Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories’ economy is built on mining and exploration. Today our mining sector is the largest provider of high paying jobs and the main driver of the territorial economy. We have committed, in our mandate, to supporting mineral exploration and the NWT mining sector with actions and investments identified in the NWT Mineral Development Strategy.
Our goal is to realize all the benefits of our mineral resources to support ongoing prosperity for NWT residents and communities. At the appropriate time this afternoon, I will be tabling an overview of our five-year implementation plan for this strategy.
I want to highlight for Members some of the work that has been done this year to put our strategy into action and to make good on the commitments in the GNWT’s mandate to close the skills gap in the mining sector, implement the Mining Incentive Program, develop a Mineral Resources Act and support Aboriginal governments seeking to build capacity from mining-related activities. In September, two Introduction to Prospecting courses were hosted in Yellowknife by the Mine Training Society, TerraX Minerals and the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. This course supports the development of an educated, trained and readily available northern workforce and fosters awareness of the importance of the mining industry. This is the third year that this course has been delivered. Our Mineral Incentive Program was over-subscribed again this year. In the first two years, our annual investment of $400,000 has resulted in an additional $3.36 million in exploration spending in the NWT by companies and prospectors. This year, seven corporate and five prospector applicants received incentives to advance exploration in our territory.
We have begun work to create a new act that will modernize our government’s approach to mining by streamlining our regulatory environment and bringing it in line with our northern priorities and realities. This will be a long process and we are looking forward to working with Members of this House, the intergovernmental council, Aboriginal governments, industry, NGOs and the public to take this next evolutionary step for our territory’s economy.
We are also working with stakeholders and Aboriginal governments to advance community participation in mining through regional mineral development strategies. The Dehcho First Nation has been a leader in this, hosting a workshop this summer in Fort Simpson with the Canada Northern Development Agency and the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. The Inuvialuit, Sahtu, and Tlicho regions are also interested in developing regional strategies and we will continue to move these initiatives forward.
ITI’s Customer Services and Community Relations division continues to support communities and industry interested in participating in our resource sector. In addition to their role as pathfinders and the first point of contact within GNWT, this unit works to promote projects that will enhance the socio-economic well-being of the NWT. In April this included delivering the Mining Matters curriculum in four schools in the Sahtu. It was an opportunity to promote discussion about mining in the NWT, staying in school and the opportunities for careers in the mining industry. This unit is now preparing to deliver the same programming to schools in Fort Simpson, Fort Providence and Fort Liard this week.
Mr. Speaker, we are also celebrating the opening of the Gahcho Kue diamond mine. In its projected 12-year life, this mine will create hundreds of jobs and an additional $6 billion in investment into our economy. While on site for its grand opening, I was struck by this project’s cutting-edge facilities, occupational health and safety procedures, and commitment to environmental protection. It was a reminder of how far mining has come in our territory, and the certainty with which we can continue to realize its benefits into the future.
In November, Mr. Speaker, the NWT's mining industry will gather in Yellowknife for the 44th Annual Geoscience Forum. It has been 25 years since diamonds were discovered in the NWT and this year's event will include a special commemoration of our diamond industry, and the unprecedented growth it has supported. We are working with our stakeholders to introduce a series of NWT Mining Awards to recognize the many individuals and organizations that have contributed to our industry and continue to push it forward. These awards will be presented for the first time at a gala on November 17th and I invite all Members of this Assembly and the public to join us in this celebration of the mining industry which is so foundational to our territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Honourable Premier.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Caroline Cochrane will be absent from the House today, tomorrow and Wednesday to attend the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Housing meeting in Ottawa, Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to continue talking about the distribution of employment across the NWT. Canada’s employment rate is just under 62 per cent. The Yukon, at around 74 per cent, being the jurisdiction with the highest employment rate. The NWT is second at just over 70 per cent.
Mr. Speaker, we look great from a national perspective, however our employment rate is below 50 per cent in over 65 per cent of our small communities. It is good that larger centres have such high employment rates. It’s good for their families, their communities and the NWT. However, the low employment rates for the small communities is not good. It is not good for families, communities and the NWT as a whole. It has a negative impact on health and educational outcomes, among other implications.
Mr. Speaker, the mandate of our government is to improve the lives of our poorest people. For the most part, they are people in our small communities. As you can see, the employment rate of people in small communities is more than 30 per cent lower than in larger centres. Imagine what life would be like if 30 per cent of the people working in Yellowknife lost their jobs. It is an everyday reality for the small communities. Increasing employment in small communities will help all the people of the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, it is a known and accepted fact that the increase in income has a direct and positive impact on the cost of the justice system, healthcare, education and social services and issues like child protection. Furthermore, income allows the small communities to deal with the high cost of living by providing resources that allow them to harvest food. Harvesting helps create and sustain local economies. It allows people to share food, and continue traditional arts and crafts. There are opportunities for people who can repair small engines used in snowmobiles, quads and boats that people use to travel on the land. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these activities are needed to sustain the economy in the small communities. Without them, our small community people cannot afford to eat. There are many families with NO food. Mr. Speaker, that is heartbreaking. Marci cho.
Masi. Members’ statements. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I left my house today, I looked up and for the first time in my life I saw a new horizon in the skies of Yellowknife. The Robertson headframe, the longstanding and iconic landmark of this community is no more. Now, like the 11 former headframes at one time surrounded the city is merely history. This is a bittersweet moment in the history of the NWT, a sentiment I have seen shared by many Northerners over the last few days. Though it is no longer standing, the legacy of the headframe and the strong community the mining industry built here in Yellowknife will always remain.
At 76 metres tall, Con Mine's Robertson Headframe was the tallest structure in the Northwest Territories. The black and white shaft with the red crown could be seen almost anywhere through Yellowknife. Built in 1977, the structure acted as an employer of many citizens, a guide home on Great Slave Lake and the embodiment of a former economic era for the city for almost 40 years. It is no wonder that the debate for keeping it created such passion amongst our citizens, but it is curious this government remains so secretive about its intentions over the headframe.
Last week, media reported this government was brimming with excitement of the prospect of stepping into save the headframe from demolition from the over 500 pages of emails and other documentation attained by the media has to come to light the public service was preparing to announce as early as Tourism Week last May that the government and Newmont Mining were set to announce an agreement, though it appears all of this crumbled shortly after Regular Members became aware of these discussions ever happening.
I want to make it clear that this side of the House would have been open to the possibility to keep the headframe standing. Instead of staying in line with its commitment to transparency, this government responded with "meh."
Mr. Speaker, though it is sad the Robertson Headframe has fallen into history, let us instead remember the past but look optimistically toward the future. It is time for a new era to begin in Yellowknife and for the Northwest Territories. It is time to steer our economy towards its true potential as innovators and entrepreneurs. It is time to build a stronger economy, a knowledge economy that empowers Northerners to make their own decisions for their own communities. Mr. Speaker, let us now look into the sky and see that bright future the Robertson Headframe helped to build. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today is about the historic structure that vanished from Yellowknife's skyline on Saturday, the Robertson Headframe. As the Minister of ITI alluded to just moments ago, mining has had a defining role in the North we live in today. There's no doubting the impact mining has had on our people, our landscape and our economy. Some may say it was negative, others will say it's the very reason they're here.
Regardless of your view, it was represented by that big monolith on the shore. Until it was gone! Two gold mines, Giant and Con, built the City of Yellowknife. People came here from the world over for the work. Generations of families were drawn here. Many stayed, finding the security of the job, along with a community they called home. For myself, mining brought my father here, an Irish immigrant, in the late 60's. He worked underground at Giant for a few years. As a younger man I worked at Con, in the shadow of the Robertson Headframe, as an operator in the mill, the autoclave and the water treatment plant.
I was at Con during some of Yellowknife's darkest days, the Giant Mine strike in the early 90s. While mining had brought the community together, the strike drove a stake into the heart of this city. It was a very difficult time, and Yellowknife has never been the same since. In fact I believe the physical scar left by Giant today is in many ways symbolic of the emotional scar many Yellowknifers still feel from those sad days. Now Giant and Con are closed, and the mining community has refocused primarily on diamonds. Thankfully it seems that we've learned to manage the environmental impacts, as well as the social effects, better than we once did.
Gold may yet have a place, as the TerraX project just north of the city is working the far end of the same gold belt. Northerners may yet be gold miners again someday, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Robertson Headframe meant different things to different people, some bad, some indifferent, but mostly good. Judging by the number of pictures on social media, we know one thing for sure: as a Yellowknife landmark and a significant piece of mining history, it will never be forgotten.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, October 27th, our colleague from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh spoke about the importance of summer student employment. This past spring, I spoke about summer employment for our returning post-secondary students and the students that are graduating from our high school. Mr. Speaker, as a person that was born and raised in the NWT, I understand the importance of summer employment for the students. I'm not going to talk about the days that I was employed as a summer student because it kind of ages me, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, when I was in university, I had the opportunity and pleasure to work for the Government of the Northwest Territories. The summer employment was very beneficial for me to allow to focus on studies while I was in school and not where I was going to get my next meal. Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I didn't speak about the summer as an employee of the GNWT. I had the opportunity to hire several summer students to help with multisport camps throughout the McKenzie region a few years into my employment. As we were meeting with the Mackenzie Rec. Association in early June that year, I received a phone call from my immediate supervisor and was asked if we could hire some more summer students because the Premier wanted this done.
Mr. Speaker, I was very fortunate to have the demand and need to be able to hire two additional summer students to help offer multisport camps to the residents of the Mackenzie region. Not only did this help the youth of the region, but most importantly it helped two additional post-secondary students for their studies the next year.
Mr. Speaker, I realize we are only in October and the summer is a long way away, however we have students returning home from post-secondary next April or May who are worried if they will get summer employment to finish their education. Mr. Speaker, these are the same students that we are supporting them with our very own Student Financial Assistance Program. Students are either priority one, priority two or priority three and have gone on to northern or southern institutions to work on their education. We are helping them with their education and investing in them while they're in school. However, when they try to come back home to get a summer position with the GNWT they are not as successful.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister for Human Resources, informed this House and the public that his department received 628 summer student applications for the summer of 2016. Mr. Speaker. I'd like to seek unanimous consent to finish my statement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleagues. Out of these applications, 306 students were hired by the government. This sounds like a great number and it is; however, the previous year we had more summer students being employed by the government.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister spoke about the Premier and former Minister of Human Resources encouraging all the departments to see how we can better utilize our summer students. I think this is a great step, however we need to do more. This includes having the departments identifying the number of positions within their business plans and not rely on vacancies.
Mr. Speaker, I realize this would be a challenge but as departments are already working on their 2017-2018 business plans, there should be a section on identifying how many summer students will be needed to help with our future generation. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Premier today about summer employment for returning post-secondary students.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during this sitting of the Legislative Assembly, we've been debating changes to the NWT Income Assistance Program. We have learned that the new Canada Child Benefit no longer counts as income for people receiving income assistance. We've also learned that the department that administers income assistance has taken this opportunity to end the food and clothing allowances for children under 18.
Mr. Speaker, the effect of this change is two-fold. First, Ottawa is now paying for food, clothing and other necessities for children on income assistance through the Canada Child Benefit. The second is that the GNWT is paying less income assistance to families with children who are in need. Mr. Speaker, the government has been spinning this as a good news story because the bottom line is that poor families have more income.
Mr. Speaker, this is a claw-back by any other name, and I'm concerned there is another coming. In 2014, our Bureau of Statistics created a Northern Market Basket Measure as a tool to figure out what to pay recipients of income assistance for food. The Finance Minister of the day announced in his 2015 budget that an additional $1.75 million would be added to the food allocation under the Income Assistance Program, an allocation that until then hadn't been increased since 2009. The increases would be phased in over a number of years to catch food allowances up with escalating costs, but, instead of catching the food allowances up for children, they have been wiped out.
Mr. Speaker, are more cuts coming to Income Assistance with the introduction of the enhanced NWT Child Benefit? The Minister told us, "The NWT Child Benefit will provide additional financial support to more low and modest income residents with children," and this is the important part, "not just those accessing Income Assistance." That sounds like good news, but my concern is that the introduction of the revamped NWT Child Benefit will follow the same pattern as the Canada Child Benefit, namely, that the benefit won't be counted as income but it will result in reductions in income assistance rates. I will have questions for the Minister. Thank you.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the Deh Gah School in Fort Providence, two recent graduates share a special connection. They made their journey from kindergarten to grade 12, to graduation, together. In fact, they started preschool together in an Aboriginal Head Start program in Fort Providence. We've talked about Aboriginal Head Start or AHS here, in the House, many times before, but, to give a brief history, Aboriginal Head Start is a federally funded program with a mandate to serve preschool aged children, providing early intervention and early childhood education to foster spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth in Aboriginal children.
This initiative was first announced 21 years ago, in 1995. Since then, here, in the NWT, it's grown to serve more than 200 children each year in eight different communities. Aboriginal Head Start supports Aboriginal children specifically, helping them learn about their cultures and languages, prepare for school, work with parents, and live healthy lives.
In my riding of Deh Cho, Dezoah Undaa Etleh Koke is currently run by the Deh Gah Gotie Dene Council in Fort Providence. The graduates I mentioned a moment ago are alumni of this program. An AHS program also operates on the Hay River reserve.
Mr. Speaker, if it isn't already crystal clear, I'd like to emphasize to you how important this program is to Aboriginal children in the NWT. Every day the AHS program is delivered with these specific values in mind:
Children are a gift from the creator who have the right to live proudly as Aboriginal people in the lands of their ancestors;
Children have a right to learn their traditional Aboriginal languages and history;
Children must develop meaningful relationships with elders and that elders' teachings will guide them throughout their lives;
Children deserve opportunities to gain knowledge, have the right to enjoy the opportunities that education brings, and should be loved, valued, and encouraged in their education.
Mr. Speaker, this is quality programming Aboriginal children need, and it is quality programming that they deserve. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to make my statement in regards to the Canol project, a project that needs no introduction, the process of remediation of this trail in preparation of a heritage designation trail. The federal government, being responsible, held an October the 12th and 13th site bidders' tour which involved numerous parties that are interested in the cleanup opportunities of this project.
Mr. Speaker, this designation, once cleaned up, will be transferred to our government as a heritage trail, becoming a tourism attraction of this government, working collaboratively with the federal government counterparts on the continued process, if any. Later, I will have questions for the Minister of ITI on the next step process as a result of the bidders' tour being postponed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, monsieur le President. I made statements on the perilous state of the Bathurst caribou herd in February and June in this House. Last week, the Minister of Transportation announced progress on plans for an access road into the Slave Geological Province, including a road "that will provide the greatest economic benefit to the region and the Northwest Territories." While some may be happy, this is not good news for caribou.
When asked about how environmental concerns would be dealt with, the response was that those issues would be dealt with through an environmental assessment. Caribou are an afterthought for Cabinet and not considered in designing or proposing roads or for their importance to the economy and culture of Indigenous peoples. I would just like to remind the other side of the House that the Bathurst caribou herd has suffered a catastrophic decline over the last 30 years, from 472,000 to as low as 16,000 animals today.
The Tlicho Research and Learning Institute found "the establishment of large scale mines and associated industrial activities on the Bathurst caribou habitat is the main factor behind caribou health defects and changes to their behaviour and migration." The Mackenzie Valley Review Board said in February, "The GNWT needs to complete and implement an interim recovery and management plan for the Bathurst caribou herd before this herd's population is so reduced that the recovery of the herd is no longer likely." The Wek’eezhii Renewable Resources Board found that "with the Bathurst herd in such a perilous state, all peoples who harvest in Wek’eezhii must do their part to ensure the recovery of the herd. Users and managers must act now in whatever ways possible to protect the herd so future recovery may be possible."
It's not clear how Cabinet sets priorities among a number of competing road proposals, but, apparently, caribou receive very little, if any, consideration. If we were to listen to the sound advice of the co management bodies, we should be doing much more when it comes to saving the Bathurst caribou herd. Developing road corridors without considering caribou is not responsible development. Leaving this task to the same bodies that have already told us we are not doing enough is hardly an answer, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Premier later today. Mahsi.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to commend the Department of Transportation. After two years of working, trying to get the department to cut brush along Highway No. 8, the Dempster Highway, over the last few months the department has been doing this along the Dempster Highway, both near Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik and also near Fort McPherson. Mr. Speaker, this makes a huge difference in the riding, both as safety and creating work in the communities. I think it's only appropriate to recognize the work that department is doing, and I'd just like to thank them on behalf of my constituents. Marci cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE. No, sorry. I have two sets of questions. I am on the wrong one. Heads up. My questions are for the Minister of Transportation. Just kidding. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment. Is the Minister prepared to continue to stick to the promise made by the previous Finance Minister and continue catching up food allowances for income assistance recipients so that they are up to 2014 levels? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'll have to look at the promise that was made by the previous Finance Minister. We are in a new government in the 18th Legislative Assembly, so we'll have to take a look at that, but the benefits and the increases in the changes that we've made to our Income Assistance program is actually benefiting families a lot more than what was in the previous year and even in the previous government. As I mentioned last week in the House, families are going to receive up to about $740,000 to $750,000 this fiscal year, in the fiscal year since we've made these improvements, but we'll have to take a look at the promise made by the previous Finance Minister. We do have a new Finance Minister now, and I will commit to sitting down and chatting with the Finance Minister to see what those previous promises were. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
While the Minister is chatting with the Finance Minister about whether to uphold that promise from last year, I would just urge him to consider that every other per diem and allowance that any of us receive who are associated with the government rises over time, and that the price of food isn't going down. So I wonder if he could give me a rationale for not continuing to raise the level of income assistance for food?
I believe in 2015-2016 we had about just over $18 million on income assistance that this government provided. In 2016-2017, it went over $20 million, and the odd time we come back to this House asking for a supplementary appropriation. As everybody knows, the economy is in a downturn, so we are seeing more families on income assistance in some of the regions, and from time to time we will come back to the House to seek a supplementary appropriation to provide income assistance to those that are in need.
There are a lot of things that we take into consideration; how big the family is, the net income for that family in the house, as well as the age of the children. I think we're doing a great job in providing those services to residents of the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to do so as we continue to make further income assistance changes. As well, this whole government, all departments, provide a lot of good programs for low income families, and we'll continue to do that job.
Of course, the Minister knows that income assistance is a last resort. The criteria for receiving income assistance is that you have used every one of your resources, including your savings, selling your house, selling your car, that you have nothing left. That's the premise for applying for income assistance. So I want to ask, again, whether the Minister will ensure that this promise to increase food levels will, in fact, be part of this government's agenda as well?
I believe in 2015 this government did put an increase on food allowances. The Northern Food Basket was what we looked at in terms of how we provided an income for food in the Northwest Territories. Obviously, there's one federally, and we wanted to make one for the North so we developed our own Northern Food Basket. As a result, we did put an increase in 2015. There is no index for income assistance. We don't index it to anything. So we feel that what we offer in income assistance is sufficient for families and individuals that need income assistance in the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer. But if the funds were sufficient, why would we have food banks? Why would we have soup kitchens? Why would we have all these organizations, not only here in Yellowknife but in Hay River and Inuvik, and even in smaller places like Tuktoyaktuk that give food to people every single day? Food security is a huge issue in the Northwest Territories, and I would like the Minister's commitment that he's going to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Thank you.
First of all, I just want to thank all the organizations that do set up food banks and provide services in our communities, even our smallest communities. As the Member has said, without their help, we wouldn't be able to get some of these other families that might fall off income assistance based on some of the, I guess, regulations that we impose for people that want to take down income assistance.
But we are doing our job, Mr. Speaker. The changes that we just made to the income assistance and the Canada Child Benefit, as I mentioned earlier, families are going to get an increase of up to $750,000 annually. Once we make the changes to the NWT Income Tax Act, families are going to get even more money. We just have to go through the process to get that done, and in 2017, August, we're going to see those changes come into effect and we're going to see more families getting more money so that they can put more food on the table, more clothes on their backs. I do believe our department and our government are doing a good job in addressing those issues.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
