This is page numbers 4805 – 4846 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 communities.

Topics

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister of Transportation commit to getting a meeting together of all the responsible federal Ministers to see that we can move this project forward in the future sooner than later?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

I’m more than willing to meet with the federal Minister responsible, although I can’t set his or her schedule, but I will have the department make contact with the Minister responsible to check to see if it is a possibility that we could have that discussion Minister to Minister or department head to department head to see if something can be done with the dredging in the Hay River port.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to follow up with some questions to the Minister of Transportation in regard to the ferry operations in Inuvik.

I would just like to, first of all, ask the Minister of Transportation how many days was the ferry shut down when it was supposed to be open, or how many days was it operational during that freeze-up and breakup period?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d have to answer that question in two parts. First, with light vehicles, historically traffic for light vehicles was essentially shut down for almost a full month. That’s the historical data. Last year they were shut down for 19 days. Then vehicles up to 60,000, which is a threshold, I think, where the

majority of the supplies can get across the Mackenzie River, historically in the last several years the shutdown has been anywhere from 72 to 83 days. Last year the shutdown was 33 days.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, just because the ferry is in the middle of the river and it’s moving at, like I said, a snail’s pace doesn’t mean that it’s operational, and it’s also a delay in terms of products and goods being transported to the community of Inuvik.

I’d like to ask the Minister of the department what is his department going to do to communicate the operation of the ferry and the hours that it’s operating and the time and length that it’s going to be taking off and arriving from one side to the other, and if it’s shut down, how is he going to communicate that to the business sector who are waiting on these goods?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The department has done some debriefing meetings with the Town of Inuvik, the community of Fort McPherson, Inuvik Gas Ltd., people that provide the energy to the community. Internally, we know that we have dealings with the Power Corp and we try to have these meetings to debrief amongst each other and see what we can learn from what has occurred since the last season when we were trying to operate the ferry right up until the winter road was open.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

The Minister kind of got into my next question. We’ve had one year of the ferry operating, trying to operate here all season round. Now we’re putting in the winter road.

What is the department going to be doing differently from lessons learned from the first year, so we have a more efficient operating system so we get our goods and services to the residents and business owners of the community of Inuvik? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Probably the two biggest lessons learned were that we need to cut the ice sooner to get the ferry in before the ice hardens too much. That was a big lesson. The second lesson learned is we need to accelerate the construction of the ice road. Last year we were accelerating the construction of the ice road, but we need to add to that and accelerate the ice road even further.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last question is in terms of any of these business owners who have products that might get ruined or be spoiled that have to stay on the other side of the river and can’t get to the community of Inuvik, does the Department of Transportation, who takes care of this infrastructure and operation, have a reimbursement program for who falls behind, whether it’s a contract or whether it’s in goods and services being ruined? Do they have a

reimbursement program for our small businesses that are affected when there is a delay in goods and services coming across the ferry crossing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The Department of Transportation does not have that type of reimbursement program. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Question 400-17(5): Yellowknife Day Shelter
Oral Questions

October 19th, 2014

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we embark yet again on another chapter of the territorial day shelter in Yellowknife, it is critical we have the right principles, standards, appropriate staff qualifications, appropriate service design and effective care practices for the success of the day shelter concept. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Speaker.

Admittedly, there’s no dispute that an NGO can offer a service or product at a much more reasonable cost than government. Therefore, it’s our duty as a government not to shortchange this process in any way and to make sure that we succeed in offering our territorial service.

Can the Minister provide to the House a proposed high level financial operational breakdown of the territorial day shelter in Yellowknife? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Health and Social Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have signed a contract with the Council of Persons with Disabilities to provide the services for two years. The two-year contract is $619,400, which is just over $300,000 a year. We have also signed a two-year lease with the provider of the actual facility, which works out to $5,400 a month, which is about $64,800 a year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

I appreciate the Minister’s reply to that. It’s apparent, given the current budget, that this shelter is expected to perform only basic core functions during what we’ve been hinting as a potential reduced open for business environment. However, many, including this MLA, feel this shelter is lacking the funds needed to perform the life-changing programs associated with mental health and addictions, not to mention critical life skill programs required for society reintegration.

Can the Minister indicate to the House where the funding dollars are for this? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Health and Social Services

The day shelter at this point in time is providing some basic services, basically a warm place for people to go as well as some referral functions. We had been talking with

the provider about having more opportunities for people to come into that particular facility and offer referrals and other services. The NWT Disabilities Council intends to expand their services to include a process for more referrals and management of the day shelter. They also intend to have some adult service workers scheduled for regular office hours come in and visit as well as some individuals from public health to come in and provide visits on a regular basis. Mr. Speaker, these people already work for the Government of the Northwest Territories. They already provide these services. It’s a matter of going to people who need those services as opposed to waiting for them to come to us. So we don’t need a whole lot more money to provide something we’re already providing. It’s a matter of getting the people to connect, and the day shelter is going to prove to be a location where we can connect. Thank you.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

This is where the Minister and our ideology differ. I know the Minister takes pride for doing what’s right for the residents of the Northwest Territories, and he did the honour of opening the new shelter this fall. However, it is clear, with the information that we have today, we are still lacking the required funds for a successful NWT day shelter facility.

Will this Minister commit to making sure we have in place solid targets, proper timelines and the proper funding dollars needed to deal with all levels of withdrawal management programs for our shelter residents? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Health and Social Services

We have processes and programs in place in the Northwest Territories for individuals who are suffering from addictions. We will have an access point for individuals. Our staff will visit the day shelter on a regular basis and those individuals who are ready to take advantage of some of the programming we have will get that treatment. So, we do have a disagreement.

I believe we have many programs and services available. I believe the day shelter is a great access point, a great place to bring people together and share information. When those individuals are ready to take treatment, we are here to ensure that they get that treatment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s response. Unfortunately, history has shown this department has failed to publicly disclose the full operational cost for the shelter service nor has ever tabled a full cost accounting analysis.

Can the Minister commit to turn over a new leaf and agree to make an annual disclosure of full cost accounting of the Yellowknife Territorial Day Shelter? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Minister of Health and Social Services

Mr. Speaker, we disclosed in the previous contract how much we had contracted for the services for the previous day shelter. The information of what we are spending on this day shelter is out and available, but as we move on, we would be happy to provide the Member with actual costs at the end of each fiscal year, as well as committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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