This is page numbers 4023 - 4060 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 4th 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 school.

Topics

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

I know lots of people are listening to the debates in the House, so I’m sure the Beaufort-Delta knows this good news already.

Mr. Speaker, I need to advise everyone that dental service is not a health service that the Department of Health and Social Services is responsible for. It is an NIHB service. It’s the federal government that pays for dental service. The Department of Health and Social Services and the authorities assist in this program in terms of getting a contract for the dentist. If the Member wishes to give me the personal information of these individuals, we would be happy to assist them in doing the paperwork to NIHB to recover some of those costs. Thank you.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Mr. Speaker, I will definitely get that to the Minister. The other issue that I was dealing with is the issue of an individual who was diagnosed to get surgery three years ago and still hasn’t gotten it. I’d like to ask the Minister: can you put some urgency on that case and get the individual into the appropriate care that is needed and so they can get the surgery in regard to their dental care? Can the Minister commit to that? Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Yes, I would commit to getting the individual information from the Member and assist where we can. Without knowing the facts, I

have to say it’s hard to believe that somebody could not have a surgery for three years. There must be some reasons for that, because we do get periodic requests from constituents and we do help with the process of bridging the gap between the NIHB and our clients. So if the Member brings the information forward, I will commit to follow that up. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Again, I thank the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, I’d also like to ask the Minister if her department can put out some sort of a public notice informing the public in the Inuvik region that that contract has been let and there is going to be a service provider so that the public in the Inuvik region knows that their dental care will be taken care of through a new contractor arrangement, so we get it out to the public either through a public announcement or, basically, the Minister making a statement in the House. Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Yes, I will work with the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority to publicize this welcome start of the orthodontist in the Beaufort-Delta region. At the same time, I would like to ask all the public in the Beaufort-Delta, if they have a dental appointment, please show up. If they can’t make it, please let us know so that we could maximize the use of these dentists when they are in communities. This was a topic we talked about in the Beaufort-Delta Regional Council meetings. I will advertise both of them. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listening to my colleague Mr. Menicoche today talk about school and a gymnasium for Trout Lake, I had asked the Minister of Education not to make them wait long, because I think we had to listen to him speak in this House about the gymnasium for Nahanni Butte for about three or four years.

On the topic of gymnasiums, Mr. Speaker, we all know the value and the importance to children of physical activity, and in our remote and northern communities here, where it is cold much of the year and not everybody can participate in outdoor activities, a school gymnasium is a very, very important thing to promote the health and well-being and enhance the education of our children.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to Hay River and the Ecole Boreale and the advancements that have taken place there with the establishment of a school and now the addition of additional classroom space through the portables that were added on, that school is still without a gymnasium. I wonder if the

Minister of Education could update us on what the government is doing in relation to that. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Hay River school, there has been an addition to it to deal with the space issue; the challenge that was put before us I believe a couple of years ago in the school itself. Also, the gymnasium aspect of it, certainly there have been arrangements made with other schools within the community of Hay River. Part of the long-term plan, of course, is to work on the gymnasiums for those schools without the gymnasiums. Like I said to other Members, I need to work with the Department of PWS and also Municipal and Community Affairs on this particular piece of work. We need to cover all schools that we are currently dealing with. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, the Ecole Boreale is a French first language school and, as such, when the original capital budget for that school was obtained, there was participation by Heritage Canada in conjunction with our government, and subsequently our government has invested more capital in that school.

Mr. Speaker, is there an opportunity to secure any funding for the gymnasium to any other sources than just to the normal capital planning process of the GNWT? Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mr. Speaker, this Ecole Boreale, we are always in negotiation with the federal government just on expansion itself, even here in Yellowknife. Those two schools, we have been in contact on numerous occasions with the previous superintendent of the French school and also even now with the new person onboard, that we continue throughout the open communication dialogue, because we need their support as well when we are faced with the federal government. At the same time, within our department, I will continue to work with other departments in the area of recreation, the gymnasium piece of the area within the school. Mahsi.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, maybe my question was not clear enough, but what I would like to know -- and I didn’t hear this in the answer from the Minister -- is there an opportunity to secure additional capital funding through the federal government Heritage Canada for the expansion of the facilities at Ecole Boreale through federal dollars, or is it a GNWT allocation that will have to be identified for the adding of a gymnasium? Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mr. Speaker, with the addition that we are talking about, whether it be

the second phase of Ecole Allain St-Cyr and also the Ecole Boreale in Hay River, we also talked about having a gymnasium attached to the school through our negotiation with the federal government. So we will continue to address that at the federal level. We are, like I said, Mr. Speaker, dealing with the French school board on enhancing this even further, expediting the process with the federal government, but it has been a slow process to date, but we’re not giving up. We’re going to continue our negotiations with the federal counterparts and Canadian Heritage. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I assume that the portables that were added on to Ecole Boreale to make room for more classroom space were intended as a temporary measure. So I would like to ask the Minister of Education if, in considering the expansion of the school to incorporate that additional classroom space, the gymnasium could be part of that ask and part of that negotiation and I’m also just wondering if the footprint for an expanded Ecole Boreale could be accommodated on its present site. Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Those are discussions we need to have with the community of Hay River French school board and our department identifying the gymnasium or the footprint of the actual facility right now. We’ve added on as a temporary measure to deal with the space crunch at that time. So, yes, we will continue to have ongoing discussions with the parties to move this forward with the federal government. So we will continue to do our part as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment with the community of Hay River. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve got questions today for the Minister of Justice and I guess I’ll give the Minister of Human Resources a heads up too. We are here for another four weeks, so I’ll have ample opportunity to ask him some questions on advancement of aboriginal people in senior management positions in this government. For today, I’m going to ask the question to Minister Lafferty. It gets back to my Member’s statement. I would like to ask the Minister if he could explain to me how a 17-year tenured aboriginal employee with corrections, with good performance appraisals, is consistently being denied and overlooked for opportunities to advance his career in corrections. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this particular area is a personnel issue. At the same time, we can be generic about whether it be the 17 years, aboriginal employee within corrections. Mr. Speaker, there has been some progress in play with certain individuals within the system where individuals may work night shifts and they get an opportunity or are offered an opportunity to work day shift, so they can expand their role in day and night shifts. At times, there is some reluctance for various reasons and due to the fact that the warden and associate warden try to deal with this matter and put the individuals through the development stages. There have been some challenges, but we’re not giving up on those individuals. We want them to succeed. We do have an associate warden who is aboriginal. So we are making steps in the right direction, Mr. Speaker, having our aboriginal workforce move up in the system is our prime focus right now and is the priority of the Justice department and GNWT. Mahsi.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Is the Minister aware of direct appointments of non-aboriginal, non-priority persons into positions at North Slave Correctional Centre? Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

There have been direct appointments in the past, but we currently deal with inventory of people that we have on file and individuals that are moving up within the system are given, based on their credentials, based on the experience they provide to the organization and not only that, but to the aboriginal perspective, there are... The numbers we have within our corrections officers at North Slave Corrections is 36 positions are filled by aboriginal workforce and 27 are non-aboriginal workforce. There are 87 other full-time positions with 16 percent filled by aboriginal people. So those are individuals that we continue to focus. We work closely with human resource development, because they do have a plan in place as well. We, on the other hand, within the Justice department, have a role to play during the development stages to focus on those individuals in a management position.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I hope the Minister can understand the frustration of this individual when having been in the corrections field for 17 years. He watches individuals who are new to the position, who’ve been there for less than a year, who are non-priority, non-aboriginal get direct appointed into positions. I’d like to ask the Minister if he would be willing to share -- and he talked about it a little bit -- the Succession Planning Initiative at North Slave Correctional Centre. I know we have 36 percent aboriginal employees on the floor at that facility, but what is the percentage in senior management?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

Surely I can share the information that we have within North Slave Correctional Centre on the number of positions, the percentage and whatnot. But I did meet with the MLA and the individual that he’s referring to and I would encourage the individual to continue applying, because now we’re having seven positions that are currently open for transfer. Fifty-seven percent, or four positions, will be for aboriginal people. There is a great opportunity there to be identified. Those individuals who are interested need to work with our system as well. Either take the day shift and night shift combined together and additional roles and responsibilities. Those are the areas we continue to push within our system.