Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Under the GNWT's mandate, MACA has a responsibility to update the Fire Prevention Act to better protect public and private property from fire. Can the Minister advise the House on the progress of this work? What changes to the act has been considered? Mahsi.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA's in the process, we've done some research over the years, we're actually just in the process of determining the stakeholder engagement process that we're expecting that'll roll out over the summer of 2016. Once it's finished, then we'll be looking at various things within the act. The act hasn't been updated since the 1950s, very small thing, so it's a lot of work and we'll be looking at a full review of the act in total. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Usually in a legislative process the way that I think we understand it on this side of the House is that there's an issue and the department begins research, as the Minister has stated, that then there's a legislative proposal that comes to the House, then goes through readings, then it's perhaps brought to the committee, then there's a level of public consultation. What is the timing for this legislation to be introduced in the Legislative Assembly?
Again, it's really hard to put a definite timeline on that. We do need to do the public engagement strategy, it will go to MLAs, it depends on their timeline, recognizing that they are very busy within their committees and they have a lot of things to put forward. I'm not sure if the MLAs would like to do a public engagement of their own on that, so it is dependent on the process of government. But we are committed; we are trying to get this act passed within this legislative term.
The Minister had stated that the old piece of legislation is from the 1950s. I think then, you know, fire alarms along telephone poles were kind of the usual practice then. Then most recently what we have been confronted with is the question of liabilities, at the same time hazardous materials in fire situations. Is the department proposing any initiatives designed to support communities and their volunteer fire departments?
The department has actually done quite a bit to support firefighters. We recognize the importance of firefighters and we really value the services. It is a huge honour to be able to represent the firefighters within the Northwest Territories. It's a huge honourable field that they go into, and so we're cognitive of that.
We've done quite a bit of things. We've released our volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention toolkit for the community governments, that's done. We've established a web-based community fire protection page for community governments and fire departments to access information and resources, that's completed.
We've developed the decision-making tools for communities to help identify and allocate adequate resources for community fire protection, that's completed. We've implemented a community fire service presentation to help educate elected officials on the roles and responsibilities and success factors, completed.
We've also done the development of an annual fire prevention program, that’s also completed. So we do value our firefighters within the Northwest Territories and we take seriously the work that they do within the communities and we're doing whatever we can to support them.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank the Minister for her reply and outlining the legislative process and the level of consultation that might occur. She seems to be suggesting that this side of the House would kind of determine the timeline and how fast perhaps the turnaround of the draft legislation could be prepared.
But, you know, if we had this way on this side of the House, one of the initiatives that has been outstanding is the progress in terms of dealing with highway emergency. Would this department, in terms of engaging stakeholders, including fire departments and citizens of the North, would the Minister perhaps consider and state to this House whether a movement towards highway rescue services will be also considered in the draft legislation? Mahsi.
We are working across the departments to find our way forward with the ground ambulance services and the highway rescue, and we are hoping that we can actually address that act as well within this legislation.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
