Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services. I think we as the government, through the Department of Public Works and Services, should allow for a local interpretation and local input into how they want their community infrastructure to look and the kinds of things they want to accommodate. But, Mr. Speaker, we pay top dollar for architects and engineers when we build these kinds of projects. I guess Inuvik particularly stands out in my mind just because of the sheer cost of it.
I am not in any way trying to discourage the staff or anybody of that school, but we as a government, when we build a building, have to give the staff the kinds of things they need to work in a tidy and a useable and functional environment.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Public Works and Services, when building a school, quite apart from what the architects want to do or things should be done, do we not have standard things that would be built into a classroom, like a shelf to put shoes on, blackboards, bulletin boards? Are there not standard things that we set out as at least a minimum before the architects take them and add their flavour to it? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member’s point. We do planning studies with the department that is leading the build. In this case it was Education, Culture and Employment, and they identified the requirements, the things they would like to see in the building, the input from their staff, the input from the boards, the input from the community. All that is incorporated into the design. We build what is asked of us to build.
In the case of the school, we heard clearly from the board of education, from the Department of Education, and we incorporated state-of-the-art kitchen facilities, music rooms, theatre capacity so community groups could do those types of things. We put in state-of-the-art gym and physical rooms, so that the students could be healthy and well. We also incorporated a significant amount of light and open space that the community, the students and the staff all indicated they wanted.
So we do try to incorporate community input as much as possible. If you look around the Northwest Territories, every school in the Northwest Territories is different and they’ve all had input from the communities. A good example would be Diamond Jenness. If you go into Diamond Jenness in Hay River, clearly the community has had input into that facility and the types of things they would want to see in that facility. It, as well, with the upgrades, is a state-of-the-art facility.
The people of Inuvik are very proud of their school. They are very proud of the facility that was built and it is a state-of-the-art facility with tons to offer. Are there sore points for certain individuals? I’m sure there are. Are there things we can do better? Absolutely. We will learn from these experiences and we will take the Member’s point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’d like to thank the Minister; good answers. There are always going to be deficiencies with new construction. Any new building, there is going to be a list of deficiencies of things that need to be addressed. I am just disappointed that such fundamentally required things like millwork or cabinetry to store things like kids’ shoes… All the way down the hallway, there were those $1.99 plastic boot trays on the outside of the hallway. Inside the classroom door, literally, were Rubbermaid white laundry baskets with all the kids’ shoes all chucked in there in a pile. I’m sorry, I’ve been in a lot of schools in the Northwest Territories and that’s not standard. It’s not conducive to a tidy and workable environment for me. When I go into a school and the first thing I want to do is start cleaning it up, straightening it out and taking papers down and putting things on bulletin boards, maybe it’s just me.
They have a dental facility in the school. How amazing is that? That is beautiful, but they can’t use it because the door opens the wrong way. It’s completely unusable.
There are things that somehow, someway when the translation between what the community and the staff and the DEA wanted and everything, and what was delivered, there are deficiencies. I guess, suffice it to say, I hope that these things can be addressed so that the residents and students of Inuvik can enjoy this new facility to the utmost.
I’m not familiar with the door issue, but I’ll certainly have Public Works and Services take a look at it.
With respect to the other items, they weren’t part of the original design. I’m happy to work with Education, Culture and Employment, and if they are interested in putting in those types of things, we, as the facilitator of building in the Northwest Territories for government infrastructure, will be happy to work with them and do as they ask.
There also seemed to be a question about snow removal. This school is located on a very large lot, and of course, you get a lot of snow. Like anywhere in the North, you get a lot of snow there. But I guess in the old school maybe they had like a shed for snow removal equipment. I know this is a problem in Hay River too. I’m not even sure whose responsibility it is to clear the snow. Is it the schools or is it Public Works and Services? That was another deficiency that we observed and heard about when we saw the new school in Inuvik. Maybe the Minister of Public Works could answer that for us. Who is responsible for the equipment and the actual removal of snow on school property?
Ultimately, the authorities are responsible for the schools themselves, but we do a lot of maintenance work for schools as negotiated. In the case of Inuvik, I’m not sure what the situation is with the snow, but I will certainly look into that and get back to the Member.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
