This is page numbers 4253 – 4284 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 land.

Topics

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

Mr. Speaker, certainly that is our goal going forward, is to have an integrated approach to resource management here in the Northwest Territories involving the departments of ITI, ENR and also the new Lands department. That’s something that we’re very excited about. We believe we can strike a balance. We believe we can protect the environment, have sustainable development and also see the economy grow, providing the much needed jobs and opportunities for the people that live in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

That’s good to know. Would the Minister then look at some type of forum so that people in the Sahtu, people in the Northwest Territories could have that discussion as to the types of regulations we have with the Land and Water Board and environmental types of agreements in place with the economic development activity, have that forum or summit in the Sahtu so that we can properly negotiate our way through this type of activity that is happening in our region?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

Mr. Speaker, I have committed to looking at a readiness session in the Sahtu sometime in the very near future. Perhaps as part of that readiness session, we could also look at an information session on devolution, what it means, how things are going to work, and that would be perhaps very beneficial for residents in the Sahtu.

I know our government has done a tremendous amount of communications, getting word out in newspapers, on radio and through town hall meetings that we’ve had. Certainly, if there is more of an appetite out there for information on devolution and how it works, that’s something we could certainly look at. 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. With the amount of dollars going into the Sahtu and people having that type of opportunity, those are some good things that people are doing with the money. There are also some things that people are not doing so well. With this type of readiness session sometime in the future, hopefully it will be in the next five months, we want to look at the social impacts.

Recently, we’ve seen lots of liquor being confiscated by the RCMP. We need to talk about

some of the social issues. Will that be part of the forum?

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

If we were to expand that type of discussion, that certainly would involve other departments. I know when we’ve had the readiness session in the Sahtu in the past, other departments were involved. From the social side of things, we could look at including other departments again in discussions in the readiness session that will be held in the Sahtu again in the near future. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While I was asking questions to the Minister of Public Works yesterday, he mentioned that if the community was in support of building the parking lot for Moose Kerr School, he would look towards that. The community does have a motion that they would like to see action taken on that.

I would like to ask the Minister of Public Works, will the Minister ensure they stockpile gravel to build a pad at the school in Aklavik before the spring is over? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Public Works, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Department of Public Works ensures that the community has a stockpile in each community for the work that’s required during that year. In 2013, the haul this year, we had a plan to put a stockpile in Aklavik and we were advised by the community that there was a local contractor that had sufficient stockpile of granular material that we could use, so we didn’t stockpile any further, but we think there’s enough material there for us to do our work.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Is the Minister saying that they do have enough gravel at the moment to build a pad for Moose Kerr School for the parking lot? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

What I’m saying is that for all the capital plan activities that require granular material, there was sufficient granular material for that. I’m not sure if part of that plan included construction of a parking lot for Moose Kerr School. If the community is wishing to do that, that becomes part of the capital, but I do know that at the beginning of the year all the capital that was planned and the need for granular material, we had enough in Aklavik to do that. Thank you.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

For sure the parking lot isn’t in the capital plan because this issue just came up in the

last couple of weeks. The Minister did state that if it was a major concern for the community that they would pursue that.

With the emotion in place from the hamlet, will the Minister ensure that the department acts on this issue as soon as possible? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The requirement for granular material in Aklavik was 23,300 cubic metres of granular material, which was about 3,250 cubic metres for the GNWT and the balance of it being needed by the hamlet. So the hamlet had indicated that the projects they would like to run during the year and had indicated that they had sufficient granular material. If the hamlet is going to move some of the material, assuming that they had only that amount, that they don’t have a surplus, and they need to move off another project, I guess that’s a discussion that will occur with the hamlet locally.

We were advised that with the projects we were running, there is certainly sufficient granular material. So, hopefully there is enough to do all of the projects, plus the parking lot. That is our hope today, but I don’t have a very recent update as of today whether or not all of these projects, plus the parking lot, is what we have granular material for. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to be on the safe side, the community is planning to make a road up to the gravel source at Willow River.

Will the Minister ensure that they do have sufficient gravel in the community for all the projects, including the parking lot at Moose Kerr School? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Part of the 18,000 cubic metres of granular material that the hamlet is to use this summer is also material for Willow River, so there is a plan to start using some of this granular material to build to that gravel source. Aside from that, we can work with the community to make sure there is sufficient granular material to do all the projects, including the parking lot. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement today in terms of the Regional Recruitment Program. There was a press release that went out on October 23, 2013. I just want to get an update. In the statement

it said training is anticipated to start to be on the job in early 2014.

I would like to ask the Minister of Human Resources, what is the update on that program and do we have actual full-time government employees who went through this program? If so, how many?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Minister of Human Resources

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, we do not have people on the ground yet as part of the Regional Recruitment Strategy that the Member speaks of. We have done the program design. We have finalized all of the documentation necessary. We have completed the approach that the trainer is going to use in training individuals. We have talked about the training allowance specific to that. We have met with the UNW. We have negotiated a memorandum of understanding, so we’re ready to roll. We have all of the regional meetings in place. Individuals have come forward and we are now seeing the targeted positions that we’re hoping to fill with this strategy. Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I want to ask the Minister, has he changed any policies or do any policies need to be changed in order to get individuals into the job? Like I said yesterday, there were some challenges for some individuals in Inuvik who were just trying to get casual employment and had to go through all the hoops to get their application on the desk.

So, have any policies changed within the government system that allows residents of the Northwest Territories to actually get into these jobs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Minister of Human Resources

Any policy change that would occur would have been to try to accommodate the Regional Recruitment Strategy. As I indicated, we have discussed this and signed an MOU with the Union of Northern Workers. So, there hasn’t been anything put in place to make it difficult for individuals to apply. In fact, it’s been the other way around. We are trying to accommodate this. Now that interest is starting, we are hoping we will have our first employee underneath the Regional Recruitment Strategy this month and more in April. We’re going to get some employees in March and April through the strategy and hopefully expanding that beyond the communities that have shown interest now, which are at this time coming from Inuvik, Fort Simpson and Fort Providence.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

In the news release that was sent out on October 23, 2013, it mentioned that the program would help reduce barriers in entering the workforce. Yesterday I got a call from a constituent having some issues with them getting into the job system and this was just for a casual position.

Would the Minister consider, or is his department looking at some of the lower level job positions or entry level job positions such as administrative assistants or jobs on the front line, working with individuals who have been in the job for five, 10 or 20 years? We have those statistics. Would he look at trying to get individuals who have been in an entry level job for 10 years-plus and give them the support to become a supervisor, a manger or take another position within the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Minister of Human Resources

Yes, we do plan to look at that. Right now we do have two strategies developing our employees. One is a strategy of the positions of associate superintendent positions that we’ve created. Now we’re looking at creating some associate manager positions, moving officers up to that level. The recommendation from the Member, taking people who have been long term in administrative positions and moving them up a level to officer level, is something that we would certainly take a look at seriously, and I will talk to the Department of Human Resources who go on to talk to the other hiring departments to see what is possible here. Thank you.