This is page numbers 597 - 648 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 chairman.

Topics

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will make a comment first and then I will ask Ms. Allen as well to comment. The Member has a very good point. It is challenging for people to move into the workforce. Once they are into the workforce, to be able to upgrade themselves and continue with ensuring they get the jobs that are beyond just the access level and that they get the kind of positions that are more supervisory, more skilled and so forth.

The Member well knows that we have a lot of programs in place but this is an area that may still require a lot of work. I will ask Ms. Allen to address what we do have at the moment, what kind of programs we have in place.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Allen.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At Aurora College, we have personal skills courses offered. We have the student success centres at the college as well, which provide some assistance in that area. In a number of communities, we have been offering bridging programs, or transitional programs, between school and work or not working and beginning to work. They would take a short training course that would help to build self-esteem and to assist them with some of the skills they would need in order to go into the workplace.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Allen. Mr. Nitah.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that is all good but more and more, we are seeing the short-term training going to the communities. I think more assistance at the community level would be beneficial to Northerners. I think there is room here to be able to work with the Department of Health and Social Services in addressing the real reason why people are not participating in the boom of the day.

Another suggestion I would give to the department is that through the socio-economic agreements that we have with industry, as the Government of the Northwest Territories they should be able to place people on-site to assist them right there at work, so it is not just at one end and not the other. I think we have to address this problem, which is a major problem, from both ends, at the community level and at the work site.

Would the Minister commit to that suggestion and work with the Department of Health and Social Services through the socio-economic agreements and place people at the work site and assist the companies in retaining the people? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Ootes.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is no doubt that some of the companies out there have developed some models along what Mr. Nitah is suggesting. Diavik is a good example of that. They have a training group that goes into communities. They take a welding course, for example, pre-trades welding, and assist individuals through an instructor to be able to access and write the entrance exam to go into apprenticeship.

We have adult education programs, of course, which help people to upgrade themselves. Then we need to work with, and we are starting to work on an integrated basis with Health and Social Services to look at those kinds of areas. I am using the example for early childhood. I understand what Mr. Nitah is saying. You cannot just stop there. You have to do it for adults too, but early childhood is where we are integrating both our services together, to say in a community "Okay, why work in isolation from each other? Do it together."

I will use early childhood as an example. We are identifying the resource of people available, the resource, accommodations, et cetera, in communities. Where can we conduct programs? How can we do this? What are the shortcomings?

I think Mr. Nitah has a point. On an adult basis, we need to also be concerned about that.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Nitah.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

March 13th, 2002

Page 633

Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, through his responsibilities for the employment side of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, what is the Minister doing to address the major concern in the Territories that we are seeing too many southern people flying over our heads and working up in the mines, or up in the Beaufort-Delta, when there are regions such as the Sahtu, who are not participating to the level that they should be? What is he doing to reduce the number of fly-in workers and increase the number of our own people landing these jobs in the boom that we are having today, even if it is to use...is he using the socio-economic agreements that we signed to address this concern? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 633

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Ootes.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, Mr. Chairman, this is a very good area. It has some concern for us as to how do we address the whole issue of more and more employment for Northerners? After all, that is what our job is, to ensure that our people gain the employment, that our people gain the benefits.

In the diamond development and mining area, there were socio-economic agreements developed and signed, which did address the amount of employment that could take place. That has not been the case yet, in the case of the hydrocarbon development. We are a bit in a problematic situation in that, for the moment, because the land permits are not issued by our government. They are issued by the federal government. They have not put the restrictions on there. What I should say, they have not put in place the kind of socio-economic benefits that we feel should be in place.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 633

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Nitah.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think when the diamond mining companies are coming up here requesting participation and cooperation from our government to help them lobby the federal government for permits, at that point, I believe they were not interested in coming up with socio-economic agreements either. The secondary industry was a good example. Mr. Todd is known to have this great quote. He says "We will introduce taxes that will choke a mule." So we do have some cards that we can play in that area.

I want to address the upcoming potential and see what the Minister is doing to ensure that people are ready. As you know, Mr. Chairman, the application for land use permits to build a pipeline down the Mackenzie is in the works. Sometimes we look at, to use an analogy, we look at the centre ice so much that we miss the whole ice sheet. Somebody told me that outside of the pipeline itself, there is a $33 billion spin-off industry that is associated with the pipeline. I want to know what the department is doing to prepare people to take advantage of that.

An example might be, what is his relationship with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development in terms of training people and helping little businesses get started? Let's say a crew of welders that could go to the companies and say "We will weld you a section of the pipe."Or surveyors will go help survey one rib of the pipe. As you know, there will be a pipeline and the theory and vision right now is that there is going to be a bunch of little pipes that are going to feed into the big ones. That is part of the $33 billion spin-off industry. I would like to know what the department is doing to prepare Northerners to take advantage of the employment and business opportunities associated with the $33 billion spin-off industry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Ootes.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

From the early days, Mr. Chairman, our department has recognized that we need to address not just the hydrocarbon development and the mining development, but training in all areas of possibilities.

We developed a human resource development plan. That went to the federal government. We tried to get some money from them to help us out. So far, we are continuing our effort in that whole area to see if we cannot get the federal government to participate.

My ADM had participated and is continuing to participate in what we call an action team that consisted of RWED, ourselves, the federal government through DIAND, HRDC, the aboriginal groups and industry. The action team was going to move forward to request funding from the federal government through our human resource development plan. That all came to a screeching halt last September because of the need for the federal government to put money into the security issue.

We are continuing that. I am trying to revive that so we do get support for it.

Secondly, Ms. Allen is a participant in a team on the pipeline itself. A group has been formulated. Industry is the chair of it. Our two departments are part of it. Federal departments are part of it, and the aboriginal groups are part of it. That is to take care of looking at training and benefits of building the pipeline itself.

We need to go beyond that. Yes, there are opportunities that will be spin-offs, as you have referenced, that we need to say how do we get the training for those people? That is where I go back to I need support funding from the federal government. We as a territorial government have continued to put some money into this, to the tune of $7 million a year, which we started last summer, the Maximizing Northern Employment, because we have to build capacity for our own people.

Is it enough? Well, it is a lot of money for us, but we could use more. That is where I need the help from federal input here. Thank you.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Page 9-13, advanced education. Mr. Nitah.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to have a little more time to continue in this line of questioning. It is an important area. The North is experiencing a boom period. Unfortunately, our people are not ready and we have to have systems to get them ready.

I will set the stage. Our Minister of RWED and the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation have been travelling the North promoting hydro development a great deal in the last year or so. As you know, Mr. Chairman, political will usually is followed by economic development. In this area, I would like to know from the Minister what specifically his department is doing to prepare people, Northerners and First Nations people, who are interested in hydro development. What kind of training programs, if any, do they have to prepare Northerners to participate in employment and business opportunities relating to hydro development? If they do not have any programs, are they planning to introduce any programs? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Ootes.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have to relate that back to our plan to develop across the Territory all aspects of human resource development. It is a case of ensuring that there is training and skill development, not just mining and oil and gas, but that it is in all sectors of our economy. Hydro development has tremendous potential for us here in the Territories. We need to be able to build the capacity of communities and groups out there so that they can address issues like hydro development when it comes on their doorstep. What I am speaking of there is, for instance, the development and encouragement of financial officers within the aboriginal organizations, community governments, community corporations, that they develop financial officers, the administrative officers and so forth, so that the capacity starts to be there to be able to deal with the possibility of development in the Territory.

Hydro is certainly there on the front...I do not know where it is on the burner, but it is certainly a potential to be on the front burner.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Nitah.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When it comes to dealing with electricity and hydroelectricity, there is significant training that is necessary. I will give you an example. I was working with the NWT Power Corporation in the community of Deninu Kue, the First Nations there, to do a simple slashing job, because the trees near the power line between Fort Resolution and Pine Point were a danger to the power lines. Just for that slashing job, the individuals had to get chainsaw training, how to deal with electrical wires training. At the end of the day, the cost of the project was less expensive than the training, so there are major requirements, just based on that little potential project that did not go ahead. I am still working on getting it to go ahead. Just from that little project, the employment training that was required from the NWT Power Corporation before they gave that contract was extreme, in my opinion. When you are talking hydro development, construction of hydro sites, et cetera, I imagine the training requirement...I would beg to argue that we have already been knocking on the doors of First Nations. We are already knocking on the doors of business and saying let's get hydro development.

I think it is incumbent on the department to design, at the very least, a training course so that you could use that design to go ask for money. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Ootes.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess how I was saying this before was that by building the capacity, people have transferable skills, so that if an organization out there said "We want to drop some turbines into the river and we need the ability to be able to deal with that. How do we do it?" I guess what I was saying about developing financial officers or administrative officers, there are transferable skills that organizations can say "Now you work on this particular area for us to develop." Hydro development does not take a great deal of hands-on experience once it is built. There is more on the administrative end that is required.

I think the Member has a point in terms of saying what are we doing in terms of that, but we look at it in terms of in total, across the Territory, can we build the capacity of organizations? The organizations in turn will say this is where we need to go next. I do not know if hydro is already, and I will take your word for it, already knocking on the door, developers are saying let's go.

I think I am there to try and say let's build capacity for the organizations.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Nitah.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is never a bad idea to build capacity for organizations, but you cannot expect somebody you train to be a financial officer one day if you then take them to the construction or hydro side. I think it is this kind of attitude that is resulting in us seeing fly-over people going to the mine sites.

I am not talking about building capacity at the organizational level, I think we should be doing that without the hydro or the development. That is what we should have been doing for years. Capacity building should have been started in the school system. It has not worked. That is why we are spending all of this money on training.

Specific to hydro, can the Minister commit to looking into whether there is specific training needed in areas of hydro that are not compatible with other training in the economy of the North? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.