This is page numbers 4771 – 4804 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th 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 million.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

I agree with the Member that there should be equal deliverance of programs to the three main campuses and also the 23 community learning centres across the Northwest Territories out of 33 communities. Those are some of the areas that I have captured with the board chair and also the president. We meet on a frequent basis, highlighting the needs of the communities based on the needs assessments that we are currently developing through Skills for Success. We are at the preliminary stages, but we are currently re-evaluating our program deliverance and working, again, very closely with the college on this particular subject, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I mentioned a few great opportunities such as satellite farm, fibre optic link and early childhood development possibilities with the great facility that this government committed to with the Children First Centre.

Would the Minister, when he meets with the Board of Governors, look at increasing the programs in

the Inuvik Campus and one specifically, especially with our Early Childhood Development Strategic Plan, creating an early childhood development program to train our employees in the Beaufort-Delta region? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi. Yes, most definitely. Those are programs that are currently being discussed by my department and perspective with the college. There’s also federal programing with respect to scientific research programming that we’ve been trying to access for a number of years now. So we are making progress along the way. So those are just some of the areas of innovative programming that we want to be delivered into the three main campuses that we have. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister responsible for the Anti-Poverty Strategy. I mentioned in my statement that I would be asking him for an update. That’s my first question.

Can the Minister advise where we’re at in terms of our Anti-Poverty Strategy and Action Plan, what we are doing, what we have done and what we are doing? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, the GNWT established an advisory committee to help us lead and prepare the development of a territorial action plan. They have been working throughout the summer, they’ve been working on a number of different initiatives, including the development of a plan and they’re hoping to bring the draft plan to a roundtable that we’re planning for December.

Also, over the summer with the participation of this advisory committee, the GNWT allocated the $500,000 that was supported by this Assembly to support the different anti-poverty initiatives. We had 18 applications; we supported 14 of those. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to Minister Abernethy for that response. I think I and many others are looking forward to seeing the action plan finally come to the public.

I mentioned in my statement about a report from 2013, and there’s a number of recommendations in that report. One of them is that there is a need for a federal northern food security innovation fund, and the intent of that fund is to help jumpstart and sustain community-based, community-led food

initiatives across the North. This is something which, I think, definitely needs to be addressed.

I’d like to know whether or not the Minister, when he talks with his federal counterparts, if he ever raises the issue of food insecurity in the North, particularly in the NWT. Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you. That wasn’t actually one of the agenda items on the last Health Minister’s meetings that was in Banff earlier this summer, but it’s certainly an initiative and certainly an important topic, and I’d be happy to raise it with my territorial counterparts to see if we can get a little bit of a northern wave on this one. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister. I think it’s really an important topic and I think it’s probably a much bigger issue in Nunavut than it is here in the NWT, but we definitely have our problems here.

Another recommendation that was from this report talked about food programs for breakfast, school breakfast programs. My brain is still dead from yesterday, I guess. Breakfast programs in schools is something which the GNWT has put some emphasis on. I believe it is one of the things that is being considered by the Anti-Poverty Strategy Working Group.

I’d like to know from the Minister if that is indeed correct and if there will be a focus on providing adequate funding and adequate resources to run school breakfast programs. Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you. In the action plan, the territorial response for the framework, there was some money identified by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to put towards food initiatives. I will get the specifics and share that with the Member, but I will also point out that in the $500,000 that we allocated a number of the initiatives that we did support were based on food security. We had a healthy living application that was submitted, we had Growing Gameti’s Wellness that was supported, which actually supported the largest community garden outside of regional centres, there’s a community soup kitchen in Liidlii K’ue. We also supported the Inuvik Community Kitchen Program and Taste Makers nutrition education program. So a number of the initiatives that were supported fall clearly under one of the five pillars of anti-poverty and we have been supporting food security. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister again. It kind of leads into my last question. Another recommendation from the report was that there needs to be an investment within infrastructure within the communities related to food security and provision of foods, specifically construction of community-identified resources as

community centres and/or community freezers. So I’d like to say to the Minister, I’m really glad that we have this $500,000 that is being used.

Is it intended that this $500,000 will be an annual amount, and will it be eligible to be spent on things such as community freezers and centres to help increase food security? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you. The $500,000 is part of the base, so it will be available every year. It’s application-based. So we are open to any application that comes in. The catch is the applications have to fall clearly within one of the five pillars identified within the framework to improve the lives of people throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about concerns with employment rates, so I have questions for the Minister responsible for employment. In this particular case, that would be Mr. Lafferty.

Could Mr. Lafferty provide some examples of true unemployment figures in several of our communities, and I’ll allow him to pick his own examples of what the true unemployment figures are in some of our northern communities, please.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The detailed stats I don’t have in front of me, but I can provide that to the Member. We have been closely monitoring the stats that have been coming in, whether it be nationally or even our own Northwest Territories jurisdiction. We’re coming out with some solutions to deal with those matters as we move forward with the federal government as well. So those are some of the programming that we need to put more emphasis on to deal with those individuals at the community level. Mahsi.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you. By way of example, the last figures I can find, of course under our NWT Bureau of Stats, is Beau-Del was at 54 percent, Deh Cho 50 percent, Sahtu 55, South Slave 63, Tlicho 39 percent and YK at 79, and that’s sort of territory-wide for the Minister’s benefit.

What job creation programs has this department created under the tenure of this Minister, and can he provide some examples of how many new jobs have been placed on the ground and where?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi. The Member is asking for more detailed information and I can certainly provide the breakdown of the stats. Again,

I don’t have the breakdown of the stats in front of me, but I can assure the Member that the Canada Job Fund is an area that we’ve negotiated with the federal government to deal with those individuals at the community level where there’s high unemployment at the community level. Not only that, there’s also a Labour Market Development Agreement where we’re currently negotiating with the federal government to provide more flexibility for those individuals that are on EI as well. So these are some of the areas of programming.

The Small Community Employment Program is another initiative that this government has been very successful to date. So I can forward that detailed information to the Member. Mahsi.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you. Although actual employment rates are trending downwards, we’re going south, as I said, literally and figuratively. We’ve noticed that the federal government has slashed the EI program, which is going to now fall onto the territorial government to pick up the slack. As I said earlier today and I’ll just make one more point, which is the Yellowknife rate of unemployment is closer to 3.4 percent, and of course, as we all know here, the community unemployment rate is closer to 30 percent, if you’re lucky to be that low.

The reality here is, and my next question leads into, if the Minister can’t offer any details, maybe he can speak to what specific programs he’s seen initiatives create new jobs in territorial communities and provide some examples. Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi. I thought I did that in my last answer where different programs, Canada’s Job Fund is a national program. Specifically for the Northwest Territories, we are receiving funds towards those individuals that do not qualify for EI and we’ve created some incentives, as well, where we have $500,000 in addition to other provincial jurisdictions because of our uniqueness, our remoteness and the highest unemployment in the Northwest Territories. So that’s one particular program.

There’s also the Labour Market Development Agreement. There’s the small communities programming, employment programs that we’ve initiated. These are just some of the programs that are available. There’s on-the-job training within my department too. I can have the breakdown to the Members, all those programs that relate to this particular initiative.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll gladly take any one of those commitments, all or some or who knows what I’ll get, but I’ll certainly welcome every single one of them. Since, as I highlighted, the changes to the EI program, it now makes it

more challenging for our northern workforce to find consistent, meaningful employment options. We’re now talking that you have to find well over five months of actual work to qualify for EI. Now, in a robust, working economy, not a problem. I accept any changes. But what is the department prepared for in this new shift where they’ve extended the hours one must have to work but community options and employment options are not keeping pace with this immediate demand? Feel free to use any briefing note you want to answer this question too. I’m here for the facts.