Debates of October 30, 2006 (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sadly the Northwest Territories has one of the highest rates of persons with addictions related to drug and alcohol in this country. We have only one Territorial Treatment Centre for adults who are looking for help with recovery from alcohol and drug addictions. That is the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve. The centre is operated under a third-party contract with the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority. Recently we were saddened to hear that the clients attending Nats’ejee K’eh had to be transferred to a treatment centre in northern Alberta. All 22 workers at the centre were locked out by their employer.

The workers at Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre are northerners, many of them indigenous aboriginal northerners. The treatment at the centre incorporates cultural and traditional values and has been operating for 13 years. The workers have been without a contract for the past three and half years. The conditions of their employment follow a previous contract. However, when negotiation or ratification of a new contract or any question of clarification of existing terms are questioned the employer uses the opportunity to, in essence, threaten the continuation of the benefits that they now have.

Without a contract in place for the past three and a half years there have been no pay increases. When inflation is factored in, we all know that the effect of this is a decrease in pay. The credentials of many of the workers are directly comparable to employees in the public service. The comparison of the wages clearly indicates that the workers at Nats’ejee K’eh are not at wage parity with their counterparts in the public service.

Quite apart from economic issues, though, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that this is an institution funded through a GNWT contract. It is a very necessary and needed service for northerners. The alternative for treatment is to ship our residents to placements in Alberta and pay even more for the services. We have long discussed the desire for the Members of this House to be repatriating northerners who now have to seek specialized treatment in the South and I could go on at length about the benefits of providing this treatment in the North. We talk about building capacity for northerners to deal with northern issues and challenges, yet we have a group of 22 workers, a unique and necessary service with a proven track record for helping those most in need, and as a government we lack the power or the will to deal with a labour issue which would see our workers locked out and our northern clients shipped to Alberta.

Of course I am not privy to all the details of what has taken place to date and I don’t hold myself up as an expert in labour relations, however, Mr. Speaker, I do know that there is an obligation on the part of the employer to act in good faith. I know that workers deserve a collective agreement that is current, fair and equitable.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, colleagues, and thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also know that even though this is a third-party contract, the GNWT has an obligation to be involved. They need to ensure that this service that we have invested in, the treatment that the workers have invested in, the help that northern clients desperately need, is not tossed away because of unfair labour practices. The GNWT cannot hide behind third-party contract status. On behalf of Nats’ejee K’eh workers, I request that the GNWT do anything in its power to see the situation resolved. Mr. Speaker, later today I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services questions about the contract for the operation of Nats’ejee K’eh and I will be tabling a petition asking the GNWT to do anything that they can to bring about a resolution of the circumstances which have lead to this lockout. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was home for the weekend and I was talking to some of the people in my community. I ran into a young little girl in Northern Store and I waved to her so she’ll know it’s me waving to her. Said she sees me on TV and all the other Members and she was quite happy. When I was home and had a constituent meeting with some of the people from Deline and people from Tulita and they were talking about the Nats’ejee K’eh healing, alcohol and drug treatment centre and what was going on with the centre being closed and what was happening. People didn’t quite understand what the rationale was for having that treatment centre closed down. They said it was our only treatment centre in the Northwest Territories, now where are we going to send our people? One of the elders said if we had to send them to High Level or other centres outside the Northwest Territories in Alberta, how are the families going to visit them now? They have to drive farther and they have to see them and it’s far away. They were quite concerned about the only treatment centre in the Northwest Territories, as you heard and Members have heard, Fort McPherson, Ulukhaktok, are also looking at dealing with issues of alcohol in the communities. They’re asking for certain conditions to be put on the communities to look at alcohol. Alcohol is the number one issue in our communities under development, resource, impacts on our communities that the social issues of alcoholism has always come up very strong. We have to really seriously look at this one treatment centre and keep it open. It’s our only lighthouse in the Northwest Territories in terms of treatment centres, and having clients come there.

Mr. Speaker, the Nats’ejee K’eh was built on northern values and aboriginal values in terms of it being a unique treatment centre for people in the Northwest Territories and that these counsellors that work there work very hard. They put a lot of value and effort and work into their life and to give clients out there the hope that they will stay sober. We all want that in our communities. So it’s the clients and counsellors that are all suffering by having Nats’ejee K'eh closed. So, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to say that we need to have this government open the doors. We have to pay the counsellors what they’re worth, because what they’re getting right now is not very much. So I want to say, open the doors for Nats’ejee K'eh. Let’s do it for our clients. Thank you.

---Applause