Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Short supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to briefly talk about that little 5-year-old boy that we want to bring home to the family and Fort Smith. And I just wanted to ask the Minister now that we know what needs to get done, what can we do now to bring that little boy home? Like you got to remember, this little boy was buried, had no family around, died of probably TB or whatever at the time, but the family wants to have a proper burial now in Fort Smith. I just want to ask the Minister what can we do now to work together in collaboration to bring this little boy home? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is what is ultimately the most important here.
Mr. Speaker, in relation to the entire legislation, ECE is working in consultation with Indigenous governments, and that work and the speed of that work will really be determined through the protocols with Intergovernmental Council. Specifically for this individual case here, you have the absolute commitment of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and myself to work as quickly as possible through the decision points that do remain but also with the associated consultation that needs to take place not only within Deninu Kue but also with other Indigenous governments across the territory. Because as we know, children across the territory were removed from their homes, and so the children who are buried there may also be from other traditional territories as well, and we need to ensure that we're respectful of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of ECC, who I endearingly used to call him the Maytag man, waiting for questions ever so patiently and loyally. My questions will be about the financing for the PFP project.
This House had to pass this legislation immediately in November with great fervency and zeal, and there's a lot of talk out there about this $375 million not being passed on to our stewards who wanted this money to, you know, take care of the North. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister give this House an update where has that agreement gone, when can the Northerners expect the money, and when can we see some action on the ground? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, project finance for permanence is being worked on at the partners' level. There are a number of items that needed to be completed to meet the requirements of the treasury board. And currently the $300 million that will be provided by Canada needs to go to the House of Parliament in a supply bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I think Members, if I may speak for myself or at large -- I'm not sure in this case -- but I think we were given the assurances this was a Cabinet document to be approved through the treasury board, etcetera; it didn't require special legislation to approve. Has something significantly changed that may put this financing at risk? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we were moving this process through our legislature, unfortunately parliament was prorogued by the federal government, and this has delayed the process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seem to recall October, February, happened before the January proroguing. I'll check -- let the fact checkers verify that later. So in other words, proroguing of parliament happened after all of this agreement in rush. So is there any way the GNWT can help coordinate and help ensure that this project funding won't be lost given the fact that things may change? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have -- the department and myself have been in regular conversations with Minister Guilbeault's office in regard to this. As well as I said earlier, our partners continue to work forward with the Indigenous governments, the partners at the partner table, and the staff from ECC to advance this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I spoke about the important work the NWT SPCA does in the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, they don't fit into any GNWT box for funding. As an NGO that provides a critical service to communities, they're not unlike NGOs that provide supports to the communities like homelessness, health and well-being. So can the Premier who is responsible for the NGO stabilization through the executive speak to how -- or why the SPCA's not eligible for funding. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there is no -- as the Member said, we don't have a policy that the SPCA fits into. That being said, EIA has recently taken over responsibility for working with NGOs, and so we're in the process of preparing to engage with NGOs as well as Indigenous governments about what constitutes a critical service in the Northwest Territories. And that will help outline our funding programs and policies going forward. So that work is going to begin very soon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thank you for that response from the Premier. That's exactly what I think the SPCA wants to hear. Mr. Speaker, I said their costs per year or last year were around $700,000. $200,000 of that is now staff. It used to be volunteer-driven. That's the kind of range. Is there room in the Premier's budget to provide $200,000 to the SPCA? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don't have $200,000 free in EIA's budget. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, former Premier Bob McLeod did provide a one-time payout to the SPCA way back in the day when we were Regular Members together. It was around $40,000. Is there an exception policy that the SPCA can tap into to help them reduce their costs? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I remember the good old days when we were able to fund more organizations than we can now. Unfortunately, we don't have that type of process in place. And when it comes right down to it, Cabinet can do a lot of different things, and the financial board can do a lot of different things, you know, creating a new initiative, but there is a process to go through that and it's unlikely that we would have one NGO core funded through that type of process. What we want to do is create a policy and have it in place so it's clear and so that the people of the territory know where their money is going. We need to ensure that we are funding organizations that are providing critical services to the Northwest Territories. And the SPCA has done many great things. I was just reading about the evacuations recently, and I know that they did a lot of work during the evacuations and they do many good things for the territory. So this is not a case of us not valuing the SPCA. It's clear the territory does. You can tell by all of the donations that residents provide. It's just a matter of getting a policy in place to ensure that we are focusing our funds where they're needed most. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was reading the news the other day, including the news release that the Premier had created a special envoy position in Ottawa, and we're hearing a lot of little hoopla about, well, doing things differently is bad. Well, and we're even hearing it from that side of the House. So I guess my question for the Premier particularly, is, is what mandate has he been given by this House or the people to establish a special envoy position, and where is the money coming from? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Premier generally has a principal secretary, and so the mandate I was given was when I was elected as Premier to have that position.
Looking at the circumstances, I made the decision that that position would be transitioned into a senior envoy to the Government of Canada to help ensure that we have a voice in Ottawa and to help ensure that our Indigenous government partners also have a voice in Ottawa so we can support them. So the principal secretary is a political position in the Premier's office, and I made the decision to adjust that position. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it has the appearance of being a political appointment as more of a reward rather than a discussion. Is there any reason the Premier changing significant motions by basically allocating public service resources to an Ottawa position -- why wouldn't he bring it to MLAs through the Caucus process to have a discussion and get a mandate from Caucus and the Assembly at large? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Decisions are made about positions across government without going to MLAs for every single decision. We are right now in budget discussions about the budget of the Northwest Territories, and so there's opportunities to discuss how funds are allocated, but this is a an operational decision I made based on the experience that I've had over the past just over a year and how things are functioning in our office and how -- what gaps we need to fill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I don't mind the Premier being a Premier, but this is a significant departure from regular business, especially when Members on this side of the House are asking for action, but he does it unilaterally without any type of consultation. Has he spoken to Indigenous governments that he's appointed his principal secretary to be the Ottawa face of our politics, has he spoken to MLAs? Like, who has he spoken to outside of his own principal secretary and himself? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And of course I spoke with my Cabinet colleagues, and I've spoken with Indigenous leaders, and there is a lot of support, a lot of positive feedback about this decision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change following up on my Member's statement on some of the feedback that we have gotten from NWT youth on the climate change action plan. So some of their observations were that most of the actions in the plan are hard to measure, that it might specify we'll continue to do things or have processes. But what is ECC doing to make its actions on climate change more measurable? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start by acknowledging MLA Reid and MLA Morgan and the students and staff at Sir John and St. Pat's high school for the opportunity to go in and have discussions of the climate change action plan with them.
As we've done our engagement as ECC, some of the key comments that we've received, and which have been independently evaluated through a process that we're using, have said that our actions need to be more measurable, and this is certainly something that we feel is a critical path forward for us as a department. So what we've committed to doing is wherever possible is we're going to use a smart goal approach so that to ensure that our goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Also, ensuring that as we reach milestones through these processes that we're relaying that information to the public so that everyone is aware that we've made specific milestones. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, so that is good news.
The next question is when will there be plain language materials produced about the climate change action plan and the milestones that are being reached so that ordinary residents of the territory, including young people, can read the plan and think, okay, this is speaking to me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a department, we're certainly committed to the plain language approach. I think it's critical that the members of our public in the Northwest Territories have the ability to read and interpret this information.
Right now, currently, each of the annual reports for the last five years has a preface that is a summary in a plain language format. It's a short, plain language summary. We are also -- we've already produced plain language materials that explain the priority, risk, and opportunities facing the territory when it comes to climate change risk, and we've also added areas within this plan that are depicted graphically to help to enhance and engage the public generally on the understanding and to stimulate more discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my final question is how will ordinary residents, and particularly young people, be able to be involved in the actions that the government is taking as part of this climate change action plan, or is the plan designed to be carried out exclusively by government employees? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework describes an overarching climate change goals for the territory and was developed in partnership with our partners across the territory as well as through engagement with the general public and the public at large. Much of this work certainly involves, you know, engaging with the NWT climate change council, NWT climate change advisory groups, NWT climate change youth steering committee, and other collaborative mechanisms. You know, for the students, I think continuing their advocacy which they showed, you know, within their schools through their green teams, you know, when I was there, it was like question period. You know, they asked some really tough questions of me. So if they continue down that road, I think it's important that they will certainly get to where we need to get to.
While lots of things are harder in the North, the students notice that some things are easier, Mr. Speaker. We're such a small population that we can use our connections to organize ourselves and get things done. Let's follow the lead of those young people and bring more action into our climate change action plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, going back to my line of questioning with the Premier, when the executive does this work of revising its policies -- or sorry, when will that work happen? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The work will be starting in the spring. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier commit to including the SPCA or representatives from the SPCA in this work? Thank you.
Thank you. I'd be happy to. Thank you.
