This is page numbers 143 - 180 of the Hansard for the 15th 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 communities.

Topics

Members Present

Honourable Brendan Bell, Mr. Braden, Honourable Paul Delorey, Honourable Charles Dent, Mrs. Groenewegen, Honourable Joe Handley, Mr. Hawkins, Honourable David Krutko, Mr. Lafferty, Ms. Lee, Hon. Michael McLeod, Mr. McLeod, Hon. Kevin Menicoche, Mr. Miltenberger, Mr. Pokiak, Mr. Ramsay, Honourable Floyd Roland, Mr. Villeneuve, Mr. Yakeleya

---Prayer

Item 1: Prayer
Item 1: Prayer

Page 143

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board. Mr. Krutko.

Minister's Statement 14-15(6): Skills Canada
Item 2: Ministers' Statements

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David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Mr. Speaker, on April 19, 2007, youth from across the Northwest Territories participated in the 9th Annual Territorial Skills Competition. Over 100 northern youth were entered into the various competitive events designed to foster careers and trades in technology. I would like to extend congratulations to those who took part, especially those competitors in the worksite safety event.

The worksite safety event involved three parts. Competitors gave an oral presentation on workplace health or safety topic of their choice. They took a written test and were also asked to identify safety hazards at a mock worksite overseen by the Workers' Compensation Board safety officers. To qualify to compete, the participants first had to take the Safety and the Young Worker Program offered through the Workers' Compensation Board. This year, there were 12 participants at the territorial level, 11 in the junior category and one in a senior category. The students who participated performed well and I encourage them to return next year.

Across Canada, people are beginning to realize that workplace accidents must not be accepted as part of our working lives. Every workplace injury can be prevented if safety is the first priority. In participating in the worksite safety competition, these youth are not only demonstrating a commitment to workplace safety, they are leading by example and building the foundation for a culture of safety in the next generation of workers in the Northwest Territories.

For proof of this commitment to workplace safety, we need to look no further than our territory's record at the national level where NWT participants have been awarded the gold medal in this category for three of the past six years. I would like to applaud all the youth who participated at the territorial level; in particular Keegan Lower and Peter Boggis who received gold medals in the worksite safety event for the junior and senior categories respectively. Peter Boggis who won the gold in this category at the national competition last year will be once again moving to compete against the best and safest youth of Canada.

I wish him the best of luck and best of luck to the other NWT competitors who are moving on to the National Skills Canada Competition. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister's Statement 14-15(6): Skills Canada
Item 2: Ministers' Statements

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The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister's statements. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise my colleagues that on May 15th, the Minister of Health and Social Service and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment will join me in the Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly to launch the 2007 Get Active NWT summer campaign.

The 2007 Get Active event is a friendly challenge to residents of the Northwest Territories to register the time they spend being physically active for a chance to win a $5,000 grant to support their community recreation program, a $500 grant for the most active groups and airline tickets to Edmonton.

An Hon. Member

Buy north.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

During our 2006 Summer Get Active challenge, nearly 18 percent of residents were recruited to log over 10 million minutes of physical activity. In the recently completed 2007 Get Winter Active challenge campaign, 380 NWT youth logged nearly 631,000 minutes of physical activity.

The 2007 Get Active campaign is posed to be even better with additional prizes for participants, special Get Active community events in all regions, and more partners joining in, including the Canadian Cancer Society, First Air, the Northwest Territories Recreation and Parks Association and many others.

As impressive as the participation numbers have been in the past years and the expectation for this year's campaign, it is known that there are a great many individuals who carry on their personal commitment to physical activity and a heavy lifestyle without ever logging a single minute into a campaign such as this one. To all those silent role models, congratulations on your efforts and the examples that you set.

Each year in Canada, more than two-thirds of deaths result from four groups of chronic diseases: cardiovascular, cancer, two types of diabetes and respiratory. These chronic diseases share common, preventable risk factors including physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and tobacco use.

The Get Active campaign is one of a number of efforts the Government of the Northwest Territories is supporting to

promote all residents to live healthier lifestyles. Even if a few more people can be convinced to be physically active, the cost savings for the health care system is huge and the lifestyle improvements immeasurable.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all Members of the Legislative Assembly for helping to set an example and I encourage you to promote Get Active and other healthy lifestyle choices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Brendan Bell

Brendan Bell Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories has one of the most impressive parks systems in all of Canada. On May 1, 2007, the system was improved when the Department of ITI launched its new territorial parks on-line reservation system. The web address is www.campingnwt.ca.

The on-line reservation system is one of several initiatives being undertaken by Industry, Tourism and Investment to enhance the camping experience in NWT parks.

In 2006, we were pleased to roll out the first phase of the on-line reservation program at Fred Henne Park in the North Slave region. This year, we've expanded the service to all of the other major territorial parks in the territory. In the North Slave region this includes Prelude and Reid Lake parks. In the South Slave: Twin Falls, Hay River and Queen Elizabeth parks. In the Deh Cho: Sambaa Deh, Blackstone, Fort Simpson, and in the Inuvik region: Happy Valley and Jak Park Campground.

A key feature of the on-line reservation system is the ability to actually see pictures of the site you are interested in. You can see what amenities are available and then be able to book the site on-line. This is accomplished thanks to the installation of satellite communications in each of the participating parks. We have been able to provide this value-added tool to the public due to the cooperation and support of our various parks contractors across the NWT. I would like to commend our private sector partners for this support.

Mr. Speaker, this initiative, as well as constantly improving park facilities and infrastructure and ongoing staff training, are all part of the department's goal to make camping in the NWT a memorable and positive experience. Thank you.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Dent.

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, a sure sign of spring in many NWT communities is the return of summer students. The GNWT Summer Student Program is one way we offer to hire and train northerners as future public servants.

In 2001, the GNWT introduced the Maximizing Northern Employment Initiative. As part of this initiative, the Northern Student and Northern Graduate Employment programs were established. These programs encourage northern students to pursue post-secondary degrees and diplomas, and then work in the NWT after graduation.

Graduates can access internships and specialized skill development training. Qualified northern graduates of nursing, social work and teaching programs are guaranteed a job offer somewhere in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, since 2001, the Graduate Nursing Program has placed 87 northern nursing graduates. The Graduate Social Work Program has placed 16 social workers and the Graduate Teacher Program has placed over 50 teachers.

For students finishing a year of post-secondary schooling, we have a Summer Student Hiring Program that helps students receive progressive, relevant experience directly related to their studies.

In 2006, the GNWT provided 343 summer students with employment between April and September. Mr. Speaker, as of this week, 195 students have already been hired for summer 2007 in seven NWT communities. This includes 56 priority one and 108 priority two individuals. These employment opportunities offer students an insight into the public service work environment. They also provide employees with an opportunity to share their knowledge and skills with future job seekers.

Our Graduate Internship Program has been successful in attracting northerners to the public service. Since 2001, over 260 northerners have participated in the internship program. Over 88 interns from the program have joined the GNWT in indeterminate positions. Of those who have moved on, many have returned to school for advanced degrees or gone to work for other northern employers. Mr. Speaker, 35 interns will join the GNWT this year.

I invite my colleagues to join me in welcoming all the interns and summer students who are joining the public service this year. The time spent with the GNWT will provide these individuals with valuable work experience. Our northern students and graduates will be filling essential positions in the future.

Mr. Speaker, these programs serve as examples of how the GNWT is preparing, developing and retaining northerners in the public service. As North American labour markets become more competitive, we need to look at our own staff and other northern residents and the educational programs we provide in order to fill our public service positions with the best candidates.

We could not provide the quality programs that we do without dedicated public service employees. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the time, energy and dedication they bring to mentoring and training our new employees. Through their efforts, the GNWT continues to offer an exciting and vibrant workplace for northerners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Juno Award Recipient Leela Gilday
Item 3: Members' Statements

May 13th, 2007

Page 145

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It's always a pleasure to stand in this Assembly and acknowledge the significant milestones and achievements on behalf of constituents and residents. In this light, it was a great moment for a tremendous northern family, a Yellowknife family and the whole NWT to see that Leela Gilday was acknowledged as the Juno Award winner for aboriginal recordings...

---Applause

Juno Award Recipient Leela Gilday
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Some Hon. Members

Hear! Hear!

Juno Award Recipient Leela Gilday
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

...for her second album Sedze. It was only the latest in a string of awards for this talented young woman, Mr. Speaker. She had previously been recognized by the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards as the best female artist and songwriter for her first CD Spirit World, Solid Wood. That CD is also recognized as the best folk album.

Leela Gilday is a First Nations singer born and raised in Yellowknife. Of course, the achievements of her father, Bill, are known far and wide. He has a long history in Yellowknife and the NWT. He's the founder and the mainstay of the Gumboots, which have several CDs behind them and makes a tremendous contribution to the students in this community through his leadership of the Sir John Franklin bands and choirs.

Mr. Speaker, his daughter, Leela, was the first northerner to graduate with an honours degree in classical music from the University of Alberta. She wowed the whole country with her tremendous performance at the opening ceremonies for the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse.

The sacrifices that Leela and many others like her make in the performing arts is sometimes something that goes without a lot of recognition. This is the season of festivals coming up, Mr. Speaker. We have several going on in the NWT. In Fort Smith, the South Slave Friendship Festival; the Midway Lake Music Festival up north; in Fort Simpson they will be hosting the Open Sky Festival; and here in Yellowknife, of course, Folk on the Rocks and the Summer Solstice Festival.

To the volunteers, the performers and the sponsors, Mr. Speaker, they all deserve a standing ovation and the best wishes for a great summer season to come. Thank you.

---Applause

Juno Award Recipient Leela Gilday
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 145

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Criminal Activity In Downtown Yellowknife
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 145

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to raise an issue about what is commonly known as the downtown problem. Mr. Speaker, as you mentioned in your opening statement of this sitting, we had the pleasure of a number of visitors to this Legislature prior to the session. While visiting with the women parliamentarians and the senior civil servants for the leadership tour, I was struck by one common topic that emerged from two totally separate set of visitors. After they each profusely commented on how friendly the people were and how beautiful some of the sites were, the women talked about how scared they were about walking through some streets in our downtown in broad daylight. One of the civil servants, who is an RMCP officer, spoke quite matter of factly about observing two drug deals that were going down in our downtown parking lot. Obviously, Mr. Speaker, through her expert eyes it was very plain to see.

We are well aware of the goings on in our downtown streets, but I am sure this is not what we want to showcase or make an impression to our visitors. Mr. Speaker, I know that the RCMP is aware of the drug issues and especially the youth being targeted. They have been working hard to focus their resources on that and they have also been working on other ways to free up resources and put them to more efficient use, but the fact is the RCMP in Yellowknife is stretched and they are not able to put enough boots on the ground as much as they need to. In looking at the numbers, Mr. Speaker, I know it appears as though we have a growing detachment in Yellowknife, but the fact is Yellowknife serves all of the surrounding communities without RCMP detachments and every time they have to travel to these communities, they are taken off our streets. They are also required to do a lot of admin work, which I believe could be done by civilian or other branches in the GNWT like court services.

Mr. Speaker, as I see it, the government must pay more attention to this and address it in a two-pronged way. One is we must undertake a comprehensive review on how we can reduce admin work or secondary work being placed on RCMP officers so they can spend more time on the streets. Secondly, we need to have RCMP officers in every surrounding community, so that they don't have to rely on the Yellowknife detachment and if they are, these numbers should not be counted as Yellowknife detachment and inflate the numbers and, therefore, making it look like there are enough services. I am telling you, we need to do something about this downtown issue. We need more boots on the ground. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Criminal Activity In Downtown Yellowknife
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 145

Some Hon. Members

Boots on the ground!

Criminal Activity In Downtown Yellowknife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Tire Recycling
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 145

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, the Beverage Container Recovery Program is one which was welcomed by Members of this Assembly and has been well received by the public. There are still some questions and some fine tuning that could occur, but generally it has been quite successful. Now it's time to turn our minds to the expansion of our waste recovery program. One area I would like to speak about today is the recovery of used tires.

There are numerous environmental benefits and some potential economic advantages as well. Right now, discarded tires are being stored at landfill sites and many

other locations. I saw with my own eyes right here in Yellowknife what can happen should these tires catch fire. I am surprised that more harm did not come from the fire that started at the Yellowknife landfill on a Saturday morning a few years ago. Runoff from tire fires can contaminate groundwater and surface water and are also virtually impossible to extinguish. Waste tires are also an ideal habitat for mosquitoes to breed in.

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of ways to recycle tires and turn a potential environmental hazard into something useful. In Canada, tires have been used to line the surface of reservoir slopes and hydroelectric projects. These tires help to stabilize the underwater slope and provide a habitat for animals. Tires can also be sunk in water to create artificial reefs, which become a habitat for fish species. Tire chips can be used to replace conventional construction materials; for example, road fill, gravel, crushed rock or sand. The benefits of using tire chips instead of conventional construction materials are reduced density, improved drainage properties and better thermal insulation.

Mr. Speaker, across Canada, provinces, as far back as 1996, have found innovative ways to both recycle tires and to fund their recycling. Mr. Speaker, tire recycling is not only good for the environment, it can also help to create a new industry; an industry that could be located in Hay River. Tire recycling needs to be included in the Department of ENR's Waste Management Strategy, and later today I'm going to have questions for the Minister of ENR about what our government is doing about waste tires and whether or not he'd like to buy Hay River a tire shredder. Thank you.

---Applause

Tire Recycling
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 146

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Adjustments To Student Financial Assistance Rates
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 146

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the next few weeks we'll have high school students graduating from Grade 12. The past couple weeks we've had Aurora College convocations, and we've got some students graduating from southern institutions. First, I want to congratulate all these grads and wish them nothing but the best in their future goals.

We continue, Mr. Speaker, to have one of the best systems for post-secondary education in the country, but there still needs to be some work done on the Student Financial Assistance Program. Imagine how many more students, Mr. Speaker, we may be able to see complete their post-secondary education. We have to adjust the SFA to reflect the cost of living between the South and the Northwest Territories. One dollar, Mr. Speaker, in Edmonton will not be the same as $1 in Inuvik or Yellowknife or Fort Smith. It would be about a $1.80, almost two bucks up here. We have to adjust the SFA to reflect this.

I've always said, Mr. Speaker, and I believe, that the NWT has the best support system for our students looking to further their education and training. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has to have a serious look at the SFA rates and adjust them accordingly. This is a concern that I still hear from students attending college in Inuvik. We may have, we may continue, Mr. Speaker, to see more northern students graduating and, who knows, we may even have training positions for them within the GNWT. Then they can give their own people a hard time instead of someone that just moved north. Thank you.

---Applause

Adjustments To Student Financial Assistance Rates
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 146

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

911 Emergency Telephone Response Service
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 146

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In September of 2001, the chief coroner of the Northwest Territories issued a recommendation that the City of Yellowknife, the RCMP, and Municipal and Community Affairs implement the 911 service in Yellowknife and then expand those services to other communities in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, here we are six years after that recommendation to move forward on 911 service, and still the government is dragging its heels and not moving this much needed emergency response issue forward.

Mr. Speaker, I was a city councillor back in 2001 and remember quite clearly the discussion at the time as focussed on the fact that the Government of the Northwest Territories could not help implement 911 service in Yellowknife without providing the entire territory with the service. Well, Mr. Speaker, I believe that the GNWT has to start somewhere. There is no reason that I have seen nor heard why we can't start with communities like Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith.

Currently when you call 911 you get a computerized voice message saying "Sorry, there are no 911 services in your area. Please hang up and dial the emergency number for your area or hang up and dial zero." This, Mr. Speaker, is just not good enough. When the potential exists for people's lives to be at risk, 911 is a much easier number for children to learn and to remember. If you were to conduct a survey in our communities, I would be surprised if more than 50 percent of the population knew the numbers for the RCMP or emergency services.

Nine-one-one is a North American standard and it is about time that the Government of the Northwest Territories gets on with helping communities that can be easily hooked up into a system such as Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith. How can the government ignore the coroner's recommendation for six years for what would appear to be solely political reasons? My constituents, the city of Yellowknife, and all of our residents here in the Northwest Territories deserve much better, Mr. Speaker. I'll have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs at the appropriate time. Mahsi.

---Applause