This is page numbers 1397 - 1454 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 6th 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 tlicho.

Topics

Supplementary To Question 424-14(6): Proposal For Tl'oondih Healing Program
Question 424-14(6): Proposal For Tl'oondih Healing Program
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1409

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Allen.

Further Return To Question 424-14(6): Proposal For Tl'oondih Healing Program
Question 424-14(6): Proposal For Tl'oondih Healing Program
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1409

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe we are committed and I believe we can show proof between the continual liaison between the department and the community of representatives. I want to assure the Members that if there are some shortfalls between now and the end of the fiscal year, we can deal with it in a timely basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Further Return To Question 424-14(6): Proposal For Tl'oondih Healing Program
Question 424-14(6): Proposal For Tl'oondih Healing Program
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1409

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Honourable Jake Ootes, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. As it is the Minister's last day in the House and this will be the last time I am able to ask him this question, which I have asked for the last three-and-a-half years, will he make arrangements so that impact benefit agreements are not clawed back as part of the clawback the Minister has initiated in his department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The IBAs we have looked at extensively and they have many implications that we have not yet worked out. There are implications legally as to how IBAs are treated by other agencies. Even the federal government has not been able to develop a position on impact benefit agreements. It affects our whole policy area of the principles of income support, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, that's still an area that a lot more work needs to be done on.

Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister as he is now aware, a colleague of mine put in his statement that Alberta does not claw back. If Alberta is not clawing back, Newfoundland is not clawing back, why is this Minister and his department so set on clawing this money back from the people that need it the most, the people on income support? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Further Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I say, I go back to the principles in the program, Mr. Speaker. That's a program that meets the basic needs of individuals, but the program is intended to let individuals help themselves. We've also introduced for many years and applied the productive choice component. Really it comes into question of how far we can go providing support for people from public money and then not take into account other monies received, Mr. Speaker, especially in cases where we haven't completely outlined and know the parameters of an IBA. I personally don't know what the content of an IBA agreement is, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is right in saying there are programs out there to help these people, but the impact benefit agreement is based on the land claims agreement and this is compensation for the loss of the use of the land. If this is something that they are entitled to, why is he clawing it back when others in Canada aren't? Why is he wishing to be so different? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Further Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know I hear reference to other parts of Canada, but other parts of Canada don't recognize treaty payments either, Mr. Speaker. It depends on the jurisdiction you go to. So what I am saying with this, Mr. Speaker, is we need more work done on this. For us to step in and say we'll do this, I am looking at a total policy change here, Mr. Speaker. That's the role of all of us here, not just me, Mr. Speaker. We have to take into account the legal basis for IBAs. As I say, not even the federal government has defined the IBA situation of how to treat that, tax-wise, et cetera. So there are complications, Mr. Speaker, in many ways. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Further Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Supplementary To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. About a year-and-a-half ago, the Minister stood up in the House and said he had a legal opinion on this. Now he is saying they are not sure what the legal issues will be around them. The legal opinion he had was publicly funded. Why is he withholding the legal opinion from the public? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The honourable Minister of ECE, Mr. Ootes.

Further Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, I think that's the primary question being asked. The legal opinion is always for Ministers' eyes only and it's such stated on legal opinions. We've been through this debate before, Mr. Speaker, but it really doesn't provide a definite answer either.

Further Return To Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Question 425-14(6): Clawback Of Impact Benefit Agreement Payments
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this morning is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It concerns the establishment of an appeal mechanism, Mr. Speaker, whereby students can get decisions made when they run into complications with processes at the academic and training processes at the school. So my question is would the Minister establish at Aurora College an independent appeal board separate from the college to handle academic and student appeals? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Return To Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1410

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we, early on in the term of this government, decided that we would establish an independent appeal board for student financial assistance and we followed that up with an independent appeal board for income support clients that includes the areas of income support and senior fuel subsidy or any of those particular areas. That's working wonderfully, Mr. Speaker. That provides an avenue for an independent look for decisions that are made by the public service on decisions and it gives the applicant an opportunity to get a decision. There may be cases, Mr. Speaker, where decisions are made that overturn the decisions made by the appeals done by the original individuals, but we found that this works tremendously well and it is an area to get on to the question the Member is asking we should pursue, Mr. Speaker.

Return To Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1411

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1411

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to hear that the Minister is receptive and I think supportive of this initiative. It has not come up too often for me as an MLA, but when constituents have come with issues it has been problematic to get what everyone agrees is a clear and independent process. I wanted to ask the Minister, in other colleges or academic institutions are there models that could be followed for this kind of thing or are we going to be looking at, I guess, a new design process here? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Question 426-14(6): Aurora College Academic Appeal Process For Students
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 1411

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister of ECE, Mr. Ootes.