This is page numbers 2389 – 2428 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was community.

Topics

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are responsible for the socio-economic agreements and, obviously, industry here in the Northwest Territories, but the responsibility for training and skills development rests with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. So we work closely with the department on advancing their training initiatives. Certainly, in any meetings we have with industry, training is first and foremost in their mind in trying to identify a workforce here in the Northwest Territories, and accessing younger people is something industry is very interested in here in the NWT. Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you. Under the socio-economic agreements, is the Minister negotiating dollars for this type of training? He did mention it, but I mean specifically for Skills Canada, because Skills Canada are a small office that do a lot of really good work and they have participants who have gone through the program who have won national awards, international awards, and it would be a great opportunity to continue to support these individuals that go through the Skills Canada program. So is the Minister negotiating specific training dollars for Skills Canada so that we can start supporting participants that go through the program? Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you. ITI is the lead on the socio-economic agreements and there are a number of components included in the SEAs, that’s why we work with Health and Social Services and with Education, Culture and Employment.

On the training side, there is a component to training in the SEAs, and we certainly look to Education, Culture and Employment when negotiating socio-economic agreements so that we can ensure that there is training, that dollars are going to be put into training people here in the Northwest Territories for jobs. We, again, are continuing to work through Mr. Lafferty’s lead with a pan-territorial approach to mine training here in the North, and we hope to see some progress on that in the very near future.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I just want to get a clarification that when the Minister is negotiating these socio-economic agreements that he actually is negotiating for the whole territory and that negotiations are not specific to where the development is currently happening at the time. Can the Minister confirm that he is negotiating for all participants throughout the Northwest Territories so that somebody from the Beaufort-Delta can actually come and get a job in Yellowknife that have the skills required to have the specific job?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

The answer to that would be yes, it’s for the entire Northwest Territories.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I am just following up on our road trip last weekend. My back is still sore. However, I’m going to stand here and I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, with all the activity and training going on, if he would review and evaluate the training plans for the Sahtu so that the people in the Sahtu can meet at least once a month to start preparing a strategy to get people on the job, get them trained and get them moving.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I agree that there should be formal meetings, potentially monthly or quarterly. There are all these different activities happening in the Sahtu region. More specifically, through training, we do have a steering committee of the regional representatives involving different parties as part of their discussion and planning stages. What are the communities’ needs? By all means my department will be sharing that with the Sahtu regional representatives, and they should be having more council meetings preparing for the huge activity that will be happening in the region.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

I look forward to working with the Minister in the Sahtu. The winter road is going to close down within, what, 25 days or so? Equipment is going to be sitting idle. However, we in the Sahtu want to start to look at next month.

Can we start assessing, start getting different types of training for the various different programs in the region? I want to ask the Minister if we could speed up the process, inform his department, the oil companies, and the communities and everybody. Let’s sit down in April, May and June and let’s put together a training plan that we can look at starting in July, and so forth, until the opening of the winter roads. That’s what we’re looking for. Would the

Minister put the fire under the training committee to get them going?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

I do believe there is a plan to have a meeting soon. I will be getting back to the Member on the dates of the meetings, if it’s going to be quarterly or monthly. Activities are happening as we speak. Preparation for the various training initiatives will be taking place. Those are areas that I will be instructing my department to work very closely with the Sahtu region; more specifically, the regional representatives that are on the steering committee to establish those meetings. I will be sharing that with the Member.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

If anybody wanted the job, there’s a job to be had in the Sahtu. It’s busy. It’s crazy. People are working. Even down in Nahendeh. Even in Wrigley, as the Minister and I heard. There are jobs up there. However, I want to ask the Minister if he could somehow be directive and forceful and say to the Sahtu, let’s get the training jobs going. We could make a huge contribution. Let’s not give out any more social assistance. Let’s get our people working. That’s what we want. That’s the kind of leadership I’m looking for from the Minister here. Can he do that?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Yes, we can. This is an area that we’re very closely monitoring and there is a huge potential opportunity here. We have to find out the needs of the community. How much manpower is there in the Sahtu region? Who is trainable, employable? What are the training needs in the community? Industries have to be involved as well. We have to get the industries at the table and start discussing this immediately. I agree with the Member, we’re going to fast-track this and have a meeting within hopefully the next couple of weeks.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister, in regard to preparing a training plan, I believe we have the assessment. Would his department start going into the Sahtu while the winter roads are open in Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope, Deline, and Tulita and Norman Wells, and bring them together? Cut down the cost, be efficient, be effective. Can the Minister do that within 25 days to get things moving?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Yes, this is an area that, again, we’re very interested. Along with the Deh Cho riding, there is a lot of activity happening. We want to expedite the process. The Member is alluding to within 25 days. I think that’s doable. Having our parties involved to get to the Sahtu region, the Deh Cho region, and start talking about the training plan. What is needed in the community? What kind of training is required from the industry’s perspective? Because industry have their own certain criteria of positions. They need to be involved. By all means those are areas that we

want tackled from my department’s perspective. We need that data. Definitely, we’ll follow through with that expeditiously.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week – the exact date was Monday, February 25

th –

I had asked the Minister of Transportation some information regarding the work on the winter road, or potential permanent road to the NICO Mine, to the Dogrib communities of Gameti and Whati. In that Tlicho area that I wrote, one of the comments back from the Minister, he says my speculation about the work going on behind the scenes and the person I was talking to from Fortune Minerals is it was all guesswork on the Member’s part. I just received an e-mail from the Minister’s office. Maybe the Minister can inform the House as to what type of guesswork that actually was, because either the Minister has some explaining to do or certainly some clarification to do that it appears it wasn’t guesswork. I have a question for the Minister to clear this up.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Transportation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll take that question as notice.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.

Tim Mercer Clerk Of The House

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a Return to Written Question 7-17(4) asked by Mr. Dolynny on February 13, 2013, regarding the distribution of GNWT jobs.

Later today, at the appropriate time, I will table a document, entitled GNWT Positions to Population Ratio as at December 31, 2012. This document identifies the 33 communities in the Northwest Territories, the number of GNWT positions located in each community and region, and the positions to population ratio for each community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees.

Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Mr. Hawkins.

Bill 2: An Act To Amend The Territorial Parks Act
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills

March 5th, 2013

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure has completed its review of Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act. The committee wishes to report that Bill 2 is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.

Bill 2: An Act To Amend The Territorial Parks Act
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 14, tabling of documents. Mr. Abernethy.