This is page numbers 5107 – 5142 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 public.

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Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

October 30th, 2014

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure to welcome two constituents, Greg and Laurette Debogorski. I just talked about Nadya and all of her accomplishments. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly this morning, and I wish you a happy Halloween. Thank you.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 6, acknowledgements. Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to acknowledge several Weledeh constituents who received Medals of Bravery from the Governor General of Canada on October 21st of this year.

On September 22, 2011, my constituents Kent David Bissell, Matthew Lewin Grogono, Mike Joseph Murphy and Allan Randal Shortt played a vital role in the evacuation of several passengers from a Twin Otter that tragically crashed in the Old Town, here in Yellowknife, claiming two lives.

Despite heavy smoke coming from the engine, leaking fuel and the risk of explosion, these brave citizens managed to bring several survivors to safety. Without their quick thinking and selflessness, the results of this tragedy could have been much, much worse. For this brave act, they were awarded a Medal of Bravery by the Governor

General of Canada, the Right Honourable David Johnston.

I would like to thank these Medal of Bravery recipients for their actions and courage, and I would invite all you here in this House and throughout the Northwest Territories to do the same.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I talked about what kind of support we have for our victim service coordinators in the Northwest Territories. As I said earlier, I stated that 1,942 cases go to victim service coordinators throughout the NWT, and those are the only ones that need services. There might even be more victims out there that don’t speak up, don’t stand up.

I would like to ask the Minister of Justice, how many victim service coordinators do we currently have in the Northwest Territories address all these cases? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have some full-time workers in the area of victim service. We also have a number of part-time persons who deliver this much needed responsibility to our residents. I’d have to get the Member the exact figure, and I can get him the figure by community on who’s where and what positions are full time and what are part time. Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, from the family violence report card that I most recently went through, I think there’s about seven victim service coordinators. I could be wrong, though. But I know the community of Inuvik, we do have an issue in terms of keeping that position staffed because it’s only a half-time position and the responsibilities, the work and the effort that these victim service coordinators go through to get victims to the courts to jail or even the hospital or counselling, it goes above and beyond their scope of work and practice, and sometimes beyond the work hours that they’re actually given.

I’d like to ask the Minister, is he willing to look at revising some of these half-time positions, especially in the regional centres where caseloads are very high, to turn it from a half-time position into a full-time position? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, like coroners – I know we talked about coroners earlier in this session – victim services workers do have a very tough job. They’re dealing with some very stressful situations, and it’s important, from the Department of Justice perspective, that we provide them with the support that they need.

On a case-by-case basis if there’s a workload there that would warrant a full-time position, that certainly is something that the department would entertain and we’d take a look at that. Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

In terms of providing services to our victim service coordinators, what type of training is available for them to deal with some of these very highly stressful situations that they find themselves? Not only training for them, but what about counselling services for victim service coordinators that, on a daily basis in some cases, see the harshness of our residents of the Northwest Territories who are going through some type of family violence, or after a specific tragedy, what kind of counselling services and training is provided to these victim service coordinators? Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

There’s ongoing training and support for our victim services workers across the NWT. I understand they will be in Yellowknife next week. I believe I’ll be speaking to the group next week here in Yellowknife. If the Member is available – I know MLA Moses came to the coroners’ event last week – and certainly if he has some time and he’s in town, I’d encourage him to attend that, as well, to learn more about victim services and the support that we provide through the Department of Justice.

I think having the group get together to share experiences and touch base with each other about issues and problems, it always is good to talk about your work with your peers. So it’s a great opportunity and I’ll be there to lend my support to the work that they do on behalf of residents here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take that invitation and hopefully I can make it. It depends on our committee schedule for next week. However, sometimes to get the best results and hear what’s really happening is to talk to people on the ground level.

Is the Minister willing to sit down with the victim service coordinators next week and just have a general talk on what their needs are to help them do their job better for residents of the Northwest Territories? Is he willing to make the time next week to sit down and listen to what they really need? They’re the ones who are dealing with the victims and seeing what’s happening on the front line. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you. I hadn’t been requested to do that, but by all regards, I’d be happy to do that if they wanted to have a bit of a roundtable with me. What I normally do, if I speak to the group, I stay and answer questions if people have questions.

Yes, we can look at having something like that happen when they’re here in town next week, an opportunity for them to ask me questions and a bit of a dialogue with them. That sounds like a very good idea. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment today. I’d like to put aside the trick-or-treat and get right down to the cold hard facts from our oil and gas office.

I want to ask the Minister, has he had any word from any of the oil companies about them returning to the Sahtu to continue their exploration permitting?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have heard that companies are coming back to the Sahtu to have meetings in the Sahtu. As to whether or not that would see a return to activity in the region next winter remains to be seen, but I think it’s a good sign that companies are coming back to have meetings in the Sahtu. I understand that there’s a number of them that have meetings lined up this coming week in the communities in the Member’s riding. So that’s, I think, an important step forward. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you. Certainly hearing that is a treat over here, hearing those words.

Can the Minister give us some timelines for the development of the NWT Oil and Gas Strategy? Where are we at with this issue right now?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We’re in the initial phase today. We want to ensure that we get the best strategy that we can and, much like the Mineral Development Strategy, the Economic Opportunities Strategy, an Oil and Gas Strategy has to be done in collaboration with industry, communities, Aboriginal governments, and we are going to set that up. My hope is that the Oil and Gas Strategy will be complete by the end of the life of the 17th Assembly.

Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you. Can the Minister tell us how this strategy will incorporate findings and recommendations from the recent Sahtu oil and gas needs assessment?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

The Oil and Gas Strategy would, of course, incorporate the work that has been done to date. We would be taking a look at all of that work. We don’t need to go out and reinvent the wheel if we have done work in that regard. That’s something that we will look at incorporating into an Oil and Gas Strategy. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has the Minister had any type of discussion of an impact fund similar to what was designated for the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, what we call the Mackenzie Gas Project, for oil and gas development in the Sahtu with the federal government?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, as it relates to the activity and the Canol formation, we haven’t had a discussion with the federal government on an impact fund. The $500 million the Member speaks of is still there. Of course, the Mackenzie Gas Project is in a hiatus right now, but that’s not to say that if the area does get into commercial production of some type, if there are further pipelines discussed or constructed, the federal government might, in fact, look at an impact fund similar to the one that they had put in place for the Mackenzie Gas Project. Thank you.