Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. As I mentioned in my statement, I'm hearing more and more from members of the community that are unable to properly feed themselves, especially people that are on income assistance and may only be taking home $800 a month. So given that there is a lot of money out there in the federal government, I'm also worried that we're not taking the most advantage we could of this area. So can the Minister advise me and I understand she has to get back to me on how much federal funding that we have received directly to support the growth in our agrifood industry? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can say that the I mean, we certainly have been receiving funding from the federal government under the sustainable Canadian agricultural partnership. This is a fiveyear investment by the federal government in the agrifood sector. And for us, we are expecting over $7.6 million over the life of that agreement here to the Northwest Territories which is, I would note, a 25 percent increase on numbers we were getting under the last agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, for once, that's great news to hear in this House. I'm always glad to hear that we're getting more federal money than less. I guess given that we've had these back to back years of quite terrible environmental conditions for our growers who are predominantly in the South Slave, you know, I just want to sort of reiterate that it is becoming quite concerning. So can the Minister or the department do they track the amount of, say, community gardens and greenhouses that are present throughout the territory? Like, how is the department supporting that initiative? Under food security, it's a little bit of a different one because each little bit of money could make a huge amount of impact so I'm just curious to know what way is the department kind of keeping track of that impact? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed, this is an area where, while health and social services is the lead for food security generally, ITI certainly plays a significant role, and we are responsible for the agricultural sector as well as for community gardens and providing some funds to them. I certainly know, and I'm confident that the department is working directly with communities, that regional superintendents are working with those communities, and are tracking the amounts of growth in the sector. There, indeed, has been a lot of growth in the community garden sector. And in community gardens, Mr. Speaker, to be clear it's not just individuals going and using a plot only for themselves. I know I can speak, for example in Inuvik, where there's a benefit directly to the community and that what is being grown there does benefit the community. So the agricultural strategy, as I mentioned earlier, does require us to track. We are doing that. And I'd be happy to provide those numbers out into the public sphere. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister's response. But it did reiterate one of the concerns I raised in my statement, which is that this is an area where it does bounce between departments, or it's split over two, and like the immigration file we see that that does not generally work. You know, and if anyone is listening that will be around in the 20th, I do think there needs to be a Minister responsible for food security. I don't think we can go any longer without having somebody solely responsible for that who has to answer questions for it.
So next, can the Minister advise if there's been any grant programs that are available to residents or communities in those harder areas to grow? So I'm talking more about my colleague, say from Nunakput, or areas where they're not known to be agriculturallyminded in the past. What kind of programs or initiatives are being taken by the department to increase growing food in those areas? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not under the agricultural strategy, there's not a carve out for one riding or another necessarily. They are done by ways of application. So, therefore, not necessarily reflecting that there might be more challenges to participate in one form of food growth and food commercial good growth or food creation because, Mr. Speaker, there's other options. And certainly, in some communities, country food harvesting may well take a greater place and have a greater role in providing for a community than what agriculture, say, might in another. But that's where while I there are multiple departments involved. This brings yet another department in of ECC. That said, Mr. Speaker, we have one shared briefing note. We have a group that works together across deputies and across officials. And so while I certainly don't speak for other departments, I am able to stand and to give information about all of them because there is the shared messaging and the shared commitment to the issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's not often that Cabinet proves my point, so I do appreciate that there is a third department that is now involved in this.
I think, again, it just speaks a little bit to what I was saying before, that there needs to be a sole direction, there needs to be a plan. We really need to be tackling this and especially given the food insecurity that people are facing. And, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure you're not immune to this. I am on a weekly basis hit up by residents of this territory for money to buy groceries for their children. And I know from speaking with my colleagues that I'm not the only one that this happens to. So when I look at this from a standpoint of mental health and getting young people involved and connecting them back to the land and, as well, even just things like food wastage is minimized when you're actually growing your own food. That one tomato I grew this season, I am going to eat that with gusto, I'll tell you, so.
So can the Minister speak a little bit further about sort of the impacts of the last few years on the agrifood industry. I'm glad to hear there's been some growth but the biggest complaint I heard was around heating the greenhouses, fuel costs, those types of problems or issues that are common across all of our industries. So could the Minister speak to that a little bit, given that we now also don't have the heating fuel rebate any longer. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is, indeed, a well, again, bringing more expertise to bear from different areas in some ways can tackle what is really a very complex problem. So what we do have here is the teams are coming together. It's led by health and social services, so there is a team lead on it. Obviously from the perspective of commercial food production, commercial food growing, that is where ITI's expertise comes in. But this interdepartmental group involves multiple departments because it brings together, again, as I said, all these different areas and issues. I mean, I certainly can speak at some length about the challenges across sectors from the costs of fuel, from inflation, from supply chain issues, all of which has affected the agricultural sector, not to mention, of course, the wildfire seasons, the flood seasons, which have also in particular affected some of our most critical areas that provide a significant contribution to agriculture. Mr. Speaker, ITI's certainly well aware of it. We are looking to the federal government advocating for our sector with the federal government and for the need for more carve out. All of that work takes time, and all that work is lengthy. So I'll leave it at that today but, Mr. Speaker, to those working in the sector, we are well aware of how important this sector is to supporting food security in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
