Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd also like to thank and recognize Kathryn Barry Paddock, the executive director of the NWT Literacy Council; and Katie Johnson, the program director from the NWT Literacy Council, for coming out today and for the work they do every single day and the passion they bring to their work. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.
Colleagues, I'd like to recognize Ben Morin and Elizabeth Money, both -- two-thirds of the team that is going to be working on our reconciliation plan for the Legislative Assembly. Welcome to our Assembly.
If we missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chambers. You put us here, and we thank you very much for this honour. I hope you enjoy the proceedings. It is always nice to have people in the Assembly -- or the gallery, sorry.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I acknowledge a very determined young man from Tetlit Zheh, Mr. Deeron Vittrekwa. While bringing up a young family with his spouse Natasha, who just completed her business management program, Mr. Vittrekwa is in his fourth year of a four-year teacher education program at Yukon University. He will serve as a great role model to the younger generation in pursuing a career path.
I would like to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mr. Vittrekwa on receiving an Indigenous language revitalization scholarship, and for his commitment to his educational goals. Congratulations and all the best, Mr. Vittrekwa. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on some of the questions I had asked yesterday to the Premier regarding his special envoy to Ottawa, and one of the concerns, of course, I had was about how much this costs, and I'll wait for that return, of course. That said, I didn't try to come back to the question with respect to process.
Mr. Speaker, we all hear the theme over and over again we have to work together. Well, Mr. Speaker, the Premier was very clear he made the decision, he consulted with Indigenous governments, and furthermore, he consulted with his Cabinet. Maybe he could explain to this House why he didn't feel like working together with this side of the House in some form of discussion about his future plans and what he was trying to achieve. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just to be clear, I had spoke with Indigenous governments after the decision was made to let them know what was going on, and I spoke with my Cabinet colleagues because, you know, when we make changes in that hallway where we all work, I want to ensure that Cabinet feels supported as all the staff down that hallway support all of Cabinet in one way or another. So that being said, this was a decision that I made in my office based on the experiences that I had over the past year. So I'm happy to consult with the standing committee on policies, on programs, on legislation. This was one single position out of the entire Government of the Northwest Territories that was reassigned. And so, you know, I always want to hear what the Members have to say, and I take this Member's comments very seriously, and going forward, I will look at our processes to ensure that if there are any changes like this in the future that I will engage Members sooner. That being said, I do have a responsibility to operate my office in a way that I think is efficient, and I will be making the decisions based on my experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to wave off a second question until the Premier had said the last piece. I was going to concede on maybe his contrition in the sense of he'll communicate better or work better. For the record, Mr. Speaker, we work here too, not just Cabinet, and in theory the Premier's principal secretary should be working with Members and, you know, whatnot. That said, how much is this office going to cost now that he's made this unilateral decision? Because we know how much they're paid because on the -- what's online, the GNWT website. They're paid the highest employee we have. There must be an office cost, support costs. Can the Premier elaborate on this unilateral decision he has made without consulting Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will be no change in the cost of this position. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier assure this House that there will be no office setup costs, there will be no staff costs, there will be (audio) sorry, the light went off. Maybe on the government too some days.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier assure that there will be no additional costs to setting up an office because if we're setting up a special envoy that we will now be referring to his excellence or something or other, I mean, are we -- what is this going to cost the Assembly? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We already have an office in Ottawa. There's actually a desk and a chair there already so there may be an increased cost with pens, staples, things like that, but there's not going to be a significant cost implementations for this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member's statement, I spoke about Nutrition North and as it costs $2 billion since 2011 and half of that going to the communities throughout the three territories.
Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. The GNWT needs to work closer with the federal government on food insecurities. What action is the Premier taking to assess the Nutrition North shortcoming and to advocate for change in Ottawa? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year Minister Vandal, who was at the time the Minister responsible for Nutrition North, announced that there would be -- they'd be undertaking their five-year review of the program and that that review is expected to be completed this year. And so we are waiting that and are engaging at every opportunity that we can.
As well, we have -- or the Minister last year also announced that there would be a -- let me just find this position -- a ministerial special representative independent of the federal public service appointed to review the Nutrition North program. That independent ministerial special advisor was actually appointed yesterday, and so I look forward to seeing how that individual is going to advance this project, and I'm sure there's going to be opportunities for us to go forward and engage in that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, Mr. Speaker, we all know that there is -- there are overhead costs to do business that are unique in the NWT, such as administration and logistics. What is the GNWT doing to make it easier to do businesses in small communities so that Nutrition North subsidies can be more effective? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course logistics are one of the biggest issues we face here in the Northwest Territories. We've seen issues with climate change relating to supply chain issues with the Mackenzie River, and so when instances like that arise we have responded with supports to impacted communities. We are also looking at continuing to connect communities in the Northwest Territories by road. Of course, there's been a few -- those connections done in the past number of years. And we're talking about the Mackenzie Valley Highway as well which will have impacts on the administration of Nutrition North obviously. But it's an opportunity to lower costs there as well. So we are working on improving our transportation infrastructures and our energy infrastructure as well, all in the hopes of lowering costs and making it easier to do business in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Indigenous communities are opening their own new grocery stores, in particular in Fort Resolution. Will the Premier advocate for these bands to run stores to get Nutrition North subsidies as well while in deliberation with Ottawa? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so, of course, Nutrition North is a federal program and it has its own criteria and it's related to accessibility, road access. That being said, we obviously have higher costs of living in the Northwest Territories, and that's an appropriate thing to bring forward to our discussions with the federal government and the ministerial special adviser, and I think it's important to also highlight Indigenous businesses and how we can better support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, many folks are panicked because of the goal posts of our nominee program are changing drastically in the last nine months. Available spots, associated timelines, have changed as well.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please explain what her department is telling people who do not meet the increased length of work history requirement with their employer or that have an impending work visa expiry? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly the department is incredibly compassionate to where people are at right now. The department has been fielding a tremendous amount of phone calls and inquiries about this and has a tremendous amount of empathy for people. Certainly, the department is letting people know what the criteria is, why it has changed for the nominee program, and is also making sure that they're steering perspective applicants to federal sources of information on federal immigration programs trying to be as helpful as possible and also letting people know that over the course of this year we will be working with stakeholders, businesses, communities, to determine what the program will look like in 2026. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know they're getting a lot of calls. They're not returning all those calls. But I am worried that more people will find themselves in limbo waiting on work visa renewals and paperwork headaches that are associated with territorial services, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak to what work she is conducting with her Cabinet colleagues and federal counterparts to ensure that folks who are classified as implied status are allowed to extend their health care coverage or driver's licenses, for example. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the term implied status has now been changed to maintained status just so that everybody's using the same language. So foreign nationals on maintained status are eligible to extend their health care coverage and NWT driver's licenses, and they would need valid proof that they are on maintained status. Foreign nationals that are looking to extend their health care cards and their NWT driver's license are encouraged to reach out to NWT -- sorry, NTHSSA, as well as the Department of Infrastructure, to confirm the process and documents that they'll be required, but that process is already outlined within those departments. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know that our allotment went from 300 to 150 due to federal government decisions around cuts across Canada. So can the Minister speak to more detail with her conversations with her federal counterparts; specifically, how she's advocating for our unique northern context which also applies to the newcomers and businesses that need to grow their workforce. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that when you're in these positions, regardless of what side of the House you sit on, you take these jobs very seriously. You've been given the trust of the people that you serve and also Northerners right across the territory. And so taking every opportunity to tell people about the Northwest Territories and explain to them what our context is is something that I do on a daily basis in this role.
Specifically with immigration, I started my day today by meeting with MP McLeod. We talked about the nominee program and talked about how we are going to, you know, further align and have further conversations with the federal government. I have written letters. I have placed phone calls. I -- and that's at political level. The department is doing the same at the officials’ level and having bilateral and multilateral engagements and conversations as well. I know that the business community also met with Minister Miller this summer, and I had the opportunity to take Minister Miller out and even have conversations in the middle of Great Slave Lake about this stuff. So certainly doing the work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT RCMP introduced a new division drug strategy in 2024 focused on better intelligence gathering and placing priority on disruptive techniques. The strategy includes creating a dedicated drug enforcement team in the NWT. Can the Minister of Justice say whether this team has been created and what community they are based in? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the crime reduction unit has been established. They are still staffing up. I'm not sure as of today how many members they have staffed up. But despite -- even if they're not fully staffed, they have been doing work across the Northwest Territories and, you know, not just in drug investigations, also doing things like working with the post office trying to ensure that we can stop drugs going through the mail and different types of things like that. This is a territorial unit, and it's based here in Yellowknife, but it can be deployed and will be deployed throughout the territory. And they have been doing work throughout the territory already. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Can the Minister commit on whether there have been more human resource allocations at RCMP detachments in my riding as part of this strategy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wouldn't say that the human resource allocations were part of the divisional drug strategy, but there have been increases to the RCMP numbers in the Member's riding. K'atlodeeche First Nation had two positions added, one this year, one last year. The detachment in Fort Providence has also had positions added. And that's in addition to the new crime reduction unit and the emergency response team that are getting staffed up that also work territorially. So there's more assets available in the communities, and there's more territorial assets available to respond to incidents in the communities as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.
Will the Minister commit to contacting RCMP detachments in my riding to learn what resources they need to implement this strategy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I generally don't talk directly to the detachment commanders, but I do speak with the commanding officer and I'm happy to have that conversation with him. I know that, you know, he is very invested in this divisional drug strategy, and he is doing his best to ensure that the resources are available to officers across the territory. And often that includes things like training. Just having the awareness of, you know, when someone might be using drugs if they're driving a vehicle, then that gives you cause to stop that person and then take further action from there. So the resources, a lot of them are training and awareness, and I know that is happening and it's being rolled out. But I will commit to further discussing with the commanding officer about the resourcing, especially in the Member's riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is something that's been troubling our community for quite some time, and the Yellowknife River water pipeline that's been built since '68 has been in dire need of replacement for a number of years. In 2017, when I served this Assembly previously, it was pegged at $34.5 million. Last year, it was $62.7 million. This year it's now $107 million. Our city cannot afford this pipeline. Our residents deserve safe drinking water. Can I ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs how is he supporting the city of Yellowknife in completing this important public project? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Municipal and Community Affairs distributes $110 million for all the municipalities. That includes the CPI funding that they receive. The money that they have, MACA doesn't tell them how to spend their money for their projects. It's how they want to utilize it for some of their infrastructure. We all know infrastructure costs have been going up. And that one has too. It's been all over the news, and they have received, I think, about $28 million of federal funding for some of that project on top of the CPI money that the GNWT provides. They obviously have to do some work on trying to offset the costs of inflation for these projects. But we do not get into the details of how a municipality funds their infrastructure projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
