Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in relation to my statement about immigration. The immigration program is jointly run between ITI and ECE. There's a lot of overlap between departments; Education Culture and Employment obviously has employment and ITI has business development. What sort of coordination is happening between the two departments on this front, and has the department considered merging the immigration unit into perhaps one department to streamline? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our department is the lead on the Nominee Program, though responsibility is shared with the Department of ITI. Under the Nominee Program ECE administers the employer-driven program which is comprised of three streams: critical impact workers; skilled workers; and, the NWT express entry. Right now, we're working with the Department of ITI to develop an immigration framework and action plan, and once that is in place that information will be shared with Members moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We always talk about diversifying our economy. Other jurisdictions, like Manitoba, have welcomed farmers and agricultural workers to their province to fill the gaps they have. What is the department doing to align our current economic diversification strategies, like with agricultural, with tourism, hospitality, the fisheries? What are they doing specifically to attract immigrants who can fill those gaps? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since I've been in the position, I've been to a couple of FTP meetings where the concerns were brought forward of having skilled workers meeting the indemand jobs, particularly for each jurisdiction. The Northwest Territories is no different, so, when we're looking at our nominee program, we want to make sure that we're bringing people in to meet the needs of the business community when they can't find workers locally or even nationally; that, if we do bring in immigrants to fill these gaps in the jobs, that they are actually skilled workforce to meet those indemand jobs.
Earlier, the Minister, in a different set of questions, talked about Aurora College waiting to make any changes, basing that on Skills 4 Success, and he just mentioned the immigration framework, as well. Is that also going to be based on Skills 4 Success? Is this all going to be integrated, and when can we expect this immigration framework?
As I mentioned, we're just in the preliminary stages working with the Department of ITI to develop that framework, which will lead into an action plan. We're also out doing promotion and awareness of our nominee program in the regions. We've just launched a website on October 13th, I believe, and it's got a lot of really good information and testimonials on there.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for all his answers. So we've talked about what we're doing in the territory. What is the government doing to reach out to potential immigrants? What sort of advertising, I guess, what sort of outreach, is there?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we do have that website that we launched. I know that all departments are working to get this out internationally. We just had some very good success in getting some businesses from out of the country come up to the Northwest Territories and start-up businesses here, in Yellowknife, as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Question 453-18(2):
Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I spoke of how the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources sees his new authority over water licences as one of determining procedural fairness. The implication is that perhaps we don't believe the land and water boards have procedurally fair processes already. Does the Minister believe that the land and water boards have procedurally fair processes for water licences, and what changes would he like to see? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the land and water board has their process, and they review items brought before them, and then they are brought over to ENR for a decision by the Minister. So, whatever process they use, if they believe it's a fair process then they operate under that process as we operate under ours. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for that response; I'm not sure it really deals with the issue. When would the Minister refer matters of procedural fairness to the courts or take it upon himself to make a determination?
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility for the water licences direction very seriously, and, if there's an issue that's brought before us, we like to ensure that all parties have a say in the issues that are brought before us. If we feel that some procedural fairness was not met, then we may refer that back to the water board.
Again, thanks to the Minister for his response. Does the Minister recognize that questions of law about a water licence issued by a board, including procedural fairness, are best dealt with through the appeal processes set out in the Waters Act; that is, an appeal to the court rather than trying to have the Minister sort out these matters?
Mr. Speaker, I'm not a lawyer, but I do understand a bit how this works and I'm starting to understand it a bit more. My understanding is that if any of the parties feel that procedural fairness was not met, they could possibly go through the court system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for his response. That's exactly what I'm getting at, rather than put himself in the position of trying to deal with procedural fairness, get the courts to do it. That's where the applicants should go.
Earlier today, I spoke of how land and water boards are required to deal with compensation claims; compliance with water standards, although we don't have any after 45 years; and financial responsibility of applicants.
Mr. Speaker, that track record may have been in the past, way in the past, and we're starting to move ahead. Through devolution, we think we've got a lot of the necessary tools to put ourselves in a position to move ahead and be responsible for the environmental protection and going through all the processes. So there may have been mistakes made in the past, I can't speak to those, but we can definitely learn from them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
