Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad that job search is underway to assist the individuals. My second question there, Mr. Speaker, is what is the Department of ECE's position on the current learning centres' facilities or the buildings; what are the future plans of those assets? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are some community learning centres which are leased within communities and some where the infrastructure's owned by the GNWT. So in instances where it is leased by the Government of the Northwest Territories for the purpose of a CLC, the lease will be terminated. And in the instance where it is owned, we have been -- we have had outreach from Indigenous governments, communities, and organizations, and they've been in contact with both ECE and Aurora College, and they've let known what their interests are in some of those facilities. Now, of course, outreach has not happened for every single one of them. At the same time, though, Mr. Speaker, ECE does remain responsible for providing residents with access to quality programs and supports that enhance education and employment opportunities in the Northwest Territories. And so right now we're continuing to work with Aurora College to find out how adult learners will continue to be supported through the planned closures of the community learning centres.
I think it's also worth noting that through the Department of Infrastructure, Mr. Speaker, there are currently GNWT processes of how to deal with assets that may be vacated and no longer used for their traditional use. So right now at this point, we've got some learning and exploring to do, and then we do have contacts from people who have ideas of how they'd like to use those facilities. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you to the Minister for that reply. I'm glad efforts are taken to make use of these facilities. I've been in a number of them, and they're ideal buildings for other uses.
So my last question: Will the Minister support a joint meeting between each Sahtu community leadership and the department so we can share the information updated and what the future plans are? Mahsi.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely to the Member's question, the answer is yes. I also have to say I've been really excited about some of the creative solutions that people are coming forward with for community learning centres. And I think that's part of our success story here, at the end of the day, is really looking creatively and at communities independently because everybody's needs are going to be different at the end of the day here. I also want to reflect, Mr. Speaker, on what the Member said as far as education being a lifelong journey, and I -- I'm certainly committed to joining the Member on that journey. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ongoing concern of Quality Inn and patients having to be housed in this facility, it's been addressed by myself, my colleagues, the residents of the Northwest Territories, and the media. What is the Minister and her department doing to address this very important ongoing concern? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker -- and thank you to the Member. You know, the issues with the boarding home, unfortunately, the increased travel that has happened, especially from the Beaufort Delta, I think in the last number it was almost 45, 50 percent increase in travel, which Keskorie who currently has the contract, their facility is unable to accommodate that. Even though they moved from that old facility to the new facility with more beds and more space, they still are unable to accommodate that. What they are doing, though, and they have been, is working with other hotels and they've been successful trying to get rooms in more other hotels as needed when the overcapacity is happening, but this is ongoing work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've been addressing this concern for quite some time, and it seems the Minister or department does not have the concrete answer. Maybe the answer's somewhere else; maybe it's in the communities or its residents. Will the Minister commit to follow suit with our neighboring territory Nunavut and take her department and hear the concerns of the communities and its residents of the Northwest Territories. Maybe the answer's out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member. And this issue is not new. If you think about the last government, I probably raised this on an ongoing scenario as well. And that's why, you know, we are not just doing a medical travel policy review. We are doing a medical travel -- a review of how we move patients and what is needed and taking into account all of the things that the Member has raised, many Members in this House have raised. This government and past governments, I think the one thing that we didn't expect was the issues that are arising around dental and that increase around that. There is ongoing negotiations right now with the department -- or with ISC on ensuring that we are being able to provide dental to those residents and coming up with ways to bring dental services back into the communities. However, this is ongoing and so the work is continuing. And like I said, in the short fix is that we do have Keskorie working with other hotels in Yellowknife trying to secure more than just the hotel that they have been able to secure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll leave my third question out, and I'll go back to my second question I asked. The question is the Minister willing to take her department out to the communities and get feedback from the communities and its residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do commit to doing this as I also -- you know, with part of this medical travel piece, we are working -- you know, this is a conversation that comes up with -- at the Council of Leaders. It comes up in bilaterals with Indigenous governments. It comes up with constituents. So I have heard from many residents and these are all the things, as the Minister, that I'm taking in account while looking at the bigger -- the medical travel -- modernization of how we're moving patients in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to know what steps the government are taking to increase the number of Indigenous youth working for the GNWT in their home communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's quite a number of things that -- different programs and services available. There's, of course, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework which is an overarching way of looking at how the GNWT engages with potential employees, communities. There's also a number of programs, not the least of which is Indigenous Career Gateway Program. This is an opportunity that was not fully subscribed just a few years ago when I had started here and is now very fully subscribed which is a certainly positive circumstance. But it's entry level positions where we can actually go out and bring people into the public service or training positions where someone may not have the formal qualifications on paper, but we can set up a training program so that a person can actually join the public service, be trained in on the job over the course of two years, and then gain an indeterminate position. And further, Mr. Speaker, there's, of course, all of the student assistance programs which don't reside entirely within Finance but, again, we are engaged with my colleague here and with the Department of ECE so that students who are part of SFA, which is open to ordinary residents of the Northwest Territories, have outreach from recruitment, from human resources, and similarly so they have recruitment to come back and join our summer student programs which, I believe, are going to be announced fairly soon, and that is a serious gateway that a lot of people come use to come into the public service. I'll leave it there for now, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you. Will the new Indigenous employment policy apply to internships and summer students employment program? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, just as the current affirmative action policy applies, so too will the Indigenous employment policy apply. And, Mr. Speaker, I can say anecdotally we do find that the bigger challenge is really bringing in students. We find often that students begin to go down the process and accept jobs more quickly than we can get to them. So it's more often than not that the students that are utilizing this are all getting scooped up which is, again, a good problem for us to have. We are looking, therefore, to have individuals who are members of the First Nations, Inuit, Metis people of the North having first priority and first access and, Mr. Speaker, again, we'll be continuing the outreach efforts that we undertake usually to students -- all students who are ordinary residents so that they are aware of these programs as soon as they come open again. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will an Indigenous young person from a small community like Gameti applying for GNWT jobs right out of high school have an advantage under this policy? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, that is the expectation, is that an Indigenous person gets the advantage, an Indigenous person -- Indigenous to one of the member groups of the Northwest Territories does have -- would -- expected to have an advantage. And, Mr. Speaker, I take the comment earlier, I should acknowledge it with respect to some of the smaller communities we should be considering, and I'm happy to go back to the department and ensure, that, indeed, they -- students are aware of this program. The last plug I'll make is we also have the remote work policy. So, again, quite a lot of change, quite a lot of effort in the last few years to modernize our public service. Students, and in particular also residents in small communities, can consider applying and using the remote work policy so that they could potentially take a position outside their own community while still staying in their home community. So last comment on that, hopefully that also starts to see some uptake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I reiterated my concerns about what we're missing out on by not moving forward quickly enough with the polytechnic transition and, as such, I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, why is our Minister not out championing the polytechnic transition and seeking funding to implement the facility's master plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess I should start off thanking Members for giving me this area here to champion the college on a regular basis here in the House. I do see transformation of Aurora College as an incredible opportunity for the territory because our students deserve to have quality access to great programs, and that is part of the transformation, is the programming as well.
Given the arm's length relationship with Aurora College, I have met with the board of governors on a regular basis and have reiterated to the chair, but also the entire board, that when they are ready, I am willing to go with them to Ottawa to advocate for additional funding. I am willing to support them in this endeavour.
I have also had conversations with southern counterparts and federal officials in regards to Aurora College and what they are looking for. I specifically have had conversations as well about student housing at Aurora College as that is one thing that was indicated to me by the board of governors as being their top priority right now for facilities for the college itself, specifically Breynat Hall down in Fort Smith. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged to hear about that information from the Minister. Some of those things are things that I wasn't aware of.
Mr. Speaker, is the Minister concerned, considering the news that came out about the Inuit Nunangat University recently, that the NWT is falling behind our neighbours, that is a competitive environment that the NWT wants to stay on top of; is the Minister concerned about the progress that we are not yet making on moving this project forward? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I see what's happening in the Yukon and Nunavut as a positive for us because it means that there is heightened awareness and increase looking at education in the Arctic and education in the North and, specifically, in the territories. I see this as plowing the way for us and see this as being a great opportunity for us to continue down the path that we are on and eventually get to that point. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the Minister in her response to my first question kind of alluded to the fact that she's waiting for some direction from the Aurora College board. Has she received any indication that this is going to be the year that we go out and start championing this project? I appreciate her saying that she's willing to go with them to Ottawa, that she's willing to go out, and I definitely think we need that kind of Team NWT approach since we like to talk about teams like Team Canada, but, Mr. Speaker, has she received any indication that that's happening and is she pushing that; are we going to see it this year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for the question, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, this work is already being done. I would say that it is not potentially conversations that are happening in public realms, but I can assure the Member that conversations around different avenues to access student housing are occurring with the board of governors, specifically with the chair and with the president. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Lutselk'e Dene First Nation brought forward their concerns to my attention about the Wardair Bristol Freighter that crashed and sunk in the spring of 1970 just a few meters away from the shoreline. My question is to the Minister of ECC. Since Wardair no longer exists, who's ultimately responsible today to clean up this plane wreckage 55 years later; is it the GNWT or the Government of Canada? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you much to the Member for the question. You know, as we talk about environmental liabilities -- and this certainly, from the description, sounds like an environmental liability of such in the North -- you know, there are many instances where these types of things have happened in the past that haven't been addressed and as we look forward to ways to address these, you know, it's certainly important that we work with all of our counterparts, including the federal government.
As to this specific instance, the Department of Environment and Climate Change has responsibility for spills that happen within communities, on highways, on public land. These types of events that happen in waterways would fall under the responsibility of the federal government and not the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Can the Minister of ECC commit to work with the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation and the Government of Canada to find the necessary resources needed to clean up this plane wreckage as soon as possible and also to do an assessment of the plane's wreck site. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department does work collaboratively with other agencies across the NWT, and we are also part of the NWT/Nunavut spill working group. So on many of these instances where we have these types of clean-ups that are required, you know, as a department we take our resources, we will reach out to the appropriate lead agency, which would depend depending on sort of the circumstance of the incident. And this event would likely fall under the federal government, and we're certainly willing to have the conversation with the Member's community and with the department and see what kind of resources we can talk about with the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can also the Minister of ECC commit to using this model as a way to looking for other wreckages in the Tu Nedhe riding? Right now as it is, this is just one of many that we're starting to hear, so I just want to see if we could continue to have that relationship with the Minister with our Indigenous governments. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Environment and Climate Change is also responsible for coordinating the 24-hour NWT/Nunavut Spill Line, and this is certainly a vehicle or an opportunity for communities or the general public to identify potential spills. And, you know, if you look at the definition of what is an environmental contamination, within the definition, it says that it's an unplanned release of a potential product that could harm the environment. So if there are these specific locations out on the landscape or in lakes or on our countryside, they can be identified as a potential spill certainly through that process which would allow us from the department perspective to engage with the communities or the public to make those assessments and then determine who the lead agency might be or what the potential path forward would be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Colleagues, before we go any further, I've got a little note here that says can you please slow down and be respectful of our interpreters. It's simultaneous interpretation so it takes them a little bit of time. And I know you were passionate getting your message, whether it's the Minister or the Members, but please take your time and allow the interpreters to do their job as efficiently and effectively as they do. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services explain what mental health and counselling services are currently offered through the health and social services authority in the Deh Cho region? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, from the information that I have offhand is that there are community counsellors in Fort Providence. I mean, I can say that the Deh Cho doesn't just necessarily draw the lines for the Member's jurisdiction but in there, Fort Simpson as well is where they have community counselling to service the residents of K'atlodeeche, Kakisa, and for those other two communities that belong to the Member's riding. So they can contact either Fort Simpson or Fort Providence for those services.
I can follow up with the Member if there's anything further that health and social services provides. What I can also provide is that many of the communities in her riding also have applied, and are successful, of receiving the community wellness and recovery fund as well as the suicide prevention fund. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
