Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I again want to take the opportunity to thank the Minister and the department for the commitment that they have made to the NWT SPCA. Honestly, let's be fair, originally, there was some resistance to fund the SPCA through the NGO Stabilization Funding. I would like to ask the Minister: really, what was the reason for the change of heart, and why did the Minister see it fit to prioritize approval of this funding to the SPCA? Thank you, Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be honest, we have a lot of non-government organizations that do a lot of really good work on behalf of residents of the Northwest Territories, our municipalities, our communities, our governments. As a government, we want to make sure that we can also provide support. This was the case with the SPCA. Previously, when the program was not through the Department of MACA, there was a one-time funding, I believe, of $25,000. As the Member has asked me in a previous session, we did give a one-time funding.
Coming from personal experience, coming from Inuvik, we do have the Arctic Paws. The Arctic Paws does have a really strong relationship with the SPCA. We really appreciate the work that they do in terms of providing safety and the health of the animals across the Northwest Territories. They did fall under some of the criteria that allowed them to get the funding. We want to make sure that, working with our NGOs who do work on behalf of the government, we want to support that. I think, moving into the next government, we are going to have to come up with some criteria.
As I mentioned to the Member, it is not core funding, but how do we support our NGOs to support the work that they do on behalf of residents and the animal population in the Northwest Territories. I really appreciate the work, and I am glad that we have a representative here from the SPCA today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for his response. Yes, indeed, we know, as does everybody, that a number of NGOs provide important and critical services to the territory, and they rely on the stabilization funding. We don't want to take away from that. Maybe, does the Minister have some other concepts or ideas that we can find a way to provide long-term funding to the SPCA while not impeding on the resources that a number of NGOs depend on?
I don't want to single out just the SPCA, here. There are a lot of NGOs across the Northwest Territories that do a lot of really good work on behalf of the residents and work on behalf of government. That is something that I think, because we are nearing the end of this Assembly, that the new government that comes in in the 19th is going to have to take a hard look at and see how well we fund our NGOs and our partners and stakeholders moving forward.
At this time, I can't make that commitment to say that we are going to be looking at any kind of core funding or ongoing funding. I think that is something that needs to have a really good discussion, because it has come up on numerous occasions during this government.
I appreciate the Minister's response. Indeed, there are some challenges as it relates to the prerequisites when it comes to applying for this stabilization funding. I am sure that the SPCA might have looked for other alternatives, but one of the prerequisites is that you have to be receiving $50,000 from the territorial government by other means. If it is possible, can the Minister let the SPCA know or have his staff work with them to find ways in which other pots of money can be accessed so that maybe they don't have to go to the NGO Stabilization Fund?
I think it comes to the responsibility of all parties involved. I know the Member asked me questions in an earlier session, and I did say the responsibility also falls on the municipalities and the hamlets. We need all leadership. We need the NGOs as well as ourselves as a government providing this kind of funding to work together to see how we can find that type of funding to address the issue. If anything, I will commit to the Member that we will have those discussions.
I think it is something that the next government coming in in the 19th Assembly is going to be something that needs to be talked about because, like I said, our NGOs across the Northwest Territories do invaluable service and they do a lot of really good work right across the territory. We will make that recommendation, but at this moment I can't commit to any ongoing continued funding or core funding, but that discussion needs to be still had. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
