Good afternoon, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, the traditional economy is an important source of income for many Northwest Territories residents and one of the sectors that this government supports as part of our goal of a diversified economy. Today I would like to share some good news about our Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program.

We are at the threshold of a new trapping season. Last year’s wild fur sold for record prices, resulting in nearly $2 million in income and program benefits for our trappers. This was the best year for sales in 23 years and prospects for this coming year are positive, as demand from China and Russia continues to increase. Trapping also helps to offset the high cost of food in many northern communities.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Premier McLeod and Mr. Robert Hawkins for their successful efforts promoting our wild furs during the recent trade mission to China. China is the world’s leading manufacturer of fur garments, and demand for our high-end wild fur is high and increasing year after year.

This year, in cooperation with Fur Harvesters Auction, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment produced two new pelt handling DVDs for marten and fox. These are distributed throughout the territory and we have received very positive feedback for similar DVDs that were produced for wolf and wolverine pelts in the last couple of years. They provide demonstrations and tips on handling raw pelts for auction. Well-handled pelts get top dollar for trappers.

Mr. Speaker, an important part of the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program is our Trapper Recognition Awards. We recognize the top senior and junior trappers, as well as the trapper with the most pelts and the most market sales in each region. These awards were just announced and I want to take this opportunity to recognize all the recipients.

We are especially pleased with our youth trappers. This year Leroy Andre Jr. from Deline was the top youth trapper for the Sahtu region, and the top youth trapper for the entire NWT. Andrea Carmichael was awarded with top youth trapper for the Inuvik region, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, John Carmichael, who received the Senior Trapper Award for the region last year.

Mr. Speaker, the number of youth involved in the trapping industry continues to grow, with the encouragement of the Take a Kid Trapping Program provided under the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program. This program introduces youth to the traditional harvesting practices of hunting, trapping, fishing and outdoor survival. This year nearly 2,700 youth participated in the program, and over 12,000 youth have been through the program since its inception 10 years ago.

I advised Members during our last session of a project through this program: the construction of a traditional kayak by the students of Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has recently created a mounted print for the school, commemorating the hard work of students to build the kayak. I look forward to presenting this to the Honourable Jackie Jacobson at some point before the end of this session.

We are taking action to ensure traditional economy practices continue and that these traditional values are sustained, especially through our youth. This support serves to advance the 17th Legislative

Assembly’s goal of a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of the new East Three School in Inuvik.

This is a modern and beautifully designed and constructed 11,500 square-metre building. It is home to Inuvik’s high school in one wing and junior school in the other. It has 54 classrooms, with a large shared gymnasium, library and administration area. The architects who designed the facility worked closely with community members, students, staff and the departments of Education, Culture and Employment, and Public Works and Services to ensure the design reflected Inuvik’s educational and cultural needs.

The school captures both modern elements with its structural design features, and the traditional essence of the community. Multicultural art has been painted in the hallways and displayed throughout the school. Outside there is a beautifully landscaped site with indigenous plants and local materials. It’s very welcoming to students and community members.

Mr. Speaker, the design and construction of the new school also includes many energy-efficient features. It has clean-burning boilers and a heat-recovery system, with computerized energy management. It has daylight-harvesting light control systems which control electric lights, turning them off when the natural light is bright enough. The ventilation system is modern and takes the students’ needs into account by providing more fresh air where students are working.

The new school exceeded the requirements for the Model National Energy Code by a full 56.1 percent. This was independently verified by the Natural Resources Canada EcoENERGY Program.

Equally impressive, Mr. Speaker, are the benefits to Inuvik and NWT residents throughout the construction of this project. Approximately 74 percent of the expenditures for goods and services went to northern contractors and suppliers, and 49 percent went to local companies as registered under the Business Incentive Policy.

As of July this year, the contractor reported that 623 workers were employed in the construction of the school, for a total of 456,000 person hours. Along with office staff of the contractors, designers, planners and the project managers, over 800 people helped make East Three School a reality.

This project is one of the largest and most complex ever managed by the department.

Mr. Speaker, the project team for the new East Three School achieved all of this while completing it one full school year ahead of schedule and over $8 million under budget.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate all who were involved in this project. I also want to thank the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, the Beaufort- Delta Education Council and all the staff at the Department of Public Works and Services. In collaboration with the contractors, architects and engineers, they created a state-of-the-art facility that will be a focal point for the community and for investing in the education of our youth for years to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been almost two years since this government closed the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik to elders who cannot live independently. Now there’s a lineup of elders waiting to get into the facility in Inuvik, which serves the entire Beaufort-Delta.

I am not convinced the facility in Inuvik can handle all the elders who need care. I am even less convinced that sending them from the communities to Inuvik and Yellowknife is the best way to care for our elders.

In my riding alone, there are more than 300 elders over the age of 60. In Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic, there’s only one home care worker for each community. Even if the elders can’t stay at home, the elders themselves would rather live in Fort McPherson or Aklavik instead of Inuvik. The reason is that family and friends visit regularly and bring the elders traditional food.

The Joe Greenland Centre is part of the social and cultural fabric of the Delta. The community of Aklavik was proud of its role in taking care of our elders. Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly

agreed in their last year in office and passed a motion to continue providing long-term care for elders at the Joe Greenland Centre.

For all these reasons, I am asking the Health Minister to reverse his department’s decision to end long-term care at the Joe Greenland Centre. I believe the current building can be renovated to meet the necessary standards, but if it’s not possible, a new facility should be built in the Mackenzie Delta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since early Monday morning, the Hay River area has been seeing some extreme weather conditions. Each of the past three nights, the area has seen three to six inches of heavy, wet snow. This has been causing problems with power lines, roads, airports and highways.

My colleague from Hay River and I have been keeping up with the departments and organizations

in the Hay River area. Northland Utilities has sent in an additional crew from Yellowknife this morning to deal with downed power lines and overhanging trees.

A complete staff is working day and night. More crews will be sent in if required. The Town of Hay River has been working every morning starting at 4:00 a.m., working as long as the crews can work. Andrew Cassidy has indicated that every road in the community has been touched by a piece of equipment once, and now they are working, hopefully in the next day or two, to get most of the snow removed. As he indicated, the snow is extremely wet and extremely heavy. The town has also contracted out extra equipment to deal with this extra snowfall.

We also had an opportunity to get an update from DOT, Department of Transportation. Airport crews have been working long hours to make sure the airport stays open, and last night the airport crew was able to keep the operations open, especially in case of medevacs required. The department of highways has been working throughout Hay River and area to try to clear the roads as quickly as possible. They have the full crews working on the project.

I want people to be careful during this difficult time in the Hay River area. Stay clear of low-lying power lines and do not cut any trees near any power lines. Leave that to the professionals. Travel is recommended only if required. We hope that all the crews out there stay safe, and keep an eye out for all those crews that are working. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I spoke about the NWT Housing Corporation and I specifically mentioned Deline. I would like to do a second part to my issue with the NWT Housing Corporation. This one has to do with specifically how they assess the income for the public housing units in that community.

The people in Deline find it unacceptable how the income is being assessed, and it’s being assessed by the gross income. I have an example here. A person that is living in a public house in Deline gets charged on the gross income, and as part of that gross income this person pays CPP and EI, which they are charged rent on both the EI and CPP. Jobs are not that available sometimes and they get short-term jobs. This person finishes work and applies for EI. Housing asks if he has any income. They declare it on their income, which is their EI, which is about $700 every two weeks. Again, they

are being charged on the income, whereas they are already told that the housing that was already charged on the gross income, which EI is included on their rent. This person and the people in Deline feel that Housing is double-dipping on their income and rent.

Another note is that they are also charging the Child Tax Benefit as income. This money should go towards milk, bread, eggs and Pampers, which also goes towards children’s healthy living.

I will have some questions on this issue with the Minister at the appropriate time.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The environmental assessment hearings for the Giant Mine Project were held in September. The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board heard testimony on the plan to stabilize the vast stores of arsenic and conduct limited surface remediation. On the first night of public presentations alone, 50 people sat through a 45-minute power outage to share their concerns. Seventeen people spoke, most staying well past 11:00 p.m. People care deeply about the Giant Mine cleanup.

Based on my observations, people spoke of the lack of a funded perpetual care plan, lack of a legally binding independent oversight mechanism, the proposal to dump arsenic-laden water into Back Bay in new ways, lack of commitment to research the final elimination of the arsenic, concerns that the frozen block method won’t work over the long term, the consistent failure to proactively communicate project information, and many other misgivings. Besides individual residents, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Alternatives North, and the North Slave Metis present thorough and learned submissions.

Weeks later, the project co-proponents – Canada and the GNWT – sent closing comments to the board. Reading their final comments, I have to wonder if the governments were hearing the same input I was or if they just weren’t listening. Consider the quotation, “The project team concludes that the remediation plan is not the source of the long-standing concerns about Giant Mine.” Dismay and skepticism with the remediation proposal, its delivery and monitoring are exactly what the public, Aboriginal government and NGO concerns are all about. The co-proponents’ comments demonstrate the adoption of virtually nothing from the concerns expressed so strongly by public interest groups and citizens.

This week we had more evidence of this deafness. The proponents gave public registry notice that they will proceed with demolition of the roaster complex, exempting the most arsenic-contaminated portion of the site after the underground vaults from the authority of the environmental assessments. Rather than make an effort to inform the public or allay concerns, they are seeking board approval to do it without public oversight.

I will table the co-proponents’ letter today and will question the Minister of the Environment on this government’s role in these disappointing developments and pronouncements.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government and territory is on the verge of making a big decision come the New Year, and that’s in regard to the Inuvik-Tuk highway. There has been a lot of debate and a lot of discussions, both in the media and this House as well as in the communities. Some discussions were talked about and it seems like this is a new project. This is not a new project. This project itself has been on the federal government books since the 1970s, and more recently within this government since the late 1980s. It just happens that today with this government, the 17th Legislative Assembly, we’re

dealing with the facts of making it a reality, and that’s our responsibility. On top of that, we do have strong support from the federal government as well.

This is not a project that is just going to stimulate the economy in the area of the Territories that really needs it at this time but, rather, it’s an investment; an investment into the communities of Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik, the Beaufort-Delta region and, more importantly, for this territory and even Canada, as it will bring the country from coast to coast to coast.

Not only that, but we’re also looking at big projects such as the fibre optic link, offshore drilling and a big piece of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which are all priorities of this government as we move forward.

As we move forward on this project, I want to encourage the government that when this project comes to task and we have to start looking at making decisions, that this government works with our Aboriginal groups up in the Beaufort-Delta region so that everybody gets a piece of the pie, so that everybody gets jobs and gets to be part of this big process. As well, in the design and the makeup of this project working with our local contractors, who have done great work up in the Beaufort-Delta

region, in the communities, on the road system, and being part of making this project become reality.

I would also just like to thank all the leaders that have been part of this process to make it a reality, all the regional leaders up in the Beaufort-Delta region and throughout the Northwest Territories. It’s a long, drawn out process, a lot of debates, a lot of discussions going on, and I appreciate the hard work, commitment and dedication that they have to see this big project come through.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The lack of housing is a huge problem in many of our communities. On the other hand, there are also vacant units in some of our communities. I believe that there are also problems with access to housing that is available. That is, there is housing and there are people who need housing, but they’re not eligible for it. For example, I am told that there’s a one-year residency requirement to access some community housing programs. In general, that is fine, but what happens when someone returns to a small community and has nowhere to live? It seems that the NWT Housing Corporation expects people to couch surf in other people’s homes for a year to become eligible for housing, even if Housing Corporation units are available.

This is a barrier that discourages people from returning to their home communities where their families and cultures are the strongest. In addition, there are few market rentals for people who come to live in a small community for a time. These people need to be housed and we want to welcome them, but where are they going to live?

There’s a real need for flexibility in the way we allocate housing units. The system must fit local needs and local conditions. I think that a policy for transitional housing should be developed. It could help meet local needs and reduce vacancies in units owned by the Housing Corporation.

The Housing Corporation has made a lot of progress in the past year and improved its operations. I recognize that good work, so I’m optimistic that the corporation will work with these communities in my riding to meet their needs.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Yellowknife we’re very fortunate to have organized first responders in our city. I know I’m very grateful, as well as many other people in our city. However, not every community has this privilege, and for obvious reasons; sometimes it’s not feasible, but that doesn’t make it any more right and it certainly doesn’t make it fair. By coincidence, if you happen to live in the Tu Nedhe riding – that’s either in Lutselk'e or Fort Resolution – and just by chance there happens to be a terrible situation in that particular area, who responds? Who has the skills and experience, and certainly the know-how to respond to that type of situation?

We all know about MACA and their efforts about putting equipment in communities, but at the same time, where are the skills? What good is good equipment with goodwill when no one has the skills and abilities to respond safely and properly to incidences?

As I understand it, community nurses, in some cases, have a policy that causes them to be unable to leave the nursing station to respond properly to these incidences. So what does it mean? It means good people are responding to incidents in some cases untrained. So we have untrained volunteers out there trying to do the best they can and to that I applaud them.

In some communities like Deline, we have heroes, local heroes like Kirk Hughes, who stepped forward and said this is no longer going to happen. He is solving Health and Social Services’ mistake, or gap, I should say, in services.

I think it is time that Health and Social Services gets behind community initiatives and helps train first responders in these types of incidents. Without the skills and abilities to tackle these types of problems, we may put the intended person we are trying to rescue into being a further victim of the situation. That said, we may put the rescuer in grave danger.

There are plenty of organizations that are willing to step forward, and help and offer the training, such as the Mine Training Society. The bottom line here is Health and Social Services has the responsibility to ensure local people are trained with the skills, ability and know-how to help rescue people in their need. I think it is time we step forward and do that responsibility across the North all the way through our Territories and all of our small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I want to speak a bit in my language.

The moose is a large animal that thrives in the wild. For Aboriginal people, this huge animal is very important. In our culture we use the moose for clothing, food and tools. This is why moose are very important to us in our culture.

In regard to our ancestors, we cherish the moose and we use it for a lot of things. When we are hunting in the bush, we are hunting for our elders, our family. When we are hunting along the river, the person that I am talking about is a person that likes to be in the wild, in the bush, hunting. This person I am talking about was participating in a hunting party that was hunting along the river.

At this time that I’m talking about, there was some wildlife diseases that were starting to happen in my area. They were wondering why these things were happening. This is what I’m going to be talking about today. This disease that prevailed among the bison was an organic disease that originates from the earth. This happens when it is moist and hot. There was a lot of activity during this time that the bison were experiencing this disease.

We have also experienced a lot of aircraft in the area during this bison disease prevention activity. As a result of that, the aircraft were disrupting the other animals such as the moose. Because of that, we didn’t have a lot of moose. There are other animals that have been affected because of this disease amongst the bison. We along the Mackenzie River are wondering if maybe the monitoring of the animals that we consider important, such as moose, we would appreciate it if it was monitored better. What I am thinking is that because of the disruption by aircraft is one of the reasons we didn’t have much moose in our area this fall. Mahsi. [Translation ends]

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you heard from Mr. Bromley already, for a full week this past September the environmental assessment hearings were held on the remediation plan for the Giant Mine site. The GNWT is a partner with the Government of Canada, acting as the developer for the project at these hearings. Two weeks ago the developer made their final submission to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, and reading the content of their submission, as Mr. Bromley stated, I also felt that it’s almost as

though they weren’t listening to any of the presenters.

The GNWT representative on the project development team signed the final submission, so I have to assume that this government supports the position outlined in that final submission. If that’s the case, then I must express my grave concern that this government is not adequately representing me and my constituents to the review board.

The developer states that the community showed wide support for the freezing approach. I only attended one evening session, but my experience that night was not that as expressed by the developer. Most presenters found fault with the freezing approach for one reason or another.

The developer is also confident that their plan is the best available approach. That seems to acknowledge the lack of confidence in the remediation plan by the general public, but it’s the intention of the developer to continue to engage Yellowknife citizens until they too become confident. That method hasn’t worked to date, why would it work in the future?

Lastly, the developer’s submission had no indication of any commitment to real and effective oversight of the project and long-term monitoring required for the project. This was a huge concern for many of the interveners at the hearings and it’s a huge personal concern for me as well.

So considering that a number of issues are still at large, a number of issues are still not adequately dealt with, in the minds of both the Yellowknives Dene and the citizens of Yellowknife, how can this government sign off on this final submission to the review board? How is my government protecting me, protecting the residents of my riding and the city?

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister responsible for this project at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the summer our local paper ran a story about Allisdair Leishman, a young man who stabbed himself in the Stanton Territorial Hospital’s kitchen. Requiring the proper long-term care and concerned about the lack of physiotherapy care the young man wasn’t receiving, the mother, Mrs. Leishman from Kakisa, took to the paper.

In essence, in the article Mrs. Leishman alludes that her son was limited to two hours per month of physiotherapy care. Upon my office’s investigation, it was verified that the Stanton Hospital was fully

staffed with eight physiotherapists. It appears that only one physiotherapist provided care to in-patients. On top of that, according to long-term care requirements of the Stanton Hospital website, it clearly states that the average PT care is two hours a week, and not two hours a month, as cited in the article. I know I will have some general questions to the Minister on this one later today.

The overarching issue here today is not the Allisdair Leishman situation, although tragic and sad, but it does lend to the issue of priority care for rehabilitation patients. This situation does nothing more than prove that the current system is failing, forcing many patients to seek therapy outside the hospital and sometimes travelling down south for services.

Ultimately what we are seeing is the improper prioritization of non-acute outpatients versus care for hospitalized in-patients. We could address this simple principle. We could conceivably provide more services if we just prioritized fewer acute clients.

Case in point, even during filling out an outpatient services form for clients – which I will be tabling later today – one can clearly see that WSCC patients are given urgent status over in-patient care. Upon further investigation, this urgent status also affects patients of DND, RCMP and auto insurance, in which these classifications receive more urgent status than in-patients with long-term care needs.

What is the solution? I say the solution is relatively simple: Prioritize your patients. That is, make sure your long-term care in patients who need this care most are taken care of first, before we deal with less urgent outpatients.

I will be asking this simple question to the Minister of Health later today, and further to that, I hope that this exercise will propel a much more thorough review of the entire NWT rehabilitation prioritization tools, as these evidence-based tools are being used as standards in jurisdictions worldwide. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about a fundraising initiative that has been most beneficial to Hay River through the Hay River Hospital Foundation.

The Hay River Hospital Foundation was established in January 2000 to assist with the mandate of Hay River Health and Social Services Authority. The role of the foundation was to support and assist the health authority in achieving its goal, with particular

emphasis on providing much needed funds for capital equipment or training needs for its residents.

Raising money is never easy and I’m always intrigued at how organizations take the time to think outside the box for their fundraising initiatives. Hay River Hospital Foundation is one such organization that is truly in that category. Aside from the regular services and programs, the Hay River Hospital Foundation holds an annual on-line auction that allows you a chance to bid on some great deals.

I’m excited to say that the Hay River Hospital Foundation is once again hosting their unique on-line auction. In fact, they started this auction on October 15th and it won’t last long, as it closes at

9:00 p.m. sharp this coming Monday, October 29th .

I’m hoping that the people of Hay River and even people from across the Territories – and we would never say no to money from Yellowknife – that people will go on-line and register to maybe try your luck at picking up some unique items from various Hay River merchants who have donated these items. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s for a good cause.

I would also like to thank the people who have worked so hard to make this auction happen. The organizers, local businesses and people who have contributed by donating auction items and their time. Special thanks to Evelyn Coleman, who is the auction coordinator and a foundation board member, and to all of the Hay River Hospital Foundation board members we say a very big thank you. I wish them all the best for a very successful event.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a brief opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the Pages from Fort Smith: young Mitchell Kearley and Jarod Tuckey, and the very hardworking mother of Mitchell, Ms. Melanie Kearley. Thank you for coming to Yellowknife and I hope they’ve enjoyed the experience.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We’re pleased to have today up in the gallery the president of the Special Olympics NWT, Jane Arychuk. We also have Cappie Elkin, a board

member of Special Olympics NWT, Mr. Larry Elkin and Ms. Lynn Elkin. We also had Barb Kardash up in the gallery along with our very special guest Kelton Broome, an athlete for Northwest Territories, who probably had to head back off to school or go training for the next Olympics. Welcome to the gallery. Keep up the good work.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two Aurora College students who are here with us today. They are second year social work students in the Social Work Program. They are attending on behalf of their Social Work 469 Canadian Social Policy class. They are Kelly Bothamley and Jacq Brasseur. I’d also like to recognize Jane Arychuk, the interim president of the college.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the social work students from Aurora College, Kelly Bothamley and Jacqueline Brasseur, as well as their instructor, Susan Fitzpatrick, for the Social Work Program.

I’d also like to recognize the Page from Lutselk’e, Darian Marlowe.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure and pride to recognize and welcome my daughters to the gallery. Ms. Diedra Villeneuve and Ms. Candace Lafferty-Villeneuve. I’m glad to have you here to see your hardworking MLA dad.

As well, my constituency assistant, also hard working, Ms. Pearl Norwegian.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize the students taking the course on Canadian Social Welfare Policy, Kelly and Jacq. I would also like to recognize the instructor Susan Fitzpatrick, a resident of Weledeh.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my understanding I have three constituents in the gallery and they all belong to the Elkin family, so I’m going to list them in order of importance. So first I’d like to recognize Cappie Elkin, followed by Lynn Elkin and – sorry, Larry – Larry Elkin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize one of our very hardworking Pages from the Frame Lake riding, Raya Laframboise, who has done great work for the last couple of weeks and I’m sure will continue over the next couple of weeks. I would also like to recognize the Special Olympics people behind me, athletes, coaches and supporters. Welcome to the Assembly.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the gallery today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings today. Thank you for coming.

Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions from my Member’s statement for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to ask the Minister what the waiting time is for elders to get into the long-term care facility in Inuvik.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know what the waiting time is for the long-term care in Inuvik. I don’t have the waiting list with me at this time.

As I mentioned earlier, there are more than 300 elders over the age of 60 in my riding. Thankfully, not all of them need long-term care, but many will. What is the Health department’s plan for them?

The Department of Health and Social Services is working on what we’re referring to as a continuum of care living services for seniors. We are looking first at trying to keep the seniors in their home as long as possible, by providing support such as home care and then moving to assisted living. The next level that we’re working with NWT Housing Corporation and then, I guess, at the end if there are no other options that can keep the people in their home communities, then our last option is to move them into long-term care.

My final question to the Minister is: If the Minister is unwilling to renovate the Joe Greenland Centre up to proper standards, will he start planning for a new facility in the Mackenzie Delta riding?

Any facility that is built by the department or by this government would have to go through the House. What we’re doing is looking at all the needs across the Territories and if there is a need for long-term care facilities, then we start working into the capital planning process with that need.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I made a statement in terms of how the moose play a significant role in Dene culture. Recently we had, of course, gone through a fall hunt where it was noticeable that the moose were not actively present in the area where people usually hunt. The question that I have for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is: With the recent bison anthrax outbreak, was there any impact on the moose population?

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t believe so. We do know that as a result of the extensive time that was spent in the air throughout the region, they did find throughout the course of the summer six dead moose. They don’t believe anthrax is what killed them; however, they erred on the side of caution and we’ve gone to the Canada Food Inspection Agency and are awaiting the results. We do know that there is concern about the bison populations across the South and North Slave and in the Deh Cho. We are in fact going to be initiating a moose survey this October to give us a better idea of the status of the moose population.

I’d like to thank the Minister for giving us an update. I wanted to find out if there has been a survey on the moose population and when was the last time such a survey was done and what were the findings.

I don’t have the date of the last survey but, as I indicated, there will be another survey done because of the concern about the low numbers of moose and just to check the overall population and numbers. That information, of course, will be shared fully with the residents as well as the Members of this House.

At this point in the history of the NWT, we’re seeing an increased interest in terms of resource development in this part of the Northwest Territories called the boreal ecology, the terrain, or the ecosystem. At the same time, recently there have been pressures on the barren land caribou as

well as the Woodland caribou. Recently, with the bison anthrax outbreak, these have put pressures on the ungulate species. I wanted to know if there were any special monitoring efforts to be made on the part of the department on the moose population.

There is work, of course, being done on an ongoing basis in monitoring and evaluation on the barren land caribou. We’re in the process of working with the federal government on a National Boreal Caribou Strategy. We have our own, but given the concerns of the near extinction of the Boreal caribou in Alberta, it’s taken on a much greater significance. We’re working on that. We are going to do, and will do, the work for a survey in November. When we have the numbers in and information before us in terms of the general health and population, then we’ll be able to have an informed discussion about what steps may be required in terms of any type of assistance to the moose population.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for giving us an overview. I just wanted to see if the Minister would commit to involving the communities and ensuring that they play a part in terms of the management of the moose population, and other wildlife species, as well, for that matter, and to see how it is that the department will work with communities.

The answer to that request is yes. In those areas where we have settled claims and agreed to co-management processes, it’s built in and required and we work very effectively together. In the Deh Cho we have an arrangement, as well, on a more informal basis, but an arrangement and commitment to work with the communities and the Aboriginal governments on issues affecting wildlife. We will be working with communities as it pertains to the issue with the moose.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up from my Member’s statement and ask some questions of the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. He’s also the Minister responsible for the remediation project at Giant Mine.

I’d like to first ask the Minister: Assuming, because it has been signed off by a GNWT representative, the final submission has a number of statements that present positions that Yellowknife residents are

happy with the project going forward and so on, I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not Cabinet was involved in the preparation of or the approval of the positions that are expressed in this final statement.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was not an issue that came before Cabinet for any type of approval or review.

Thanks to the Minister for that clarification. I guess I would like to then know whether or not the GNWT, as a government, and the executive and members of Cabinet support the positions expressed in this final submission to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board. If it has been signed off by a government representative, does that then mean that this is our official GNWT position and that we support the lack of a long-term care plan, that we support the approach that’s being put out there, that we support that there are no concerns from Yellowknife residents?

I prefer to frame things in the positive. It means that we are actively involved in the remediation of this project; that we have committed about $27 million to look at assisting in the land surrounding the immediate site; that we have officials and people that have been working for years now on advancing this project; that we are working with the federal government and all the other stakeholders, the Aboriginal governments, to try to advance this very complex project, one of the largest remediation sites in Canada; and that we are committed to that process, recognizing that it’s very complex and it is the subject of great attention and there is a multitude of opinions. In spite of all that, we are trying to move forward in the best way possible.

To the Minister, I appreciate this is a very long and involved process. It’s an issue which has been ongoing for many, many years, and it will continue to be an issue because many residents in my riding, in my city, and me as well, are concerned about some of things that are proposed in this remediation plan.

I’d like to know from the Minister: if we are actively involved as a government, and if we are committed to following through and proceeding forward with the plan and looking after the site, I’d like to know how the Minister can explain to me that he is protecting my interests, and the interests of the residents in my riding, and the interests of the people of Yellowknife by supporting the position that’s expressed in this final submission.

I would point out that while we are an active participant in this,

this is a major federal site. It will continue to be a federal site in perpetuity going forward. We are involved. The issue is I would have to have the Member show me or prove to me in this area where there is a multitude of opinions, while we may disagree how what it is being done does not protect those interests. They may not agree. They may not like them. They may prefer another approach. Decisions had to be made and were made and we’re doing the best job possible. I would be happy to have that discussion with the Member. But I would say that we are actively involved in remediating this site and we are very, very cognizant of the impact on the community and the concerns of the community and protecting the safety of the land and the people.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m happy to accept the challenge that the Minister has offered, and I would be happy to sit down with him and discuss with him some of the things which we are at odds with.

I do need to reiterate to the Minister that if we are involved but if the federal government is taking the lead – which is kind of what I’m hearing him say – why then do we, as a participant, sign off on things which we necessarily may not agree to?

We have some very capable staff, highly qualified individuals that have been on this file for many, many years, and I take great comfort when we’re presented with the best steps forward and then we agree to sign off based on that best advice.

Once again, I would be prepared, if there is an interest of committee, to have a briefing from the GNWT on the work we’ve done and the positions we’ve taken. I would be happy to come forward with our officials to have that full, in-depth discussion.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked in my Member’s statement about the calculation of income on rents and I want to ask the Minister here, probably for people who are in public housing who get the rent assessment, and they go through the calculations of income to pay the rent, and they pay CPP and EI when they’re working, and when they’re not working they also ask for their income and they also get calculated on their EI. Some of the people are saying that Housing is double-dipping into the rental income. I want to ask the Minister if that’s true.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the consultations across the Northwest Territories on the rent policy review, one of the things that we heard from people was they wanted a system that was fair, more predictable and simple. That’s why we had gone from 421 different rental assessments down to 22. We responded to those concerns. Some of the items that the Member mentioned, the EI payments especially, well, EI payments are usually to provide for the basic necessities of life; food and shelter being two of them, and clothing.

The calculation of the income to the rent, the people in Deline are saying, again, that housing is double-dipping into the process here. They are being calculated on CPP and EI when they’re working, and when they apply for EI, that EI is calculated into their rent assistance. So they’re saying that Housing is double-dipping. Plus, there’s the Child Tax Benefit that goes towards Pampers, milk and food, and Housing is also charging them that benefit. Is the Minister going to look at this again to see if this is true? Is Housing double-dipping?

Again, I don’t believe the Housing Corporation or the LHOs are double-dipping into the income. We do go by gross income while they’re employed and then once they’re unemployed, then we would use whatever benefits they may be getting from unemployment insurance.

As far as the Child Tax Credit goes, again, it’s to provide for the basic necessities of life, and shelter is usually number one on the list.

I would like it if the Minister would come to the Sahtu and come to Deline and explain this process here as simply as possible to the people in Deline on this issue here. They still feel that they are being double-dipped by the Housing Corporation and that that’s not fair.

I’ll ask the Minister if he would make a commitment to come to Deline and explain this process to the people in Deline.

Before all these rents went into place, there was a lot of discussion between the LHO tenant relations officer and the clients to explain the situation. We can have staff go in there again. I have tried a couple of times to travel with the Member into the Sahtu, and I would be willing to go possibly again into the Sahtu after Christmas or after the New Year. But my preference would be to have staff, who know a lot more about how rent is being calculated, explain to the residents of Deline and the Sahtu, and I would be present, too, if things work out the way they should. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need to support first responders. I was really highlighting about the importance in the communities, how they need that type of support. Without those first responders, whether you are in Ulukhaktok, Gameti or, certainly, Lutselk’e, first responders provide a critical role. If they are untrained, they put themselves as well as the person they are trying to help at great risk.

Knowing that every community deserves some type of support, is the Minister of Health aware in some manner or such of what type of program exists to help support training for first responders from the Department of Health point of view? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are various programs available to train first responders. The Government of the NWT has developed an interdepartmental advisory committee that is actually led by MACA that includes the Department of Justice, Department of Transportation, and Health and Social Services. We are looking at all of the various areas to see what would be the best way to provide that type of training to possible first responders in the communities. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m glad to hear that there is an interdepartmental committee. This is actually the first time I have heard of this particular case. This issue has been brought forward to me by a particular person who is very familiar with the communities and said that as such, as I mentioned, Kirk Hughes had to step up to the plate where there were gaps.

What can the Minister of Health and Social Services do to help step up to the plate on this particular issue to demonstrate some leadership in communities where we don’t have first responders but we have equipment, so if an incident does happen, we have people who have skills and abilities who can respond properly and safely? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, like I said, we are looking at that. We need to cost the whole project out. It would be a fairly expensive proposition, because inside the first responders, we are also talking about how we get to the individual, and that would mean ground ambulance. We are

also talking about remote areas where it’s not coming by highway and how we’re going to be able to respond to that as well.

We need to examine this. We need to develop some cost implications to our decisions and then move forward from there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I look for clarification on the official record from the Minister. By all means, I really hope I’m wrong on this particular case, but I have been informed that community health nurses at their health stations have no ability to leave their station to provide health care if there’s an incident on the highway or within close proximity. Maybe the Minister could help shed some light on that particular case. If it is a rumour out there or misinterpretation, maybe he can help put that to rest. The fact is we want to make sure people are helping.

Are nurses hamstrung or nurse practitioners not allowed to offer services and help in incidences? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that is an issue, there is no doubt about it. We don’t have the nurses that can go out to a site. If there is an accident or anything right now, the nurses are not the people that end up at the site. I think it has happened in the past, but there are some barriers to nurses going out, leaving their stations to go out to an accident site or a location or to somebody who may be very sick. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been quite fortunate as I’ve grown up and had many courses and training, and offered training as an instructor for first response types of techniques. I have even had the few occasions of waiting out in the Mackenzie to help people who have been in serious jeopardy. But I couldn’t have done that without these types of skills through St. John Ambulance and Royal Life Saving Society and many other types of support mechanisms along the way. The reason I describe it that way is, without that type of support and confidence, you can’t just do that.

What can the Health Minister do today and not allow this problem be governed by committee, because we all know what that means. What can the Minister do today to help support small communities who have equipment, who want to do the right thing? Let’s see how we can empower them. What type of leadership can the Minister provide on this issue? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this particular situation has occurred recently and has occurred in the past. We’ve responded to it in various ways. Right now there is no actual requirement for a nurse to go out and go onto the

site of an accident, for example. We will, as a department, deal with this situation, because we would like to be able to respond as well. This is why we are looking at a possible way of trying to develop some first responders in the community that can do that work for us. We will work with the authorities and give direction to the authorities to work with our interdepartmental advisory committee to be able to do that. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement on the idea of transitional housing for our small and remote communities. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, firstly, to explain the purpose of the one-year residency requirement to access housing programs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure if the Member is referring to one year to access public housing programs or the home ownership program. I am pretty sure the Public Housing Program, the residency requirement is set by the LHOs. As far as the home ownership program, that is set by the NWT Housing Corporation. That is set so we could have long-term Northerners be first in line for accessing some of our programs. So if somebody moves here a month before one of the programs, they would have to wait for a year before accessing any of the home ownership programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I think a guideline like that certainly works well in a larger community where people are on a waiting list. It probably has happened in the past where people did get bumped by somebody new moving in. That really makes sense there, but for people returning to and coming to live in the smaller communities where housing is scarce or there is none, that same one-year residency requirement just doesn’t work, because there are no homes there. We are expecting them to perhaps couch surf for a year until they become eligible to come back.

Will the Housing Corporation look at this idea on providing transitional housing for people returning to small and remote communities? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons Housing has been able to implement a lot of these new programs is because we listened to the rent scale review or the…(inaudible)…policy

review to a lot of the suggestions that were made out there. This is one that I will commit to the Member that I will go and have discussions with the corporation, because the Member raises a good point about returning back to the community if you are a resident to that community.

Again, those communities with the LHOs are usually set by the LHO. If they have vacant units, I am sure they may look at special situations such as that. If they have vacant units, there’s no point keeping them vacant.

I will commit to the Member that in the case of his riding, we will have a look at the residency requirement. I think a couple of his communities don’t have LHOs, so those are set by the NWT Housing Corporation. I will commit to the Member that I will have a discussion with the Housing Corporation on this particular issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to hear that the Minister is being flexible about the small and remote communities where an idea such as transitional housing can work. That idea did come from the chief of the Jean Marie River First Nation.

At this time I’d like to invite the Minister to accompany us during our Nahendeh tour to the community of Jean Marie, and we can discuss this idea, and see if we can make it work, and if we can pick that community as a pilot project, so to speak. Thank you.

Thank you. One of the problems we face in some of the smaller communities is there are not as many transitional opportunities as there are in some of the larger centres, and I think we have to have a look at that. Again, I say if we have units in the communities that are vacant, public housing units, and we’re asking somebody to wait a year, we’d have to review that, and I think we’d have to review some of these on a case-by-case basis to see where we can best assist. There may be some other reasons why folks are not in these houses or in public housing. But I will commit to the Member – and I heard the same thing from the chief yesterday about his concerns with his community – that I would like to pay a visit to Jean Marie as part of our Nahendeh tour. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my speech, Hay River and the Hay River area are seeing an extreme storm right now. My question today will be for the Minister of Transportation.

Can the Minister give me an update on the Hay River area and how they’re keeping up with the storms to date?

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last report that I’ve got from the South Slave and Hay River was that the airport was open today, flights were operating out of the Hay River Airport today, and that’s a real testament to the staff – Kelly O’Connor, the airport manager, and the staff at the Hay River Airport – that have worked long, hard hours dealing with the snow.

On the highway front, we’ve had every piece of equipment in the area. We’ve called in the Buffalo River camp to assist as well. We’ve had off-hour crews called in. So we’ve had every piece of equipment out on the roads, working the best that we can to keep the roads safe and clear of the snow that Hay River has experienced; Enterprise, as well, and other areas in the South Slave. So we’ve done a lot of hard work, and I think the crews in the area are to be commended for the hard work and the effort they’ve put into clearing the roads and keeping the airport open in Hay River as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I, too, appreciate the hard work by the department and all the organizations that are trying to clean up the area.

My next question is: Does the department expect bringing in any additional equipment from other regions to aid the Hay River and Enterprise area? Thank you.

We’ve brought in an extra I believe it was a plough truck from the Buffalo River camp. So far today it looks like the snow has abated. But as needed, I believe if we are hit with another episode of snow and heavy snowfall in the area, we do have equipment in other places in the South Slave and, if need be, that would be called into action. Thank you.

Thank you. My final question to the Minister will be about the department’s added hours. Does the department continue to have additional hours on a regular basis in the wintertime as opposed to the demands where they would be less in the summertime? Does the department have longer hours for operation for the highway equipment operations in the wintertime? Thank you.

I thank the Member for the question. Yes, we do and we’ve advanced with the winter schedule for the Enterprise camp already. The other camps I’d have to check on, but I do know that we’ve gone to a winter schedule for maintenance with the Enterprise camp. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke of the story of Allisdair Leishman, as presented in the media, and his apparent lack of physiotherapy care. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services verify that long-term care patients in general received, indeed, two hours a week and not two hours a month for such care? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t have long-term care patients in the hospital, but my understanding is that we might be talking about patients in extended care.

Right now I understand that basically what happens is that it’s based on clinical need. So the clinical need for an individual in long-term care is they get two hours’ worth of physio per week, and then they’ll get two hours’ worth of physio per week. If there’s a requirement, only two hours per month, then that’s what they get. It’s based on a clinical need of the patient. Thank you.