Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these are questions for the Minister of ITI about tourism. It's very important in my riding; it's a beautiful country and that. Can the Minister please advise this House what his department is doing for the smaller communities in helping promote tourism? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year ITI invested over $5 million in direct grants and contributions to tourism-related business and initiatives in the NWT. Funding is available to qualified businesses under a number of programs, one of them being the Community Tourism Coordinator program, this one we've just announced that helps communities advance regional product development and packaging. We fund specific marketing arrangements with the NWT Tourism, which helps all the members of NWT Tourism and it allows the regions to market and promote products in their regions and operations. We're always investing in capacity of our regions and our operators to promote themselves and their businesses.
This year we've leveraged a partnership with CanNor to deliver regional workshops on transforming NWT communities through tourism, and regional tourism advisors exists in every regional office to work with operators directly. We continue to deliver the Community Tourism Infrastructure Contribution program to encourage the development of community tourism and infrastructure in all regions in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's great to hear what the department's doing, but can the Minister provide a breakdown per regions and what ridings with the money that's being spent in these areas?
Yes, we can get that stuff together for the Member, as tourism is wide and broad in the Northwest Territories and each region is represented in different capacities. So we can pull that stuff together for the Member.
I thank the Minister for that answer. It will be very helpful. In my last constituency tour, some of the people were talking about utilizing their skiffs, their outboards. Not jet boats, because a lot of tourists come to my riding, they don’t want to go on a jet boat, but they would like to go on a skiff. The biggest challenge for my communities is about the insurance. So can the Minister please provide us what he's able to do for small businesses in regard to this insurance issue?
This is one of the things that was identified in the NWT Economic Strategy when they went around in the last Assembly, and it was identified as an issue. The insurance program was put in place in 2014 through NWT Tourism that leverages buying power of its membership, so they all tend to buy as a cooperative, I believe, and that's still in place. This year ITI is also supporting NWT operators with a number of workshops and initiatives that promote risk management and training safety for the tourism operators, and we are making safety plans as part of our application for tourism licences which this gives the opportunity to work with the tourism operators to mitigate risks and NWT Tourism products through effective safety planning. That's what we're doing for tourism for insurance right now.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. That's some pretty exciting news, and safety is very important. When he talked about CanNor previously and bringing them in, and it's great, but some of the people in my riding are asking why are we bringing southern companies in to promote tourism when we could be looking at our successful tourism businesses in the North and getting these people to provide information and training that showed off their success. Could the Minister please advise this House how southern companies are brought in for tourism training and not northern companies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not quite clear what the Member's referring to as bringing in southern companies for tourism, but I do know that as a government as a whole we put a lot of emphasis on using NWT products and services and we follow our BIP policy and all that as much as we can to offer services. In the Department of ITI we have a Tourism Mentorship program, and maybe that's what the Member's referring to where operators can access this program. It's done through the Canadian Executive Service Organization, and they will match up any potential operators with a mentor and they will work with the mentee. Depending on the proposal, the mentee can go to the mentors or the mentor can come to the mentees' operation and help facilitate how they can make their operation a more profitable business for themselves and for a better tourism experience for all tourists.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
