Debates of February 12, 2025 (day 43)

Members, oral questions. Inuvik Boot Lake, I guess you got your one question. You're good, right? Okay. Oral questions. Member from Slave Lake.

I'm not from Alberta, but thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm committed to reminding the government to listen and act accordingly on what they hear from the residents of the NWT. So during their public engagement, many thoughtful and detailed ideas were shared with Members as well as government on ECC's draft climate action plan. Most concerning to me is an overwhelming groundswell of feedback requesting clear, plain language, and direct tangible actions.

So to the Minister, I recognize that there will be a What we Heard document coming out in the near future, but can the Minister highlight at a high level what his areas of interest for changes are after reading all of the feedback. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you -- getting this right -- Member from Great Slave. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you very much to the Member for the question. As she said, there was a tremendous amount of engagement on this topic, and we extended the timeframe and continued to accept long-form submissions well into January. You know, throughout the process, we had 128 participants at a climate change advisory group gathering. We engaged with Indigenous governments, organizations, community governments, youth, researchers, land users, industries, other partners. We had 44 residents engaged through a public engagement on the website, and two Indigenous governments and six non-government organizations also provided long-form information.

So from my personal perspective, you know, resilience, ensuring that we have proper knowledge into this process, and that we're working to provide every option that we can to assist in the target for net zero by 2050 is certainly high on the mandate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. I'm glad he took the time to review all of that feedback. Can the Minister outline if the next iteration of the climate change action plan will take the concerns of plain language seriously, and how is the department working to address and incorporate feedback on this particular issue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the importance of plain language was the theme of the what we heard engagement throughout. And, you know, this is very important feedback for us in that we're considering the changes and improvements to the planned climate actions. We take this responsibility to communicate with the public in a clear, concise manner that everyone can understand very seriously. And to that end, already through the engagement process we have taken some opportunities to change how we were doing things. And the department worked closely with the local graphic artists to create some broadly accessible visual presentations that were used throughout engagement. And this is just the first step of how we will make change going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that. And I think graphic representations of conversations is a fantastic way to bring everybody in. But, you know, the other big theme I heard, and I know the Minister saw that, was that, you know, especially from youth, there's a lot of climate anxiety right now. So can the Minister explain what bold action he wants to see in his action plan that will address the concerns he's heard especially of our youth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a topic that's close to my heart, ensuring that we are engaging with our youth across the NWT. I have grandchildren that are going to be coming along here into this environment soon and, you know, I'm encouraged by the participation that we had, and we had the NWT Climate Change Youth Council participate in a forum in October, Ecology North facilitated discussions, with a total of 190 students here in Yellowknife. MLA Morgan and myself are planning an engagement with high school students later in the month here in Yellowknife to discuss the issue, to listen to their concerns and their issues. And I think, you know, as a department and from my position as Minister, addressing the anxiety and the uncertainty of the changing climate with the youth in the Northwest Territories is a very high priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the CLC closing, can the Minister commit to discussing partnership opportunities for apprenticeship and other programs with Indigenous government and community organizations to strengthen the presence of Aurora College in small communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to say that meeting with Indigenous governments is something that Cabinet does often, and education always shows up on the agendas for those meetings. In addition, I meet with the development corporations that are associated with our Indigenous governments and have met with the Tlicho Investment Corporation just recently as well and are having conversations about this very thing. I'm doing those conversations in my role as Minister of education, not through Aurora College, but certainly would want to invite the Member to work with the college to invite them into the community as well and to encourage those conversations to continue. So ultimately, Mr. Speaker, my answer is yes, from the perspective of Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you. Masi, Mr. Speaker. Community learning centres are currently staffed by full-time community adult educators as well as visiting instructors. Can the Minister explain what will happen to these jobs once the centres close? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Aurora College is currently working with the Department of Finance to help affected employees work through the staffing process and work through what comes next for them, including looking at lists of available positions within the GNWT. So I can confirm that Aurora College is working closely with the Department of Finance on this. Thank you.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Seven CLCs share space in GNWT owned or community facilities. For example, there is no formal lease agreement between Mezi Community School in Whati and Aurora College. Can the Minister explain what will happen to these spaces in June? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't comment on what is going to happen exactly with each one of those spaces right now. But I think it's important that we're creative and flexible in what this looks like going forward. Where there are facilities that are leased by the GNWT, those facilities would go back to the owner, and where the infrastructure is owned by the GNWT, I can say that there has already been outreach by either NGOs within communities or some Indigenous governments who have said, hey, we have a different thing that we would like to see that community learning centre used for. And so I think it's really important to hear communities out and to work with Indigenous governments and also work through the Department of Infrastructure's asset management policies of what happens to assets when they're no longer used by the GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my question is a follow-up on the options available for approaching funding to challenge trades and the demands in our workforce. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Can the Minister agree to the publication of NORTRAN as I referenced in previous correspondence and in my statement? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Member's asking for the publication of it, I think that tabling it here in the House is a great way to make sure that all of our colleagues can see it and the Member can share his hard work on that. And I look forward to continuing conversations about NORTRAN with the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to bring to the attention of the Minister during my lobby efforts, we, the Sahtu, have secured a contribution of $7,000 from industry for the publication.

My next question is, can the Minister share what supports are in place for this training readiness publication supports in terms of funding, etcetera? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I spoke to yesterday about the different training opportunities that ECE does have, there are supports for businesses who are -- or employers, rather, and also Indigenous governments and community organizations, that would like to deliver training and on-the-job supports for staff. There's also wage subsidies that are available to staff as well. And certainly through a program like this, those subsidies would still be available as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information here. That all goes towards what supports are behind this plan.

Can the Minister in consultation with Cabinet colleagues for the federal engagement ask or rely on whether there's a joint initiative that can be supported by this government for the federal ownership of accessing and redirecting resource revenues from the Norman Wells oil field towards NORTRAN. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe in the Member's statement he referenced legacy royalties from the site. The GNWT certainly would not be in a position to ask for those back. And then in -- however, Indigenous governments certainly could have their own conservations and bilaterals with the federal government.

In terms of federal engagement, certainly the government does have a federal engagement strategy and has identified key infrastructure projects as of what they are going to the federal government and advocating for. When it comes to our FTP tables, our federal, territorial, provincial tables that we all sit at as Ministers, we certainly work with our province and territorial colleagues in order to advocate for additional funding and advocating for additional labour market funding is something that I do on a regular basis. So in that respect, yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as mentioned earlier, in the 19th Assembly we worked on Bill 85, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act. We spent a lot of time on it. We came up with a report, and we submitted it in the House. However, Mr. Speaker, right after it was implemented, the NWT Council of Leaders, through a memorandum of understanding, put forward an agreement that was signed by those Aboriginal governments.

Right now, Mr. Speaker, I just want to ask the question to the Deputy Premier, can you let the House know on what's happening with the United Nation UNDRIP document with Indigenous governments. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Madam Deputy Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is an action plan that is underway. I understand that there is a target date of the fall of 2025 to have that action plan published and that work towards that is, indeed, on track. Departments are all contributing to it, working with participating Indigenous governments toward that. Thank you.

Jeez, you took my next question away. Now that you just announced that it's going to be released in 2025, this plan, how is it going to roll out? Is this working with Indigenous governments; can you just update the House on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't want to presuppose the work of the committee with respect to how the action plan is being formed and what it will contain or its detail. There is a lot of work happening across departments. We are all contributing to being part of the work on behalf of the GNWT as being just one Member at that table. So, Mr. Speaker, and I don't want to also -- to take away from the fact that the GNWT has bilateral agreements with multiple Indigenous governments and that we also sit at Council of Leaders and at IGCS. So there's a great deal of integration within the Northwest Territories between this government and that of Indigenous governments, and we'll certainly continue to see that as it goes forward, both this as well as then looking forward to see what the action plan ultimately contains. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the 2025-2026 Budget, I went through it and I'd just like to know what the Deputy Premier has planned to implement UNDRIP when there's -- I didn't see no money in the budget. Can she explain as to how we're going to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work of implementing and respecting UNDRIP and treaties is part of the day-to-day work that happens across every department and is the responsibility of every single Minister at all times. Mr. Speaker, there doesn't need to be a new line item or new money to be reflective of the honour and the oath that we've all taken, nor of the role of every government or every department vis-a-vis each community and each Indigenous government.

And, Mr. Speaker, the example I'll give is, frankly, the work of the GNWT on the action committee in order to see that we are delivering on 2025 as being the action plan. That work is happening with budgets that are proposed for Executive and Indigenous affairs as the lead but also with every other department that they have folks and staff available to contribute to it. Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's probably rare I get to make a statement like this. I'm sure we will all agree in this House that health care dollars are precious. It's very difficult to find agreement on anything some days, but I think we might be able to agree on that.

Mr. Speaker, the questions I'll be raising today are to the health care Minister, clearly, regarding the security of health care cards. And that's always been something of interest of mine because if I recall during one of my previous assemblies, we had more health care cards out there than citizens. What an interesting paradox it was at that time.

So, Mr. Speaker, my question specific to the Minister of health is, is she aware of how many health care cards we have out there, and does that number relate to the number of citizens we have in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question. You know, my very first job after high school was a health care card registration specialist, and one of the things my colleague taught me was is that we have very -- we have a lot of people that we're doing, we have to be doing investigations on that are outside of the territory. So that probably speaks to the time when the Member was in the House, that we started to change the way that we provide health care cards. And now they actually have an expiry date. So when you renew your health care card, you have to have an NWT address. Before they never had expiry dates. But I do not have the detail of how many people that we have as residents right now offhand and how many cards we have out there, but I am sure that I can get that data for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll take the Minister on their offer of how we know and how we know.

So, Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions place health care dollars so high on their list, they actually make health care cards also an identity card. So in other words, their picture's on their health care card. And places such as Ontario, BC, and Quebec do this to ensure the quality of the health care is going to the right people. They can guarantee the number with the person. So, Mr. Speaker, my specific question is this: Is this an initiative that the department of health can take on to, again, protect the precious northern health care dollars? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and it's -- you know, I find that question -- it was just a couple of weeks ago that I was having this conversation because renewal is up this year for health care cards. And on our health care cards, they are very plain. They have an expiry date and they have our name. And so that was the question that I asked my staff, to go back to the department to say how do we work with infrastructure? You know, we have this struggle right now in our communities where a lot of people are looking for identification cards. How do we work together to provide identification cards, have that information, the picture so it's the right person with the card so that, I've just tasked my staff to kind of look at options on where we are with all that kind of information and is that something that we can do and what is that cost going to cost us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Well, it's funny because I get -- what's the right phrase -- I don't want to say targeted, but I get target -- I'll say it anyway. I get targeted for not giving my questions to the Minister or advancing this up, but yet she scooped my last question. So good on her for being on her toes, Mr. Speaker, instead of heels.

Mr. Speaker, that said, I just want to reaffirm, with the contract coming up, will she ensure that Members are involved in some type of early discussion and will she commit to this contract we are going to do health care card business differently and more improved? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to clarify, I think it's the renewals that are up right now for Northwest Territories residents to make sure that they're applying within a couple of months of their health care card. I'd have to look into how or who is the procurement of how we do our health care cards. But that is all kind of the questions that I have just started to have because I think it's important that if we're doing this in the Northwest Territories, then we need to be making sure that those cards, everybody in our territory has one. Maybe having their picture on it, maybe it being their personal identification for flying, all that type of stuff, it would be a good thing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.