Mr. Speaker, cancer rates have increased slightly over the last few years. Even one case affects dozens of people. Cancer sharing circles have been held in Fort Good Hope, Fort Resolution and Fort Liard to share information, facilitate dialogue and inform the development of local action plans to address this important issue. The cancer sharing circles showed us that we need to do more work on the services available for cancer patients and their families. Our smoking and drinking rates remain too high, and further improvements are needed with regard to healthy eating.
We have a number of initiatives that prevent cancer, including nutrition programs and anti-tobacco campaigns targeting schools across the NWT. We have made a lot of progress in our fight against cancer. We are able to better treat it, and through early screening and detection, more and more people are surviving this disease.
Mr. Speaker, cancer is a complex disease with many risk factors and causes. People want help in understanding cancer rates and how to lower their risk. Later today I will table a new report on cancer in the NWT over the 10-year period 2001-2010. This report examines the rates of new cancer cases, deaths due to cancer, ethnicity, stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis, and screening programs.
Key findings in the cancer report indicate that cancer rates in the NWT have increased very little over the 10-year reporting period.
The cancer report will help us address gaps in the system. It will be part of a new comprehensive and
culturally relevant strategic plan to reduce cancer in the NWT and improve patients’ quality of life. It shows us that we need to promote cancer screening and prevention under the leadership of the chief public health officer.
Communities will continue to be key to our approach. We will continue to work with them to raise cancer awareness, improve access to cancer screening, and support individuals and their families throughout their cancer journeys. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Valley winter road continues to serve our territory as a seasonal solution to community resupply and economic development. Today this road is more important than ever as industry prepares to tap into the enormous resource potential in the Mackenzie Valley.
Increased traffic along the Mackenzie Valley winter road due to industry activities means increased maintenance requirements for the Department of Transportation. During this time, the safety of the travelling public is the department’s first priority.
Mr. Speaker, education, awareness and outreach are important to fostering a safe environment. The Department of Transportation seeks to ensure that commercial vehicles are prepared for the unique conditions of winter road travel. A document entitled The Mackenzie Valley Winter Road System 2013-14: Safety and Reliability for the Public and for Industry has been distributed for this very purpose and is available on the DOT website. This document provides commercial carriers with speed limits, vehicle regulations, contact numbers for emergencies and road reports, and detailed maps for their travels.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation works closely with industry to ensure the needs of both parties are met. Pre-operation meetings have been held with carriers to review safety measures. This winter a contribution agreement with ConocoPhillips provided funding toward the construction of ice bridges and road maintenance along the route south of Norman Wells.
The presence of highway patrol officers along the Mackenzie Valley winter road continues to help enforce safe driving behaviour through conducting commercial vehicle inspections. For next year, the department is proposing to hire additional highway maintenance supervisors and highway transport officers to respond to higher traffic volumes. This will provide additional monitoring and enforcement resources to ensure the continued safety of the travelling public.
Mr. Speaker, over the past decade the department has constructed 36 permanent structures at major stream and river crossings throughout the Mackenzie Valley corridor. These bridges, which increase the winter road’s reliability and stability, are located on the alignment of the proposed all-weather highway. We would also like to note ConocoPhillips have contributed $400,000 to the winter road.
Corridors for Canada III, the department’s federal infrastructure funding plan, proposes additional funding opportunities for improving the Mackenzie Valley road.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation asks drivers to respect the posted speed limits when travelling on winter roads. Drivers should ensure they are well prepared by checking road conditions via the department’s website.
We wish residents safe and efficient travel for the remainder of the winter road season. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This afternoon I wish to mention to the Assembly that over the weekend, February 27th to March 3rd, a very memorable trip took place in Fort McPherson. Fourteen snowmobiles with 18 travelers left Fort McPherson to Curtain Mountain, which is about 170 miles into the Yukon from Fort McPherson, traditionally known as Moses Hill.
The late Chief Johnny D. Charlie travelled extensively in his early years back and forth to Old Crow, Yukon, where the Charlie and Tetlichi family originally came from. Later in his life, he travelled by snowmobile with the younger people, teaching them about the importance of tradition, showing them significant landmarks, and speaking to them about leadership and respecting the land and all it has to offer.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the group of travelers that went on the four-day voyage, breaking trail through the creeks, travelling through the overflow, climbing the LaChute Mountain and setting tents in the evening.
It’s a tough life living on the land, Mr. Speaker. The people of Fort McPherson make an effort each year to keep this trail open just to make sure the Vuntut Gwitchin people of Old Crow and the Tetlit Gwich’in people of Fort McPherson can see each other and spend family time together.
Traditional livelihood is special to all of us in the North. It’s a means of survival and the more we invest in cultural trips such as this, the more we are encouraging our youth to take pride in going on the land, hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Members for supporting our efforts on keeping our cultures alive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a program called Recycle My Cell, which is Canada’s national recycling program for mobile phones and cell phone accessories. I know a few people at least who would like to recycle my cell phone, but actually it’s still working quite well.
Today I would like to recognize a Hay River school, Princess Alexandra School, that was recently announced as the winner of the 4th National Recycle My Cell Student Challenge. In collaboration with the 2013 Waste Reduction Week in Canada, the challenge invited students from kindergarten to post-secondary to collect as many old wireless devices as possible, including cell phones, smartphones, wireless PDAs, pagers, accessories and cell phone batteries.
More than 140 Canadian schools from across the country participated in the 2013 edition of the challenge. The schools collected more than 3,500 wireless devices along with some 200 kilograms of wireless accessories and batteries.
The school that collected the most wireless devices in each participating province and territory based on student population received a $500 donation to support the school’s green initiatives.
The 13 winning schools in the 2013 Recycle My Cell Student Challenge were schools from cities clear across Canada including larger centres such as Calgary, Montreal, Charlottetown and Winnipeg.
It is exciting to see Hay River on this impressive list of schools and the students and staff at Princess Alexandra School can be proud of the work that they have done taking on this challenge and receiving the notable recognition of being one of the small number of winners of this program is a huge accomplishment.
The goal of this program is to inform Canadians about the environmental and social ramifications of wasteful practices with a take-action message to empower all Canadians to adopt more environmentally conscience choices.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in extending congratulations to Princess Alexandra School and to the residents of Hay River who participated by dropping off their used cell phones and accessories. Their efforts have been encouraging and I trust all of us will be prudent in disposing used equipment in an environmentally friendly manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to address the detailed reports in the tabled report on the GNWT contracts over $5,000 in the 2012-2013 budget year and the response to my written questions received on February 25, 2014, by the Minister of Finance.
I have said on more than one occasion that we are dealing with an antiquated, outdated and ultimately unconstitutional negotiating and sole-source contracting policy with this government. It’s abundantly clear that the taxpayers are holding the bag in its shortfalls.
I have always said the devil is in the details. With that in mind, let’s examine the results of my inquiry that pay credence to my statement of fact.
Fact: of the approximately $300 million in GNWT contracts, negotiated and sole source contracts represent 29.7 percent or approximately one in three contract dollars to the tune of almost $100 million.
Fact: we spend $36.9 million in sole-source contracts, almost half of this number is change orders.
Fact: alarming still is the total dollar amount in change orders of over $34 million, which accounts for 11.4 percent of all contract dollars.
Fact: of over the $34 million in change orders, about 59 percent of this overage is attributable to negotiated and sole-sourced contracts.
So, what is to be made of all these facts? Clearly, something has to give in how we approach our contracting environment in the Northwest Territories. Legally, expecting the taxpayer to pick up the tab of $34 million in change orders when companies fail to live up to their contractual and binding obligations should be something of a good debate in this House. However, in reality, this government is facing a debt wall and wall of worry, especially with the recent admittance of over $38 million in miscalculation of our personal and corporate tax revenues.
If the Minister of Finance wants to find ways to mitigate this department’s taxation revenue faux pas, the answer is right under his nose, which is modernize this government’s negotiated and sole-source contract policy and do away with taxpayers picking up the tab in overall GNWT contract change orders.
In other words, make companies accountable. Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is that simple. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Alexandra Falls was recently named one of the top three waterfalls in western Canada by Ehcanada.com Travel and Adventure. This on-line travel magazine and blog selects its annual Travelers’ Choice Award winners based on the number of travelers who visit the waterfalls and contribute to the blog.
Ehcanada.com gets over two billion contributors per year and they gave Alexander Falls and Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park rave reviews. Tripdavisor.com also gave the park a five star rating.
Mr. Speaker, Twin Falls Gorge is what we call a destination park, and with good reason. It is the first park, travelers reach when they drive into the NWT on Highway No. 1, also known as the Waterfall Highway. Visitors posted on-line descriptions of the spectacular scenery, excellent camping facilities and well-maintained and accessible trail system.
The park has three main areas located along the Hay River just off the Mackenzie Highway linked by a beautiful and dramatic trail, the Alexandra Falls day-use area, the Louse Falls full service campground and day use area and the Escarpment Creek group campsite.
Each one is well marked with road signs going north from the 60th parallel at the Alberta-NWT border or south of Enterprise. The features of all areas are easy to access and enjoy. Visitors of all walks of life express enthusiasm for the Alexandra Falls day use area’s large RV-friendly parking lot, picnic spots, fire pits, grass lawns, ready firewood, trails, viewing benches, kitchen shelter and interpretive signs highlighting the culture and traditions of the Dene people and features of the surrounding ecosystem.
Dene storyteller Doug Lamalice, a member of the K’atlodeeche First Nation and the Aboriginal Tourism Champions Advisory Council, offers walking tours in the park, taking visitors on a special journey through the history and culture of the area.
Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park is an ideal destination for anyone looking for road-accessible outdoor adventure and incredible scenery, whether it’s for a day trip or a longer stay. I encourage the GNWT to use this national recognition of Alexandra Falls as one of Canada’s top waterfalls to enhance the promotion of the Twin Falls Gorge and tourism throughout the Deh Cho region. Let’s make this coming park season the best one yet. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest last week as the Minister for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations informed us, in a Minister’s statement, about the signing of a number of agreements. I would like to congratulate the Premier and the government on the progress made and the accomplishment that these agreements represent. It has been a lot of hard work by all parties, not just the government.
The Premier’s statement highlighted the Intergovernmental Agreement on Lands and Resource Management and mentioned that government will be meeting with, discussing with, and hearing from Aboriginal residents about lands and resource management through their governments who have signed that Intergovernmental Agreement. It will, as stated by the Premier, “…let us build the best possible land and resource management policies and practices together and share ideas for legislation and policy covering our respective lands and resources.”
I applaud the cooperation evidenced by this agreement and I look forward to many more years of that cooperation and working together, but… There’s always a but, eh? My but is this: I am concerned for our non-Aboriginal NWT residents. Will there be an opportunity for them to provide the same kind of input to government as the GNWT cooperates and meets with our Aboriginal governments?
In his statement, the Premier quoted the Wildlife Act and the collaborative work that took place during the consultation on that act. He has to be aware; it was obvious at the time that there were some serious concerns expressed by non-Aboriginal residents during the consultation and negotiations around the Wildlife Act, that the opportunity for input into that process was lacking for them. To give the GNWT credit, an avenue basically acceptable to all was eventually established.
But my question is this: Will the GNWT set up the same type of representative group to allow for consultation and input around the management of our lands and resources? Yes, I know, the government tells us all the time that the GNWT represents all NWT residents. I’ve heard it many times. But to be truly represented, if we, as the Premier stated, want the best possible management of lands and resources, the best policies and practices, then the government must find and develop an avenue for non-Aboriginal residents to have meaningful input into that process. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday at noon we historically marked the first public review of the Northwest Territories bills related to the devolution of responsibility of lands and resources from Canada to our government. More history will be made next week with the passing of third reading of these bills and others.
The Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning reviewed three bills: the Reindeer Act, the Archeological Sites Act and the Surface Rights Board Act. Like all devolution legislation, these bills have to mirror the existing federal legislation just as the GNWT will mirror the administration themselves after April 1st.
The committee’s review was thorough, but limited. Usually committee can improve and amend the bills it considers, typically after holding public consultations and seeking advice from the public. In the case of the devolution bills, we could not amend them because then they would not mirror the current federal laws as per our Devolution Agreement.
I want the public to know that we are listening. It is not lost on us that they want changes. We cannot change these bills today without jeopardizing devolution, but we will be able to change them once they become territorial law. Speaking with constituents, I know that they understand this.
In some ways the colonial type of distant government of our lands and resources in Ottawa will now be closer to home on April 1st of this year. We can make northern decisions with northern tools to address northern priorities.
I was very pleased during the committee’s public hearing on Wednesday that the Premier committed to a public process for reviewing and understanding the devolution legislation soon after it passes. Involving all of our Aboriginal partners is critical.
Along with a lot of my MLA colleagues, I am focused on the future of our lands and resources under our own laws. I look forward to improving a management system that really works for our people and protects the lands and waters.
Later today I will have questions for Mr. Premier. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is about an incident that happened in Fort Good Hope and it will talk about a few things.
A young lady was struck by a skidoo, which at the time had four people on it. It was considered a hit and run incident and at the time when she was hit, she was transported to the local health centre where she was assessed.
It wasn’t until a few days later that she was finally medevaced from Fort Good Hope to Yellowknife for treatment. So the question is: Why two days waiting in Good Hope when she was hit by a skidoo?
When she finally arrived in Yellowknife for treatment, she was told the incident shattered her leg. The question is: Why did it take two days to be transported to Yellowknife? Due to the delay in the medical treatment, she was told now that her leg was infected and she now had to be medevaced to Edmonton. When she got to Edmonton her doctor told her that she was very lucky to be alive and asked why they didn’t medevac her from Fort Good Hope to Edmonton. Even from Good Hope to Yellowknife she did not have an escort, but from Yellowknife to Edmonton there was an escort available. She actually requested an escort from Fort Good Hope, but the health centre denied that request.
Today she’s unable to walk due to the incident. She’s on medication. She’s asking for help from the health centre and she has these questions that as an MLA here to represent her she wants to know what’s going on with the health centres, the local travel and what’s going on with the safety of young people driving snowmobiles all over the place. There are a lot of questions and she’s crying out for help. Actually, when she called my constituency office, she was crying on the phone as she was giving her story. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I continue looking at our income security system by seeking ways to avoid the creation of poverty traps. In my last two statements I described how Charles ended up in a system that leaves him struggling to feed his family and that pulls him back down every time he tries to make a bit of money on his own. Charles is not a real person, but we all have constituents, family members and friends in such situations.
The experiences of Charles and his family lead to obvious recommendations:
We need a realistic definition of a poverty line based on the actual costs of living in each community. It is obvious from the number provided by Nutrition North that the amounts defined by income support are too low to keep a family out of poverty. The Housing Corporation did some good work on this when they created three zones based on the cost of living.
We should not claw back payments and income from people living below the poverty line. Therefore, we must stop clawing back GST rebates, child tax credits and other payments that are intended to help people out of poverty.
We should encourage people living below the poverty line to earn money on their own and support them through a zone of income above the poverty line. As people start to become self-supporting, we should then gradually reduce income support instead of clawing back up to 85 percent of their earnings right from the start. Again, the Housing Corporation has done some good work on this with their graduated rent scales.
Treat people who apply for income support the same way we treat people who fill out their taxes. Ideally, we should use the same tax forms. This would make the whole process less stressful and reduce the burden on our own staff.
Don’t require people to hit rock bottom before we help them. It is much more costly to help lift people out of poverty when they have absolutely nothing left than to prevent it in the first place.
Focus special effort on children and in particular on single parent families. Yesterday the Minister of ECE implied that Charles should just get a job. Single parent families are doing the most important job I can think of, looking after their children. If we want anything to be different 30 years from now, we need to provide our children with stable homes.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
We spend a lot of time and money dealing with the symptoms of poverty: $5 million approved just yesterday to top up payments for child placements outside the NWT, child protection orders resulting from neglect, high rates of alcoholism. These are all symptoms of poverty. We need to deal with the root cause itself: poverty. Substantive changes in income support such as those suggested will yield returns on such investments through savings in education, health and social services and corrections, and enhance economic activity.
I will have questions.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night the community of Hay River had another meeting about the school swap. This one was at the Ecole Boreale with the parents, teachers, some students and some residents of Ecole Boreale, and as well, some regular members of the public.
The people there indicated that they did not support the swap. They felt that Ecole Boreale was going to get a benefit, but they didn’t want to see that benefit on the backs of other students in the community. The other reason that they didn’t support the idea is Ecole Boreale has ownership to that school. They’ve been there since the school was created. That is their school. The students indicated that, the parents indicated that, as well as a lot of the staff. Our government has to understand that Hay River does not support the school swap.
As well, I know some of my friends here from Yellowknife do not support the school swap in Yellowknife as well. Our government has to find the funds to do the expansions to the French schools sooner than later.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the hard work and efforts of the NWT Recreation and Parks Association. From January 7th to March 4th, residents of the Northwest Territories participated in the event, The Walk to Talk Challenge. With records this year, we had 102 teams participate, and out of the 102 teams that participated, 73 had actually made it to Tuk, and I understand there were other teams that did make it but didn’t have their times submitted on time as well.
The grand total of kilometres that were logged was 207,808 kilometres.
---Applause
Now, to put it into perspective, the circumference of the earth is just over 40,000 kilometres, so, really, NWT residents collectively walked around the earth circumference five times. Good job. Way to go to the NWT residents and way to go to the NWTRPA for putting this on.
I have a couple more stats to share here. The hours of walking equaled 48,918 hours of walking. On average, each participant accumulated 245 minutes of weekly exercise. Now, the Canadian physical activity guidelines suggest that each individual at least put in 150 minutes weekly in some type of activity. NWT residents went above and beyond that and put in 95 more minutes weekly, so good job to them.
I just want to make note that this program happens during some of our coldest and darkest months of the year, when some people might be going through depression, might be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, so this program gets people out, active and healthy.
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the NWTRPA for their ongoing hard work, dedication and commitment to the health and active lifestyles and well-being of the residents of the Northwest Territories. I would also like to congratulate all teams and all residents who participated in this great program. Good job and way to go. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I spoke about the young person who was hit by a skidoo and I wanted to ask, after she was taken to the local health centre and assessed, it was only after two days.
Do you know any reasons why it took two days to get her medevaced out of that community?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been briefed on the situation. I would be happy to have a conversation with the Member, but I’m not prepared to speak about an individual or her individual case here in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, on the medical travel, is that common practice when somebody is seriously injured in the community in the Northwest Territories that it takes a couple days to medevac the person out? Is that in the policy?
Mr. Speaker, medical travel and medevac are two different policies. With respect to medevacs, obviously we want to get the individuals out of the communities and to appropriate care in as timely a manner as possible. There are obviously some situations where timing might be affected, but we do attempt to get individuals out as quickly as possible.
Once again, I would be happy to talk to the Member in private about the individual case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I’m just looking at the situation here for a medevac. Quickly as possible is probably two days in this situation to get this young lady out in a life and death situation. Then when she gets to Edmonton, the doctors give a different assessment. Are the assessments communicated with communities when there are serious incidents like this? Are these doctors notified and saying, get this person out as quick as possible? In this case it was two days.
What type of situation is there with the health centres when a situation is an emergency where the person needs to get out as quickly as possible?
Mr. Speaker, it’s difficult to answer the questions without getting into the specifics of the individual and I’m not prepared to speak about the individual case. If an individual is injured in a community, usually the community health nurses will be in touch with the Stanton emerg if that’s the particular location where a doctor is available and where somebody needs to go to.
We are moving forward with Med-Response, which is actually a program that will give all the health centres and all the communities direct access to a physician who will then help coordinate medical travel and expedite the process where appropriate. That system goes live on April 1st and we’re looking forward to that system. Once it goes live, I would love to invite the Social Programs committee to come to the location where it is and meet the staff and look at the types of services we’re providing. But it will improve this type of response in the future, recognizing that there are always outside influences, such as weather and other things, that could possibly affect medical travel.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
I look forward to the review of the medical travel in this situation. It has certainly failed her in this case here.
I want to ask the Minister, is it a policy when a patient from any community requests an escort in this type of situation, is an escort then automatically granted or is it within the power of the nurse to deny the medical escort for a patient?
Thank you. Once again, medical travel and medevacs are different things recovered under different policies. We are currently doing the review, which I’ve talked about a number of times in this House, on the Medical Travel Policy and I look forward to sharing those results and that progress with Members as we move forward.
With respect to medevacs, we are currently out for an RFP. The RFP closed last week and we hope to have a provider for air ambulance in the coming while here, but when it comes to medevacs, the ability to have an escort could be dependent on a number of things, plane sizes and all these types of things. So the answer isn’t immediate and it isn’t an immediate yes. Thank you.
