Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to follow up on my Member’s statement on the subject of the 911 emergency call centres. It is clearly agreed by all Members of the 17th Assembly

that we support sustainable, vibrant and safe communities. Recently in this House, we’ve heard from the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs that he was considering to plan some monies for the 2014-2015 budget for the opportunities to explore 911 implementation. Yet, in the same breath, he indicated MACA did not have much money. This does not give many Members in this House the assurance that this subject is truly going to see the light of day.

My questions today will be for the Premier, who is now wandering the halls of this Assembly, looking for a new project to tempt him now that devolution is well on its way. Would the Premier agree of the need for a 911 NWT-wide emergency central call centre? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought my next task was to go out and find all the missing caribou, but I’ll take a detour and talk about 911. I agree that a 911 system would serve residents well in protecting and preserving public safety. As a government, we’ve been focusing on trying to build capacity in smaller communities, and to provide for some emergency and safety services.

I guess the question in my mind is if we do have a framework, if we do hire a call centre in Edmonton and we get a call from a small community calling Edmonton, how do we get a responder in a small centre if we don’t have the capacity there? I guess that’s the conundrum our government has been focusing on. But we do know that 911 will improve public safety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that’s good news. I’ll inform the caribou they’re safe for another week or so. I appreciate what I’m hearing from the Premier. I appreciate the fact that this government and our Assembly are focusing on capacity in our communities, and that is a good sign. The solution to what the Premier is indicating is the formalization of all our emergency action plans across the communities. That’s where the cipher is and I’m hoping it’s something we’ll work on collectively.

I know the Premier is well versed in the subject of the lack of 911 services in the NWT, but can the Premier reassure this House that his government, our government, will consider earmarking the appropriate money and resources for the initiation of a framework of 911 services in the 2014-2015 budget cycle? Thank you.

Thank you. I’ll work very closely with my colleague, the Minister of MACA, and we’ll see how well or how many action plans we’ve developed. If our action plans are developed to the extent whereby we can move to the next level and if committee concurs that this would be a priority, then we would seriously look at this framework that the Member is talking about. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement earlier today with questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The 58 percent failure rate on case files in income security with a $15 million annual budget is horrifying. In over half the files, we don’t know if public money was properly accounted for. So we’re failing in our basic duty to get the best use of funds and put them where they are most

needed, but we are also failing in our intent to reduce the potential for human suffering.

Part of the department response to the report says ECE had not finalized its audit tool at the time of the audit but that it would be completed by January 2013. What’s the status of the new audit tool? Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. First of all I’d just like to thank the office of the Auditor General for doing the overall review of the income security. As you know, income security, the framework itself is quite large. It’s a very complex file. At the same time, the nine recommendations that came to our attention as some of the areas where we knew would need some improvement. So we are working towards that.

As I stated before, we are developing an action plan to deal with all of the recommendations brought forward, and one of them is the tool that the Member is referring to. We’re going to be compiling all of the information and have an action plan with target dates. Some will take some time, but all in all we will be presenting to standing committee in April. Mahsi.

Thank you. I’m going to skip the second question, because the Minister jumped me on that one and he’s answered that, and go back to the first one. There is an audit tool that was to be completed, according to the Minister’s response, by January 2013. What is the status of the new audit tool? Mahsi.

Mahsi. There is development of an audit manual for the program auditor. That’s part of the process that we’re going to be developing over time and, again, this will be part of the process. There will be short-term, mid-term and long-term goals and objectives to follow through with the recommendations, and we are taking those recommendations quite seriously and we will be implementing them. Thank you.

Thank you. I can only conclude that the department’s response to the Auditor General that the audit tool would be in place by January 2013 has not been done. So I welcome the Minister to correct me on that, if that’s the case. That would be obviously disappointing.

In my statement I outlined the case of a local social service agency that sends one of a few staff members to accompany clients to appointments if they find out one particular income support worker has been assigned to the application. Based on their experience, they know the applicant is in for a rude and demeaning experience. So complaints have been made about this to the Minister. How is it

possible that such a notorious situation could persist and what steps will the Minister take to investigate this complaint and finally correct the situation? Mahsi.

Mahsi. As I stated, this is part of the whole complex issue that we’re dealing with. The recommendations that are brought to our attention, we will cover those areas and we will be developing an action plan to deal with each and every recommendation that is brought forward. Again, we’re taking those recommendations quite seriously. Those are the complex issues that came to our attention.

Again, the files that we deal with are very generic and they’re very complex across the Northwest Territories. I appreciate that the Auditor General came down, provided guidance and provided direction for us to improve our programming. That’s what we’re doing. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve dealt with a constituent on an issue with the Minister’s office, where paperwork was repeatedly lost, bills, proof of income and the like. Meanwhile, a woman seriously disabled by a tragic accident was left without food, piling up debt and shivering in the cold, literally. So, again, how is this possible, and what does it take, and where is the dignity in this? Can the Minister answer that question? Mahsi.

Mahsi. We do take those case by case and quite seriously. If there are, whether it be missing documentation and so forth, we need to follow through with that. My client service officers through our department work closely with the clientele. There are some challenges that we’re faced with.

As you know, income support is a very challenging file. Every day our client service officers are challenged. I’d just like to encourage them to continue working with the clientele even though they may be frustrated. At the same time, we have to provide those supports to the clientele and we provide those positive engagements continually. So I did instruct my senior staff to provide those words of encouragement to my client service officers so they can provide those valuable services continuously. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to the Aboriginal languages, official languages, there are various roles whether it be the parents, the grandparents, the teachers, the community members, the leaders. So there are various roles and within my department, as you know, there are various initiatives, whether it be the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, the Language Strategy, and there is another symposium that’s coming up next week. We want to identify the second phase of an Aboriginal Languages Secretariat.

As you know, through the budget we discussed the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat as moving forward to consolidate all of the language funding that’s distributed to the language groups and having the language experts from the regions to tell us what’s more pressing and what’s needed, what’s important to the regional groups, to the communities. So those are some of the roles that my department, the community agencies, the community school boards and also MLAs are actively involved and we’ll continue to push that forward. Mahsi.

Thank you. I’d like to thank the Minister for his response. It’s been 25 years since the Official Languages Act has passed. How is that act helping in preserving the Aboriginal languages in the NWT? Mahsi.

I’m glad the Member asked that question. That is a very important milestone that we have encountered. Working closely with the federal government we’ve identified funds to offset the costs of preserving and revitalizing our Aboriginal languages, even all official languages. We’ll continue to work towards that. Within our own department we have just over $14 million when you compile all the funding that we distribute throughout the Northwest Territories. It does enhance our stand with respect to Aboriginal language, and revitalizing and preserving it.

This is an area we continue to work on with the school boards, agencies, language experts, language boards and the federal government. This past December and January we met with the Official Languages Minister at the federal level and there is continued effort to get an increase in funding. We’ll continue to push that forward.

When will the Minister declare that Aboriginal languages are on a serious verge of decline and also at the serious stage of extinction, and call for more resources at the community level?