This is page numbers 2061 - 2094 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 3rd 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.

The House met at 1:31 p.m.

---Prayer

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the House. Before we begin, colleagues, I would like to inform you that we have two interpreters today. Channel two is the Gwich’in and channel three is Tlicho. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. Honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Members and my Cabinet colleagues for their honesty and frankness in our debate last Friday.

I know the issue of notification of changes to my personal life is a concern for some Members. I want to apologize for the effect this has had on the work of this Assembly.

Members have been clear that they expect better communications from government, and I acknowledge there are steps we can take to make things better.

My Cabinet colleagues and I have discussed ways to improve our information sharing with Members and the public. As a start, we are prepared to discuss our communications protocols with Members and come up with a renewed protocol that meets the needs of Members.

I restate our invitation for Members to appoint representatives to sit on our Strategic Initiative Committees. As these committees start to do more policy work, Members will have an opportunity for input as this work proceeds.

I think there is general agreement among all Members that we need to move forward and do the

best work we can for the people of our Territory. As I stated on Friday, I hope all Members can recommit to the spirit of collaboration expressed when we first came together as the 16th Legislative

Assembly. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mr. Speaker, the week of February 1st to 7th was Apprenticeship and

Occupational Certification Week in the NWT. I am pleased to be able to share that we had much to celebrate. One hundred and fifty-three Northerners are in the process of occupational certification in the NWT, which is the highest number ever. The number of apprentices registered in the NWT has increased substantially for the first time in several years. As of January 2009, there were 427 apprentices, just over half of whom are in their first year. This is an increase of more than 25 percent from the previous year.

The reasons for this increase are numerous, but they are all rooted in the commitment of northern employers to the apprenticeship system.

This year, there has been increased involvement in all areas of apprenticeship, from employers and apprentices to Aurora College and Education, Culture and Employment.

Employers have been very supportive of the program, not only in taking on new apprentices but also giving their time to the trade advisory committees.

This week we celebrate our many new award winners and graduates from the program. There are recipients from every region of the Territory this year, another great reason to celebrate!

Following the apprenticeship and occupational certification review, there have been many changes made at ECE. The registration process for apprentices has been updated and the act and regulations are being reviewed. Staff have

undergone professional development updates, and we are working closer than ever with our partners.

Aurora College has also updated their trades programs, with a renovation of the trades facility at Thebacha Campus, and the addition of the new mobile trades training facility in Inuvik.

It is an exciting time to be involved in apprenticeship and occupational certification in the NWT, and I hope you will join me in celebrating this year’s successes. Mahsi.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mr. Speaker, today it is my privilege to announce the first graduation of the North Slave Correctional Centre’s cooking program.

This was a partnership between NSCC and Aurora College. Five young men received their camp cook certificates last Thursday. Everyone who attended the graduation saw their pride at finishing the program: they now have skills they never had before. This opens a world of new opportunities; all they have to do is choose to take them.

Aurora College has been an active partner in the delivery of cooking programs throughout the NWT, and we certainly saw that with this program. The effective partnership between Aurora College staff and NSCC food service staff is proof that when we work together, great things can happen.

Our correctional facilities are not warehouses for offenders who are just waiting out their sentences. Our treatment and support programs are focused on rehabilitating offenders and dealing with the root causes of their criminal behaviour. Our goal is to give them the skills they need to reintegrate into their communities. Specialty training programs like this aren’t right for everyone. But for certain offenders, they can be the key to getting employment, taking responsibility for their behaviour, and staying on the straight and narrow.

This was an opportunity for these five young men; a chance to start again. They’ll go back to their communities with new skills. They prepared a delicious meal for their guests, and I know they’ll be excellent cooks. I’ll be watching their careers with interest.

Our Territory has a growing need for qualified cooks, and there are employment opportunities in the food service industry. Graduates of the cooking program have both the ability and the opportunity to further explore and pursue this as a lifetime career choice.

The vast majority of offenders eventually leave custody and go back to their communities. We are always glad when people deal with the issues that were leading them to offend, and take the steps they need to become productive members of society. Our goal is to have safe, secure communities. Developing offenders’ employment skills is one key to helping them reintegrate into their communities and stay out of trouble in the future. Mahsi cho.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, today I’d like to talk about the need to have a proper drainage study done for Lutselk’e in order to properly apply any sort of debt reduction that will be effective. This study and follow-up work is imperative.

Like many small communities here in the North, when the summer rolls around there is a long list of projects that are crammed into a short construction season. Every year new plots of land are surveyed, new housing units are built, new roads are cleared, and existing roads are maintained. All of these activities cannot properly be done without taking into account the drainage characteristics of a particular area. This is a major problem for residents of Lutselk’e. The community cannot effectively do some of these projects until the community has proper drainage.

In Lutselk’e much of the community is situated on sloping terrain and drainage has an everyday impact. Spring rain runoff makes a very wet and muddy mess for residents and unwelcome sights for visitors to this small, isolated community.

There is no question that proper drainage for this community will greatly improve all future municipal works projects. Yards can be developed without coming back year after year to repair. New housing units can be built on long-lasting, solid foundations. And roads can be properly drained, paving the way for future dust control applications.

As well, residents and visitors will finally be able to enjoy this picturesque community without having a cloud of dust hanging over them for many of the dry days. Community residents can go outside without having to use rubber boots all the time.

I look forward to working with the Minister and the community in getting the ball rolling for this important community project. We may someday see a time when mud and dust is not an everyday issue for smaller communities like Lutselk’e.

Later today I will have follow-up questions from my statement for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Confidence Motion Debate
Members’ Statements

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

It’s obvious that more people than I were thinking over the weekend about the events that occurred last Friday. I’d like to thank the Premier for his statement.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all Members of this House for their openness and their honesty in their remarks that were made during the confidence motion debate on Friday. It was gratifying for me, at least, to hear the frustrations of the Members on the other side of the floor as well as the Members on this side of the floor. I found it a somewhat cathartic experience to be able to express my own concerns and reservations publicly and to all of Cabinet in one fell swoop. Everyone heard it at the same time. For me it cleared the air, I got a load off my chest, and let everyone know where I stand and how I feel.

So now what? As a friend of mine says. Did we really hear each other? Will we really make an effort to solve this impasse or will each side retreat into their corners to sulk and plot anew on how to get the other side?

It will take an effort on our part, all of us; an honest effort from every one of us. We all have to be the grown-ups that we can be and play nice in the sandbox, as has been said before.

Can we overcome our distrust? See the others’ point of view? Leave aside our instinctive vindictiveness? Ignore the personality conflicts and work together for the better of our Territory and our residents? I hope so.

I believe all of us in this beautiful room in this wonderful building love the NWT, and deep down we’re all here to make improvements for our people. We’ve reached an impasse, but it’s not insurmountable. The outcome all depends on how we look at the problem and how we tackle it. I will do my part to reach out and find solutions, offer to compromise and work things out. I only hope I get a positive reception and the same willingness to fix the problem from those I offer my hand to.

The two sides of this House have different expectations regarding how things should work between the two bodies that we’ve established. But I believe we all want the same result. Can we actually talk this out? Find common ground? Can each side compromise and change a bit, develop new processes and protocols to suit both sides? I say yes and expect no less from the rest of my colleagues.

What is needed for us to go forward is a large dose of humility and another of common sense. Talk is cheap; it’s actions that count.

Confidence Motion Debate
Members’ Statements

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Ms. Bisaro, your time for Member’s statement has expired.

Confidence Motion Debate
Members’ Statements

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Confidence Motion Debate
Members’ Statements

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Talk is cheap; it’s actions that count. Let our future actions show that we really mean what was said on Friday.

Confidence Motion Debate
Members’ Statements

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

On Friday this Legislature passed a motion requesting that Cabinet stop the implementation of the proposed Supplementary Health Benefits Program. All 11 Members on this side of the House, the majority of this Legislature, the majority of this Assembly supported that motion. The seven Members of Cabinet abstained.

During the debate on the motion the Minister of Health and Social Services said, according to the unedited Hansard of Friday, February 6, 2009, “I believe the intent of the policy is reasonable...” She further stated that, “Those who can afford to should contribute to the cost of benefits that supplement their health care.” I believe that these comments go to the heart of the problems that we’re experiencing with the proposed Supplementary Health Benefits Program.

The Minister has committed to means testing for supplemental health benefits regardless of any sound evidence that suggests it’s the right thing to do. There’s a remote chance that it may be right; however, without a financial analysis or research to demonstrate or back up that it is the right way to go, it is premature to commit so rigidly to that model of delivery. It is short sighted and does not allow for the development of a reasonable policy or program.

The Minister and Cabinet need to listen to what the majority of Members and the public have said. They need to immediately cease the implementation of this policy and rethink their devotion to means testing. They need to do the research and financial analysis with an open mind and no preconceived attitudes that their way is the best and only way to do things. There are other options. I strongly believe that a full cost analysis will demonstrate that means testing of supplementary health benefits will do more harm than good and will ultimately cost us all far more than it saves.

The motion on Friday is clear. The majority has spoken. Go back to the drawing board on the changes to supplementary health benefits with no preconceived notions. Allow common sense to prevail. Develop a program that is in the best interest of all Northerners. Do the right thing.

At the appropriate time I will have questions related to this Member’s statement for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

The water treatment plant in Sachs Harbour has experienced many freeze-ups since the official opening in July 2005. There are serious design flaws that need to be corrected in order to ensure safety for drinking water for my constituents.

Also, because of the problems with the chlorination system, the water treatment plant in the community has been under a boil water advisory since July 2008, seven and a half months. Needless to say, my constituents of Sachs Harbour are very frustrated with the way the state of the water treatment in the community, and how it has been handled.

To my knowledge of this situation, there is more than enough blame to go around. Everyone involved in the design, construction, and ongoing operation has attempted to fix this, have tried over and over the last four years. I’m not going to sit here and assign blame or demand heads must roll. All I want to see is a clear way forward and reassurance for my residents of Sachs Harbour that the government is taking this problem very seriously, that there is a plan in place to ensure the safety of drinking water in Sachs Harbour and it is safe for my constituents.

I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs at the appropriate time.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

[English translation not provided.]

Good afternoon, my friends. Given the difficult economic times we are currently in, more people in the Northwest Territories may find themselves in financial difficulty which could lead to declaring bankruptcy.

In bankruptcy, some essential assets are exempt in order to allow people to rebuild their lives, and those are defined in law. I took a look at the current NWT legislation that sets out what exemptions people can keep if they do file for bankruptcy. I was surprised at how outdated the NWT legislation is, which came into force in 1948. In reference to livestock, bees, ploughs, the items that have no reflection on what the majority of NWT residents own in this century.

I was also shocked at how low the value of exemption property was in the NWT legislation. The equipment necessary to work is capped at the maximum of $600, including things like a motor vehicle, your principal residence was capped at $3,000. The maximum of household furniture and appliances was $200.

If the intention of the legislation is to provide people with some essential assets so they can rebuild their lives after bankruptcy, then it needs to be updated and reflect the reality of life in the Northwest Territories today.

Exemptions vary among provinces and territories. After division, Nunavut implemented and amended the legislation. The exemption items include tools, vehicles, other equipment used by people for hunting, fishing, trapping, and for gathering of food. The legislation also includes exemptions for medical aids and devices necessary for the health and mobility of disabled people. It also makes some important exemptions of money received under the common experience payments cannot be exempted. In Alberta the exemptions of personal property can get as high as $40,000.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

In Alberta, the exemptions for personal property can be as high as $40,000 and the maximum exemption of equipment for work is $10,000. These

are exemptions for other jurisdictions. How inadequate our current legislation is facing the reality of what’s happening today. It also shows how vulnerable NWT residents are under this legislation.

The government needs to ensure the residents of the Northwest Territories have updated legislation that reflects the reality and views on exemptions of assets. I urge the Minister and Cabinet to make every effort to implement this legislation and make the amendments necessary so people who do declare bankruptcy can at least rebuild their lives.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Today I want to go back to something I raised last June in this House: the need for runway lights in Jean Marie River and Nahanni Butte. Both these communities have a very good airport runway, but they have raised the concern that the lack of runway lights can seriously compromise the safety of residents.

Most community airports across the NWT are equipped with basic infrastructure such as adequate runways, navigational aids, and runway lighting. This ensures that communities can safely be accessed by air 24 hours a day, particularly in the winter months.

The lack of runway lights makes it very difficult for essential services such as medevacs to travel to Jean Marie River and Nahanni Butte at night or during inclement weather. This is a serious disadvantage and can compromise the health and public safety of the residents in these communities. The ability to react quickly to medical emergency and/or policing situations is the biggest concern. The Minister of Transportation has stated that public safety is the number one priority of his department. I urge the Minister to extend his commitment to public safety to the residents of Jean Marie River and Nahanni Butte and make sure that these airports have the necessary infrastructure to operate at night.

I also ask the Minister to make a commitment to include airport runway lights for Jean Marie and Nahanni Butte in the 2010-2011 capital plan of his department. Mahsi cho.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome to this Assembly a group of adult students and their instructors from the Goyatiko Language Centre in Dettah. These women are currently taking interpreter/translator training at Goyatiko.

The Goyatiko Language Society is a non-profit society established by a number of Yellowknives Dene who are working very hard to save their traditional languages, the Weledeh dialect of the Tlicho language and the Dene Suline or Chipewyan language. The students with us today are taking interpreter/translator training so that they will be able to assist in delivering services for their own First Nations and for institutions such as this Assembly, the hospitals, court and various boards and agencies. These students are also taking courses for Aurora College’s Aboriginal Language and Culture Instructor Program at Goyatiko.

Mr. Speaker, ALCIP, as it’s known, training will give these students an Aurora College certificate or diploma. However, the Aurora College has cut the Interpreter/Translator Diploma Program, so these students are taking this particular training even though they will not receive a college diploma for it.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has made a real commitment to aboriginal language education in our schools through effective programs such as Language Nests. As languages are recovered, we will increasingly need certified, well-trained interpreters. Thus we need to re-establish the Interpreter/Translator Diploma Program at Aurora College at appropriate locations for good enrolment. The commitment of the students with us today to take the program, despite not receiving a diploma, highlights the need to re-establish this program as soon as possible. In light of our current review of the Official Languages Act, I suggest that Members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations might want to talk to these students to see how important this training is to the preservation, development and enhancement of our endangered aboriginal languages here in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, please join me in welcoming this dedicated group of people to our Assembly today. We have Mary Rose Sundberg and Betty Harnum, and students Jeannie Martin, Stella Martin, Margaret Martin-Baillargeon, Nora Crookedhand, Irene Soldat, and Alice Wilflad.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.