Mr. Speaker, Northwest Territories residents take great pride in the beauty of their land and want to see the Department of Lands managing it in a fair, transparent and consistent way. The development of new recreational leasing policies that respond to the needs of our residents is a priority for the department.
Lands is committed to finalizing its Recreational Land Management Framework by mid-2016. This framework will apply to both Commissioner’s land and newly devolved Territorial land. The policies and planning that make up the framework will address the current and future recreational needs of residents across the NWT and will be consistent with the Land Use and Sustainability Framework.
Over the past two months, departmental staff have held public meetings to ask residents what matters most to them about recreational land management. Nine public meetings were held in eight communities. We also collected online submissions. The information gathered from NWT residents will guide the writing of the draft policies and plans for the Recreational Land Management Framework. The Department of Lands will share the draft policies later this year with Aboriginal governments, the public and other stakeholders for additional feedback before finalizing the framework.
This past fall the department committed to evaluating options for managing vacant previously surveyed lots in existing subdivisions along the Ingraham Trail that have become vacant for a variety of reasons. The research, consultation and
public engagement work done to date has informed the department’s review of its options with these subdivisions. Residents have told us that they care deeply about environmental sustainability and also want more access to recreational areas.
After consulting with the Akaitcho and Tlicho governments, the NWT Métis Nation, the North Slave Metis Alliance, the general public and other stakeholders, and upon further review and research by the department, I would like to announce that Department of Lands will be making 22 vacant parcels in previously surveyed recreational subdivisions along the Ingraham Trail available for lease. The lottery process for leasing these lots will be done in an open, fair and transparent manner in the early summer. Information on the lot locations and lottery process will be posted on the Department of Land’s website on May 1st and will be advertised through the local media.
This decision is only possible because already-surveyed lots have become available. There is still a moratorium on issuing new recreational leases within the focus area along Highways No. 3 and No. 4 until the Recreational Land Management Framework is completed.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Lands’ Recreational Land Management Framework will ensure a clear and fair process for recreational leasing of rural land across the Northwest Territories. Once completed, the department’s goal is to identify potential new areas suitable for leasing or sale. We will ensure Aboriginal rights are respected. As well, we will ensure rural land across the NWT is used responsibly and sustainably. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable David Ramsay will be absent from the House today due to illness. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to return to my concerns about Moose Kerr School in Aklavik. Last week I noted the school was built in 1969. That’s exactly the same year as Samuel Hearne Secondary School in Inuvik. That school was demolished and replaced a couple of years ago.
Moose Kerr School was one of the oldest buildings in the Northwest Territories. The school did get a major retrofit in 1999 with an extension of the senior high wing and the addition of the library.
Last week the Minister of Public Works and Services confirmed the government’s policy to replace buildings at 40 years of age, or 20 years after major renovations. Since Moose School underwent renovations in 1999, it will be replaced in 2019.
I was glad to hear the Minister of Public Works confirm this. I would like to confirm that Moose Kerr School is on the five-year capital plan, and I will have questions for the Minister later today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. GNWT employees who are charged and suspended without pay is breaching Canadian common law of innocence until proven guilty. The GNWT, as an employer, must adhere to this principle of law.
In Canada, Section 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom states: “Any person charged with an offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.”
The presumption of innocence is the legal right of any accused in a criminal trial. The law in Canada applies to everyone, including police, judges, politicians, employers, and employees of our government. The main purposes of our laws are to provide order in society to provide a peaceful way to settle disputes and to express values and beliefs of a civilized society.
Everyone in Canada, citizen or permanent resident, has equal access to the justice system. I have a fairly low level employee who has been suspended without pay for a few months, potentially losing his job as a result of us, as his employer, waiting for his court case. This is completely wrong. In fact, I don’t know where they got that policy from.
In 2010 the deputy minister of Human Resources said publicly that there is no government policy on dealing with employees who are charged or convicted of crimes. He said the department handles each case individually, depending on the nature of the charge and nature of the position.
I don’t believe we should be suspending people without pay. Should we not be, if anything, like the RCMP, suspending them with pay until the case is resolved, or even continue employment with other duties? Suspending them for months without pay before they have legal proceedings is completely not the way to go, according to our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
I will be asking the Minister of Human Resources questions on this later today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will continue on with my theme of economic development in the Northwest Territories, particularly in the Sahtu region.
Today I would like to talk about the potential for minerals, for mining in the Sahtu region. The amount of land related to mining exploration within the Sahtu, there are 397 mineral claims covering approximately 301,000 hectares, 14 mineral leases covering approximately 5.8 hectares, and 1.08 percent of the total Sahtu area is occupied by active mineral tenure.
The land claim was negotiated in 1993 and became law in 1994. The land claim asserts jurisdiction to the Sahtu people as to the development that’s going to happen in the Sahtu region. It gave them sovereignty. It also gave them institutions such as the Sahtu Land Use Plan. The Sahtu Land Use Plan allows development to happen in areas that are agreeable by the governments and by the Sahtu people where development can happen.
Mining has been an issue with the Sahtu people ever since the uranium mine was mined and the content was taken down the Bear River to southern parts of the United States where it was developed. As a matter of fact, there is a report by the federal government that states that from the mining from the Great Bear Lake, 700,000 tonnes of waste was dumped into Great Bear Lake and they’re still working on it to clean it up.
Today we have these types of examples. We have mining that has a high potential in our regions, and today the Sahtu people would like to see if there can be a conference on the potential of the remediation, a potential for mining and what we need to do to look at the mining issue in the Sahtu region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, constituents living at Prelude Lake report extensive and chaotic proliferation of unauthorized ice roads plowed on Prelude this winter. In the words of one, “Anybody with a plow has put in a road to their cabin and from cabin to cabin, criss-crossing the lake.” People travelling the lake by snowmobile, as they have safely done for decades, are being injured. Safety, environmental and transportation issues need regulation.
Foremost is safety. Traditionally residents have travelled to and from their cabins by snowmobile, but now it is almost impossible to cross the lake by snow machine because of the density and randomness of roads plowed and the six-foot snow berms as solid as cement that accompany them. Snowmobilers are being injured, including one lady this week.
These roads are not authorized or profiled for ice thickness, so the loads they will bear are unknown. Transport of large trailer loads of construction material and fuel thus represent a huge environmental liability. Illegal dumping and burning of garbage on the ice adds to the environmental damage being done. People say they use lake water for drinking and that unregulated dumping and road building could make that impossible.
More people are using Prelude, both recreationally and residentially, than in the past. With lands and waters now our responsibility, this government has an obligation to make sure that regulations are in place to manage their use for the safety and benefit of all. The proliferation of private ice roads on Prelude is, at best, inconvenient and, at worst, dangerous for the people living there and recreating there and the health of the land.
Issues raised here stretch across the departments of Lands, ENR and Transportation. As lead, the Minister of Lands has pointed out that there are legislative gaps for addressing this situation. There is a need for the development, implementation and enforcement of new regulations regarding land use, access roads and rules surrounding safe disposal of garbage.
While the people around Prelude unfortunately seem to have hit the road running, GNWT is just now getting up to speed in their new regulatory role. The Minister is committed to creating an interdepartmental working group with Lands, DOT and ENR to delve into the issues and legislative review in the long term. We will undoubtedly continue to rely on band-aid solutions as issues like these arise, until we undertake a comprehensive review of devolution legislation. Will Lands at least immediately begin the thorough review the Premier promised but failed to deliver?
I will have questions. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 22, 2013, in Committee of the Whole, I asked the then-Minister of Health and Social services, during the review of the main estimates, questions on the right to a second medical opinion. There were some good questions and there were discussions of the review of the right to a second medical opinion. I bring this forward again today only because I’ve had discussions with people who were concerned about their medical results and their diagnosis and weren’t sure if they were getting the right treatment. Every resident in the Northwest Territories should have this right, the right to question medical test results and their diagnoses, because getting the right treatment depends on getting the right diagnosis that you’re entitled to.
We all know this. We all see it in our communities. We all have aunts, uncles, grandmothers, even kids who are afraid to ask, or there might be a language barrier, or they might not know the medical terminology, and they also put a lot of faith and trust in the physicians or the nurses who are giving them the medication or the treatment that they need.
I know mistakes, although uncommon, can be made. As a result, we have to make sure that every resident in the Northwest Territories does know and have the ability to get that right to a second medical opinion. When we talk about this right, it’s the health and the life of our residents in the Northwest Territories that’s at stake. Also, getting that second medical opinion might, in fact, result in us not having to send people out of the territory or getting them on high medical costs.
I will follow up to some questions that I asked almost two years ago in this House and see where we are in terms of providing that right to a second medical opinion for residents of the Northwest Territories, see if there’s a policy, see if there’s an act in place and how can residents access that right to get the proper treatment that they need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak about how we, the GNWT, treat some of our employees. I think we generally do a good job, but certainly I and all Members, I expect, have had constituents who have not been treated well by government.
To explain, here’s an example. I use the government’s actions with staff whose job it is to be decentralized. There are two issues here. One is how we advise our employees about the decentralization of their job. It’s done respectfully, but well before the job will actually change location. Staff are notified more than a year in advance of the decentralization of their job. Some may think that’s a good move, but I suspect the majority of the employees involved see it as a year to fret, to worry and to endure an uncertain future with no options to fix the situation until two months prior to the moving date.
That brings me to the second problem, that of how we handle our staff who will be decentralized and the policies which govern their circumstances. I’ve looked at the Human Resources policies and manuals that govern staff hiring and firing. I found it most interesting that the term used for someone who refuses to move to a new community is “voluntary separation.” I expect the affected person does not see their situation as voluntary. The employer says your job is moving, you’re agreeing to give up your job. I don’t think this is an apt term for the situation.
It was extremely difficult to find the appropriate info for voluntary separation on the HR website, or any other affected employee info for that matter. There is an HR Manual, so it would seem logical to go there to find out all there is to know about affected status, how the employee can expect to be treated and the options available to him or her. But the HR Manual has no information on voluntary separation. For that one has to search for and find a number of policies that apply.
Why is that info not all in one place? Why are the policies not part of the HR Manual? Perhaps it’s too logical.
Admittedly, we have HR staff who can help employees who are affected, but I’m sure many employees and the public want to find the info out for themselves, to study it before they meet with HR. We certainly don’t make it easy for them to find out about the circumstances of their voluntary separation.
In response to my questions earlier this sitting, the Premier responded, “We look after our affected employees.” I say letting them stew about their uncertain job situation for 10 or 12 months is hardly in their best interest and it’s hardly looking after our employees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise once again to continue the conversation of power costs and the cost of living for all Northerners. You’ve heard from me and other Members about how important this subject is, and we certainly know the problem. We know the problem is affordability for Northerners. We also understand how complicated this problem is because we know the system must generate the money to cover its costs and that cost falls upon the folks who need power.
So we know what part of the problem is, but what do we do if we don’t do anything? Well, we know it hurts working families trying to get by day to day. We know it affects our population because people can’t stand to live here anymore. We know it hurts the success of business trying to get along and provide services to Northerners in every single community. Whether you’re in a big community or a small community, whether you’re a big business or a small business, the cost of power has a huge impact on what you do.
If we’re not helping the bottom line of the everyday family, I question what we are really doing here. If we’re not helping the bottom line of business, I wonder what risk we put them at and ask myself, what are we doing here? Are we doing enough?
We must look at the bigger picture and ask ourselves how are we pulling this all together. As I understand as we’ve started the discussion here, we must focus in on how to bring the bigger picture together in a matter that focuses in on delivering a better bottom line for Northerners, whether you’re a family trying to get by day to day or you’re a business trying to meet the bottom line so you can make enough money to pay employees to be working there.
It’s been said by experts that the Northwest Territories has the most complicated 65 megawatts around. It’s not me saying this. It’s an expert saying this. In this modern world we’ve heard how important power generation is, because it touches every element of our lives, whether it’s kids using iPads in schools, whether we charge our cell phones, whether we go to the library to turn the lights on so we can read books. That power turns on to make sure that you can stay warm or you can keep your important things cold in the refrigerator.
Power is essential, just like food, water and shelter. We must be asking ourselves the right questions: is it time to restructure now and how would we do that? Is it time to ask ourselves how do we develop the generation piece and pull all our distribution networks together?
There was a plan called Creating a Brighter Future and it asked how do we do this and which way are we going. It’s time we had the real policy discussions such as do we need the PUB, what future does the Power Corp hold before us, and does our energy policy meet the needs of Northerners?
I’ll be asking those questions and more later today.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the past I’ve stood up in the House to celebrate the hardworking town of Enterprise, our gateway to the NWT. Even though it’s a small town with a population of just over 100 people, and in spite of recent economic challenges, Enterprise is home to great civic enthusiasm and a number of exciting ideas for economic development.
Just this past December the hamlet elected a new counsel including two counsellors in their early twenties. It’s great to see young people participating in their communities like this. While we were sad to say goodbye to Winnie’s Restaurant, a staple both for residents and for visitors and travellers, a new shop specializing in Dene arts and crafts featuring artists from the Deh Cho and the North and South Slave is an asset to the community. The community also hosts a new design gallery. The hamlet’s artistic streak shows a real enterprising spirit.
I’ve also spoken here before about the new and potential economic initiatives for the community of Enterprise. For example, a new fire tower. Also, in 2014, a portion of Highway No. 1 was dedicated as the NWT Highway of Tears commemorating Canadian veterans.
I’ve said before that our visitors centre at the site of the old Enterprise weigh scale could not only celebrate the hamlet, it could also tie into this highway initiative as well as other tourism possibilities including connections to outfitting and maybe even a bison interpretive centre.
Just this past year two Enterprise residents won a 2014 Parks Hospitality Award for their work at the 60th Parallel Visitors Centre. Residents are also looking forward to the possibility of a new wood pellet plant to bring jobs to the region.
It’s clear that the residents of Enterprise are eager for new opportunities. It’s also clear that they are actively pursuing these opportunities both as a hamlet and in private business ventures. But right now many of these opportunities are still in the future and the hamlet can’t afford to wait.
Later I will have questions about the support for hardworking NWT communities.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about one of the Northwest Territories most valuable assets. I’d like to talk about seniors. I’ll have questions for the Minister responsible for Seniors. That’s correct. We have a Minister responsible for Seniors. We have so many issues in this area that we need a Minister responsible for it.
This is an expanding part of our population. The cost of living affects this group greatly. We need to work on how we can reduce the cost of living for seniors. We know that there is elder abuse out there. We know that there is a lot of need for the seniors and medical support systems, medical travel, dental care and, obviously, in Hay River we know about the seniors health facilities that we’re looking at building this year. We know the expansion of this population requires that we’ve got to look at the needs for more facilities.
Seniors need assistance with housing and how they get on to those housing lists. The seniors who are staying in their homes, we need to support them more. We need to look at the fuel subsidy that we have for seniors and we need to look at increasing that. We haven’t looked at that for a long time.
I know the government works closely with NWT seniors, but we need to look at the funding of NWT seniors and funding regional seniors’ groups to help them support seniors throughout the Territories. We need to work harder to improve seniors’ quality of life in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to beat around the bush; I love beer and beer loves me.
---Laughter
I know in just a couple more months, Yellowknifers will get a chance to enjoy the brewing sensation of local Old Town start-up of Miranda and Fletcher Stevens’ NWT Brewing Company.
In recent years, the micro-brewing industry has grown across Canada, and while micro-breweries comprise a small percentage of national beer production and sales, this manufacturing industry has grown substantially and the North is ready to once again enter into production.
If you were around in 1992, then you would remember Victor MacIntosh and Doug Strader who opened the Arctic Brewery Company, which was the first micro-brewery in the Northwest Territories. Although the quality of beer improved during its production years, it was better known for its peanut bar atmosphere and unique airplane wing as its serving bar. Its closure did spark some concern in the day as to why the government would not do more to preserve such a unique tourism attraction, and questions still remain today that beg us to ask what more should we be doing to support entrepreneurial start-ups like the Fletcher’s.
While following the news in December of 2014 about the GNWT easing restrictions on the flat rate manufacturing tax on every litre of beer sold in the territory, I still saw this as a serious threat for a new manufacturing business.
Small-scale brewers across Canada have identified obstacles to their business and beer tax regimes. Cited most often is not keeping pace with changes to the industry, and I have to agree with them.
So, after a thorough review of the Canadian landscape on micro-brewery tax regimes, which I tabled yesterday in the House, it became evidently clear that although the GNWT offered some easement in December of 2014, its current amended formula is still one of the highest formulas in the country and I want to know why. Why would this government impose a tax program that would set the bar higher than the rest of Canada? What good is it for the success of economic development when targeting a new start-up business with such a high manufacturing tax?
What does this higher tax regime say about the government’s value to support tourism potential or enhance economic innovation and diversity to allow competitive market penetration or, better yet, employment opportunities? Clearly, we have the power to do not what is easy but to do what is right and give this business a leg up on what could potentially be the biggest success story of manufacturing in our northern history.
I’ll have questions later today for the Minister responsible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by Ms. Bisaro on February 9, 2015, regarding municipal information and privacy legislation.
On September 18, 2014, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs distributed a discussion paper to community governments and other stakeholders including the Standing Committee on Social Programs, the Standing Committee on Government Operations and the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure of the Legislative Assembly for comment. In addition, the discussion paper was made publicly available on MACA's website.
Through this consultation, MACA received responses from six community governments on the discussion paper. MACA is concerned that developing potential options based on this limited response will be problematic. Accordingly, the department is now engaging in personal interviews with senior community government staff in order to develop a broader perspective. The intention is to then work with the Municipal Access and Privacy Working Group to complete the survey of the feedback received from stakeholders. The report will be sent to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure and will be made available publically within the life of the 17th Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, I am also mindful that at times community governments can be inundated with requests to engage on issues that the GNWT is attempting to advance. As a result, I feel it is important that MACA takes the necessary time to gather the appropriate information from community leaders, so I do appreciate the patience of the Member, this House and the Information and Privacy Commissioner as we continue to investigate this issue.
Once the summary feedback is completed, MACA will use the information to develop options to address the recommendations of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to welcome everybody here in the public gallery. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is a follow-up on my Member’s statement regarding the issues out at Prelude Lake and the dangerous proliferation of unauthorized ice roads and the difficulty people are having navigating on it with their snowmobiles.
What regulations are in place to control and regulate the building of ice roads on NWT lakes, to make sure that roads are built and used rationally and safely for both people and the land? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what the regulations are. I would have to check with the Department of Transportation because I’m not quite sure what the regulations are. So, I will commit to working with Transportation and see what those regulations are and share that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Sorry for the confusion there. I should have stipulated Minister McLeod. I have been working with Minister McLeod on this and still some questions remain, but I understand that in fact we don’t have regulations, but I’ll wait for that to be confirmed.
People are being injured on Prelude Lake travelling to their cabins and homes by snowmobile because of the six-foot concrete-hard berms associated with roads that have appeared overnight and are basically chaotically placed on the lake.
I’m wondering what this Minister proposes to do before this issue arises again next winter as a land use issue, to regulate the building of private ice roads and ensure that Prelude Lake is safe for snowmobiling, both for recreational and commuting travel. Mahsi.
We will work with the Department of Transportation and ENR. I think we’ve already formed a working group, and we will attempt to find some resolution to this issue before next winter. In my correspondence with the Member, and conversations with the Member, he has been pointing out that it is getting to be quite an issue around some of the lakes with all the trails that are being made there. So, I’ll work closely with my colleagues and we’ll see if we can put a plan into place before the next winter season.
I appreciate the fast work of the Minister. The Minister recently held public meetings about recreational leasing regulations in several communities. This was a good initiative and I applaud it. Presumably, access roads on land and ice would be part and parcel of any new rules regulating what may or may not be done by people holding recreational leases.
Did the Minister hear any references or concerns from the participants in these meetings about the building of ice or land roads to their leases, or casual users of the common concerns about interference from roads? Mahsi.
I have not heard personally, but I haven’t had an opportunity to review some of the comments that came back. But I would assume it would be a concern of a lot of residents out there, especially with so many people getting out on the land now and the ability to make trails to these lands. I know, back where I’m from, we have a few trails out to some of the cabins out there. There aren’t as many as around here because of the higher usage here. But I will review that, and again, I will relay that information on to the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
