legislation. It has a new funding formula for Aurora College. And it has things like very program-specific things like, you know, when different programs will become available through the college. Thank you.
Again, I view this issue as a territorial issue. And I can appreciate the stress of my colleagues outside of Yellowknife that may view it from their point of view. It is a territorial institution to help grow the North, Mr. Speaker. So I guess maybe my next question is built around a dashboard question.
Can the Minister request that Aurora College develop a dashboard on their website to communicate the steps of the transition, be it the elements of what it means, how they process it, and that way the public has been idea. Because, frankly, Mr. Speaker, Northerners think this initiative's dead every time it goes away, and they don't know what's happening or don't see it and certainly don't feel it. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Aurora College transformation has a very detailed website. The one thing I will note is that the dates associated with the timeline need to be updated. But it does have a website that outlines everything that needs to happen. It has GANT charts. It has timelines with all the details of all the different steps, who is responsible for those steps. Three of the remaining transformation outlines include the GNWT. Those would be things like the legislation that I was referring to. And then there are some that are definitely under the purview of Aurora College. So that does exist already and certainly will be something that will be updated with new timelines as soon as that information is available. This website will also contain things like the updated mandate document, both here on the transformation site that is on the GNWT's website and also on Aurora College's website as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the Members of the youth -- NWT youth climate change council inquired about the carbon tax annual report and I -- or brought this to my attention. I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance, in the carbon tax annual report there is a $14 million surplus for 2023-2024. In the past previous years, the surplus has been -- surplus or deficits have been within $1.6 million. Can the Minister explain the discrepancy in this year's report? Thank you.
From Range Lake. Minister of Finance.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although I've reviewed the report, I'm not in the immediate position here today to get into details. There could be a number of different things that could occur in the course of a year. I mean, anything from low water, changes in fuel usage, the wildfires, these can all impact and influence in terms of where fuel usage is coming in, the types of fuel usage that's being -- that's coming in and being charged. High years of fuel usage, such as in a low water year, could well have resulted in that amount. I'd like to -- I'd prefer to be able to break down individually what the different reasons for that could be, and so I would certainly commit to doing so and sharing that also publicly because that certainly is a question that we'd want to have answered clearly. Thank you.
Thank you. Can the Minister explain why the program is designed to run with surpluses like this? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not necessarily designed or intended to run with surpluses. It is intended -- our program is intended to align with the parameters that the federal government has imposed on provinces and territories around the carbon taxation and while doing so, doing so in a manner that we can continue to see some benefits here in the territory by not misaligning with the kind of large emitters that we have. So, again, not designed for surpluses but, again, really designed for that kind of compliance mechanism. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we -- when the Standing Committee of Economic Development and Environment met with the youth council, one of the comments that was raised was that young people feel like the implementation of the carbon -- of carbon pricing in the Northwest Territories has left some people behind and that there needs to be more done to transition them into a clean energy future with these additional costs, especially in small communities. How does the Minister plan to respond to those concerns that the tax is creating an undue burden in small communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad there's no time on the clock because I can just keep going as long as I'd like, I guess. Mr. Speaker, I have long said that there's a large challenge in the North with respect to the way that the carbon tax parameters are placed upon us by the federal government. The majority of the actual tax revenue does still continue to go back to residents, firstly in the forms of COLO payment, but then secondly in the forms of a number of other subsidies. I spoke to some of them yesterday. There's a territorial power support program. There are direct contributions that we make to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and investments that we make to support our power systems. Mr. Speaker, there's also the Arctic Energy Alliance which, of course, supports opportunities for residents and businesses to have greener access to energy efficiency in terms of how they're heating their homes and the kind of different types of appliances they're using. I would note that we have lost significant funding from the federal government for that exact initiative. I have gone to my colleagues and my counterpart in the federal government to seek a reinstatement of that, and I am hoping to get some good news. But we can't bring our power bills down if we're not able to invest in that, Mr. Speaker. So, again, there's -- I'll perhaps stop there. I don't know where the next question might go.
I know that my colleague at ECC also has a climate change youth council, certainly would look forward to hearing directly the kinds of solutions that are coming through there and perhaps bringing our two departments together the next time he has an opportunity to meet with them so that we're all hearing the same message collectively. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister for Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. And I think the youth council's proving how effective it could be at raising these issues, and I just want to acknowledge the Minister's response to my first question where she committed to provide that information, and I thank for her that, so do the youth council I'm sure.
I think some of these problems, Mr. Speaker, could be solved if this was a revenue neutral tax where there was a clear indication of where all the revenues went instead of just general revenue, which is how it appears in the report. Will the Minister commit to a revenue neutral tax breaking out how the money is spent clearly so there's no questions about surpluses in the future? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was just trying to pull the report out fast enough. I have it in front of me, Mr. Speaker. But, really, at this point, we -- and I've gone through this many a time. We spend far more as a government on -- in terms of our energy, energy supply, energy policy, climate change initiatives, energy efficiency programs, energy and electricity programs, significantly more there than what we take in on this tax. What we don't do in general, not just with this tax but any other form of tax, any other form of revenue, is pick out a certain type of revenue and sort of earmark it for one thing and one thing only. The reality is if we were to do that with a surplus that does vary year to year, we would not have enough money to do the things that we're doing in all these other spaces. If we said we are only going to -- we're going to use this amount, this is going to be our money for climate change initiatives, it would not meet the needs of what we are finding for climate change initiatives. If we said this is what we're going to use for climate change emergencies, it would not meet the needs. As we're seeing in the last few years, wildfires, floods, the resupply challenges in the Sahtu, all of these are wildfire emergencies. I could even tie in some of what's been happening in projects that are seeing delays. So it's not that -- that little bit alone is not going to be enough to address all of the energy challenges or climate change challenges that we have here.
So, I mean, it's been over $100 million, if you will, on climate emergencies in the last couple of years. I appreciate the desire is to have a better understanding of this tax and what we're doing with it. Again, I'm definitely going to go back and see if we can explain more where this year's money, why there's a change this year. Happy to do that. I'm happy to sit down and have that conversation. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Colleagues, time for oral questions has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a health care setting, a patient’s complaints can serve as a valuable resource for monitoring and improving patient safety. There are a few options available for Northwest Territories residents to make complaints regarding health care services they receive. Some of these options are:
Submitting complaints alleging professional misconduct or practice to the professional conduct review committee for the College and Association of Nurses of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Residents can also submit concerns about a regulated health or social services professional in writing to the professional licensing office with health and social services.
There is also an Office of Client Experience with the Department of Health and Social Services that provides centralized intake process for complaints.
Regarding complaints in the health system, can the Minister of Health and Social Services provide:
For the last five years, regarding the conduct of regulated health or social services professionals, specifically nurses employed by the Government of the Northwest Territories, the number of total complaints received annually by the department of health from 2019-2024;
The number of human resource investigations that occurred as a result of complaints made to either the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority or the College and Association of Nurses concerning the conduct of regulated health or social services professionals for each of the last five years;
The number of critical incident investigations conducted in our health system each year over the last five years; and
4. The number of Indigenous investigators involved in conducting investigations in the health system?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Member from Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh. Written questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of Northwest Territories (GNWT) is the primary authority responsible for all ground search and rescue (GSAR) in the territory except for national parks and national historical sites which are the responsibility of Parks Canada.
As the primary authority, the GNWT is responsible for overseeing all aspects of GSAR including service delivery, training and preparedness, and prevention activities. The need for responsive ground search and rescue services is especially key in a territory as vast as ours. Therefore, The Government of the Northwest Territories' Department of Justice commissioned a review of search and rescue in the Northwest Territories during the 19th Assembly.
MNP LLP conducted the review and provided the GNWT with a final report in 2021-2022. To date, there has been no known response to the report or recommendations. The Government has not provided an update on the Northwest Territories SAR system or a response to this report over the last three years. The report was finally tabled in the Legislative Assembly on June 13, 2024.
I have the following questions for the Minister of Justice regarding the Government of the Northwest Territories' response to the report:
It is understood the contract for the report was $95,000. Can the Minister confirm how the contract for this work (review and report) was awarded and what the final cost of the contract was;
Can the Department of Justice provide an official response to each recommendation of the report, including comprehensive details on the implementation of each accepted recommendation;
Can the Department of Justice provide statistics on the frequency of ground search and rescue operations over the last ten years; and
Can the Department of Justice provide the expenses required for ground search and rescue incidents over the last ten years?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Written questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my written question is for the Premier is with respect to cost of living impacting all Northerners; and further, what action or actions being taken by this government, and the previous government, covering the last two years prior to Cabinet assuming office in December 2023.
As we all know, Mr. Speaker, the cost of living has impacted all residents either directly or indirectly and the government plays a role in helping its citizens in whatever form it can. Lowing taxes, reducing the cost of any program/service or eliminating certain fees would make the difference to the bottom line of residents of the NWT. The questions are as follows, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Premier layout the following in detail, covering any and all departments and agencies:
What program cost of living reductions are currently being worked on, considered or actioned, which will be directly be seen and or have an impact on the day-to-day lives of our residents?
What taxes are being reduced, eliminated, or contemplated in a manner that will aid in the cost-of-living challenges Northerners facing?
What service fee are being reduced, eliminated, or contemplated to aid in the cost-of-living challenges Northerners are facing?
And finally, Mr. Speaker,
What are the direct cost of living initiatives that are being considered or actioned that will directly support Northerners with respect to reducing the cost of living?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to respond to the Commissioner's Address to discuss equity for Indigenous people in terms of equal treatment in terms of improving reality. I want to ask whether we deny students in our small communities - especially our Indigenous children -- Indigenous students - the chance at a proper education?
My first Member statement during this Fall Session addressed the legacy of unequal education that began with residential schools and continues to the present day. Inequity begins in early education, Mr. Speaker, and lasts through secondary. We see this with students in the Tlicho region and other regions as well. More than half -- 53 percent -- of children are considered volnerable in small communities. We are failing these children. We need to help them succeed. I am here to advocate for Indigenous child equity.
In one of the communities in my riding, 30 students graduated this year. Graduation is something worth celebrating but what does the future hold for these students? How many will go on to post-secondary education? How many of these students will complete post-secondary programs? How many will take upgrading programs before pursuing trades or professional programs? We need to invest in our young people if we want to achieve prosperity. We need to build from within.
Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories, there are Indigenous youth who have significantly fewer resources for education, health, and community services, than those available to non-Indigenous youth. This is a fact. A comparison of Yellowknife and almost any of our small communities confirm this, but it is clear to me that significant disparity exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students when it comes to educational outcomes at all levels of the education system. We have seen this time and again through reports on outcomes. Yet, Indigenous people are still living in poverty. They are living in terrible conditions. Not much has been done even though reports and research support this view.
If Christopher Columbus had not lost his way looking for spices, Mr. Speaker, we might have been better off today. I can speak for those living in small communities, Mr. Speaker. We do not have the luxury of fixing Cadillac problems or even Ford Focus problems. Problems in our communities are like the oldest car imaginable, Old Betsy. We must maintain her and keep going.
The problems our young people face are systemic. They require systems to change. As a result, many Indigenous people are settling their land claims to look after their own affairs. They are getting tired of the treatment they receive from the government.
Mr. Speaker, year after year the gaps remain. It is time for the Government of the Northwest Territories to find solutions to these problems so that our Indigenous young people can prosper and reach their full potential. I have said it before, students must have security when it comes to financial assistance. They must be reassured that the progress we make now will continue, that the government will keep honouring treaties. These are key issues for our Indigenous students. A public commitment to guarantee continued reconciliation efforts - like the removal of semester limits and increased access to student funding under the basic grant - will help improve education outcomes for Indigenous students.
These commitments should be made in the same spirits as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, particularly Call to Action No. 10 which highlights the need to:
Provide sufficient funding to close identified educational achievement gaps within one generation;
Improve education attainment levels and success rates; and,
Respect and honour treaty relationships.
An increase in education funding for Indigenous students would have a huge impact on my community, the Tlicho region, and communities across the territory. During its 2020 review of early childhood to grade 12 education in the Northwest Territories, the auditor general recommended that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment identify what exactly they needed to provide equitable access to quality education for all students and take actions, and that this should include providing additional support for small schools.
Equity will mean more community-based education. The auditor general found that the Department of ECE adjusted its funding formula to offset the higher cost of living for schools in small communities and to provide more administrative support to schools. This is good progress, but we must take further steps towards reconciliation by closing educational gaps for Indigenous students. We can do this by increasing the amount of funding students in small communities can access.
But, Mr. Speaker, these needed improvements are not limited to the education systems. We receive the same inequity in health care, the justice systems, community infrastructure, and in fixing homelessness and lowering unemployment rates.
Indigenous children, Mr. Speaker, are overrepresented in the child protection system. Indigenous youth (our future generation) and adults are overrepresented in the correction system. Every child matters. This is not just a saying, Mr. Speaker; it is the truth. We have missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. What are we doing about it? I see inequity in the number of our Indigenous youth that face criminal charges. They suffer the indignity of arrests. These events have the power to alter the course of their lives.
Many of our residents have substance abuse problems. They need treatment, aftercare, and new opportunities after they get out. Suicide rates are rising. Young people are running away or missing from home. There are people selling drugs in our small communities. Our youth are our most vulnerable people; they are victims.
Mr. Speaker, if we do not honour our treaty obligations, if we do not prioritize change, the result will continue to be a crisis in underfunded housing, health care, child protection, and education. The system will seem like it discriminates against us. It will seem like children in small communities will be at a disadvantage from the day they are born. Our people will continue to struggle. I have heard elders say when we speak the truth it does not harm, it heals.
We have heard these themes repeatedly in this House, Mr. Speaker. We have heard about high unemployment rates. We know our communities have aging and failing infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, I ask whether there is a basic level or standard for services and infrastructure for our small communities? I ask what equity should look like. Young people should have hope. Change needs to come from within the territory so that our communities are able to help themselves and do not have to rely on outside assistance and other peoples' timelines.
Real equity is achievable, but it means confronting inequity in our communities, and bringing capacity into small communities. I think education is a barrier to build this capacity. We need to start focusing on building capacity from within. Internal growth, Mr. Speaker. We must build capacity into our communities and start focusing on building up our youth. We must give them the same amount of hope that children anywhere have.
Mr. Speaker, I do love and care for our young people. I am advocating for future generations, for meaningful change. We all want things to get better for them.
With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all my constituents. Festive season is approaching. For some, it is going to be difficult. It's not going to be the same. My thoughts and prayers are with the families. And I want to thank all the interpreters here and outside. They are indeed the keeper of our Indigenous language. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Replies to the Commissioner's address.
Colleagues, realizing we've been in this chamber for two hours, we will take a brief break to give the translators a rest. Thank you.
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We were a little bit longer; I apologize. Member from Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to make a correction to the Hansard record. Yesterday, in my opening remarks to Bill 15 during Committee of the Whole, I said based on the feedback from committee, several amendments were made to the bill before you today. This sentence is inaccurate and was included in my remarks in error. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. A correction will be -- would be noted in the Hansard. Point of privilege, Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of privilege under section 1.7(1)(e) of our rules.
Mr. Speaker, the specific privilege is, for the benefit of the Members is, it says privilege of a Member includes, section (c), freedom of obstruction and intimidation in relation to their duties as an elected representative.
Mr. Speaker, while during the break I was walking to my office, I was confronted by the Member for Yellowknife North. She said, I know you're mad at me. I interjected and I said, I'm not mad. She continued to say, I would never be that petty to nay your consent.
Mr. Speaker, implying that a Member's petty for following the rules of the House in carriage of their duties and using the phrase "petty" is, I feel, a form of intimidation.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, just to tie it up, in December 2023, Senate Speaker Gagne noted hurling insults at Members could be understood as an attempt to intimidate colleagues and unduly constrains them in the extraction or retribution against them in the performance of their parliamentary duties.
And lastly, Mr. Speaker, I find using the phrase "petty" in the duty -- in the carriage of my duties here personally insulting. I didn't -- I would have welcomed a reasonable conversation, but I felt that this is now causing me to second guess my choices in following -- as we follow the rules of the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. I will allow some debate on the point of privilege. Do other Members wish to speak on this? Member from Yellowknife North.
