Good morning, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In July 2009 the Northern Leaders’ Forum was created as a means for all leaders in the NWT to work collectively to advance the interest of our territory and its residents.

We set ourselves a task of developing a common vision and road map for the future of the NWT with input from northern residents, industry, NGOs, and youth. We accomplished what we set out to do, concluding the initiative with the release and tabling of the report in May entitled “Forging the Future - Anchored in our Past, Building on our Present.”

One of the most rewarding experiences throughout this process was the engagement of people from various walks of life, especially our youth. It was inspiring to hear about their hopes and dreams, their commitment to this place we call home, and their willingness to participate as citizens to make things better in all our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise that I recently had the pleasure and privilege of hosting, along with Minister Robert C. McLeod, the Forging the Future Youth Conference here in Yellowknife.

In total, 42 youth delegates from all regions and backgrounds came together in Yellowknife on July 7th and 8th . Their task was very specific and

intended to build on progress made so far, which had been captured in the previously tabled Northern Leaders’ Forum report. Guided by the vision statement and the youth wish list contained in that report, youth were asked to develop two priorities in support of the overall vision.

I am proud to say that the attending youth were very focussed and targeted in their efforts. They worked cooperatively and diligently over the course of the two days. They talked openly about their

hopes for our people, our territory and our future, and agreed on two specific recommendations.

Their first recommendation stresses the need for people to be healthy and addiction free, a prerequisite for unlocking a bright future and taking advantage of all the opportunities that are available.

Attending youth were troubled by the high rates of addiction and the perceived lack of treatment facilities in all regions. The recommendation speaks to the need to conduct consultations for regional treatment centres to hear how best to put in place treatment centres with culturally sensitive and multicultural staff. This would lead to the development of unique treatment and recovery support plans for youth, adults, and elders.

Their second recommendation speaks to the importance of youth assigned to school counsellors, and mentors providing support and assistance to students throughout high school. The recommendation is to place a qualified youth counsellor/mentor in every school who would be well versed in cultural traditions as well as modern education and would focus on supporting student/teacher partnerships.

In addition to providing these recommendations, youth delegates also discussed the importance of enhanced youth participation in political discussions and decision-making. Delegates provided insightful and concrete suggestions, including their key proposal for the creation of a territorial youth council that is run by youth for youth communicating regularly with leaders of the government.

Mr. Speaker, in order to realize the vision and goals contained in Forging the Future, we must translate ideals into action. This task rests with each and every one of us - leaders, government workers, business people, community volunteers, parents and youth. We must all be part of the solution.

Mr. Speaker, later today I will be tabling the summary of the Forging the Future Youth Conference which will provide more information about the discussions that took place at the conference, and I would encourage all Members, present and future, to read the report and listen to what youth have said about the Northwest Territories and their expectations of what should

happen in order to reach our full potential as a people and territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak about the importance of community training and preparedness.

In June the town of Fort Smith was threatened by extreme fire conditions which resulted in heavy smoke and considerable risk to the community. Several residents were evacuated until the risk passed. In July forest fires located close to the charter community of Deline resulted in the evacuation of 108 residents. Both events required emergency management officials to implement measures designed to protect the safety of residents and prepare for the worst.

Thankfully these events did not result in widespread damage, but they do offer a good reminder of how a disaster can strike at any time. In the Northwest Territories, forest fires and floods occur regularly and can easily test the community’s ability to respond.

Several months ago community emergency management officials from Deline and Fort Smith participated in training on basic concepts of emergency management. This training provides the skills to effectively prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies. Understanding the framework of emergency management, along with accepted common response protocols in use across the Northwest Territories, greatly increases the timeline and effectiveness of response to an emergency.

This training was put into practice in June and July with a high degree of efficiency and effectiveness by community emergency management officials in Deline and Fort Smith.

There is a wide variety of situations and factors that can cause a disaster in a community. Communities in the Northwest Territories may be particularly vulnerable due to the potential impacts of climate change. In coastal communities, preparation for storms and flooding may be more necessary, while in southern regions the frequency of forest fires may increase.

Municipal and Community Affairs is working with communities and partners to guide the development and delivery of quality of training opportunities to improve the safety of residents and to respond to disaster in an appropriate and effective manner. This includes efforts to improve community capacity to undertake emergency

management activities and to support communities in their emergency planning efforts.

With the recent fire events in Deline and Fort Smith we are reminded of how important it is for all communities to be prepared to respond to emergencies. MACA remains committed to working to advance the 16th Legislative Assembly’s goal of

sustainable, vibrant, and safe communities in the NWT.

I invite my colleagues to join me in congratulating the communities of Deline and Fort Smith for their effort in preparing for disaster and working together to protect the safety of their residents.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. One of the ways that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has worked towards this Assembly’s goal of healthy, educated people is through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. Regional Aboriginal student achievement forums were an important part of this, with a final forum in May 2011. All the forums had excellent attendance and participation from the youth, elders, Aboriginal leaders, education authorities, and community leaders.

Subsequently, a meeting was held with Aboriginal government leaders, education authorities, and Aurora College to discuss the outcome of the regional forums. All leaders agreed on the four priority areas the Aboriginal Student Achievement Working Group identified as priorities that would improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal students.

For each priority all leaders agreed on specific goals. For early childhood and childcare, leaders agreed to develop early childhood programs, services, and initiatives to optimize Aboriginal children’s health and development. For literacy, leaders have set goals to eliminate the literacy gap between Aboriginal and other students. In the area of student and family support the goal is to provide some support services for Aboriginal students and families to help ensure academic success. Finally, the Aboriginal language and culture and resource development, leaders identified support for Aboriginal students to reach their fullest potential to become proficient in language and strong in their culture.

District education authority chairpersons and Aboriginal leaders expressed interest in annual meetings to further discuss the Northwest Territories education system and receive updates

on the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. All groups agreed to meet annually and proposed signing an education partnership declaration. This demonstrates a shared commitment to work together in a collaborative manner to improve the academic success of Aboriginal students.

On July 20, 2011, all parties signed the historical Education Partnership Declaration resulting in a completed Aboriginal Student Achievement Education Plan, which I will table later today.

This is an exciting time of year with students getting ready to start a new school year in the next several weeks when they will have the opportunity to learn important skills they need for their future. It also provides a fresh start for those who stopped attending school in the past.

As leaders and parents, we must encourage all students to attend school daily, to work hard, to do their best.

This education plan is for our youth. Northern children are our future and they deserve to have the best quality, culturally relevant education system available to them. Through our work, all parties agreed it will take the combined efforts of many departments, youth, Aboriginal governments, education authorities, and community leaders to implement the education plan. Everyone has an important role to play.

Although there has been a significant increase in NWT high school graduates over the past few years, we still have much to do. We must ensure our graduates are well prepared to pursue their educational and career goals and to be active, responsible citizens who contribute to the economic and social well-being of our communities and our territory. The education plan and the education partnership declaration provide us the best opportunity for this.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all heard from the Member for Nunakput the concern with housing and people being evicted and also the amount of arrears that we have compiled over the last number of years.

Mr. Speaker, in previous governments there were two communities that seemed to have had a problem with arrears and all the other LHOs did not have the arrears that we’re seeing today. Yet, Mr. Speaker, some unique efforts were made from

different communities, and I’ll use the community of Tsiigehtchic in my riding. They worked with the tenants to work off their arrears by demolishing old Housing Corporation units, which were going to have to be demolished anyhow, and allowed the individuals to work off their arrears in which they have their wage earnings go towards their arrears; the other half they got to keep.

It’s these unique types of arrangements that I think the Minister should consider in light of the situation in Paulatuk and also in other communities that you have arrears where we do have a lot of infrastructure that is basically ready to be demolished. Again, that’s one of the ways that you can assist communities dealing with the arrears.

Mr. Speaker, it’s also important that we ensure that the people we put into our care programs get into homeownership, that we work with them to ensure that they’re able to transition as a Housing Corporation tenant to a homeowner, but not to treat them as if they’re still a tenant in the Housing Corporation unit by using the 25 percent income in which the individuals are discouraged from basically trying to bring in revenues.

I’ll use the situation I have in Fort McPherson where the individual’s wife went and got a job at the school as a teacher’s assistant, and because of the amount of rent and basically the amount that they were supposed to pay on the unit was almost $2,500. If they went to the bank and got a mortgage, they would have paid somewhere in the region of maybe $500 to $1,000 a year on a mortgage. So it’s discouraging for people to try to get into housing and being treated the same way they were as tenants in the Housing Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be having questions for the Minister of Housing on trying to find solutions to arrear problems and evictions. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A key priority of my mandate has been promotion of early childhood development because of its critical role in growing our next healthy generation. Key connections exist with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. As I noted last session, with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative moving to completion before the early childhood development review is done, there is potential for a fundamental error in planning. We can’t set an informed course for student achievement until we’ve considered development of young children before they enter the school system.

What is early childhood development? Providing the nurturing, securing and stimulating experiences during the first years of a child’s life that help the child’s brain develop and lay the foundation for lifelong learning. In essence, the experiences that children have before they can even speak affect lifelong learning and behaviour.

Consider this astounding and emerging new knowledge: Studies show that our brain development peaks in the first year of life. Language development peaks between six and nine months and begins with development of brain circuitry in the three months before birth.

The greatest opportunity to foster Aboriginal languages starts before birth and goes to age one. Powers of perception and thinking, physical, emotional and mental health, above all, learning, all these capacities are most powerfully and largely developed from prenatal to the third year of life. If we focus on efforts on institutional learning without the early childhood support, we’ve missed the period of life when efforts -- that’s expenditures -- bring the greatest results.

What about the costs? Talk about good investment. In Canada the annual cost of dealing with crime, violence, and problems in mental health and addictions is about $220 billion. That’s direct cost and lost economic potential. The cost of preventing this? About $18 billion. In terms of return on expenditures, support for programs aimed at the first three years of life gives them eight times greater return and increased capacity compared to dollars spent at age 16. Focus on prevention, save on cost.

The Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is going ahead, with much good work done. In handing this over to the next Assembly, I’m asking the Minister to ensure that resources are earmarked to efficiently achieve the huge potential we now...

Mr. Bromley, your time for your Member’s statement is expired.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

The Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is going ahead, with much good work done. In handing this work over to the next Assembly, I’m asking the Minister to ensure that resources are earmarked to efficiently achieve the huge potential we now realize we can achieve through early childhood development with much less cost than the greater and too-late cost during schooling. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Wednesday my colleague Mr. Bromley raised a number of questions on the Giant Mine remediation project. He stressed the need for independent oversight, ongoing research and reporting arising out of the concerns about the flooding last spring, and the sinkholes that have appeared on the property over this past summer.

One area that he did not mention is the requirement to realign the Ingraham Trail through the mine site to ensure the traffic does not pass directly over the different arsenic chambers.

Over two years ago the Giant Mine realignment was announced as a necessity for safety reasons. Three options were identified at the time.

Option one, which is the least technical and completely bypasses all the arsenic pits, starts near Fred Henne Park and rejoins the Ingraham just past the mine site just before the Yellowknife River.

Option two is the option that closely mirrors the existing highway through the Giant Mine site but is altered to avoid the different arsenic chambers. It would create a very erratic and winding road through the existing site.

Option three, which has already been rejected as unsuitable, was along the lakefront in front of the Giant town property, the old Giant town site, and rejoins the Ingraham Trail past the ‘A’ headframe. I understand that this route would actually go over one of the arsenic chambers, so its construction would have made the purpose of the realignment completely moot.

Since these options have been identified, there has been little information made public. I have had a number of constituents ask me what are the plans for the realignment and when will they see something done.

Mr. Speaker, last session some of my colleagues asked these types of questions, but the answers seemed to have confused many in the public. So today, at the appropriate time, I will once again be asking questions related to this topic of the Minister of Transportation. Specifically I want to know if a route has actually been selected, and if so, which route will be developed. Will northern contractors employing northern workers be involved in the construction? What is the timeline? What is the cost, and who will be responsible for paying it?

Mr. Speaker, every winter a large number of heavy loads pass over these arsenic chambers, hauling critical supplies to the diamond mines. The Giant Mine site is undergoing odd transformation with the appearance of these new sinkholes. Overflow from Baker Creek is a reality. It may be again.

On top of this, the original notification of this project stressed that the realignment was a safety issue, so why the delays? When will this project get done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize the courage and compassion of Pearl Norwegian, her sister Carol Norwegian, brother Joey Klein, niece Shanta Ansdell, and nephew Mark Ansdell for walking from Inuvik to Tsiigehtchic to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.

---Applause

Earlier this month, Pearl and her family walked 125 kilometres between Inuvik and Tsiigehtchic. Pearl’s mother, Therese Remy Sawyer, also known as Terry Norwegian, died of cancer last year but not before she, herself, had completed the walk in 2006. Pictures of the walk show her smiling the whole time. She did it in memory of her husband, Tom Sawyer, who died of cancer in 2001.

One hundred and twenty-five kilometres is a long journey, but as Pearl told me, Mr. Speaker, the pain endured is nothing compared to those who suffered and are suffering from cancer. They camped along the way at the Gwich’in Territorial Park, Caribou Creek, and Wrangling River. They used the time together to bond, share memories, and recall the lessons and traditions their mother and grandmother passed on to them.

The family has vowed to walk between Inuvik and Tsiigehtchic again every five years, with the repeat beginning in 2016. The family not only wants to raise money for cancer research but increase awareness of cancer and the importance of early screening and checkups.

They want to continue their mother’s legacy and all they can do to prevent other families from experiencing the loss of a loved one to cancer. The walk ended in Tsiigehtchic at the graves of their mother, Terry; their sister, Esther; and stepfather, Tom.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who supported the walk and congratulations to Pearl, Carol, Joey, Shanta and Mark.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, Pearl Norwegian also served as my constituency assistant and I would like to thank her very much for her work and dedication through this term. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m going to tell the story of a 31-year-old woman who saw the doors of opportunity open for her, only to see this government try to slam them shut. She’s struggling to get through them and realize her dream of getting a degree in nursing and then go on to medical school to become a doctor.

She began with the Nursing Access Program at Aurora College because she needed upgrading as a mature student. She is the mother of four children between the ages of six and 14 and she’s not rich, at least not financially. She’s a tenant in a Yellowknife Housing Authority unit. Luckily, she was eligible for SFA. Everything seemed to be working out. She’s a Northerner through and through, born and raised in Yellowknife, and a generous volunteer. She participates in the Foot Washing Program at the Salvation Army.

Busy as she is, she finished year one at the top of her class and she’s headed for a degree in nursing. When she graduates, she plans to serve here in the Northwest Territories. Her resolve and dedication to achieve her goal is really remarkable. I know everybody here would cheer her on if they could, Mr. Speaker, and I wish I didn’t have to tell you the other half of the story.

Last week the SFA caseworker called to warn her that her funding would run out after this year. Why, Mr. Speaker? Because she will hit the $60,000 cap on financial assistance. Even this year she is facing a smaller living allowance that has been cut from $1,550 a month down to $1,040. Please don’t forget she has four kids to feed, Mr. Speaker. In fact, it’s because she has four kids that her living allowance pushed her more quickly than most students

towards that cap that we have on SFA assistance.

She has been told to seek out other funding. She has been told to get a summer job. Mr. Speaker, that summer job would certainly have to pay her well to cover her daycare and summer camp costs, let alone give her any money for school this fall.

Sometimes the programs we craft in government do not fit the realities of life, Mr. Speaker, and this is one such case. I know the SFA program is under review, but that won’t be done, Mr. Speaker, for at least another year, possibly 18 months.

In the meantime, are we going to slam the door on one of our best students? Are we going to tell this constituent of mine, too bad, we just can’t help you out anymore? Your hopes and dreams are just too big. I certainly hope not, Mr. Speaker. If we can’t help even the most determined, bright, promising

young students, we are heading down a very dark path. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about the adequacy of support and funding for the volunteer fire department in Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, the volunteer fire department has a very long history in the community of Hay River. It is a group of very dedicated and continually trained workers who are on call for the safety and protection of our community at all times.

A long-time firefighter, Chief Ross Potter, recently became a full-time employee of the Town of Hay River, so Hay River now has a paid full-time fire chief. Mr. Speaker, this is a very good service for the community and it allows Chief Potter to actually do the types of inspections that are required that would normally be carried out by the office of the fire marshal. So commercial buildings inspections and different things that need to take place, Chief Potter is able to perform those duties.

I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs as to whether or not the Town of Hay River is receiving any remuneration or compensation for the fact that that role has been taken up to some extent by our fire chief.

The ambulance service that the volunteer fire department provides, too, is also a very valuable service. It’s not only for emergencies, it’s also for transporting patients from the hospital when they require to go out on medevacs. It’s also a service that goes outside of our town boundaries. It goes to the K’atlodeechee First Nation when required. It goes out onto the highways around Hay River and rescues and brings in people who are injured in accidents.

I believe that the amount of money that was provided to the volunteer fire department for this ambulance service historically had been around $25,000. I think that periodically we need to look at the volume of work that’s being done, the actual value of the work that’s being done, and review whether that amount of money is sufficient as a contribution.

Ultimately, if we want to keep a very good volunteer fire department and ambulance service available in Hay River, it costs money. There are inflationary factors. If the government does not review this and increase the funding, then it falls to the taxpayers of Hay River.

I’d like to thank the volunteer fire department and Chief Potter for the work they do in Hay River. Later today I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs as to the financial support and the adequacy of that financial support for Hay River.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

I talked many times during the 16th Assembly about

the important issue of employment in the small communities in the NWT, specifically the low employment rates in the small communities. Although the GNWT has established the Small Community Employment Support Program Guidelines which came into effect April 1, 2011, to date I have not seen any marked improvement to the employment rates in Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution.

In my last Member’s statement on this issue, on May 13, 2011, I said that the three employment programs should be delivered at the community level as much as possible and some changes must be made to the program. I made reference to how the communities in my riding have half-time client service officer positions. They are GNWT positions. However, the career development officers is a plan in which this government has in delivering the Employment Support Program.

The communities in Tu Nedhe do not have a community development officer position. I believe that the client service officer positions can effectively fill the role of a career development officer position and create one job with both titles where that job would be able to deliver the program. This would be a new position in the GNWT, a combined position that would be located in the small communities. It would also give the small communities an opportunity to look at other positions that should be created in improving the employment rates in the small communities; positions such as preschool teachers, daycare workers, youth workers, and employment workers, just to mention a few, will definitely go a long way to solving the employment problems in the small communities.

I realize the Small Community Employment Support Guidelines have only been introduced since April 1, 2011, and will take time to sort itself out; however, I believe feedback such as this will enhance the program and make it more effective for small communities to hire people and keep people employed by the GNWT in small communities.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When someone works at one of the government customer service counters, they are providing an essential service as a front-line worker. At times, I’m sure, regardless of how hard they work and how hard they try, there are many days they think it’s probably a thankless job. I’m thankful and grateful that many of them keep coming back day after day and providing the essential services that we need so much. So when I come across a matter like I’m going to raise today, I want to raise it with both concern and respect for the job that our public service staff are certainly doing.

Over the years many of us have heard how the motor vehicle registry office is congested. I know the staffers are certainly doing the best that they can. I’ve been there even myself, sitting back and watching even the slightest conversation and hearing the tenseness and frustration that might be happening, but I’ve always watched and observed that the staff handle themselves very professionally. I certainly want to make sure that’s noted for the record and they’re given credit for that.

I thought personally, watching what the Department of Transportation did by putting a TV in the seating area was an excellent way to deal with possible frustration, and I thought that, watching most patrons there, they seemed to be preoccupied by watching cooking shows or fishing shows and they let the time go by unnoticed. The fact is, it still can’t change the reality that most people are unable to wait more than 15 minutes because of breaks that they’re getting away from the daily routine of their jobs or personal limitations. The suggestion was brought to me, why doesn’t the GNWT look at adding a couple of kiosks that people can self-serve themselves through the motor vehicle registration process. This could also include other types of renewals. This is done in other provinces, so why couldn’t it be done here?

Another suggestion, of course, was the motor vehicle registry hours are now, of course, as people are saying, better than bankers’ hours, officially. A person can look no further than across the street and see that the TD Bank is now open on Saturdays. The question would be why? The fact is, they know that not everybody can make 9:00 to 4:00 and they’re out there for customer service.

Another suggestion that came along in the same vein is what about moving to some of these things as on-line services? This has certainly been done in

Ontario, where the government is trying to make their public services as accessible as possible.

Finally, good credit needs to go out to the City of Yellowknife who has rolled out many of their customer service-based priorities to the citizens on line, which makes it very convenient.

During question period I will raise many of these issues and ask the Minister of Transportation if there is a way they can look into these matters and address some of these concerns.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I stated the housing situation in the Northwest Territories is at the boiling point. Today I have to restate that again.

People in Nunakput are extremely anxious over the eviction notices. The way that evictions are being handled is unacceptable. The situation is out of control. When people in the communities are evicted, where are they supposed to live? What are the social consequences of these evictions? We know the answers: overcrowding, family violence, and homelessness. The e-mails, letters, and phone calls I’m getting on this issue are heartbreaking.

We have never seen harder times in the communities or greater disparity between families. Many parents feel hopelessness and I’m deeply worried about them. This government cannot take such drastic measures without taking impact on people into account. It’s extremely irresponsible. In Yellowknife and other major centres, families at least have somewhere to get help. In the remote communities, once you’re evicted, the family has nowhere to go.

The inequalities between the communities are also getting worse. Solving our homelessness problem is supposed to be a major priority of this government, but instead we are kicking people out of their homes because they can’t pay their arrears and have no means to because there’s no work.

I’ve spoken about these arrears many times. I’ve urged the Minister to get the staff to review each and every one of these situations to reallocate the arrears. Many people do not actually owe as much as the Housing Corporation claims. This has happened because the system, and reporting the income, and calculating rent are cumbersome and simply not working.

Families in Nunakput are struggling. The cost of living is way too high and jobs are scarce. We cannot continue to kick people out of their homes in this way. It’s not right. It’s a government

responsibility to give a person a house, a roof over their head so they don’t have anything to worry about and provide for their families.

I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Housing Corporation is currently in the middle of a review of its Shelter Policy. I commend this House for recognizing the importance of this review, and for ensuring that adequate funds for a thorough review were approved in our 2011-2012 budget. This review is important, both to MLAs and to our constituents, and approving those funds has allowed for a comprehensive review, not just a scratch of the surface.

I had an opportunity to provide input to the review earlier this summer and I spent considerable time with the interviewer itemizing my concerns. Mine are only a few of the concerns that are out there. The list is almost endless. For the record, here are mine.

First, there has to be a valid continuum of housing from homelessness to homeownership. We have gaps in the continuum right now, specifically in the area of transition housing and for supported independent living housing for disabled citizens. What little transition housing we do have is provided by non-government organizations and they struggle with their financing. Government, whether it be the Housing Corporation or another department of this government, must provide consistent and adequate funding to transition housing service providers.

Second, we need to revamp how we charge rent for public housing. Our goal in the provision of housing should be to make residents self-sufficient and independent. The current policies and rent scales do not encourage that.

Thirdly, Yellowknife non-government operations provide emergency shelter services here in the city, but their funding varies widely. It seems to depend on the department providing the funding and the circumstances specific to the NGO. There needs to be consistent, equitable, and fair funding for our NGO service providers, no matter which department of the government it comes from.

Fourth, there’s a need for a cross-departmental, government-wide review of all policies that impact the provision of housing, the users of public housing, tenancy, and income support. We currently have policies in one part of the government which contravene or inhibit the

application of policies in another part of our government, and our residents suffer as a result. We need to review and revise to make policies enabling, not disabling.

Lastly, a review of the Residential Tenancy Act is needed in three specific areas: the powers of the rental officer, the lack of authority for transitional housing, and consideration must be given to limiting the amount of any annual rent increase.

The election looms large and housing is a particularly...

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

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

---Unanimous consent granted

The election looms large and housing is a particularly important issue for all of our constituents. I urge all NWT residents to take action during the campaign. When a candidate appears at your door, tell them of your housing concerns and ask them how they will deal with them if elected.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In extraordinary times we as the government need to do the extraordinary things to help our people in our communities. No matter how much we prepare for emergencies and training, there is nothing we can do for the unplanned events. However, we still continue to prepare.

The town of Norman Wells, which happens to sit on the largest oil discovery on our lands since the 1920s, had their gas line come close to being shut down, which meant our residents, all of the entire town, would have been completely cut off from their only source of energy. Basically lights out for the entire town.

This situation came close to reality because of two broken pipelines that just happened, and that’s another Member’s statement. This caused the Town of Norman Wells to declare a state of emergency. Now the real threat of having no gas at all, the town did an extraordinary thing: it brought in a machine to help out with the gas supplies. This was done because safety first for the people, safety for our elders, and basically their actions would seem reasonable, given the challenges before them. Very simple: you either have power or no power. We chose power to the people.

A lot of good, hardworking people are still working with us on a long-term solution to deal with the

shortage of natural gas. Basically the Town of Norman Wells, the Norman Wells oilfield is running dry. Imperial Oil needs natural gas for their own operations and cannot afford to supply the town anymore.

Mr. Speaker, the town requested financial assistance from our federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories. To date I don’t believe the feds have ever replied, and our government said no to the immediacy for financial assistance. They said they did not meet the criteria under the Extraordinary Funding Policy. The government said you’re the provider, you pay. Besides, because of the healthy fiscal position with the reserve funds from the natural gas or you can recoup…

Mr. Yakeleya, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, the town, like many of community governments, is being punished for their strict discipline and fiscal responsibility. So what’s the message we are going to give our communities? Be prepared to pay? Not all communities are equal and yet our government is looked upon to help communities and help with the extraordinary, unplanned circumstances beyond anybody’s control.

Mr. Speaker, while the Town of Norman Wells appreciates the immediate support by the GNWT department to examine long-term solutions to their shortage of the natural gas issue and an offer to cover for personnel to help with the current issue due to the broken lines in the pipeline, it falls short of their request to cover the larger bill to recover the cost of keeping the power on in the town of Norman Wells at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honour the graduating class of Deh Gah Elementary and Secondary School. It gives me great pleasure to announce the Fort Providence 2011 high school graduates. They are: Ms. Megan Antoine, who will be attending Vancouver Island University; Ms. Veronica Bouvier, who will be attending Dawson Creek College; Ms. Shiana Sabourin, who will be attending Camosun College in Victoria; Ms. Kristy Tanche, who will also be attending Camosun College in Victoria; and Mr.

Ben Vandell, who will be attending Vancouver Island University.

Mr. Speaker, I also congratulate the families and community for their contribution to the success of these students. We all know it takes hard work, commitment, and perseverance to finalize this first milestone in a youth’s life. Youthfulness can bring many things such as distractions, both good and bad, and without family direction and community support, this can be a challenging task at times.

Ms. Veronica Bouvier knows this firsthand as an adult returning to school. Recognizing the value of a good education, she chose to return to school to complete her grade 12. This graduation is a testament to her commitment, and demonstrates to others the value of a high school diploma. When the task is shared between family, friends, and community, the goals achieved can be very rewarding, as proven by the achievements of these students.

Mr. Speaker, to the Deh Gah graduating class of 2011 I offer this: Celebrate this special day with pride and a sense of great achievement, knowing that many people share in your desire for a future filled with happiness and success.

Mr. Speaker, the community is holding the graduation ceremony today in the community hall and will be followed by a feast, a grand march, and a dance. It is with great regret that I won’t be there on time to take part in the festivities, but certainly will be around to personally congratulate each graduate over this weekend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Mr. Ted Blondin, who is the chairperson of the Tlicho Community Services Agency and who is here with us in the gallery. Welcome.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two constituents of the Great Slave riding: Andrew Wiley and Karen Wiley. Welcome to the gallery.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to mark this occasion by recognizing Ms. Emma

Ouellette, who is paging in this Assembly while we’re in our final sitting. To make special note, she is the daughter of Darrin Ouellette, who once was a table officer who now works for the Assembly as the director of corporate services. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As indicated in my Member’s statement, I have questions for the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

I’m sure the Minister is aware that we have a full-time fire chief in Hay River right now and part of his mandate is to perform some of the duties that would normally be performed from the office of the fire marshal. So when there were inspections or work required in Hay River, it would require the fire marshal to travel from Fort Smith to do that work, and so the government is obviously saving some money there. I’d like to know if that correlates to a contribution of any kind to the Town of Hay River for the support of this full-time position undertaking these duties.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding allocation is to the communities and the communities will decide how to allocate that funding and how to budget for them, and if they feel that they have the adequate funding to budget for a fire chief, which in this case they did, they bring on a full-time fire chief, and I commend them for that. But as far as correlating to extra funding to the community from our department, we have pretty well a set figure. I can advise the Member, though, that we are working on a review of O and M funding for the communities and we’re hoping to have that work done, working with LGANT and NWTAC to see if there are many changes, if any have to be made, to the way we fund communities. Thank you.

I would like to ask the Minister if there are any precedents in the Northwest Territories for communities that would find themselves in the same situation as Hay River where they would have a full-time fire chief on the municipal staff, if there is any specific funding

earmarked to support that position in view of the tasks that person can take on that relieve pressure on the fire marshal’s office. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have a few communities that have full-time fire chiefs and they’re paid for by the municipality. Again, as far as them taking up some of the duties or doing some of the work that would normally be done by the assistant fire marshal, once we do the review of the O and M if we find that there’s some merit to that, then I’m sure it’s a situation that the department will have a look at. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if the Town of Hay River could quantify a certain amount of work of that nature that is being done and were to submit a proposal to MACA for an offsetting contribution to support this position in Hay River, is that something that Municipal and Community Affairs could support? I’m just thinking it would be more information if there were an actual detailing of that type of work that’s being done that would normally fall under the mandate of a territorial government employee. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m sure all the communities come forward and make their case to MACA on the amount of funding that they receive, and if the communities make a good enough argument for funding for a position such as the one the Member is speaking of, I’m sure the department will be more than happy to have a look at it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to ask the Minister if he sees this as a good model. We see this in other areas such as economic development where a municipality or a community will hire an economic development officer and it will be funded by the territorial government to work… There will be a contribution from the municipality and a contribution from the territorial government for a position like that. I see this position of a full-time fire chief as similar in the sense that this is work, a lot of the work that could fall within the mandate of a territorial government employee. So I see it as a cooperative and joint effort with communities. I think it deserves special recognition in that way as a special category of funding and I’d like to thank the Minister for considering a proposal of that nature. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, communities that do their budget, they will budget if they want to bring on a full-time fire chief or whatever other staff they want to hire in the community. As I assured the Member, we are always working with communities, LGANT, and NWTAC just to see how we can improve services that we provide to the community. Again, the whole O and M funding process will be

reviewed to see, working with all these different groups, if any changes need to be made. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions follow up on my Member’s statement and are directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I’m sure the Minister is aware of the critical importance of early childhood development and I want to explore how this has been recognized in the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative review.

The early childhood development research I’ve cited comes from a presentation to the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education by world renowned early childhood expert Dr. Fraser Mustard. I’ve recommended Dr. Mustard’s work and even his participation in the ECB initiative to the Minister.

Mr. Speaker, how has the Minister assured recommendations in the ASAI report reach all the way down to consider prenatal and preschool measures? Mahsi.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular area is of great interest and also a priority of this government. Early childhood development and childcare has always been a priority of this government. We all know that learning starts at early ages. Part of the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, the first priority is the early childhood development and childcare.

We’ve heard over and over from the regional forums, the people of the North, the educators, the parents, that this needs to be at the forefront, the first priority. We have initiated that. This will be part of the document I will be tabling in the House today, later today. It will specifically highlight what we’ve heard, what the priorities are, the implementation stages for the next government to proceed. Mahsi.

I’m very pleased to hear those comments from the Minister. The scientific information is obviously too powerful to ignore here. If foresters growing trees had similar information, for example, they wouldn’t wait until seedlings are five years old to get the best yields. They’d pour on the fertilizer the moment the seed is planted and we must do the same with our most precious resources.

Given the Aboriginal Student Initiative work will be incomplete without full inclusion of early childhood

development considerations, and yet the ECE review is ongoing, how will the Minister ensure that results of the early childhood development review, which will be completed next Assembly, will be immediately incorporated into the Aboriginal Achievement Initiative work? Mahsi.

We take the same example as the fertilizer on the early seedling. We’ve heard in communities that even focussing on those babies that are not born yet, they talk about that and how the parents and the grandparents should be talking to their unborn child because that’s the most important step. I believe in that as well. We need to spread the news. We need to start initiating our discussion, talking to our children, even though they’re not born as of yet. At the same time even little ones.

Mr. Speaker, this particular Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is a working document. Any document that we produce, there are always changes that reflect on what we’ve missed out from our previous forum discussions. You know, we may have not captured everything that we wanted. That’s the purpose why we are here today in this House and question period. Sometimes we miss out on things, and we can certainly capture that as we move forward.

So this particular area of early childhood development is of importance for this government and will continue to pressure them as we move forward into the next government. Mahsi.

Again, I appreciate the Minister’s remarks. I referred earlier today to the scientific information on how the building blocks of language development are laid even before birth and are best developed before the age of three. This government devotes a lot of energy to preserving and promoting Aboriginal language, and rightly so. The science shows our best prospect of success isn't in the formal school system. They begin when the child is still in the womb.

Again, how do recommendations in the Aboriginal Student Achievement report reflect these understandings? In other words, what actions? Can the Minister give some examples of what actions are proposed to support parents in their home and community during prenatal and initial years of their children’s lives? Mahsi.

Most of the discussions we’ve heard at the regional forums are specific to that area of dealing with the ongoing child and even the two and three year olds, focussing on them because they have to start early. That is planted into the document that is going to be tabled. It does highlight the importance of starting early and having parents and educators involved and also the leaders. This is a shared responsibility. We have to do it together. Even the grandparents are involved. So, Mr. Speaker, I will be tabling the

document that will highlight all the specific key points that we’ve heard, particularly early childhood development. This is an important document that will be tabled in this House. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of the Housing Corporation with regard to my Member’s statement and looking at alternatives and options to work with tenants that are finding themselves in situations of either being evicted or having arrears and finding ways. As the Minister should know, in most of our communities we have 45 percent unemployment. There are very few jobs to go around. I think as a department you should consider looking at what you can do to help these individuals work off their arrears by either simply cleaning, painting, or in some cases, like I mentioned in Tsiigehtchic where they demolished housing units which were going to be demolished anyway, and allow those individuals to take on some training and give them some opportunity to get some work experience, but more importantly, pay down their arrears with 50 percent of the income that they arrive at.

Has the department looked inwards of the Housing Corporation and the housing authorities of how they can work along with their tenants to pay down those arrears? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing is always looking everywhere to see how we can help those folks pay down their arrears. Part of it was allowing people to get into a repayment plan where they pay X amount of dollars. In some cases, one case in particular, a lady paid for five or six years until she managed to pay it all. It was very small amounts she paid each month. But the Member has a point, though, and it was an innovative solution that was reached in Tsiigehtchic. That’s one thing we try to encourage our department and all our folks out in the front line to try to come up with innovative ways that we can work with these residents to give them an opportunity to pay down on their arrears. We are always open to suggestions and open to new ideas.

This is one that we just actually had a fairly brief discussion at the beginning of the week with senior management over at the Housing Corp. So this is one that we would consider. Thank you.

As we know, we have aging housing stocks in the Northwest Territories. A lot of it does need upkeep, and that’s where I’m trying to focus my question on. Those units need some improvements such as painting and the possibility of doing minor renovations and also replacement of, say, electrical fixtures. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could get his department to look at what is on the business plans for capital investment in those different communities and see if some of those investments could be used for the tenants in those units to maybe do some of that work and work off their arrears by simply painting their units so you don’t have to bring a contractor in from outside the community. Those dollars will stay in the community and will help those individuals to pay down their arrears.

We look for every opportunity that we can work with the communities. I know of a few communities where the local LHO will do a lot of their own maintenance and improvement work over the summer. In some cases they’ll bring as many as 17 people on board to do the summer work. They also hire a lot of students to work at the LHOs for the summer.

As far as the employment goes, we have to be very careful that these folks, that if they do enter into some kind of agreement with them, we have to be sure that they qualify or are able to do a fairly good job, because we don’t want anyone just going into a unit and just slopping paint all over the place and thinking that’s acceptable, which it really isn’t. We have to be sure all the work is done according to the standards that the local housing authorities have.

It’s not a simple question of cash switching hands. Sweat equity is a way that people do work things off, and I know in the past, people did trade, barter, and did whatever they had to do to help the other person out. I think that should still originate in this government. I think we have to be conscious that people do have talents in our communities, and if you can make use of those talents and tell them you can work it off, I think that’s all I’m asking for.

I’d like to ask the Minister to take this into serious consideration. Since you look at the arrears that are out there, I think it’s going to take many, many years to pay down the arrears simply at $30 a month or whatever. I think you have to find a way of working with them to pay them down sooner and get these people back into housing.

I’m very well aware of the talents that we have in the small communities, having seen it first hand and knowing that they’re quite capable if you give them an opportunity of performing the work. The training that a lot of these folks have gotten over the past number of years working casual for the local housing authority

during the summer is something that’s allowed them to continue to work.

I take the Member’s point, and I can assure the Member that as a corporation we’ll continue to try to work any way we can with the tenants to find ways that they can possibly work off their arrears and that. It’s a decision that’s made by the LHO but with some direction from headquarters. I can assure the Member that I will have discussion with staff and we’ll see if there are ways that we can find solutions to help those in the communities.

The Member is absolutely correct; arrears in some communities are quite high and it would take a long time to pay them down. We’ll do what we can as a corporation to see how we can alleviate some of that pressure.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko. Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask some questions today to the Minister of Justice and at the outset I’d like to thank the Minister for the information he recently provided to Members about emergency protection orders, or EPOs. It’s very helpful information.

Earlier this week we heard a concern raised by a constituent of Yellowknife Centre around a recently issued EPO, and there have been other similar concerns about EPOs in the last year. It would suggest to me that there are some flaws in the EPO process and that some adjustments are necessary. In light of these incidents, I would like to ask the Minister whether or not the department is considering a review of the EPO process, from the application for the EPO to the EPO hearing and beyond.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the EPO, the process, and also the issues that we’ve been dealing with over the years, we have managed to do an overall review of the EPO process, the guidelines and so forth. At this point it is within my office to review. The recommendations are brought forward. I will be reviewing the recommendations brought forward.

Yes, the review has been done and the recommendations will be coming down to possibly make those changes that will reflect what’s been happening on the outset.

It’s interesting to note that there are two reviews relative to the Protection Against Family Violence Act which were posted recently on the Justice department website. I think it was on Monday. The one the Minister refers to, I think, is called an Analysis of Emergency Protection Order Hearings in the NWT and it’s dated October 2010. In the summary of findings in that report it says: “The EPO legislation is well conceptualized and well written, but may need some modification to deal with special circumstances.” The Minister says he’s considering this report. I’d like to know whether or not since this evaluation was received, if the department is considering making modifications to the legislation governing emergency protection orders.

There is a process that we need to follow. I haven’t looked at those recommendations as of yet but I will be reviewing them. When it comes to making those changes, we have to consider all options as we move forward.

I appreciate that all options will be considered. I guess it’s a matter of when we can expect something to come back, when the report will be evaluated. We’re getting on to almost a year since it was received.

Another quote from the summary findings is: “Any difficulties with the EPO hearing appear to be in its application, not its design.” It goes to the heart, I think, of the matter of some of the difficulties that have occurred in the last while. I’d like to know if the department will consider, when it does its review, the application process and the specific finding from this report.

Part of the recommendations brought to our attention was that matter from my departmental briefing. I will be going through the recommendations and possibly making those changes as we move forward. They are recommendations brought to our attention and we are currently reviewing it. This matter will be before the 17th Assembly as well as the new

government, so we’ll do what we can as the department of the day.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m really glad to hear that the department is actively looking at this report and is actively considering making some changes. I think that there are some necessary. The report presumably was received late last year. It’s dated October 2010. I’d like to ask the Minister, if this is going to the 17th Assembly, when we might expect

to see some recommendations for change from this report.

As I stated, the recommendations are before me now and it will be

part of as we move into the 17th Assembly

government. We’re at the tail end of our 16th Assembly. There are only a few more days here. I will be reviewing it, and if we need to make those changes, we’ll definitely work on that.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked about a 31-year-old mother of four children, aged six to 14, who is having her living allowance for SFA cut back from $1,550 a month to $1,040 a month. She also has been informed by the SFA caseworker that she is only eligible for another year. She is going to hit the $60,000 cap. The reason she’s going to hit this $60,000 cap is because she has four kids and she’s getting a living allowance which is just over twice what a single student would get. It amounts to a discriminatory practice by the department and SFA when it works against somebody for having children. I’d like to ask the Minister if this, in fact, is a reality and how we’re going to fix that.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We are aware of the situation and the only way we can review and make some possible changes is through the review of SFA that will currently be underway in September of this year, and completion we’re hoping for next year.

This individual is into her second year, and the following year will be third year. We’re aware of the situation and we want to do what we can to support all students in the Northwest Territories.

The cap is there -- $60,000 -- and the policy states that, and it’s fair to all the students across the board as well. We are aware, again, and SFA is currently under review, so the changes will definitely be coming. It will be the voices of the students, because we are reaching out to the students, and that particular student will have a voice in the system as well.

During the review period, which the Minister says might take up until next fall, I’m just wondering if the government is going to have any provision that would see students in the situation that I outlined earlier that would protect students from undue hardship. Especially those with, you know, I said four children, so that they aren’t faced with hardships and they’re not getting their living allowance reduced while the department and the government is out there reviewing SFA. I think we

should put some provisions in place that can maintain living allowances until the review is done so that students aren’t faced with those types of hardships.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment works with all students. I know some students are struggling with their daily living allowance. That’s the very reason we are reviewing the SFA program. The current policy exists today that we have to follow. We cannot break the policy as it stands. We can amend that policy.

As we conduct the overall review and see the results of the recommendations in due time, we can make those changes. In the current time we’ll continue to work with the student and other students, as well, where they can access other potential funding that may be available to them.

I thank the Minister for that. I know the Minister; his intentions are good and I know his office is trying to work out a solution for this student that I’m talking about, this mother of four who is encountering problems. The Minister talked about the review and I just want to get some assurance from the Minister and the government that the SFA review that’s going to be started this fall is going to be finished in time for next calendar school year so that we’re not going to affect the next two school years. If it doesn’t come in until October next year, the students that are in the situations like this are going to be impacted not only this year but next year. Can we get some assurances from the Minister that the review of SFA will be done in time for next school year, which would be next fall?

The only assurance I can give is that’s our goal as a department, to complete the overall review by early next year; for next school year, if that’s possible. That is our goal. I cannot guarantee that it will be done before next school year, but our department will do what it can to reach out to the students, the parents, the public, to hear their perspective. In order to make those changes, we want to reflect on all the needs that will be addressed. Definitely that’s our goal.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear what the Minister is saying. Again, there aren’t any guarantees here. I appreciate the fact that they want to talk to students. They want to talk to anybody that’s interested in SFA, including Regular Members of this House I think should be heavily consulted on that. In the dealings we have with our constituents, I think we can’t leave any students out of this equation. While we’re studying this, we can’t afford to let it drag on. I think we need to get some assurances from the government that we are going to take a set amount of time and get the review done so that it’s not going to have a negative

impact on students that are out there awaiting this review to be conducted. I think the Minister said there was a bit of a commitment there, but he wouldn’t quite commit. I think we need a firm commitment that the work will get done by early next year so that it won’t impact the following school year.

All I can say at this point is the work will get done next year. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for Transportation. They are in follow up to my Member’s statement from earlier today where I talked about the rerouting of the Ingraham Trail through the Giant Mine site.

I understand that there is a public consultation process going on right now that is expected to be done in August, where they’re hopefully going to decide on some routing, and hopefully going to decide on a timeline for the completion of this project. I was wondering if the Minister could give me a bit of an update on the results of that public consultation. Do we know a route, has a route been finalized, and what kind of timeline are we working on for the completion of this project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. About three questions there. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you. I appreciate the recognition of all the questions he threw in that quick question.

Mr. Speaker, we have been working on the realignment of the Giant Mine road. We’ve been working with the Giant Mine Remediation Team over the last while. We want to ensure that whatever option is selected meets their requirements for remediation. We’ve also been talking to various stakeholders, such as the City of Yellowknife, the YK Dene, and we’ve also requested public input on the three options that we put out for consideration. We intend, as the Member indicated, to take one more round of consultations -- that’s going on, I think, right now -- and have some results before the end of August, after which a final decision will be made on which route will be taken.

Not to answer the second question but just to give some information, right now the information that we have indicates that there is a preference to relocate the road completely away from the mine site, so

one of the options that does that will be considered. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that response, and thanks for a little bit of clarification as to where the routing might be. The route that’s the right-of-way from the mine is route one. Does that mean that route one is the route that will likely be selected?

For the record, I like route one. I think route one is great because it opens up some more land for city development and public usage, so that’s good. I’ll stop with that one question instead of throwing three at him, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, we haven’t decided on a final route but I think that most people agree that route one is probably the option that meets most of the needs. It reallocates the road away from the mine site, it opens up new land, and it would provide, of course, for a completely realigned highway. That is, right now, probably a favourite. Thank you.

Regardless of which route is selected, do we have a bit of a timeline? The Minister did indicate that he hopes the public consultation will be done by August, but when do we expect, regardless of the route, that the construction will start, and when do we expect to see some completion so that we’re not having our heavy loads going up to the diamond mines over the arsenic chambers themselves? Thank you.

Right now the plan is to have all information gathered by the end of August, the final decision on realignment by the month of September, and start the engineering in the same month of September and into October. We want to have our tenders out for construction sometime in October/November and we’d like to have the construction start this year, the site preparation, and the stockpiling of gravel and crushing and work on the embankment next year. We’d like to have the road opened to the travelling public by the summer of 2012 and final servicing of the road by 2013. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for that update. We look forward to driving on the road in 2012 and 2013.

I guess my last question is about financing. This is part of the Giant Mine reclamation, so who is ultimately responsible for the cost of this road? Will it be the GNWT or can we expect the feds to kick in the bulk of the cost of realigning this road to avoid the arsenic chambers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, the final costs will be dependent on the option that we choose, and the price could be fairly expensive.

However, we expect that the funding will be obtained from the GNWT’s Giant Mine Environmental Liability Fund that was previously established, and that’s probably where we’re going to draw the money from. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask questions directed to the Minister of Transportation. In my Member’s statement today, Mr. Speaker, I talked about better customer service approach on the issuing of things like licence plate stickers, driver’s abstracts, and that’s really what I’m after here, is maybe moving government business forward with an eye to servicing the public a little better.

I want to put on the record, of course, that this is in no way a criticism of the public service of who’s providing this service. It’s just the way it seems to work in this type of area.

Mr. Speaker, Ontario uses kiosks to serve their clients and customers better, to provide driver abstracts, licence plate stickers, and other types of ID. Would the Minister of Transportation be willing to look into that type of aspect to help the flow of the waiting clientele to get these services? Would he be willing to look into this issue and see if it can be addressed and considered going forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to hear that the Member is not criticizing me for a change.

---Laughter

The Yellowknife driver and vehicle licensing office handles about 60 percent of all transactions that are required in the Northwest Territories. Over the last while we’ve done a lot of work in redesigning the office adding additional hardware. We’ve reviewed and improved the process. We’ve tried to get a setting that’s more comfortable for our clients and more privacy.

I think that has gone a long way in the last two years to reduce the waiting times to around 21 minutes with a processing time on average of about seven minutes. Most people can go in and out of the office and obtain their documents in less than a half an hour. With the Member suggesting we should have a kiosk like we have here at the airport in Yellowknife, we will certainly consider installing

something of that nature in the road licensing office. Thank you.

I’m kind of glad we’re not hurting the Minister’s feelings there as he made a special note here. It’s good to see that he’s sensitive and actually cares about particular issues, for a change at least.

Mr. Speaker, Ontario is leading the way on a number of initiatives of improving services and always with a keen eye to ensure that the services are marked in a way that provides the best quality response times and actions for the constituents, which would be the Ontario people. Mr. Speaker, I would hope the Northwest Territories government has the same type of attitude. The Ontario government has added on-line services, as well as I mentioned self-serve through a kiosk. They’ve even switched their vehicle registrations and give people the option of having a two-year registration so they don’t have to go every year. This is all built around the flow of customer service.

The last thing I want to add is the fact that the hours of operation are a constant concern of many of the constituents. As I pointed out, DMV hours are now better than banker hours, quite clearly, because they open at 9:00 and close at 4:00. Mr. Speaker, some of these concerns are all packed into one issue, which is better customer service. Does the Minister show an interest in some sensitivity to this particular problem, and would he be willing to see if they could investigate and evaluate some of the suggestions I’ve provided here today in a light to provide better service to our people?

As usual, we are ahead of the Member.

---Laughter

We’ve already investigated what other jurisdictions are doing. The issues and suggestions he raises are very good ones, of course. It’s something we are considering. We need to do a number of things prior to accepting anything new. We need to overhaul our motor vehicle information system that is currently being used for issuing services. It doesn’t allow us to reconcile and line up with anything like the nature of a kiosk or even hooking up on line. So we anticipate that’s going to be done in the next while. We’d like to have a new system or an expanded system on stream and in place in the next couple of years. Of course, that’s going to be dependent on the amount of capital investment we will be able to obtain, but that is our intent.

I have to admit that the Department of Transportation or even this Minister is ahead in some of his ideas. I won’t take that as a criticism. I will say that’s very unusual and welcome to hear that.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, one of the big comments -- and I’ll give the credit to the Department of Transportation -- was to put a TV in there to keep people occupied while they are waiting for service. One of the observations being made is it takes too long to go through, because the average everyday person doesn’t have 15 minutes to run in, because it’s not 15 minutes. It turns into almost an hour. I think the Minister himself has had a lengthy and prolonged experience renewing either his own vehicle registration or licence. So he will be able to understand this problem, I hope, from the eye of trying to get in and out for service.

Mr. Speaker, what is the mandate of the department to set a reasonable target time for an in-and-out service delivered by a public service for clients who need to get these updates? What is the mandate of that and what are we targeting?