This is page numbers 3523 – 3556 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 going.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s encouraging that the Minister is going to take some action after many times that this has been brought to the House.

Will the Minister ensure that there is at least a dialogue that is established with those First Nation communities that are interested in at least doing a baseline study of the traditional study and the purpose and the value of wild mushrooms, especially those communities that are situated close to the NWT border and along the highway? Mahsi.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

The government, of course, stands ready to work with the affected communities in the affected areas where there have been fires in the previous year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement about the fishery in the Great Slave Lake, and my colleague from the Deh Cho reminded me that they also boil that fish and it’s delicious that way as well. I have a question to the Minister of ITI about the current activities that they are doing with the fishery.

What are those monies that the Minister and the budget addressed the other day, what are the monies going towards to increase the production of the fishery in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The money that we have announced in this year’s budget, it’s about $1.7 million, will go toward upgrading the fleet on Great Slave Lake, a new marketing effort to get more product in the domestic market here in the Northwest Territories which we

predict is somewhere around 500,000 to 750,000 pounds in addition to the 930,000 pounds that were taken from the lake last year.

Also, the key piece to this is the construction of an export grade new fish plant in Hay River. We’re going to try to leverage the dollars that we do have that you see in this year’s budget with monies from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, as well as CanNor. Those discussions are ongoing and we hope to see that come to fruition really soon. Thank you.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

My next question for the Minister is about that marketing that he discussed. I know he’s talking about domestic marketing. I’m also concerned about marketing this product outside of the Northwest Territories.

Along with that marketing and pricing, what is the department doing to bring up the prices for the fishers to basically create an income and get paid for their good product?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Part of the funding that was announced in this year’s budget would include a marketing subsidy of 44 cents per kilogram for fishermen. It is believed that the domestic market would be much more lucrative for fishermen to sell their product in the local domestic market, Hay River, Yellowknife, Fort Smith, for example. Again, we have announced some money to help fishermen market their product here in the domestic market, which will put more money in fishermen’s pockets here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I know the department went throughout the Northwest Territories on their new Economic Opportunities Strategy and the fishery was one of the things that came forward from there.

What monies are they putting into this Economic Opportunities Strategy to help the fishers in this industry?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We did hear loud and clear, both in the North Slave region and in the South Slave region, the need to reinvigorate the commercial fishing industry on Great Slave Lake. That’s why, I believe, the cornerstone of the work of the EOS here initially is going to be to revitalize that fishery. We’ve got $1.7 million. We want to build a new fish plant in Hay River; we want to upgrade the fleet; we want to attract new fishermen to the industry; we want to keep the existing fishermen that we have; and we’re going to put our best effort into doing just that.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is about the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and our work with them to do this marketing.

How much involvement has the Minister had with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation? Have we looked at that opportunity? Have we looked if that is a need? Do we really need them still? I know that’s been debated in the fishery quite a bit, but what is the department doing with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I have met with the officials from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation last year. Our officials continue to dialogue with Freshwater. It is our hope that they will be a vital piece of the puzzle in the construction of a new export grade fish plant in Hay River. We want to work with them and we also want to work with CanNor to ensure that this happens.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister for Public Works. Around this time last year, I had a great debate with the Minister of Public Works. We debated whether displaying more NWT art in public buildings was a good idea or a great idea, and I believe a great idea won the day.

Could the new Minister of Public Works update us on the current status of the northern art in government buildings policy?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. After the commitment was made to do this work, a working group consisting of four departments, ECE, ITI, Transportation and Public Works, was put together to work with the NWT Arts Council on making this display of art in GNWT buildings possible.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks to the Minister. We put a lot of effort into this. Did we actually come up with a policy? When developing policies, obviously it’s a good idea to consult with the public, so as well as consulting internally, can the Minister report back on the latest meetings with NWT artists and what they thought of his latest proposals?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The first thing that had occurred was the two content management TV display systems were created and put out. Essentially, a TV screen, one at the Yellowknife Airport and one in the Public Works office in Inuvik, and they display art. They have had discussion with the NWT Arts Council. This group of departments had discussions with the Arts Council and are working on what will be displayed, for what type of period they’ll be displayed, how many different things would be displayed and so on.

In as far as the policy goes, ECE will be developing a policy, working with Public Works and ITI, and this policy will guide how GNWT buildings are used to display NWT art, so there is some movement there.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks again to the Minister. Last year we also had some discussion about possibly doing displays on a rotational basis, and I’m wondering if that discussion has been had yet or whether that’s also being left to those other two departments. Anything the Minister could report?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The Department of Public Works will advise the group of areas where spaces would be available for art display. Like I indicated, there will be a policy developed, and I think that’s going to guide us on whether or not we are displaying art, in which buildings and what pieces of art that we will be displaying. As I indicated, at this point it appears as though the group, the NWT Arts Council, that we’re working with were happy with the display appearing on the television and the TV display system, but because the policy is not finalized, it would be difficult to indicate at this point what art we can use on a rotational basis in the Public Works buildings.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again to the Minister. I note that the GNWT office building downtown here is very close to completion. I’m wondering: how are things proceeding in terms of a plan for displaying northern art in that building and, if I can squeeze it in, if the Minister has any comments on how we’re going to be sure and communicate this new policy, whenever it’s developed, to all our artists.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

As far as the new building goes, I don’t know what will be available, but one of the things that we have determined as the group of departments working together that it was very important for us to do our communications to the NWT Arts Council. They seem to have their membership communicating with the memberships right across the territory throughout the arts community, so any communications that this government has in order to determine what would be displayed and which buildings will be communicated to the NWT Arts Council.