This is page numbers 3851 – 3904 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

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to discuss the need for access to will and estate planning for our residents. We do have one GNWT lawyer, a community outreach lawyer, whose job it is to visit communities and provide legal services to our residents. But one lawyer can hardly even begin to make a dent in our residents’ needs around will and estate planning. There’s a huge need to educate people about the need to have a will and another huge need to give residents access to lawyers to draft their wills and help them do estate planning.

Employees of the GNWT have access to assistance with wills and trusts through our Department of Human Resources employee and family assistance programs, employees of large companies usually have access to planning through their company pension plan, and there are will and estate planning sessions offered in Yellowknife and some of our regional centres. But other residents, especially in our small communities, are left to their own devices to do the necessary planning for wills.

It’s not the first thing that people put on their to-do list, nor do many people realize how important it is to spend the money to get a will done, if they can afford it, that is. A will is one of the most important documents in anyone’s life. Without a will, settling estates can be complicated and costly for both the

government as well as relatives. When someone dies intestate – that is without a will – the government, the office of the public trustee, and/or the courts must get involved in settling the estate, paying bills, disposing of assets and inheritance and so on. It’s a cost to the government and ultimately to us, the taxpayers. How many residents die intestate in any one year, I wonder? How much does the GNWT spend dealing with the estates of our residents who have died intestate? I have no idea, but I’m sure the costs are considerable.

I would like to see the GNWT offer will and estate planning sessions to NWT residents in all of our communities on a frequent and regular basis. As a government, we would be better served to be proactive, spend a little money up front and ensure residents have access to lawyers whose law practices include will and estate planning, as opposed to dealing with the affairs of residents who die intestate after the fact.

Not every lawyer does estate planning work, nor do they all want to do that kind of work, so we need to hire the right people. They can be found. The access to residents can be made available if the will – joke intended – is there on the part of government. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Forest fires pose a threat to many communities in the NWT. Every year millions of taxpayers’ dollars go to fire management efforts, from public education and prevention, to staff training, to air tankers and firefighting crews.

Last summer forest fires destroyed many hectares of forest in the Deh Cho region, demanding significant public resources to manage.

The community of Kakisa is at high risk of damage due to forest fires. This small hamlet, in the dense forest of the southern NWT, could be destroyed within a few hours, if not minutes, given the right conditions. Kakisa needs a reliable fireguard.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has completed the Community Wildfire Protection Plan for Kakisa in 2010. This plan identifies risks and recommendations for local forest fire management. At the time the plan was created, a full firebreak ran from the lake to the community access road, but the dense stand of spruce and pine nearby still limited its effectiveness. More trees need to be thinned in certain areas.

Community consultation needed to take place, with input from elders, to preserve traditional land uses before people started cutting brush in the area

surrounding the community. It is also uncertain whether the community fire department has the capacity to take on fire suppression activities. Some people felt that not enough community members were trained or available on an ongoing basis to help fight a fire.

Without a local first line of defence, the community has to rely on outside help to help fight a fire. Given the travelling distance and time it could take for help to arrive and how quickly a fire can spread, Kakisa could be in serious danger.

The community wants to move ahead on forest fire protection. The popular campground is a valuable asset in the community and they would like to advance an initiative to construct a walkway to link the campground to the hamlet. The infrastructure could serve as a strategic forest fire management tool. Debris from additional brush cutting could be used as home heating fuel.

The Department of ENR is very committed to forest fire management and has implemented some great programs over the last four years. It is time to revisit and renew the Kakisa Wildfire Protection Plan in time for the upcoming forest fire season.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Junior Kindergarten Funding
Members’ Statements

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to stand up and use this occasion to revisit the issue of junior kindergarten. Last week the Minister made a statement, and that was his second statement in this particular House where he talked about junior kindergarten will be available for four-year-olds starting in the new year, and of course, it will be rolled out over three years throughout the various communities.

Let me first get the biggest issue out of the way. I don’t know anybody who is against junior kindergarten. There is nobody on this side of the House against junior kindergarten, and sometimes in our questions and answers it is described as over here we are against junior kindergarten when you question his policy methodology. I can frankly say, I haven’t spoken to everybody in the Northwest Territories and I am not sure that is even feasible, in the sense of my lifetime, by going door to door knocking on every door and saying, do you support junior kindergarten. However, I do feel comfortable by saying, and I certainly feel very strong in saying that I could say everybody, in an overwhelming majority, would support the development of the Junior Kindergarten Program.

The one issue before us, and continues to be before us, articulated clearly by the school boards, being raised by Members, being raised by the public, is the funding model. That is only the issue.

The Minister of Education has decided, and certainly designed, that they will now work with producing 14 years of schooling on 13 years of budgeting, and to be clear for the public that don’t follow that, that is also when we include kindergarten as the 13th year.

Now they are asking for a 14th year, so you have your normal one to 12 plus kindergarten and junior kindergarten. It is like saying we are going to re-profile 7 percent of your funding. Let’s think about that, 7 percent of your funding. Let’s put it this way. If we had asked the Department of Education to re-profile their $305.6 million budget and we took and re-profiled 7 percent of their funding, that would almost be $22 million. I could only imagine them kicking and screaming and saying, it isn’t fair, we couldn’t run programs, we’d have to lay people off. I could imagine. I don’t know where we’d start and certainly finish on what they would say. The point being, and the issue before MLAs, before the public, before the school board is the funding model.

I’m going to close by saying if the children, if the students, if families really mattered that much, then ask us for the money, we’ll find a way. Thank you very much.

Junior Kindergarten Funding
Members’ Statements

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Lafferty.

Whati Hand Games Tournament
Members’ Statements

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I have an important thing to say. I know that there are a lot of things happening in our region. In the last little while in my region, in Whati there were hand games that were held in the community, and I want to express, to the community, a thank you and congratulations.

We had visitors from Alberta and all the people from the Northwest Territories. This was put on by the Whati community. The chief and council have prepared and hosted the hand games for all the people. They also had security for the community. I want to express my thanks and congratulations for taking care of all the visitors that came to their community.

There were over 40 teams that competed in the hand games. There were a lot of people, people from all communities that had a very good social event in their community. I’m very happy that it was properly done and the security was done and they had a good hand game. They have all returned home and I just want to say thank you to the Whati community.

Whati Hand Games Tournament
Members’ Statements

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Bromley.

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

February 23rd, 2014

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my great pleasure to once again recognize Mr. Tony Whitford, a resident of Weledeh. Welcome, Tony.

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

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Lafferty.

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

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the president of the NWTTA. Gayla Meredith is here with us and is doing an outstanding job as president and is recognizing the 60th year. Mahsi for being here.

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

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Hawkins.

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

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s with great pleasure to recognize one of our favourite constituents of Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories, and he’s already been recognized but it is always certainly exciting to stand up to recognize Mr. Anthony W.J. Whitford, who you so eloquently described has having almost every job in the Northwest Territories, certainly in this building at one time or another. He’s a hero to all. Thank you for coming, sir. Good to see you.

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

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ITI. The Minister has noted that the Government of Canada has invested into the life of the trappers, certainly with the daunting and challenging task of working with the trappers in light of the emerging demand for the Northwest Territories fur and also the demand for our energy in the Sahtu region.

I want to ask the Minister, is his department working with the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board to come out with a plan that says if you want to be a trapper, here are the support mechanisms you can have to become a trapper for life, or if you’d like to change or have some type of balance working in the industry? Is there going to be a report after these two years of funding projects?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories today has the best trapping programs in the country. The reason why our programs are so successful is because we work out of our regional offices to help deliver the

programs that we have, and in the area of trapping specifically we have a strong relationship with the local operations at the regional level through our department. As things change – I know the Member is talking about the potential economic development happening in the Sahtu – it’s even more important that we continue that close relationship with the hunters and trappers in that region. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Can the Minister of ITI inform the House, with the funding that we got from the federal government it will be geared towards promoting opportunities for employment and skill development training in both the traditional and the industrial sectors of the Sahtu regional economy, from that is there going to be some type of report or some type of plan that says you can be a trapper in these seasons and then you could switch to the industrial sector of the economy and go back to life on the land? Is there some type of plan that would see our people in the Sahtu having these types of opportunities in front of them?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

Thank you. It’s in all of our best interests to ensure that opportunities for employment are there on an annual basis and all throughout the year. I know some of the opportunity currently underway in the Sahtu is during the winter months. We need to ensure that there are opportunities for people year round, and if there is a way that we can put a bridge between the two to allow people to pursue their traditional economy and also be employed in the oil and gas sector in the Sahtu, that’s something that we should be looking at. As far as a report goes on the money, there would be some expectation that we would have some kind of an evaluation and know where the money has been spent and its effectiveness. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

I know that some of the people in the Sahtu, especially the trappers because that’s their life and that’s what they want to do, also I know there are some people who love to trap but also see the wage economy in the oil and gas sector. I want to ask the Minister, is he working closely with the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board to say this is a program we could have in the Sahtu that could pilot, say, a trapper who would like to trap to get these furs, but also the trapping season might be a little difficult so they would move into the industry? Is there a program that flow the trappers into an oil and gas industry type of employment to support them, because that would be crucial in terms of which way they want to go in the future.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

I think each individual’s circumstances may, in fact, be different than the next person, but we could be potentially talking to Education, Culture and Employment about opportunities to bridge the two. Again, I think it’s very important that people have opportunities on a year-round basis. If there is that opportunity to work

with ECE to talk about training opportunities and how we can get the trappers that are trapping that want to be employed in the oil and gas sector as things continue to move along in the Sahtu, again, that’s something that we’re very much interested in doing. 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. Last year there were 106 trappers that sold close to 4,000 pelts and injected $725,000 into the local economy of the Northwest Territories. We know that the Asian countries and the European countries are well versed in the Northwest Territories fur.

Is there any type of report as to the number of trappers now in the Sahtu that his department is tracking to see if we are going to pass the numbers that we had from last year’s report?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

I don’t have the exact number of trappers in the Sahtu that we are tracking, but that’s certainly a number I could get for the Member. What I do know, and I know the Member mentioned it himself, is the amount of dollars that are flowing directly back to trappers across the Northwest Territories, and this is money that gets right back into the local economy and, in most cases, into the smaller communities. Last year that was $2.8 million directly back to trappers across the Territories, so it’s a significant amount of money that gets back into the economy.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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