Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement today, I alluded to some differences in definition between the federal government and the GNWT and how they refer to "northern" or "Indigenous" content within their procurement guidelines. I want to kind of get away from that a little bit because assumptions can be concerning when it comes to procurement, and I want to have a very good understanding of how the NWT is benefitting from the Giant Mine Remediation Project. What I am wondering from the Minister of ENR today, Mr. Speaker, is: how many contracts have been awarded to NWT businesses, both as suppliers and contractors, and what dollar value percentage of the entire value of the contracts does this represent?
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I answer the questions, I want to clarify that, although the GNWT is a co-component of the Giant Mine Remediation Project, the Government of Canada is ultimately the project authority when it comes to procurement. The percentage of contracts the Giant Mine Remediation Project in 2018-2019 awarded was 91 percent; 79 percent of that was northern Indigenous suppliers, and 12 percent went to northern non-Indigenous suppliers. This, the 2019-2020, saw 83 percent of this amount given out; 81 was to northern Indigenous suppliers, and 22 of that was to northern non-Indigenous. In regard to the dollar value, in 2018-2019, there was $26 million out of the $28.8 million that went to northern and non-Indigenous suppliers; 2019-2020 saw $45.85 million out of the total of $49 million.
Before I go on to my next question, I would like to request that those numbers be provided in writing and also the definitions used for each of those, as well, pretty please. Thank you. My second question, Mr. Speaker, is: a significant focus of the Giant Mine Remediation Project needs to be training and apprenticeship; this is an opportunity for the Northwest Territories to develop made-in-the-North experience for remediation workers for a future remediation economy. How many apprentices are currently working on the Giant Mine Remediation Project?
Thank you. In regard to apprentices, I do not know the exact number. Right now, we know that 62 percent of onsite employees report themselves as NWT residents.
The numbers again today are very different than what is being reported in the annual report from the Giant Mine Oversight Board, and so I would love to be able to figure out with the Minister where the discrepancies are coming from and to better understand if it is a difference in definitions used or if there is something else happening. However, my next question, Mr. Speaker, is: companies that do not follow their contract responsibilities under the federal Aboriginal Opportunity considerations are fined by the federal government; given that the repercussions of that and the damages of that are felt by the NWT and not by Ottawa, what is the process for those fines? Do the fines go to Ottawa? Are any amount of the fines left behind here in the Northwest Territories? Is there any NWT benefit to those fines?
There are contract deductions are brought back to communities mostly impacted by Giant Mine via contribution agreement. In 2019-2020 the federal government provided approximately $957,000 in funding to positions within Yellowknife Dene First Nations, North Slave Metis Alliance, City of Yellowknife, and Alternatives North. In addition, approximately $450,000 has been provided to Yellowknives Dene, Dechinta Naowo, for environmental monitoring training program.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question was in regard to specifically the fines received by the federal government for contracts that don't fulfil what they call their "Aboriginal criteria" for their federal procurement process. It's outside of other contracts that the government provides for remediation or for partnerships with Indigenous governments. This is very specific to people not following what they say they are going to do with the procurement contracts that they have with the federal government. Maybe I can request that in writing. I can do that tomorrow in a written question for the Minister.
My next question is: one of the recommendations of the Giant Mine Oversight Board was for the federal government to appoint a special envoy to develop and implement a comprehensive and integrated economic strategy for the Giant Mine Remediation Project. This role or this position would act as a liaison between the federal, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous agencies. What I'd like to know is: has this been done with the federal government, if the Minister knows that? If the federal government has not done this because this is so important to the Northwest Territories, would the GNWT be willing to appoint a GNWT staff member to do this work? Thank you.
The project team met with Giant Mine Oversight Board in August, discussed the specific recommendations and to clarify the intent of the special envoy. The GMOB clarified that they would like to see focused attention on solutions to help remove federal procurement barriers within the federal government. The project team committed to bringing this forward to senior management in Ottawa on a broader scale. It should be noted that through the project's socio-economic working group and senior advisory body, the project team already works closely with Yellowknives Dene First Nation, North Slave Metis Alliance, Tlicho government, City of Yellowknife, Alternatives North, and Parsons, to address socio-economic aspects of this project. I'd also like to note that Parsons and the project team will be hosting a three-day online industry day event, October 20th to 22th. The Member talked about it in her Member's statement. The intent of the industry day is to provide local contractors in the community with advice, advance information on upcoming work and procurement opportunities at the site. More information can be found on Parsons' website. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
