This is page numbers 5221 – 5256 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 development.

Topics

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services about his Member’s statement today.

Obviously, my statement today was about Hay River and how special it is, but it is also special in this process of the one territorial board or one management board for health and social services. Hay River is an anomaly. The employees are not territorial employees.

Has the Minister come up with a solution to put these employees into the territorial system? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I was in Hay River earlier this summer, talking about board reform and the governance changes that we are proposing, I did meet with the public and one of the things that came up on regular basis is recognizing that Hay River is outside the public service and how do we bring them in. We are working on that right now. We are quantifying what the cost might be to bring them over into the public service and what other

actions may be necessary. Once we have that information, we will be in a better position to figure out what our next steps will be and how and if we can bring those individuals into the public service.

There will certainly be a cost, so we are working on that, and once we have a little bit more information around that, I am absolutely happy to share that with the Member and committee. Thank you.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

As the Minister indicated, he was in Hay River a few months ago talking about the same situation. At that time they were going to get us a cost of what it will cost to put these people into the public service.

When can we expect that cost and why is it taking so long? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We have to work with the authority; we have to work with their pension provider to figure out what the actual full cost of that is. We didn’t start doing it immediately in the summer. We wanted to move along a couple more steps to make sure that there was any interest in us moving forward to the one authority. If there was no interest, obviously doing that work wouldn’t have been necessary. So there is an interest; we are starting to move forward with the action and the steps necessary to make this happen and we are in the process of quantifying what those costs will be. As I indicated, as soon as we have that, we will be sharing that with the Member and Committee. Thank you.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I know the Minister indicated to Mr. Bromley, talked to him about purchasing and some of the efficiencies there and I guess there was some real concern at the Hay River meeting that that meant Yellowknife purchasing of all goods. I am just wondering if the Minister can alleviate those concerns that Hay River had about a centralized purchasing and the fact that we do a lot of our own purchasing through our own authority right now and how that would work. Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

When I was in Hay River, the concerns I heard were: is this centralization, what about bringing our people in from Hay River into the public service, and the other one was the board and how would we get back to a board or council for Hay River representation. Absolutely, this is not centralization. Even if we work together and partnership purchase to get economies of scale, we are still going to need the individual in the Hay River for Health and Social Services Authority or the regional hospital to coordinate the purchase of the supplies they need. We will still need those individuals at the front line, in the communities, identifying what is needed and ordering the specifics. How we order and who we order from will be done in cooperation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister just talked about the regional wellness councils and the advisory board.

Could the Minister give me a little bit of detail how that would work in the Hay River area and surrounding area, and will that board replace the public administrator that we currently have? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that has become incredibly clear as I travel around the Northwest Territories talking about these wellness councils, is that in each of the catchment areas, for lack of a better term, like the Beaufort-Delta or Inuvik or the Sahtu, the way that the particular council will be formed will be definitely tailored to the particular area. In Hay River, as an example, we will obviously have to work with the Hay River town council as well as the other areas that might use Hay River as a catchment area to come up with a reasonable approach to selecting the individuals. Once the individuals are put on the council, once the council is established, there will no longer be a need for a public administrator because the council will have that responsibility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The North American Indigenous Games brought together some very strong and powerful athletes from the Northwest Territories. More importantly, it was done with a very small group of good people, volunteers. I’m very proud of every athlete that went down there, especially the Sahtu athletes, the coaches, the parents and, of course, our cultural drummers from Fort Good Hope. My questions are for the Minister of MACA.

Does he have a final report card on any type of commitments that can be given to the NWT team in three years’ time for the next North American Indigenous Games?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of sport, Mr. McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We were pleased with the results that we had in Regina and I think that’s a good indication of investment that this Legislative Assembly has made to giving our youth in all the communities an opportunity to be active. I think we’re seeing a direct result of that now. I have not received a final report yet. I’m looking forward to that to see if there’s any recommendations on how we can

improve our gold medal haul for the next one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

When the Minister does receive the final report, that will be shared, obviously, on this side with the Members so we can improve our next participation.

With our athletes going down to the North American Indigenous Games, it was a great experience for the youth to have. It is events like these that have the cultural component that help our youth become leaders of tomorrow. We will need strong and powerful leaders to stand for us.

Can the Minister tell us how the department is helping the Aboriginal Sport Circle and Sport North in creating a coaching program for our smaller communities?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you. As part of the plan they submit to the Sport and Rec Council in their funding, they identify some of the clinics that they want to put on in the communities. I know for a fact that through the Aboriginal Sport Circle, the Parks and Recreation Association and Sport North run a number of camps in the communities to get the youth there not only competing but just to be active, and it’s through some of the programs that we partner with our colleagues, departments, the Active After School Program, the whole idea is to get our children active and we’re seeing a result of some of this as they start competing in some of the more high-caliber games because they’ve had that opportunity.

So there are many sport systems in place and it’s part of their plan when they submit their applications for funding to the Sport and Rec Council. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you. Yellowknife has some world-class facilities. It’s great to see sport circles bringing workshops and clinics like snowshoeing into Fort Good Hope, but can the Minister look into hosting a traditional sports tournament in our small communities?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you. That’s something that we would rely on the Aboriginal Sport Circle to help us with. I do know that they have the Middle School Traditional Games Championships here in the capital and I’ve had the opportunity to attend a couple of them. They were well attended and the enthusiasm there was fantastic and the Aboriginal Sport Circle did a fantastic job putting those on. There are opportunities for some of the regional sporting organizations to have maybe a regional one, then they would work with the Aboriginal Sport Circle and our supporting partners to try to help bring that about. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Is the department willing to work with Enterprise to develop a visitors information centre at the site of the old weigh scale? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The quick answer is yes. I really enjoyed the opportunity to travel with the Member to Enterprise earlier this summer and talk to some of the community leaders in Enterprise about the prospect of a visitors centre to be located at the former weigh scale site. We really do need to satisfy the land tenure issue with the weigh scale site, and I’d be happy to try to help the Member. I know there’s an application that the hamlet has currently in play. I’m happy to help and try to get some answers on a time frame on the disposition of that land.

I will say that having a visitors centre located on the highway in Enterprise would be very beneficial not only for the community of Enterprise but also communities like Fort Resolution, Hay River and Fort Smith. Thank you.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

The Minister has indicated that he’s willing to help out the community in terms of the land tenure. What else can the community do in terms of trying to at least set the stage for a constructive dialogue between perhaps the community and the department? Is there something that perhaps could be a precondition that the community could consider just to help with the process of advancing the land tenure? Mahsi.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you. I understand the community was and had made application for several large parcels of land in and around the community, and that is something, as I mentioned to the Member in my previous response, that I’d like to help the community and the Member out with in trying to understand better how that former site could go to the community of Enterprise if their intent is to have a visitors centre there. I’ve talked many times in this House about the Economic Opportunities Strategy and the role tourism plays here in the Northwest Territories.

At some point in time, I certainly would like to see a visitors centre in Enterprise. I know while we were there, we also had a look at a large statue of a trapper. Something like that on the highway near a visitors centre or adjacent to a visitors centre would certainly attract people to come and see another story about the Northwest Territories about the impact that trapping has had on our society here in the Northwest Territories. That’s something – and I

know I’ve had that discussion with some of the Member’s constituents about that, as well – I feel strongly about seeing happening at some point in time. Thank you.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

I’d like to thank the Minister for his reply. Besides the timeliness of replying to the community, can the Minister enlighten this side of the House in terms of what is the issue in terms of the land transfer? Is it because of devolution, or is it just because all of the support mechanisms are not in place? Mahsi.