Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to the area of Education, Culture and Employment, I believe that this department has a very important role to play in light of the economic downturn that we’re in. I think it’s a good opportunity that we have to not only provide training and stimulus to our communities and also throughout the Northwest Territories, and get our people ready for the potential of the upkeep of the areas such as development and, more importantly, around our communities.
I note that you do have programs and services in regard to the college programs, trades, and I think that the Arctic College in Inuvik with the portable trades unit that they have going to Tuk this spring and then to McPherson next summer. I was in Aklavik last week and this is something that they’d also like to see. I think it’s the small communities piggybacking on community projects.
Right now there’s the construction of the road in Aklavik and Tuk to Site 177 and I’ve spoken with the leaders in Aklavik about looking at some sort of a training program. I noted that you had the Arctic College Heavy Equipment Operators Training Program in the Deh Cho and the South Slave communities. I think that something like that should be considered whenever the government spends money to look at these types of projects, especially in regard to the road from Aklavik to the gravel source. It’s a good opportunity to get the people trained in regard to operating equipment and the potential of getting them certified, so when the pipeline does come and the development comes behind it, that you have people ready to go, giving them their certification that they’re going to need and, more importantly, take advantage of those programs in our small communities where there’s high unemployment. In regard to Aklavik, they don’t really have much economic diversity by way of any industry of any sort, but this is an opportunity where they can possibly extend that project over a two or three-year program so that you can actually train the people, get them certified and also get the job done to build a road to the gravel source.
I think it’s something that this government should consider working with Education and the different departments, either Transportation or Public Works, so any time there’s any major capital dollars being expended, the Department of ECE should look at a training component for those capital expenditures and see how we can best drive it at getting people trained up for those jobs. The same thing should apply to the Housing Corporation, working with ECE in regard to the trades unit that I talked about in Inuvik through the Arctic College there. Getting people trained in regard to the apprenticeships by
way of carpentry, electricians, plumbers. It’s equipped to do that and I think it’s a good start in using that asset.
I think that we do have to realize that there is going to be a slowdown here. I think that in some cases there are pros and cons to slowdowns, but I think it’s a good opportunity for government and communities and the people of the Northwest Territories to just step back, take a deep breath and get some training in and, more importantly, take advantage of those capital projects that we, as government, put out there.
The other area in regard to the trades is looking at enhancing women and aboriginal people to enter the Apprenticeship Training Program, again, I think it’s those types of investments that we make that really improve the quality of life for people, especially in those different segments from women and aboriginal people to take advantage of those economic opportunities in the North and, more importantly, the programs that we try to deliver on behalf of them. Also, I think it’s very important that we start working closer with aboriginal organizations in regard to groups that are responsible for delivering programs and services on behalf of the aboriginal organizations in regard to the scholarship programs they have, the dollars they’re able to get through the federal Indian Affairs programs and services and match their programs with ours. I think by doing that it will be able to help more people out.
The other areas in regard to income support, I know we had a long discussion about it today but I think that...I mentioned, you know, trying to find ways to make people make positive choices and being self-reliant. I think income support has to find a way of not making people feel like they’re going to get penalized if they go to work. If anything, through income support you should be supporting the local entrepreneurs either saving money by way of you pay a portion of their salary, they pay a portion of the salary, get the people on income support to work three days a week, or a week, every two weeks, but I think at least get them back into the workforce. But don’t find a way that basically people are not stimulated to do that because they feel that they’re going to get penalized if they basically...I thought that was the whole intent of income support when we first rolled it out, is that people will make positive choices, either go to Arctic College or take upgrading or take a trade or take a course or get part-time work. I think we’re not seeing that here and I think that this government has to do more to find ways of working around that.
The other thing that I feel that we have to do a better job on income support is the seniors’ support programs we have. It very much alarms me when we hear people speaking at the Beaufort leaders
meeting talking about an 80-year-old grandmother being refused income support because she has one of her family members taking care of her in her own home and because of that, she wasn’t able to get the fuel subsidy from the Housing Corporation. The person was just so frustrated that they just gave up and she continues to pay for her own fuel. I think that the whole idea of the seniors’ programs and support program is to keep them in their homes, keep them in their home communities and keep them out of institutions and save this government money. The cost of putting someone into a health care system or even through the corrections system is somewhere in the range of $80,000 a year. Keeping someone in their home, we are probably looking at $8,000 to $18,000 a year for the cost to operate and maintain that home. Those are the things we have to look at when we look at income support.
I know there was an attempt to increase the threshold by way of the fuel subsidy, so you could try to get more people involved. Surprisingly or not, it did the opposite. We increased the threshold and people went to apply for the fuel subsidy program and they found out that they were only getting 400 litres or something for a whole year, which didn’t work out. Because of the way our thresholds are scheduled and the way we allocate the program, it should be universal right across the board. I think that is something we have to look at too, especially with the high cost of maintaining their home and especially seniors. We have to find a way of how we determine those thresholds. How do we do the assessments of how much of a subsidy program you are going to receive? Get away from the thresholds and how we do the assessments. Find ways to get these programs and services to these people. While people are up into their 70s and they have to go back to work or get a second job because they just can’t make it on their pensions, but they still can’t be eligible for the income support programs, for me, that’s something that has to be considered by ECE regarding how those programs are delivered and administered. Those are the areas that I wanted to raise questions on.
On the issues regarding official languages, I know you are looking at spending over $6 million. The issues I hear from my communities are they can only hire people on a short-term basis. In most cases, they cannot operate and maintain their language and cultural centres in our communities and regions because there is inadequate funding. I think we have to find a way for those languages that are in distress and that need assistance from this government, especially the Gwich’in language and Inuktitut language in my region, I think we have to be able to look at that. Again, that’s something we have to seriously consider looking at in light of the challenges that we face. We do have to find
ways to keep those organizations functional but keep them fighting the uphill challenges of trying to retain and enhance the languages in the different cultures.
Thank you for the opportunity to ask you questions in general comments. I look forward to the rest of the presentation. Thank you.