This is page numbers 157 - 202 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was communities.

Topics

Resource Development Compensation For Harvesters
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 160

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Resource Development Compensation For Harvesters
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 160

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mr. McLeod. You may conclude.

Resource Development Compensation For Harvesters
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 160

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what type of message is this lack of policy and regulations sending to the resource developers when they arrive on traditional lands wanting to conduct business? Mr. Speaker, I agree with the review board when they state that compensation for resource harvesting should be part of a benefits plan. I further agree with them when they state that data collection processes by the GNWT should be improved to allow for proper calculation of resource harvesting compensation.

Mr. Speaker, it should be a priority area for this government that it plays a strong support role for communities that are faced with resource development pressures. It is therefore incumbent on the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development to develop an adequate data collection procedure and analysis methods to assist communities.

This government should also be providing training courses and workshops in the communities to help train community environmental and heritage monitors so they can meaningfully represent their communities in the important jobs they hold.

Mr. Speaker, let us get our act together and start helping communities, rather than unwittingly working against them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Resource Development Compensation For Harvesters
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 161

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Native Hockey Tournament
Item 3: Members' Statements

February 25th, 2002

Page 161

Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to report on the weekend activities held in Inuvik. Mr. Speaker, at this time of year, we in Inuvik hold a tournament called the IRC Cup, or IRC Tournament, and that is the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Tournament. This year, teams came in from Holman, Deline, Paulatuk, Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik. This tournament gave me the opportunity to travel back home and take part in the weekend activities, as well as meet with a lot of people who have travelled to Inuvik to take in the tournament and the exciting games that were played.

Mr. Speaker, without the people who put these tournaments together, it would be difficult indeed to hold together the long winter season. The IRC Cup, as was mentioned in the closing ceremonies, there needs to be thanks given to the organizers and volunteers that made it a great success. There are a lot of them who were involved and a lot of businesses as well that supported the different hockey teams.

However, the key people who got this year's IRC Tournament off to a good start and closed in a great fashion were Donnie and Wilma Hendricks, James and Peggy Day and, of course, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation that helped put it together.

Mr. Speaker, it was the fans who showed up to watch the games that made the weekend's events that much more exciting and gratifying, especially for the hockey players that would come out and put their best game forward, so to speak. Mr. Speaker, there is something to say about what was accomplished.

The team that I played for, our average age was 41 years. We took on a lot of young men out there and every time we stepped out on the ice, we were led by the song "Who let the Dogs Out?" Mr. Speaker, that was because our team, as we called ourselves, were the Inuvik Old Dogs. We showed the old dogs still had some bite because we won the B division. Thank you.

-- Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. Good to see there was a lot of barking. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Replacement Water Treatment Plant For Rae
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 161

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today is on safe drinking water. I see that the standards in the Northwest Territories are improving with the proposed mandatory certification of anyone working with water treatment plants. That is a great idea, Mr. Speaker, but we need the proper facilities and water from the right source. We have to use the water intake from Marion Lake, the source the people do not want, in Rae-Edzo. In the case of Rae, the people want the supply from Russell Lake, which is clean water coming from the Barren Lands.

Mr. Speaker, the people from Rae are the ones living there and they are the ones who want to have the clean drinking water. It is their health that is affected by the water they drink.

Mr. Speaker, a good example is Fort McPherson. They have to truck in water from many kilometres out of town. Sometimes we may have to travel further, but we want our water from a good source.

Mr. Speaker, there may be other options as well. When we do projects of this magnitude, we need to use traditional knowledge. We have seen projects where traditional knowledge was not used in the past and it is costing the government more than it should. Sometimes we see departments going through procedures or costly studies, but at the back of their minds, they have already decided what the communities are going to get.

The studies can be smoke screens, time wasters or dust collectors. In this case, it appears the government is going to go with the cheapest option and not the will of the community residents. I have asked repeatedly for MACA to consider the wishes of the residents instead of shoving through a project they do not want. I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Replacement Water Treatment Plant For Rae
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 161

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Brendan Bell

Brendan Bell Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you know, I recently questioned our government about personnel policies for excluded employees. I was expressing concern that excluded and management employees of the Northwest Territories public service have little protection regarding employment-related issues.

The Minister responsible for the public service has, to his credit, responded to me very quickly. I will be tabling that letter later today. He did point out that there is a degree of protection provided in several acts and policies that we have; the Public Service Act, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Northwest Territories Fair Practices Act, the Workplace Conflict Resolution Policy, Code of Conduct, Job Evaluation Policy and the human resource manual.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of my statement today is not to quibble with the Minister over the relative strengths or shortcomings of these acts and policies. I do want to point out though, Mr. Speaker, that I was surprised to learn that although the Public Service Act enables the Minister for the public service or his delegates, typically deputy ministers or CEOs of boards, to appoint and terminate public service employees, it does not specifically prohibit Ministers from involving themselves in staffing actions.

Mr. Speaker, this clearly is not appropriate and I think it is something we need to address in our legislation or policies. Mr. Speaker, I simply think we owe it to our public service to tackle these very important issues and let them know how highly we value them. Thank you.

-- Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week I raised the issue of adequate resources and training for drug and alcohol counsellors because of the important role they play in addressing addictions in our communities.

In a related matter, Mr. Speaker, there is also an issue of the adequacy of the number of positions and the staffing of these positions funded through our health and social services boards. For many years, the Hay River Drug and Alcohol Society operated as an NGO. They had their own board of directors; community volunteers who were concerned about addictions issues in the community.

Last year it was decided that the Hay River Drug and Alcohol Society would come under the management and governance of the Hay River Community Health and Social Services Board. There were five positions; an executive director, three counsellors and an office manager. Since the health board takeover, the executive director's position was redefined, requiring a Master's degree, making the incumbent ineligible and creating one vacancy that was not subsequently filled.

One counsellor position was reprofiled to that of a mental health worker, decreasing the complement by a further counsellor position and leaving two drug and alcohol counsellors with the entire program delivery and counselling responsibilities.

Mr. Speaker, because of this, not only are valuable community programs being cut or modified, the caseload for the remaining two counsellors is such that client follow-up visits that should occur weekly are booked bi-weekly or monthly. In most cases, a client in crisis needs to wait a week in order to have a session with a counsellor.

It is untenable for the clients and it is untenable for the counsellors trying to meet the demands on their services. A serious loss to our community occurs when these positions are left vacant or are reprofiled to other areas. How many people are not receiving the help they need in a timely manner? What is an acceptable waiting time and waiting list to exist for these services?

Important programs aimed at youth, at preventing smoking, referrals from court ordered counselling for persons on probation cannot be accommodated and this is an unacceptable situation. This has an enormous ripple effect in the community when these positions are not staffed and counselling services are not available.

Later today, I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding these vacancies and changes in staffing in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Young Women's Conference
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 162

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month on February 1st, I had the privilege of taking part in the First Annual Young Women's Conference in Yellowknife. This was a phenomenal conference organized by Skills Canada, Northwest Territories and Nunavut to provide an opportunity for all young women in grade 8 from schools across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to meet female mentors who work in the areas of trades, technology and non-traditional occupations, and to participate in networking and hands-on activities.

Some 180 girls from Inuvik, Fort McPherson, Rae-Edzo, Fort Providence, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven, Fort Good Hope, Kugaaruk, Wha Ti and Yellowknife attended the event. There were dozens more chaperones and volunteers, as well as the female mentors, filling the room to capacity.

I must say, Mr. Speaker, it was quite a sight to see 180 girls chatting to each other and with the female mentors, to share their interests and to absorb all the current information that was made available to them. There were also a lot of smiles and laughter. I can tell you first-hand it was truly a learning and rewarding experience for the mentors, just as it was for the students.

The female mentors came from engineering, aviation, RCMP, military, fire fighting, broadcasting and some of them were even wildlife officers and politicians. Many in attendance recognized that this could not have been such a success without the focus, determination and hard work of Allyson Stroeder, the executive director of Skills Canada.

She brought together government agencies and sought and found major corporate sponsors to give generously to make this happen. She was also instrumental in collecting dozens of volunteers to make sure 180 girls did exactly what they were supposed to do every minute of the day, which is not always easy.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to send my sincere thanks and congratulations to Ms. Stroeder for the excellent job and the corporate sponsors and volunteers and mentors for giving so generously. I look forward to the event next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Young Women's Conference
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 162

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Vince Steen

Vince Steen Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, along with my colleague for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland, I have congratulations as well on the Inuvik hockey tournament. Mr. Speaker, not all of the exciting hockey tournaments were held in Salt Lake City, Utah over the past few days.

The annual IRC Native Hockey Tournament was held in Inuvik this past weekend as well. As usual, it was a very popular event, which was well attended by all of the Delta community residents and athletes.

The results of the competition were as follows: in the B division, the finals were won by the Inuvik Old Dogs, as my colleague from Inuvik said, over the Tuk Warriors four to two. However, in the A division, it was the Tuk E. Gruben's Transport team over the Inuvik Northwinds by a score of seven to four.

My congratulations to the winning Tuk team and thanks to all the players who took part in the tournament, including the teams from Holman and Paulatuk for their contribution to a successful tournament.

Mr. Speaker, this is a great annual sporting event that promotes sportsmanship, teamwork and good fellowship by all participants. I look forward to next year's event. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Tribute To Canadian Winter Olympians
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 163

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stand today to give honour to our men and women who went to the Olympics, those who won the medals on our behalf. Especially the final day there, on Sunday, when the men took the gold. It was a great day for Canadians.

I had the opportunity to be in Victoria that day to see the last period and see the Canadians win the gold. The spontaneous reaction of the citizens, not only in Victoria but throughout the whole country in celebrating Canada's victory, was a great patriotic time. We saw on TV that we as Canadians were very proud to be Canadians that day.

I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations to the Olympic gold medal winners. Thank you.

-- Applause

Tribute To Canadian Winter Olympians
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 163

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Item 5: Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Item 5: Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Page 163

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Captain Karen Hoeft of the Salvation Army, who is also the chair of the Homelessness Coalition in Yellowknife.

-- Applause

Item 5: Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Item 5: Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Page 163

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recognizing a very serious problem throughout Canada, the federal government appointed the Honourable Claudette Bradshaw as the federal coordinator on homelessness. Since then, other jurisdictions, including Nunavut, have appointed Ministers to similar positions.

Mr. Speaker, with the number of homeless people on the rise, will the Premier appoint a Minister in this government with responsibility for the homelessness issue?

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Return To Question 67-14(5): Addressing Homelessness In The Nwt
Question 67-14(5): Addressing Homelessness In The Nwt
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 163

Stephen Kakfwi

Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will be an announcement, a Minister's statement, on this issue tomorrow. Thank you.

Return To Question 67-14(5): Addressing Homelessness In The Nwt
Question 67-14(5): Addressing Homelessness In The Nwt
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 163

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Dent. No further supplementary? Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Honourable Vince Steen, Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs. My question is regarding the Rae water intake, Rae water treatment plant and the Rae water source. They are all one project. The understanding I am getting talking to people with MACA and outside of MACA is that the department is going through the procedures of just doing testing, and telling everybody that the project is being looked at, the design is being looked at.

However, what I am hearing is the project is going to go ahead as MACA planned. They are going to be using old infrastructure and putting a plan in for the next 50 to 60 years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.