Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide an update on our new approach to recruit and training corrections officers and youth officers to work in our facilities.
In the past, we have had challenges with recruiting Northerners for these specialized jobs. Not just anyone can work as a corrections officer or in a correctional centre. These jobs take many skills and the right attitude. The skills required are not easy to come by in the North, and we need to make sure that people have the skills and training they need to qualify for these jobs. Situations can escalate within seconds and staff need to be able to react quickly and appropriately.
We wanted Northerners to qualify for these jobs. That’s especially true because our approach to corrections is much different than the approaches that are common in other parts of Canada. Our focus is on rehabilitation and community reintegration and we use a direct supervision model that has our staff and offenders working closely together.
We need people who have the same approach, people who care about their communities, people who want to help inmates deal with the issues that have been leading them to crime. We can’t train people to care about their communities. We can train people who already care about their communities to be good corrections staff. This is part of the Government of the Northwest Territories’ work to improve human resource management through training, career planning and encouraging
employee innovation. Our own Justice Northern Workforce Development Plan depends on this client-focused, service-oriented model.
Our northern solution is a recruitment program which identifies Northerners with the right aptitude and attitude and then provides them with a six-week training program. It was developed by Northerners and graduates are qualified to start work at any of our correctional centres right away. So far, 20 people have graduated. That’s 20 northern residents who qualified right away to work in our corrections system or in any other security-type job in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the next program will start this April with concurrent training programs in Yellowknife and Fort Smith. These programs are delivered in-house by qualified instructors. We need people with all sorts of backgrounds to work in corrections. Our diversity is our strength. We hire people with training in social work, education, nursing, recreation, counselling, management and law enforcement. Sometimes people don’t realize how many opportunities they have. We think this training program will help.
Our corrections service is working hard to recruit and retain northern staff to be as responsible as we can be to the needs of northern offenders. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House today to attend promotional events related to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to rise today on an issue I raised yesterday in the House. I find it kind of ironic that the Government of the Northwest Territories is falling back to federal legislation that was passed in the federal Parliament in 1960 to deal with an issue in 2010. I think, Mr. Speaker, it’s a bad precedent that this government is setting on how we manage the affairs of the Northwest Territories by going back to the colonial government of John Diefenbaker.
At that time, we used to have a council which was appointed by Ottawa and ran the government out of Ottawa, and now we are in the situation where we are going back to that same legislation and same process of falling back instead of going ahead and agreeing to acknowledging aboriginal rights, aboriginal land claims and Canadian constitutional changes in regards to Section 35, acknowledging aboriginal people’s rights in the Northwest Territories and enhancing those processes to enact those legislative agreements that have been passed in this Legislature by adhering to aboriginal rights with regard to constitutional rights and, more importantly, Mr. Speaker, the right as Canadians to upholding our Constitution, Section 35.
Mr. Speaker, I find it kind of hard to understand how a government can make a political decision on outdated decisions regarding a government which no longer applies to the Northwest Territories. We are a new Territory after division. We have land claims settled in the Northwest Territories. We also have agreements that clearly stipulate the process this government must follow before it takes any type of radical decisions such as the one we’re dealing with today by ensuring due process, making sure that the needs levels of indigenous people are upheld, and allowing those aboriginal people the right to subsistence harvesting on a manageable level. I think for myself, a Member of this House going on 15 years, this sets a bad precedent in regard to how we make decisions in this Legislature for the people of the Northwest Territories, running back to Ottawa, going through their archives to dig up something that might be...
Mr. Krutko, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
This sets a bad precedent where we have to go back to the federal archives in Ottawa to dig up anything we can to justify what we’re doing today in 2010. I think because of the justification of how this came about, the process was enhanced and I think it’s critical that this government investigates exactly how this took place. I will be asking the Minister questions on why we had to go to the federal archives.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over my time in this Assembly I have encountered quite a few situations where constituents have been at odds with a body or organization who has made a decision that affects the constituent or their family. In most cases when that happens the only recourse available is for the matter to be taken to court. That option comes with all sorts of problems attached. Most people don’t have the money to pay for a lawyer. Most people are not comfortable in the court system even if they do have a lawyer. As well, the court system is adversarial and does not allow for solving a dispute with mediation and arbitration, in most cases. That’s a process which is far less combative and much more in line with what most of us are used to in our daily lives.
I know that Members of this House have previously argued for an office of an ombudsman and I want to add my voice to that chorus, albeit a faint chorus at the moment. There are innumerable situations where NWT residents could use an ombudsman to assist in solving a dispute or disagreement. Disputes such as landlord-tenant issues that are outside the jurisdiction of the rental officer; an investigation and/or decision by a self-regulating body where the professional person feels it was incorrectly handled or resulted in an unjust decision; decisions by housing authorities that the client may disagree with; income support issues -- a family may lose their home due to Income Support not issuing cheques in a timely manner and they would like to dispute that; health and social services issues -- an ombudsman can investigate administrative decisions by officials in hospitals and other medical facilities; decisions made by the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission could go to an ombudsman. For all of these situations, and many others as well, there’s no avenue of appeal except the court.
An ombudsman is impartial and independent from the government. They would make recommendations to resolve issues of unfairness and to improve administrative processes. Many of us in this House receive inquiries from constituents in distress because we, as MLAs, are an informal avenue of appeal and I don’t believe that MLA intervention is the best way to solve these sorts of disputes.
All these disputes could be dealt with by an ombudsman. Almost two years ago now the Minister of Justice advised that his department would look into the possibility of establishing an ombudsman office. I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk today about the woeful delivery of the Seniors Home Heating Subsidy and the need for improvements in our general customer service approach. One of my constituents applied for the heating fuel subsidy and filed his paperwork asking for propane fuel. He was told more information was needed, re-filed the identical information, and was approved. He heard nothing until a delivery truck arrived at his rural home and filled his generator fuel tank with diesel. He called the department, reported the error, and was told he would receive propane this time. The allowable benefit for propane is 3,200 litres.
The department mistakenly approved him for the 2,400 litre diesel allowance. Upon request, they corrected this error. The department told him to call the propane company to arrange his delivery. The company has no Yellowknife service representatives and when he called they knew nothing of the program. He went to the Yellowknife office and was told that the delivery would be made and to give the propane company the government delivery order so the company could get payment from the department. He supplied that. The bill went unpaid for three months and he began to get letters demanding payment and saying late payment charges would be added. The overdue account was turned over to a collection agency with a warning that his credit rating would be damaged. The bill has now been paid but he is still on the hook for the late payment charges, which the department hasn’t paid.
I think you would agree that this experience could hardly have been worse. I am not only concerned with the disappointing treatment of my constituent, but with the potential loss of benefits to many seniors owing to the complexity, difficulty and failed management of the program. This person happened to have sophisticated skills for dealing with government. Others who may be less well-educated or informed might never know the program due to lack of promotion. They might abandon their attempts to receive support at any one of the failed service points in this process. They could receive less than their allowance benefits due to errors in the amount and type of fuel subsidy being approved. They could end up suffering adverse credit rating consequences or even the loss of their credit rating. They would definitely be subjected to long and unnecessary anxiety and inconvenience.
Seniors receive this assistance because they are in need of extra support. While the program is admirable and reasonable in its intentions, this case demonstrates dreadful customer service delivery. If we were a business…
Mr. Bromley, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
Mr. Speaker, if we were a business, we would have gone out of business long ago with this sort of performance. The department has been informed of this incident and promised prompt action, but we need to do better for all our customers. I will be asking questions later about improving our general service delivery. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve been reviewing some of my notes from yesterday and from the exchange I had with the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and the Minister of ENR. Mr. Speaker, the issue with me is with the consultation process in terms of looking at the issue of caribou with the aboriginal people. Mr. Speaker, I also understand that the Minister indicated in the House that they were close to coming to a resolution of this issue with the Yellowknives Dene. Certainly, there are two views as to the type of resolution, Mr. Speaker. I find it very puzzling that we are coming to a point in this type of discussion where you have two opposing views as to dealing with the caribou in this specific area. It also entails other discussions around rights, treaty rights, food for survival, even the method of consultation and the method that we’ve been receiving or even the scientific evidence. I haven’t seen much weight on the traditional evidence in terms of that coming forward, in terms of what are the aboriginal people telling us about the caribou in terms of evidence of the elders, in terms of how we should deal with this important species for their livelihood.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to follow up later regarding this Member’s statement with my questions to the Minister in terms of a resolution with the Yellowknives Dene in terms of how do we resolve this issue. I think that there are some ways that we could work out. There have been suggestions by the Dene Nation in their motions in terms of how do we deal with this issue way before it’s coming to this point here. So I want to ask the Minister later on in terms of how do we ensure that the needs of the people who depend on caribou are looked after. Their culture is at risk and at stake here. There is a herd that the ENR office has said that is going to possibly become extinct if we do nothing. There has not been much weight given to the diamond mines up there and the thousands and thousands of trucks that go by there every year. There are other issues we haven’t talked about. It seems like we are just putting this on the aboriginal hunters, Mr. Speaker. That is not fair.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about daycare programs in Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution. Mr. Speaker, we know how important it is for preschool children and those from K to 6 to have a positive nurturing environment to grow up in. The Tinkers and Tots program in Lutselk’e and Little Darlings Daycare in Fort Resolution provide this atmosphere for the children. Mr. Speaker, these programs are doing a great service in each of these communities. These programs are operating on minimum funding but yet it is still providing a fun, structured, positive environment for the children.
The principal of Lutselk’e told me about the amazing success story of the kindergarten class. She says the credit for those students to come into kindergarten with necessary language and social skills at a level necessary to learn in kindergarten is a credit to the work being done at Tinkers and Tots. The staff at the Little Darlings Daycare program is also doing a tremendous job in Fort Resolution, where there is limited annual funding for the staff and on many occasions they are working nine hours a day without overtime to provide a healthy, positive environment for the children.
Mr. Speaker, I have spoken many times in this House about the social, economic, even health challenges that plague many of our smaller communities. A long-term solution is to provide adequate supports and resources to those small communities to the daycares today. Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to have these daycare programs fail. Just yesterday, I spoke about the problems of school absenteeism in these smaller communities. A well-run daycare program directly addresses this problem.
Mr. Speaker, the staff in Tinkers and Tots and Little Darlings programs and many residents in Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution are dedicated and committed to providing a positive, healthy and rich learning environment for these children.
Mr. Speaker, later on today I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This week is Apprenticeship and Occupational Certification Week. I would like to recognize how the government has increased emphasis on and support for training apprenticeship opportunities and occupational certification over the past few years. This is paying off. We will need these graduates to work on the highways and pipelines in our future. There are many advantages to taking a trade. A person can work often in their own community and attend tiers of training at Aurora College and/or colleges down south.
Occupational certification programs provide similar advantages. As new certificates are developed, workers can go through a program of work experience and training and get recognized credentials in their field. As well, when employers are hiring, they can be assured that applicants have competencies. MACA’s development of occupational standards is a good example as it has helped bands and municipalities to improve the skills of their staff.
People in my riding of Nahendeh have benefited from these programs, Mr. Speaker. This year there were three apprenticeship graduates. Enos Tonka, has an apprenticeship as a carpenter. Mr. Nathan Taylor has a heavy duty equipment technician and as well Mark O’Neill, formerly of Fort Simpson, as an automotive service technician. Shawn Gillis, who works for the Village of Fort Simpson, received an occupational certificate as a recreational facility operator specializing in skating rinks. I am pleased to congratulate these men for their achievements. I am pleased that the government has supported these endeavours. I commend all apprentices throughout the North and those who are planning to attend, because our North needs you. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
MEMBER’S STATEMENT ON
ADEQUATE SUPPORTS FOR
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Health care is one of the most important services this government can provide to our residents and communities across the Northwest Territories. It’s not easy. Many challenges the northern health care providers face are truly unique to the North. For many small, remote communities all across the North, such as Nunakput, the community centres provide a large range of services for the average flu, regular elderly examinations and, in some cases, even emotional wellness programs. These are many reasons why this is so critical for this government to adequately provide not only the resources but the technical and administrative support to all communities. Health care centres can provide proper health care services.
Mr. Speaker, during my recent visits to Nunakput communities, speaking with the leadership, most centres lack the basic requirements in addition to resources, medical professionals or specialists visiting the community and are seriously eroding the standard of care this government is committed to providing.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in previous Member’s statements, the staff in the community health care centres when they work they almost have to improvise. This government must step up and implement all various recommendations and suggestions through the years of various reports from local governments.
In Nunakput, the communities, if there is a serious condition the plane leaves from Inuvik and has to fly into the community and sometimes it takes five to six hours for a medevac before they can see a doctor. Especially health care centres, they must be adequately equipped as clinics such as Inuvik and Yellowknife. We all know how fast medical conditions can progress in even one or two months. The situation means the difference between life and death, as I have expressed in several Member’s statements over these last 18 months.
Health centre staff and nurses are working very hard in trying to ensure the best medical service that they can provide, but this government needs to help. This government needs to devote the resources to ensure the problems do not affect the quality of care to our residents, but it needs to ensure that the shortages that are experienced in small, remote communities aren’t always bearing the brunt of it all.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address the issue of government contracting today. In 2008-2009 we spent upwards of $515 million in contracts. The government’s stated objectives for contracting is to acquire goods and services in a way that enhances suppliers’ access to contracts, encourages competition, reflects fairness, transparency and accountability in the spending of public funds.
Mr. Speaker, over 10 percent of our total procurement, roughly $53 million, was acquired through sole-sourced means. There is little doubt that as a government we need to contract, but from what I have seen, and continue to see, from this government is a propensity to sole-source contracts to the detriment of our stated objectives.
Sole-sourcing throws competition out the window. It is much more likely to show favouritism to friends and family and our pursuit of spending public funds with transparency becomes very questionable. Looking through the Government of the Northwest Territories Contracts Over $5,000 Report from 2008-2009, it becomes very clear that we have a habit of handing out sole-sourced contracts to former employees for consulting services. The report is very short on the nature of the work that was conducted. Why are we sole-sourcing so many consulting services?
Mr. Speaker, judging by the amount of references to studies, reports and strategies by the Finance Minister in this year’s budget address, it looks like an all-you-can-eat buffet for consultants. I’ve always taken issue with the government’s reliance on consultants and it is even worse if the consultants continue to be retained via sole-sourced contracts. Whatever happened to trying to get the best price?
Consulting services for communication services in particular is out of control. Hundreds of thousands of dollars just handed to one company. No competition, no RFP, no transparency, no accountability.
Shame.
My fear, and I’ve said this before, is many of our senior managers are becoming or actually spending most of their time as contract administrators. The work is being consistently farmed out to consultants. How do we or can we get some of this work done by our departmental staff? The trend of spending on consultants and sole-sourcing contracts can easily be reviewed on an annual basis.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
Can we not come up with a goal of reducing our bad habit of sole-sourcing and our reliance on expensive consultants?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Judging by the audience we have in the gallery today there is a very important issue there. I was going to speak about something else today, but I feel it’s important that since so many people have demonstrated an interest in this topic of the caribou, that I speak to it from my vantage point as only one of 19 Members elected to this Legislature. I hope this will be received in the spirit in which it is intended.
For the sake of the caribou I implore leaders of all affected stakeholder groups to continue a dialogue that is mutually respectful of all parties. Please don’t allow valuable time, financial, and wildlife resources to be negatively impacted by the personalizing or politicizing of this very important question.
I would like the GNWT and the Minister to continue to explore every option possible to avoid a standoff, a gridlock, or an all-out legal battle over the management of this unique and traditionally precious commodity.
Every one of the ranging caribou herds must be sustained for the benefit of those who will come after us. This isn’t about Minister Miltenberger and it isn’t about Chief Erasmus. It is about humans who will be humble enough to bring the best traditional and scientific knowledge to bear on our God-given, Creator-given duty we have as humans for the well-being of our land and our wildlife.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my great pleasure today to welcome the many people of Dettah and Ndilo, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, their supporters, and residents of the area. I’d like to mention some names, but I certainly can’t mention all. In particular are Chief Edward Sangris and Ted Tsetta of Dettah and Ndilo, and Grand Chief Bill Erasmus. I know there are elders in the crowd here. I see Muriel Betsina, I believe, and others. Particularly the youth, I want to recognize them and all the people. I particularly appreciate the time that they have taken out of their schedules to be here today in the House with us.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of hardworking Pages that came from one of my communities, Nahanni Butte. I’d like to recognize Ms. Lory Ann Bertrand and Ms. Kiayana Betsaka, as well as their chaperone, Bhreagh Ingarfield. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize my CA from my home community of Tuktoyaktuk, who is down here on training with the Legislative Assembly, Ms. Donna Bernhardt.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to thank and recognize two Pages from Hay River South, grade 8 students from Ecole Boreale School, Ms. Jill Belanger and Julia Gyapay.
