This is page numbers 2655 – 2684 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 health.

Topics

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister, that’s a great segue into my next question. I was going to ask about the recommendations in the Information and Privacy Commissioner's report, and the Minister has advised that these have been considered. But the Commissioner also advised committee when we met with her that the health authority has not accepted all of her recommendations and has not made the changes that she recommended. Can I ask the Minister why not? Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Yellowknife Health and Social Services has responded to the information, the Commissioner, of privacy concerns. If certain recommendations in the report that the health authority did not agree with, that may have been the reason that they have not responded to every concern, but every concern that was put out there where the health authority felt that required a response or a change, that has been made. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I had some questions for the Minister of Justice. I would like to ask the Minister, how is the Department of Justice measuring the results of the Domestic Violence Treatment Option court program that currently exists in Yellowknife. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Justice

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The DVTO court has been in place since March 24, 2011. Since that time we have had 22 participants go through the program – 17 male, 6 female – who have successfully completed the program. When we first put the program in, we indicated that we were going to do a review and we are actually in the process of signing a contract right now to have a review done. That review is anticipated to be completed by July 31st of this year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister what kind of results has the DVTO court achieved so far. Until such time as this review is done, perhaps he doesn’t have concrete answers, but perhaps he could tell us what the department’s general feeling is on the success of this program. Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Justice

Before we can say anything concrete, we do have to wait for the report to come in, but anecdotally, the response that we are getting back is quite positive, so much so that the courts have actually indicated that they’d like to expand this program and move outside of Yellowknife to Inuvik and Hay River, which is something we are interested in doing. We want to wait until we see the July 31st report so that we

have concrete information. We are looking and considering moving this court outside of Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. It is very good news to hear this. There are a lot of things we want in Hay River. This is one of them, just one on a long list.

What resources are needed to expand the DVTO program to the regional centres? What kinds of resources, other than money, are required to be in place in the community in order for this program to work? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Justice

Mr. Speaker, part of the program is that we require some expertise on the partner program that goes along with the DVTO courts. Now, in Hay River I believe that those resources and that expertise exists. So it is going to be money. Basically we need money to make this

happen outside of the Yellowknife centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After the July 31st report has been delivered and

has been reviewed, could the Minister put some kind of a time frame on when we can conceivably see something like this in operation in Hay River, perhaps by the fall? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Justice

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say the fall, but we do need to go through an O and M budgetary process to identify the resources that are needed to deliver this court. It will be part of the normal budget process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Sahtu being at a critical point in training its workforce. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the opportunity to get a Sahtu training centre in our region, due to the increase of oil and gas exploration. Last year there were 150 workers that were hired outside of our communities to come in and do work there, and also there are more and more people now taking advantage of these training opportunities.

Can we have something like a larger centre like Smith, Yellowknife and Inuvik, where now we can have a training centre in our region?

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. The Sahtu region training centre has been a topic of discussion for a few meetings we have been to. We have regional training representatives, as well, to identify the training needs of the Sahtu region. We also have the college involved in the process of our discussion. Just recently I also delivered the interesting, high-profile Sahtu when it comes to training, how the college can get involved so it can be a training centre for the Sahtu region. Those are the discussions we are currently having, and I will inform the Member as we move forward on a progression plan. Mahsi.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Husky is building an all-weather road for $30 million/$45 million. The application for Conoco through the hydraulic fracking is going for a review, and if that application is approved, certainly you’re going to see an increase in employment activities in the Sahtu.

If that continues with the potential of billions of barrels of oil that needs to be extracted from the Sahtu lands, in light of this, can the Minister give me a commitment to say that yes, we will start working on a capital plan infrastructure so at the end of this Assembly we should be looking at the training needs assessment, the requirements, the program, and we can start putting something together that would say we can have a Sahtu trade centre in the year 2018 or ‘19, something like that? Can the Minister provide me with that type of commitment?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

This is the very reason why we need to reach out to the community representatives, so they can provide us feedback on what is required at the regional level. Part of the discussion involved the local leadership as well. The chiefs made remarks on Trades on Wheels, mobile trades training similar to Beaufort-Delta. How can we integrate that into our discussion for the Sahtu region? So we are talking about partnerships. That’s what it comes down to.

There have been various partnerships driven by the community of Inuvik and also surrounding communities in the Beaufort-Delta. So we’re going to be having similar discussions with the Sahtu region and other regions, as well, about the high-profile training demands that will be happening.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

The Sahtu has been committed to spend over $635 million, close to $700 million. This year there’s more lands coming up, and we decided on September 17th there will possibly be

more money spent in there. So this is telling us that this government needs to look at a trades centre. We need to get these learning centres into more than upgrading. We have to have cooking, welding, carpentry.

Can the Minister give a commitment to say we are in competition with maybe the Yellowknife Campus here for schooling? We have to look outside the box. I want to ask the Minister, can he provide an overview as to what it will take to get this into the capital planning process for a Sahtu trades centre. Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

I would see this as an opportunity as opposed to a competition with the college. The college is on board and they want to do as much as they can, even beyond what they currently deliver at the college campuses, whether it be Inuvik, Yellowknife or Fort Smith and now the Sahtu region. At the same time, I would encourage the Member to voice, as well, with the industry.

We understand that there is upwards of $700 million going into the region and how industries can take part in that, whether it is the centre or training programming. It will be based on industry standards as well. They have done that with the diamond industry. It’s been very successful. If we can get them on board, I would encourage the Member and

we will do the same with our department as political leaders around the table, to push that forward with the leaders and also the industry leaders as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How is his department working with the oil companies to identify and meet the training needs for local workers? I have been voicing with the oil companies. Unfortunately, I am not in the position to make that kind of final decision to say yes, we will commit. The Minister can do that. He’s in that position. So I want to ask the Minister for his direction and leadership. How can you tell me you’re working with the oil companies and they can commit to a Sahtu needs training centre?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi. That’s the very thing we’re doing right now with the committee representatives. I do believe there are industry representatives. I can double-check on that. Those are discussions we are currently having with the leadership in the Sahtu region. I’ll provide the Member with the latest update on our discussions and we’ll continue to drive that with industry because they need to be on board. The whole economic boom that is happening, they need to be part of that as we are. So we’ll continue to push that forward. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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