We are working at a very fast pace since the signing to begin to put plain language, number one, householder in there and then to have Aboriginal languages do the interpretation, and we’ll provide that to homes across the North as well as through the radio. As well, the communications with the regional leaders, we’re picking up and getting back to them to say

are they ready to sit down with us, and looking at going into communities with information sessions to have all of that information ready.

In the Executive side, devolution, we’re a small team now. We’ve returned much of our money, previous years’, because things were not moving ahead. We’ll have to revamp and look at how we get into those communities with those information sessions so that we can provide that. We’re working at that now. I can’t give you an absolute date but, for example, I’ll be looking at material this weekend so that we can hopefully get something out to the firms that could print this information and get it out to households as soon as possible. The Aboriginal language piece we’re working with Education, Culture and Employment on the language side as well as looking to communities for interpreters that could help us in this work.

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

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The responsibility of maintaining navigable waterways is with the federal government.

Since this lack of dredging is impacting industry in Hay River, what role does the Minister see himself in in communicating with the federal government on this situation? Have meetings taken place? Has the Minister met with industry? Has he met with federal counterparts who may have a role to play in this and could help bring some resolve to the situation?

I guess several Ministers could have a role to play in the concern that’s being raised by the Member. The fisheries are being impacted, as was stated in her comments. I guess it could fall under ITI. As a potential disaster, it could fall under MACA. NTCL is concerned about the channel there, so I guess that would fall under DOT.

We as a government have had the concern raised to us by the municipality and we have indicated to

them that there was some potential programs that we could flag for them to provide that information to them. We’ve also had a meeting with the Member for Hay River North, our Speaker, who has also raised this concern as something that’s beginning to be a real serious challenge of how we move forward. I believe our MP has had an opportunity to speak with Minister Gail Shea, who is the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and those talks are ongoing. We have, of course, raised it also as a department with our federal counterparts and those discussions are ongoing.

Is the Minister aware of any federal funding which is specifically available in relation to these kinds of issues in navigable waters? I have observed from the air, flying into Hay River, the buildup of silt that’s creating its own delta beyond the delta. Vale Island is a delta in the mouth of the Hay River and I’ve observed it, flying over this summer. It is going to have a huge impact if something is not done about it. I will not recite all that again. Is the Minister aware of any federal funding that we as a government could access to address this?

We certainly agree with the Member’s description of what’s happening on the harbour. The silt buildup is of concern, of course, but the low waters are compounding the problem. We’ve had several users identify some programs that could potentially be resourced. I believe the municipality was provided with that information and followed up. My understanding is that it wasn’t successful.

We have talked to our federal counterparts. We have been talking to the Coast Guard and we’re hoping that they’ll be able to identify some dollars to at least provide some relief to the situation that’s growing in the town of Hay River.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve heard that it’s not the GNWT’s responsibility. The town is looking to this government for some assistance. It does impact our people. It does impact our industry, even if it is not technically our responsibility. Does this government have any money to help address this situation? I observed, with interest, the anticipation of the flooding of the Red River in Manitoba again, and I think technology has changed a bit since those old federal DPW dredges were out there.

There’s equipment, there’s people, there are contractors who are in this business. Like I said, I read it because it’s in the news with respect to the Red River and the anticipated flooding there again this year. If we could at least identify the scope of the problem and what needs to be done, then we might have a better idea of what it could cost. But

does this government have any money to help Hay River in this regard? Thank you.

I was going to say right up front that we didn’t have any money or resources to allocate to this situation, but it is a serious issue. It’s been raised by a number of sectors of people that live in Hay River and also the Hay River Reserve. We want to follow up on our discussions with the federal government. We are hoping our discussions with the Coast Guard are going to be successful; I can’t say that it is right now. We haven’t had anything confirmed in that area.

We need to bring in the federal government, especially the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. This is their area of responsibility. For us to step in and start assuming that without any resources, we’d have to take the money from another project or another area and that’s going to be difficult as resources are tight. I want to assure the Member that we’ll follow up. I am meeting with the Minister of Transportation in the next couple of weeks and I will certainly try to raise this as an issue that needs attention. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are with respect to respite services in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Health and Social Services is currently developing a territorial-wide respite program. I’m wondering if the Minister could please provide me with a bit of an outline on the timeline how they’re going to move forward and when they expect to actually see a territorial respite program ready to go for review by the Standing Committee on Social Programs, and also when we think a territorial respite program might be rolled out for all residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member laid out in his statement, there are various components that are being conducted right now, including the community workshops. So we expect that the work will be done by April/May in time for next year’s business cycle. Thank you.

As the Minister pointed out, there are regional respite focus groups taking place starting in February and going through February. That information, I understand, will then go to the advisory group who will provide some recommendations to the department on how to

design or what might be the best model to use in the Northwest Territories. Could the Minister please tell me what is the makeup of that advisory committee? Does it include non-government organizations like the NWT Disabilities Council as well as the Yellowknife Association for Community Living? Is there representation from small communities and towns throughout the Northwest Territories, and who else might be on that particular advisory group? Thank you.

There are employees of the department on the committee as well as NGO groups and regional organizations. Thank you.

That is not particularly helpful. If she could please give us some examples of the NGOs that are on that, that would give us a better sense as to who’s represented on this committee.

A second point that I’d like to ask about is: there are a lot of people here, 29 families who currently access services from the Yellowknife Association for Community Living. Clearly, this program is not going to be in place. It doesn’t sound like there will be even something to go forward to committee until the next business planning cycle. Is the Minister working with the Yellowknife Association for Community Living to provide services in the interim until a territorial respite program is designed? Specifically, will YACL be supported by the GNWT to provide respite services for those 29 families and any other new families that come to the table for services in Yellowknife? Thank you.

The Member is aware and we’ve had discussions with the committee about a way to go forward. I would like to just reiterate that we are committed to providing support to the families who are under the YACL program. Yellowknife Health and Social Services is currently negotiating a contribution agreement with YACL so that we continue to provide the programs to those families who are currently getting the services from YACL as we work toward a respite care program. I have communicated that to the Members and I’m happy to confirm that again in the House today. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for that. I think hearing that in the House is very important today for those 29 families and important for us to hear as MLAs.

I’d like to just go back to my previous question. If she could give me a bit of an understanding of what groups are represented on that advisory group. Are some of the groups in the Territory that are providing these types of services going to be represented on that advisory group? Specifically, the NWT Disabilities Council and Yellowknife

Association for Community Living; are they part of the advisory group? Simple question. Thank you.

The advisory group is not formed yet and so I will get back to the Member on that.

I just want to caution that we will, if that’s what the Member is wanting to know, definitely consult with the Council for Persons with Disabilities and YACL and other groups that are involved in this work. We need to make sure that eventually, at the end of the day, those are the groups who will be vying to provide the program and we don’t want to interfere with their ability to be able to deliver the programs. I need to make it clear that we will definitely consult with them to advise us. We will work with them throughout the process, but we don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize their ability to be a service provider when all the work is completed. Thank you.

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