Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform Members and the public that the Deh Cho Bridge will officially open on November 30th.
---Applause
The bridge represents a tremendous improvement in the level of service over the current ferry and ice crossing and will increase economic development in our territory both now and for the foreseeable future.
For the first time since the road to the North Slave region was built, people will not have to concern themselves with ferry schedules, ice conditions, or disruptions to operations when crossing the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. The bridge will provide 24-hour access every day of the year. Children born today will still be using this bridge well into their retirement years.
We have used the ferry and ice bridge for so long, many of us do not even think about all of the issues that this operation created. Trucks idled, sometimes for hours, wasting gas and releasing greenhouse gases. Businesses in the North Slave region had to pay to stockpile food and other goods. Some of them even paid extra freight charges to airlift merchandise from Alberta or over the crossing. All of these costs were passed on to customers, and all of these costs are now gone. The ferry burned half a million litres of fuel every year. We had to develop emergency plans about what would happen if there was a fuel spill. We were vulnerable to climate change, with warming temperatures and changes in water levels.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight a key decision of this Assembly, to provide the needed resources to accelerate construction and settle claims. This was critical in achieving the opening this year. Without additional funding, I would, most assuredly, be standing here today, announcing yet another year’s delay. This would have resulted in substantial direct and indirect costs and lost toll revenue.
On the subject of tolls, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is ready for collection of the tolls. Regulations governing the tolls have come into effect, we have completed information sessions with motor carriers, we are able to process toll permits and the electronic tracking system is fully operational. Carriers that choose to enter into remittance agreements with the department for payment of the toll will be able to submit their documentation on-line. This is the first on-line service as we upgrade our motor vehicle information system.
This project had its beginnings in the 14th Assembly, with the passage of the Deh Cho Bridge Act, and received the support of each Assembly that followed. I call on the Members of the 17th Assembly to continue to have a long-term vision for transportation projects that improve access for our communities, create economic development opportunities and provide lasting benefits for future generations. We need to look beyond our own doorsteps. We need to have a territory-wide approach to major public infrastructure that benefits all of us.
In conclusion, I would like to invite all Members of the Legislative Assembly and the public to attend the opening ceremonies on November 30th. It will be a grand celebration with the ribbon cutting at the north abutment of the bridge, a community feast, traditional spiritual offerings, fireworks and the final transit of the Merv Hardie. I hope to see you all there. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Premier McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories is being presented with an exciting opportunity to engage on northern priorities on both the national and international stage.
On May 13, 2013, Canada will be taking over chairmanship of the Arctic Council for a two-year term. The Arctic Council is a consensus-based, high-level intergovernmental forum that works to promote the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable development in the Arctic region. All eight circumpolar nations sit on the council and receive direct input from the six permanent participant organizations representing the indigenous people of the Circumpolar Arctic.
As Canada begins preparing for the upcoming chairmanship, and recognizing the power of a pan-territorial approach, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut have been closely working together to define our common interests. As articulated in the pan-territorial document A Northern Vision, the territories are committed to speaking as a unified northern voice in advancing Canada’s participation in the Arctic Council.
I have communicated our commitment to support Canada on the Arctic Council to Minister Leona Aglukkaq, Member of Parliament for Nunavut, who was recently appointed as Canada’s chairperson to the Arctic Council and will guide the Arctic Council vision over the two years of the Canadian chairmanship.
I have committed to Minister Aglukkaq that the Northwest Territories will play a larger role in supporting Canada as they prepare for their chairmanship of the Arctic Council and throughout the entire two years. The Arctic Council is Canada’s premier forum to advance its Arctic Foreign Policy, which is the international dimension of Canada’s Northern Strategy. Many of our Government of the Northwest Territories priorities complement the pillars of the Northern Strategy and we will work with Canada throughout its chairmanship to advance these common interests.
Our commitment was further reiterated by Deputy Premier Lafferty on my behalf this past weekend, when he met with Minister Aglukkaq during her visit to Yellowknife as part of her Northern Engagement Tour. This northern tour has been an opportunity for Minister Aglukkaq to engage with the territories on Canada’s chairmanship theme, which is, “Development for the People of the North.”
Deputy Premier Lafferty, accompanied by Minister Ramsay, Minister Abernethy and Minister Beaulieu presented many of our priority issues such as search and rescue, cost of living, sustainable housing, employment opportunities, energy, infrastructure and climate change as important issues being faced by communities and regions across the Northwest Territories and the Circumpolar North.
During her visit, the Minister also hosted three separate roundtables with Government of the Northwest Territories Ministers, Aboriginal and Municipal Leaders, and Northwest Territories stakeholders. The roundtables gave participants an opportunity to engage with the Minister and provide input on Canada’s theme of “Development for the People of the North,” and three sub-themes of arctic resource development, responsible and safe arctic shipping, and sustainable circumpolar communities. Canada’s theme and sub-themes align well with our territorial and pan-territorial priorities, and we hope to continue to engage with Minister Aglukkaq in a more formalized role during Canada’s chairmanship.
We appreciate Canada’s commitment to the Arctic Council and support them in their theme and positions on many topics including sustainable development, the inclusion of new observers to the council, and support for permanent participants.
The chairmanship is an exciting opportunity for Canada’s North. The Northwest Territories is an ideal location to host many Arctic Council discussions throughout the two-year Canadian chairmanship and presents an opportunity to showcase the immense potential of Canada’s northern communities to the rest of the circumpolar world.
We look forward to supporting Canada in achieving our many common goals, while bringing tangible benefits to the North and Canada as a whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
MINISTER’S STATEMENT 97-17(3):
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to update the people of the Northwest Territories on the status of the barren ground caribou and the condition of the various herds.
During this past summer we were able to complete full surveys on the Cape Bathurst, Tuk Peninsula and Bathurst herds. A partial survey of the Bluenose-West herd was also done. Surveys of the Bluenose-East and Porcupine caribou herds could not be done due to weather conditions. Surveys are planned for both these herds next summer.
Preliminary results indicate the Cape Bathurst herd has increased to about 2,400, from 1,900 in 2009, while the Tuk Peninsula has declined to about 2,200, from 2,700. We also see that the Bluenose-West herd has seen a slight increase since 2009, with a count of about 20,000, from 18,000. More analysis is being done on the results of the 2012 surveys and final numbers will be shared with Members as they become available.
A survey of the Bathurst herd was also done this past summer. I understand that the survey was done under ideal conditions, and because of the tight concentration of breeding females, it was one of the most precise surveys ever done on that herd.
I’m happy to advise that this herd, which was in rapid decline only a few short years ago, has now stabilized at about 35,000, a slight increase from 32,000 in 2009.
Mr. Speaker, while the halting of this decline is good news, we are not out of the woods yet, as the overall size of this herd remains very low. In addition, the number of breeding females has not increased and there has been poor calf recruitment for the past two years.
Given this, we remain concerned about the overall conservation of the Bathurst herd. The harvest restrictions, as recommended by the Wek’eezhie Renewable Resources Board, remain in effect for the 2012-2013 harvest season. This includes 150 hunting tags for the Tlicho people and 150 for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.
In addition, ENR will begin working with our partners in the WRRB, the Tlicho Government, the YKDFN and others on the development of a harvest management plan beyond 2013 and leading to the next planned Bathurst survey in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, while we were unable to survey the Bluenose-East herd in 2012, the results of the 2010 calving and post-calving surveys indicated the herd has increased to about 100,000 animals.
These numbers give us an opportunity to open discussions about an unrestricted Aboriginal harvest as well as the possibility of considering a limited resident harvest on this herd. Of course, Mr. Speaker, we will have to work with our co-management partners on any such proposals and look forward to beginning that task in the immediate future. Our plan is to work with our co-management partners to draft a proposal on harvest options by December 2012 so that the board can make recommendations on harvest levels in time for the 2013-2014 hunting season.
ENR is also eagerly awaiting the results of survey work done by the Government of Nunavut on the Beverly/Ahiak herd. This data, expected to arrive in November, will help inform decisions about current and future management actions for both subsistence and resident harvesters. Discussions with the Beverly Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board and the Government of Nunavut are expected to begin as soon as the data arrives and we hope to see harvest recommendations on this herd in time for the 2013-2014 hunting season.
I want to take this opportunity to recognize the sacrifices made by so many throughout the NWT to help conserve our barren ground caribou herds.
These sacrifices have made a big difference in helping these herds stabilize and, in some cases, increase. Other factors, however, including weather events, climate change, predation and other disturbances mean the future is uncertain.
We continue to look to our co-management partners, Aboriginal leadership, communities and stakeholders for their continued support and advice on determining long-term management actions for our NWT barren ground caribou herd.
Mr. Speaker, I understand the hardship harvest restrictions places on harvesters, especially subsistence harvesters, and I intend to provide an update to this House in February on final survey results as well as proposed management actions for ensuring their conservation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, in 2001 people from around the NWT gathered on the Hay River Reserve to develop a social agenda for the Northwest Territories. Addressing social issues was a priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories at that time, as it is for the 17th Legislative Assembly today.
Every day we hear concerns about addictions, early childhood development, school success and family violence, among other issues. We all know that meaningful change happens when communities take control. The solutions to these issues come not from government headquarters, but from communities themselves.
One of the recommendations from that gathering was that communities should build plans to enable them to access multi-year block funding for community wellness programs.
Mr. Speaker, it has taken some time and lengthy discussions with our partners at Health Canada, but the time has come for this recommendation to be brought to life.
Our staff are building a schedule with our local and regional partners to support the development of community wellness plans in every community over the next few years. These plans will enable communities to access community wellness funding from Health Canada and our department through a multi-year block agreement. The agreements will simplify reporting requirements and allow for long-term planning and local staff development. In addition, these community wellness plans will be a tool communities can use to document local priorities and to access funding from other sources. An added bonus is that these plans will help the department ensure it responds to community priorities as it plans its prevention and promotion work.
Mr. Speaker, planning is not new to our communities. In 2010 every community completed an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan, with support from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Many of these comprehensive plans include reference to wellness programs as a community priority. This project builds on this kind of past work. Communities are not being asked to start from scratch. They are being encouraged to use work done in preparation for self-government, the pipeline, mines, or other projects. The key is that they will develop their own processes, where residents will ask themselves the following questions:
Where are we now?
What do we have to work with?
Where do we want to be in the future?
How do we get there?
Unlike many other planning projects in recent years, we are not asking for a one-size-fits-all in terms of process or reporting. We are encouraging our partners to build something that works for them.
Mr. Speaker, this will not be a GNWT or consultant-led process. The regional Aboriginal governments, community Aboriginal and municipal governments, or interagency committees are going to bring residents together to develop their community wellness plan.
For example, Mr. Speaker, in my hometown, the local community wellness staff will be involved in facilitator and report writing training in the next few weeks. These skills will be then used to lead the way in Fort Resolution. Taking the time to learn some new facilitation and reporting skills means that the capacity to do this work will stay with the community.
In the Monfwi riding, the Tlicho Government’s Community Action Research Team will add a couple of extra days onto community engagement work they do every fall to lead this work.
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation wellness staff will be doing the same in their region.
Mr. Speaker, reaction to this project has been very positive. Many of our community leaders have said they are grateful that communities will have the chance to plan their own programs in a manner that works for them.
I look forward to updating Members on the progress of this initiative in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Premier McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, last week in Winnipeg my colleague Mr. Hawkins and I attended the third National Aboriginal Women’s Summit, or NAWS III. The summit was established to further coordinate efforts underway nationally and in several jurisdictions, aimed at addressing violence against Aboriginal women and girls in particular, to end the national tragedy of murdered and missing Aboriginal women and girls. Members of this House will recall that in 2008, the NAWS II was held in the Northwest Territories and built upon the recommendations of the NAWS I in areas such as health, safety, wellness, equality and empowerment.
The two-day summit opened with a community gathering and family-honouring ceremony. I was able to participate directly in the ceremony and I hope the families found some comfort and healing. Our thoughts and prayers will remain with them and all families that are missing loved ones.
The second day of the summit included a roundtable discussion of provincial and territorial representatives and national Aboriginal leaders. I was pleased to be able to have productive discussions with the Northwest Territories Native Women’s Association while I was at the summit, and look forward to our continued partnership with the Native Women’s Association and the Status of Women Council.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 34(6) so that all Ministers’ statements filed with the Clerk can be delivered today.
---Unanimous consent granted
Our statistics indicate that there are 73 missing or unsolved homicide investigations open in the Northwest Territories. Of these, 63 are considered historical missing person investigations. Of these 63, 13 are women, eight of whom are Aboriginal. Ten of the 63 historical cases have been deemed suspicious or foul play has not been ruled out.
Mr. Speaker, since January 1, 2000, 35 deaths occurring in the Northwest Territories were classified as homicides by the coroner’s office. Eleven of the victims were women.
Along with my provincial and territorial colleagues, I am committed to working at the national level to address the issues facing Aboriginal women and communities. A broad cross-section of society working together can create positive change.
I want to especially recognize the family of Angela Meyer. Members of this House will recall that Angela went missing from her home here in Yellowknife. I was honoured to be able to present her mother, Kathy Meyer, with a special blanket during the family-honouring ceremony as a symbol of the support and comfort we all feel for the families who are suffering this terrible loss. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mr. Speaker, healthy behaviours and healthy choices are fundamental to a good education and superior quality of life. Schools offer a significant opportunity to educate young people about healthy lifestyles and to foster healthy behaviours. In the Northwest Territories, schools play a strong central role in health promotion. While we develop the programs that foster these healthy behaviours, we must first understand what our young people think about their health, their challenges and their choices. The Health and Health-Related Behaviours Among Young People in the Northwest Territories is our students’ voice about their health and their experience in NWT communities.
This report has been done every four years since 1989, but until now, all of the reports have combined NWT numbers with the rest of Canada. The new report is the first time we have had data for our territory. Led by researchers at Queen’s University and the Public Health Agency of Canada, the report covers students aged 11 to 15.
The report presents data on the health of young people in the categories of mental health, environmental influences, health promoting behaviours and health risk behaviours. The data show that our young people share similar patterns with their counterparts in the rest of Canada, and those issues like bullying and substance abuse are as relevant here as down south. The data also show that mental health, relationships with others, and obesity and overweight issues need particular attention in the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, the departments of Education, Culture and Employment and Health and Social Services will be using the important baseline information in the report to build strong, targeted programming. This is valuable information and a great insight into how our children perceive themselves. Later today I will be tabling this report.
Many of the programs we have in place work to change risky behaviour patterns in our students, and this report will serve to not only reinforce those programs, but give us the ability to act in areas where our children have told us they need it most. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Colleagues, before we go on today, I would like to welcome back to the House, two former Ministers and one former Speaker, David Krutko, and Ms. Sandy Lee. Good to have them back in the House.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today Members of the Legislative Assembly are wearing purple ribbons. These ribbons represent the remembrance of a very young, talented, gifted and special individual who was taken too soon from his family and friends, Paulousie Ittungna.
Purple was Paulou’s favourite colour. Sometimes our families, communities and territory lose special individuals far too soon and well before their time. This is just the case in the passing of Paulou.
Paulou was an exceptional young man, who excelled in sports such as soccer and volleyball, but he was more than that. He was a brother, a son, a role model to youth and adults and a mentor to his family and friends.
Although a young life has been lost, this is also a time to reminisce and celebrate a great life that was full of energy and positivity that was shared with everyone that had the wonderful experience of knowing Paulou. He will be deeply missed and our thoughts and prayers will be with his family and friends today.
Today I ask all Northerners to take a moment of silence in their own time throughout the day to remember a special person in their lives that they have lost, and continue to pray for others to give them strength in their times of need. I thank all Members today for wearing the significant ribbon that remembers the great life of one of our young residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I will be tabling a written petition of 27 signatures, calling for the early introduction of midwifery services throughout our communities.
This paper petition is in addition to the e-petition that will remain open for signatures until January on the Legislative Assembly website. My colleagues for Hay River North and Frame Lake have spoken this session on the need for early introduction of midwifery services throughout our community. I will add my voice to theirs.
The Minister of Health has heard the sound arguments: improved social functioning, enhanced autonomy, bringing birth closer to home, increased continuity of care, decreased stress, improved access to culturally appropriate care that promotes the ancestral traditions of midwifery, and the increased opportunities for health promotion and disease prevention.
Let’s not forget the money. Keeping mothers in communities rather than flying them around, putting them up, and delivering children with very expensive physician care costs us huge sums. We are building a regional health care delivery system on the basis of the community health centre. Midwifery service is an indispensable element of this model. Deferring these benefits in the cause of savings today is penny wise and pound foolish, and fails to continue the progress improvement of community health centre services.
I want to give a respectful nod to the hardworking group NWT Citizens for Midwifery that has recognized the need for an NWT-wide perspective and is so strongly supporting the development of midwifery services in our regions. I also support the adoption of this approach by the Minister of Health and Social Services.
In this session we continue to hear the Minister talking about consulting, planning and preparing. He said last Monday that we’ll be doing community consultations and preliminary health human resources planning for midwife recruitment and training options. While I appreciate this work, it is years since the previous Minister deep-sixed the Yellowknife program. We hear that Minister Beaulieu is aiming for 2015 for the new regional program. We’ve had enough delay. Like my colleague Ms. Bisaro, I’m calling for the inclusion of this programming in the next 2013-2014 round of business planning.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the need for Education, Culture and Employment to provide student financial assistance for Aboriginal students to do master’s and PhD degrees.
In 1998 this government reduced the number of years an Aboriginal student can receive SFA to six years. This was done to assist the GNWT when the federal government reduced our budget by 10 percent. MLAs agreed to this, because the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment of the day promised he would put something in place so that Aboriginal students could get the same level of student financial assistance for master’s and PhD degrees.
What is the situation almost 15 years later? First, let’s look at the jobs. The vast majority of GNWT jobs require one degree, or many require a master’s. In fact, there are 17 positions in the division of early childhood and school services at ECE. Sixteen of those positions, or 94 percent of the 17 positions, require a master’s degree.
What about the improvements to SFA? Well, I’m proud to say the then-Minister of Education did substantially improve SFA but not for Aboriginal students who want to get their master’s or PhD degrees. The government changed the regulations so that the non-Aboriginal students now receive a remissible loan with allowance of six years, the same as Aboriginal students, but we have done nothing for Aboriginal students to get their master’s or PhD degrees.
Aboriginal students took a huge hit in 1998. This government reduced their SFA from unlimited years to six years. Aboriginal students helped this GNWT meet our new budget, but we failed our Aboriginal students. We created a problem for them in 1998 and we have failed to fix it as we said we would.
It’s time to fix the problem of no master’s or PhD degrees for Aboriginal students that we created 15 years ago. Otherwise, Aboriginal students might say that GNWT is deliberately trying to keep Aboriginal people from working at ECE, or if ECE is an illustration of the government as a whole, they can say that we’re trying to keep Aboriginal people out of the GNWT. Look at our hiring percentage.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The people in my riding are grateful when they can receive medical services in their small and remote communities. I’m really happy that doctors travel about every six weeks to small and isolated places like Trout Lake. What a precious opportunity to give our elders and children the best of care.
I’m sorry to say that we’re not fully making use of this opportunity. The doctor comes to Trout Lake, but residents are turned away if they don’t have a prior appointment. These are the elders and children.
I think, last week or a couple weeks ago in this House, Mr. Yakeleya spoke about chasing patients away from the small and remote communities when the doctors are there. It’s not always easy to anticipate when you’ll need to see a doctor and make an appointment. Think of it, Mr. Speaker. The doctor’s there, the patients are there, but the patients can’t see the doctor. How frustrating for the people of Trout Lake and people in all our small and remote communities when they’re waiting for that opportunity. Perhaps we can plan to have the doctor to stay overnight so that everyone can be seen. These days we invested lots of money into electronic medical records. Visiting doctors should be able to access walk-in patients’ files.
I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services on making more effective use of visiting doctors during question period today.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. November is the time of year when we wear a red poppy in memory of those who sacrificed their lives for us during war. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month marked the signing of armistice on the 11th in 1918; the signal of the end of World War I. At 11:00 a.m. on November 11th, the guns on the western front fell silent after more than four years of continuous war. This year, on Sunday, November 11th, I will take part in the Remembrance Day service in Hay River.
It will be with great pride that I will be taking part in this service in Hay River to remember those men and women who have served and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace. Remembrance Day gives us all time, for us a nation, to stop and reflect upon the sacrifices that our soldiers have made so that we continue to live in peace in this great country.
The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields in Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red color an appropriate symbol of the blood spilled in war. I urge everyone to wear their poppy with pride, and hopefully everyone will have the opportunity to attend ceremonies in their communities.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the cold weather upon us it is only right that we once again revisit a topic that I brought into this House some months ago. That topic is carbon monoxide detectors.
Sometimes you only need to look over the fence to see the good work that is being done by our colleagues in the Yukon, where they have faced this issue with a certain degree of vigour since a tragic carbon monoxide poisoning in Whitehorse last January.
Although the Yukon is proposing to make carbon monoxide detectors mandatory in all Yukon homes including rental units, I don’t believe the NWT needs to take the same legislative steps in order to raise the bar for our residents. Quite frankly, we should only have to look at the findings of the Yukon Oil-fired Appliances Working Group, their action plan and recommendations, as well as just speaking to our own Arctic Energy Alliance partners to truly get a proper roadmap for the safety of our citizens and carbon monoxide detector use.
First and foremost, it is evident that biomass is now on the rise and being supported by this government as a viable means of heating our homes and businesses. However, do you know, with all the support, the GNWT does not have any regulations for the installation of wood and pellet stoves in their communities. Aside from maybe Yellowknife and Hay River, many wood stoves in various communities are noncompliant, many of the existing stoves do not meet safety codes, and most troubling is that there is no established inspection process for many of our communities.
It is paramount that this government lead by example and take the necessary steps to standardize the implementation of proper training methods for installation of oil-fired and wood use appliances, enhance the upgrading skills of our tradespeople, ensure the training programs used are up to date of curriculum and standards, and finally, spend the necessary funds on the proper public awareness and regulation process.
It is without question that awareness needs to be increased, and a standardized regulation for all oil-fired and wood use appliances needs to be a shared mandate with all community fire marshal offices, with the Municipal and Community Affairs office, and with the cooperation of various community governments.
To ensure the safety for all NWT residents, this much needed regulation needs to be introduced and standardized today. We have the power to avoid needless tragedies. Will this government ignore or will this government act now? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Yellowknife Association for Community Living and the NWT Disabilities Council provide many programs for disabled persons and their families. One of the most widely used and most appreciated programs is the Respite Care Program.
Under the Respite Program here in Yellowknife, a caregiver from the Yellowknife Association for Community Living takes care of disabled children for three to five hours a week. The program not only gives the children’s families a short break each week, but it also introduces the children to a social life outside their families.
The Yellowknife program has been used by the NWT Disabilities Council as a template for three other respite care pilot programs in Deline, in Fort Smith and in Aklavik. Children have been able to develop relationships with their respite worker and, more importantly, perhaps with other children. Several parents have told me that advances in the social development of their child is absolutely because of the Respite Program. The kids have an opportunity to bond with and to relate to people who are not family members. The dynamic of such a relationship for an autistic child, for instance, cannot be underestimated.
In 2010 the Respite Program run by the Yellowknife Association for Community Living lost its funding. As a result of major pushback from the community, the funding was reinstated. At the same time, Regular MLAs passed a motion calling on the territorial government to provide permanent funding for respite care in the NWT.
In response, the GNWT created a Territorial Respite Care Committee to develop a strategic plan to extend the Respite Program across the NWT. This plan has been formulated and received feedback from committee members and service providers.
What is so desperately needed now is the implementation of that plan. In 29 of our communities, families with disabled children currently have no respite care services. The executive director of the NWT Disabilities Council states that they are receiving crisis calls on a weekly basis from NWT families, parents and front-line workers, including social workers, all of whom are at the end of their resources. As you can imagine, it is heartbreaking for all involved to have to turn families away, heartbreaking when families have to consider giving up their children because they just can’t get respite care in their home community, heartbreaking when suggestions for coping with stress involves sending children away to an institution for short-term care.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
There is an overwhelming need for respite care in our territory. When will the Health and Social Services department roll out the territorial respite implementation plan?
I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I raise today’s Member’s statement as an opportunity to respond to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Minister’s statement, which is an update on the NWT barren ground caribou numbers.
First off, I want to thank the Minister for providing the House a small update. I think it’s a snapshot of our particular situation, but it is disappointing to hear the facts, that we still have a number of herds missing, without the details.
He points out, quite clearly, that the Bluenose-East and the Porcupine numbers, due to weather, we were not able to get clear and accurate numbers. So in other words, we couldn’t operate with that.
There is some good news. I want to thank the Minister for being at least the messenger of good news that the Cape Bathurst herd and the Bluenose-West are increasing and, predictably, we are very hopeful that the Bluenose-East at 100,000 continues to show strong numbers. That now starts to open up the question of what are we going to do with these particular numbers.
Many of the outfitters as well as resident hunters and I, do hear as well from Aboriginal rights holders, who ask themselves from time to time what numbers are we actually working towards. It seems to be shifting and we need clear transparency on these particular numbers. If we are going to open up the harvest one day and expand the harvest to what it was at one time, we need to understand what we are working towards.
I find it disappointing that we don’t have any indication in the Minister’s statement as to how we will continue to work with industry that is being mothballed as we speak. Outfitters have certainly paid a pound of flesh as they’ve waited patiently for the outfitting industry to once again return to its great excitement. We all know that the outfitters provided great employment; we had an excellent reputation in the Northwest Territories to provide opportunities. Some of the meat, in many cases that was provided, was given to the small communities and those who needed it, and let us not forget about the taxation and the millions of dollars that was brought into the Northwest Territories.
The primary concerns are in where are we going. We’ve got some of these numbers, not all, I respect that that may not have been possible, but where are we going with these particular numbers? Full transparency is the issue on this one, so when the outfitters look forward to the future, they know where they’re going. We cannot continue this attitude of the 12th of never as our motto of one day we will open the outfitting opportunities, one day resident hunters will hunt.
If the Minister could provide the House with real numbers, we all know what we’re in together fighting for. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sunday is Remembrance Day and I’d like to take this opportunity to speak just a little bit about the veterans, starting with the veterans and the knowledge of war that I grew up with as a child.
My grandfather, Sylvanus John Vivian Cann, volunteered to serve in the First World War when he was 28 years of age. He was already married and had three small daughters. He went off to World War I, and in later years, when you have a grandfather that wore a great big, long, wide band of metal, you’re going to hear a few war stories.
I find it interesting that my grandfather’s recollections of his time in the trenches on the front lines in the First World War always included his remembrance of serving with Aboriginal soldiers, First Nations soldiers that he served with. Now, he was no dummy, because when you’re crawling around in trenches, who do you want to have with you? People who have the expertise and the knowledge of the land and can see and hear the signs, and he often told us the stories of the acute skills and how much he appreciated that time of service.
Later, when World War II broke out, his two sons, my two uncles, Charles Stuart Cann and Thomas Bruce Cann, both went off to the Second World War and went to Europe as very, very young men. My Uncle Stuart is buried in France someplace and my Uncle Bruce did come home, but he came home very troubled, very shell shocked and lived a life where as kids we didn’t really know what was wrong with Uncle Bruce, but he would break into tears or he was shell shocked from the war and we didn’t know that as kids. The happy news for Uncle Bruce was he had met a beautiful, sophisticated Dutch widow when he picked up a little girl off the streets of Holland and took her home to her mother. My Aunt Susan ultimately came to Canada and married my Uncle Bruce, and they had a wonderful family and a wonderful life together.
My own father, who served in the British Army from 1940 to 1947 and immigrated to Canada, met my mother there, and I’m very proud of my father’s war service as well. Then coming to Hay River and meeting the many, many wonderful northern veterans who we got to know, many of whom by now have passed away, but as Remembrance Day comes upon us this Sunday, may we just say we will remember them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for Tu Nedhe. Mr. Beaulieu.
