Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Mr. Speaker, I want to ensure the people of Tu Nedhe that the Premier, in signing the devolution agreement-in-principle with the federal government, has thoroughly gone through some very important details. That is what the Dene leadership in Tu Nedhe want to know.
I’m sure that the Premier was being honest earlier in his term when he said that the work on the devolution agreement was on the backburner. Leaders in my constituency believed him and so did I. However, now the Dene leaders feel that the Premier has been working on the devolution agreement all along. My leaders said to me, he’s been working diligently on the agreement-in-principle in the background all this time.
As I said last week, it was wrong to sign the agreement without the Dene governments on side. It was also noted that there were some other major problems with the AIP and I will speak on some of those today.
It is very possible that running a regulatory system will end up costing more than the federal government has agreed to transfer to us. This is made more likely with the fact that the $65 million pledged to manage the land and resources was not indexed to inflation. It will be easily five years before this transfer takes place. We would basically lose a percentage of that money right off the top.
I’m worried about the cleanup of waste sites. There are many abandoned mines and exploration camps
in Tu Nedhe. I know the federal government has agreed to clean the older sites but I don’t see a commitment or time frame to do that.
We would have to make sure that the federal government isn’t making another empty promise. This could be a great opportunity to create jobs and clean up our environment. It would be essential to the Aboriginal government...
Mr. Beaulieu, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
In Tu Nedhe alone, there are 25 waste sites. That’s not counting Pine Point and, of course, all the diamond mines are currently in Tu Nedhe and, therefore, these will require future remediation for sure.
There’s also the issue of cleaning up the more recent industrial sites regulated under the legislation implemented since 1984. The public cleanup required on these, the GNWT will have to pay for 100 percent.
I’ll be asking the Premier questions on this at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is Canadian Mental Health Week and I’d like to offer a few comments on the state of mental health care and wellness.
One of the keys to good mental health is a balanced outlook, so first let’s dwell on the positive. Community commitment and caring are the common threads. We have a long history of the NWT Helpline, where compassionate people give their time and attention to help people get through the hard times. We have the recent partnership of BHP and the Union of Northern Workers putting up $10,000 each for the staging of support groups. The Women in Progress Program jointly staged by the Centre for Northern Families and the Canadian Mental Health Association local chapter help women learn skills for healthy choices. Help from the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health has provided counselling services. Mental Health Week gives us an opportunity to recognize these achievements and I offer my kudos to these people.
Still, the needs are great. There is still no resident psychiatrist practising in the NWT. Although we are fortunate now, having our Yellowknife physicians filled by longer-term locums, access to the care of psychiatrists and psychologists is virtually non-existent in our communities. Twice since the fall we’ve had two major ground searches in Yellowknife looking for people on release from the Stanton mental health unit and missing in the community. One of these unfortunate people has still not been found. When people are released, where can they go? The city’s new day program, crisis housing and the Centre for Northern Families are where many outpatients end up, but we are relying upon the services of overstretched, non-government organization programs that lack the resources and especially the skilled staff to deal with mental health care. When things go wrong, I am told that there are often difficulties in getting outpatients readmitted; leaving these people parked without care in places already stretched to the max.
While there’s a lot of commitment and some progress, we have to admit that mental health care is often considered an add-on or “nice to,” rather than a central element of care. I will be asking the Minister of Health on the place of mental health care in our total approach to healthy citizens. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the response of the Standing Committee on Social Programs report of the review of child and family services that was recently tabled by the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I’m happy that the report was tabled earlier than suspected. I was a little surprised, but I’m happy that it’s here because it gives an opportunity to talk about it early in this session, especially when the health budget is before us.
I have mixed feelings on the response, Mr. Speaker. There’s a lot of good stuff in the response, a lot of positive direction that the department is taking, and the department has accepted 22 of our recommendations full on. They’ve also accepted 13 recommendations in principle and 28 recommendations conditionally, which is good. I’m a little disappointed at the 10 that were, in fact, rejected.
One area of concern that I have is when it comes to the accepted in principle and accepted conditionally recommendations. I’ve read through all of them several times now and there’s some wording in there that concerns me. Often the department will respond, especially when we’re talking about legislation mostly in the areas where they’ve accepted in principle, that what we are asking is already implicit in the act. If it was implicit in the act -- and we’ve all read the act -- we wouldn’t have had to make the recommendation. What we’re looking for is for certain items to be explicit in the act so that it’s hard and fast. I’ll be asking some questions to the Minister about that later.
Often, especially in the conditionally accepted areas, you’ll see where the Minister or the department, or the government I guess in this case, indicates that they agree with the intent of what our recommendations were, but when you actually get into the information and action column, it explains why they can’t or won’t do anything on those particular recommendations; not all of them, some of them. They often indicate within the conditionally accepted area that what we are asking already exists in policy. Once again, Mr. Speaker, we wouldn’t have been asking for the recommendation if we had seen it in action. So it may be in the policy but let’s see some of these things on the floor.
This afternoon during question period I will be asking the Minister some questions on this and seeking a commitment to work with committee as we move forward. The department is planning to do a strategic plan around this area and I think it’s important that we, the Social Programs, sit with the Minister and her department to work out some of our differences in those areas to reach common ground on each of those recommendations in moving forward. That’s what I’ll be talking to the Minister about later today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A common concern in my constituency is damage done by extreme power surges of electricity coming into the homes. One constituent has been discussing this problem for some time with the NWT Power Corporation time after time. NTPC has tried to solve the problem, with no success. It may be a part of the problem is the lack of qualified professionals who can truly diagnose what’s going wrong and fix it in the community, Mr. Speaker. This constituent had to wait a long time for a specialist to fly into the community, evaluate the problem, only to watch the individual climb the power pole, tighten the connection and tell him the problem was fixed. He knew that was unlikely, and sure enough, the power fluctuations continued and he had more damage to his appliances done. Maybe the Power Corporation doesn’t have the resources to hire qualified and knowledgeable professionals.
As a resident of a small, remote community, I know this first hand, the damage done by power surges. This is rarely an issue in larger centres as they get the power failures just as we do but rarely have such extreme fluctuations in their power. This is yet another example of the lower quality of services to our small communities, Mr. Speaker. This should be corrected and NTPC needs to ensure that it reimburses its customers in small communities for appliances that are damaged by poor quality of electricity. This requires them to do proper evaluations of the damage. I hope they have qualified people to do that.
Mr. Speaker, this should be fair and easy to NTPC customers to make complaints about the service, but I couldn’t find any information on how from the Power Corporation on its website.
Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to congratulate the Northwest Territories Metis Nation. There was a signing ceremony today in the media room at noon and the representatives and leadership of their government were on hand to sign and to witness this historic document.
Mr. Speaker, as Ms. Betty Villebrun noted in her comments today, she said: “In signing the agreement-in-principle, the NWT Metis Nation is now in a position to be a part of the negotiations that will ultimately determine the final agreement that will come and will be in the best interests of their citizens.”
When we took office, Mr. Speaker, as the 16th Assembly, as always, we had an eye to the future. We said that our role was to build a foundation and to put in place decisions that would advance the agenda of the people of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, on January 26th the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government took a bold step in that direction, in my opinion. Today the Metis Nation joined with their official signing, and this, again, another crucial piece in forming this foundation of how we move forward together as a Territory.
Mr. Speaker, once completed, the devolution agreement will provide us with the resources and decision-making authorities to shape our future. But it is important to remember at the same time, the signing of the AIP is not the conclusion of the work; instead, it is a roadmap to continue to move to a different level of negotiations with the federal government.
The AIP, as it reads, as I said, is simply the beginning. It opens the door to a final agreement and next steps towards that final agreement. Much work is yet to be done, many negotiations still to be completed. I believe that, to that end, the Premier will be going into the different regions of the Northwest Territories to continue to meet and dialogue with the people about this agreement that we have embarked on.
As we have done until now, I am competent that we can and will continue to work together as the Northwest Territories leaders, for the benefit of all of our people. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I today, too, want to comment on the government’s response to the Child and Family Services Act review report. On first reading of those responses, I was disappointed. Although the majority of recommendations are accepted, they are not accepted unconditionally. To paraphrase Mr. Bromley, those responses indicate, yup, we agree, but can’t do anything because there is no money; and yup, we agree, but there is no change required.
The government’s response was determined by examining each recommendation in light of two criteria. One, will it improve service delivery and make a difference to children, family and youth? Two, will it strengthen community and stakeholder confidence in the system? After using these criteria, several extremely important concepts reflected in the Child and Family Services Act review report’s recommendations have been ignored by the government or they have chosen not to act on them.
Firstly, the principle of prevention and early intervention is basic and crucial to improving child and family services in the NWT. Yet the government’s response to that recommendation is do not accept. I am unable to understand how this principle fails the test of the criteria I already mentioned.
Secondly, the concept of having child and family service committees in our communities is also basic and crucial to improving the implementation of the Child and Family Services Act, but a recommendation to actively pursue establishment of these committees is accepted only if and when money is available. The department did not indicate any willingness to begin work on establishing these community committees in the 2011-12 fiscal year. What value accrues to our child welfare system if we wait 15 months until the start of the 2012-13 year? I say none.
Lastly, most of the committee’s recommendations to make amendments to the act are rejected by the government. Committee suggested the amendments because we felt certain aspects of the child and family services system needed to be mandated, not just implied or allowed. The changes to the system are important enough that the act must require them, not just say they can be done.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve got many other specific concerns with the government response but not the time to speak to them. The CFSA review report was a good one and the recommendations properly implemented can have significant impact on the NWT child and family services system. I hope the government will reconsider its approach to our recommendations and implement some of them in the upcoming budget year, not leave them all for the next Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Mr. Speaker, during my recent constituency visit to Wrigley in January, I was contacted by the Wrigley DEA members and parents who are concerned that students who went to Fort Simpson for high school were having a lot of problems. If these students are to complete secondary school, their only alternative is to live in Fort Simpson and attend the Fort Simpson high school, and they cannot. Those that do attend are at the expense of the parents.
I am proud that in the past three years there have been a total of 14 children who travelled to Fort Simpson to begin their secondary education. However, I’m sad to say that presently there are only two students eligible for support by the Dehcho Divisional Council. I believe that our educational system is failing the parents and the students of Wrigley.
The parents feel that the Wrigley youth are not given enough support by the school system. Also, the parents do want input into how the residence is run and they do have some suggestions like extra professional guidance for assistance and also they identified that perhaps a male supervisor is needed at the student residence. Once again, Mr. Speaker, parents are calling for more support to ensure their children have the same opportunities as other students in the NWT and have requested a meeting to discuss experiences with the residents in Fort Simpson. I share the concerns of these parents.
I recommend that a review is done of this whole situation, including alternate accommodations as a solution. In a time when Aboriginal achievement is of great concern to all of us, we must find ways to encourage and support our secondary school students who come from small and remote communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to a good education, there are many challenges youth and adults in small communities in the Northwest Territories have. An education, Mr. Speaker, we are told will provide opportunities to find good jobs for our students, a job suited to them and one that will give them satisfaction and a decent income. That’s why we support our young people to go to school.
An adult student in the Sahtu is facing the barrier challenges right now, Mr. Speaker. She has completed coursework at Grande Prairie College in Alberta to be a teacher assistant. In order to complete her program she must do a practicum, working as a teacher assistant in the school. This woman intends to complete her practicum in the Sahtu. After she made some inquiries and a request to the Sahtu Divisional Education Council, the council actually agreed to supervise her practicum. However, when the superintendent of the education council phoned Grande Prairie College, he discovered that the college would not accept a practicum placement that was offsite. This is a sad state of affairs, Mr. Speaker.
I’m sure this is not the first time nor will it be the last time problems regarding practicum in the Northwest Territories comes up. I think that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment should determine some way to address this situation. Perhaps it’s as simple as ECE discussing the situation with contacts at the Grande Prairie college and entering into an agreement on work experience placement that is satisfactory to both parties.
ECE finances students to attend post-secondary school and encourages them to return to the Northwest Territories to work. There should be some way that the department can advise students who are entering programs that require practicum of this potential issue. The department could provide a protocol for arranging for education, health and other education programs work experience in the GNWT where possible.
I understand that not all education training programs can be offered in the Northwest Territories but I hope that we can ensure that when possible, that students can get to practice their practicum in the Northwest Territories, that they earn and do it in their home community. I have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to be speaking today about the Northern Nursing Program at Aurora College. As Members are well aware, this program became a four-year degree-granting program a few years ago. It is affiliated with the University of Victoria.
One of Ms. Lee’s first speeches as Minister of Health and Social Services was to address first-year students of the Northern Nursing Program at Aurora College in the fall of 2007. Ms. Lee’s address that day was full of encouragement, support, and promise of full-time employment in the Northwest Territories for each graduating student. Well, these students that Ms. Lee addressed back in 2007 are now just months away from concluding the program and what is very alarming is the lack of any job openings for graduate nurses in the Northwest Territories.
I’d like to understand how the Minister explains the lack of postings and the promise of employment for new grads. What about our expensive addiction to locum and agency nurses in the Northwest Territories? Where is the plan to integrate our northern nursing grads into our health care system in our Territory? Conceptually, wasn’t the idea of having our own Northern Nursing Program at Aurora College our best effort to alleviate our reliance on agency and locum nurses?
It would be a shame if we trained and developed grads from our Northern Nursing Program and then they packed up their families and left our Territory. Certainly you would think the Department of Health and Social Services and this government would have a plan to accommodate new grads; not just this year but in the years to come.
There are scheduled to be 19 new grads in 2011, 16 grads in 2012, and 32 grads in 2013. I find it very disturbing that the Minister and the department will be making decisions in the near future in the absence of any sound planning. I’ll certainly have some questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the priorities of the 16th Assembly has been to develop healthy, educated people. When reading our 16th Assembly priorities, I noticed that seniors and elders are missed in our collective statement.
As leaders, we have made a commitment to our present and future generations. One of the ways I feel strongly that we can work towards achieving a goal of supporting our seniors is to develop and adopt an NWT seniors charter. In 2006, our very own House of Commons adopted a similar concept in recognizing seniors. As such, they adopted the Seniors Charter of Canada.
The NWT seniors charter, if adopted, could recognize older Northerners as creative, active, valued members of our society. It would serve as a mission statement and set out the government’s commitment to their well-being, equality, and certainly a standard of living.
An NWT seniors charter would speak to such areas as income security, housing, wellness and health care, our commitment to stopping elders’ abuse, accessible opportunities for recreation, education and training, and timely access to government services, to only name a few.
To highlight in comparison of simple fairness, the Minister responsible for official languages tables an annual report that looks at the state and progress of languages each year. I certainly support that. Why would the official state of our seniors’ care, if programming, progress and development not receive the same type of respect? If there was any area in Canada that talks about its respect, care and importance of seniors and elders, it’s certainly here in the Northwest Territories. That support seems to be lacking.
A seniors charter could be the compass rose of where we need to be and definitely where we want to go with seniors’ issues. It would, in essence, be our mission statement and our plan. We would not want to develop this on our own. We would certainly need the help and guidance of those we’ve committed to care for and those who have walked before us.
There are many examples out there as to what implementation models could look like, but certainly we’re not here to solve that today. What would be important today would be to take the first step forward in organizing our commitment to seniors by developing an NWT seniors charter which would definitely define and recognize the valued contributions they’ve made to our North and our commitment to stand behind them.
Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to the gallery today and the presence of our Languages Commissioner, Ms. Sarah Jerome, who is with us today. We will be tabling her annual report at the appropriate time today.
The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to also recognize Sarah Jerome, NWT Official Languages Commissioner; also David Reid, NWTTA president.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Krutko, Mr. Roland, and Mr. Robert C. McLeod are not in the House and would have recognized the Languages Commissioner, Sarah Jerome. I’d like to recognize the Languages Commissioner.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to be able to recognize the chaperone for the two handsome Pages from Fort Smith -- Marcus Bourke and Ferron Beamish -- Ms. Melinda Bourke.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for… I’m drawing a blank.
---Laughter
The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Only the most important riding in this whole Territory, Mr. Speaker.
---Interjection
Anyway, I’d like to welcome Melinda Bourke as well. She’s my wife’s niece and I’m her uncle. I’d like to welcome Marcus, as well, for doing a good job helping out as a Page in the Page Program. It is a really good program. I’d like to welcome Ms. Sarah Jerome, too, into the House. Good to see you, Sarah. And Mr. Reid, one of my old teachers up in Inuvik. We had a lot of good run-ins and a lot of good times. Thank you, Mr. Reid.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Darrell Beaulieu, chairman of the Business Development and Investment Corporation, and Ms. Shirley Bohnet.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the practicum issue I talked about. I want to ask the Minister if there are any ways he’s working to arrange for students in the Northwest Territories to come back to the Territories to do their practicum once they complete their courses in southern educational institutions.
