Good afternoon, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to announce the official launch of the Med-Response call centre. Members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs joined me earlier today at Stanton Territorial Hospital to celebrate this milestone.

The Government of the Northwest Territories is breaking new ground in Canada with this single window approach to clinical consultation and air ambulance triage and dispatch. Med-Response will improve access to services and quality of care for people across the Northwest Territories, by providing immediate clinical support to health care practitioners in all communities via a simple toll-free number.

Med-Response is not a service directly available to the public, Mr. Speaker, but our patients and their families will experience immediate benefit. Previously, when faced with a potentially critical situation, a community health nurse had to make multiple calls to access physician advice, order an air ambulance, provide updates and coordinate information flow. He or she would do this while trying to support and stabilize an ill or injured patient and assess whether an air ambulance was required.

From now on one phone call to Med-Response will give our community health care providers access to all the clinical support they need. The call centre, located in Yellowknife, is manned by emergency medical dispatchers and emergency medical coordinators who are registered nurses. They are on the line immediately with the community health practitioner, allowing several things to happen at

once. The Dispatcher can immediately contact our air ambulance provider, while the coordinator can assess the situation and get the appropriate physician or specialist on the line. Coordinating the whole process on one multi-party phone line replaces numerous calls, repeating the same information to various parties.

Reducing the time a community health practitioner has to spend on the phone allows them to focus on the patient. In urgent situations an air ambulance can be dispatched earlier and eliminate situations when medevac flights are delayed because of telephone reception issues in remote locations.

In addition to improved communication, faster response times and a reduced risk of error, all calls to Med-Response are recorded, providing a higher level of quality assurance.

Mr. Speaker, although the call centre officially opened today, staff have been testing scenarios and introducing the service since November 2014. While cost savings is not the primary goal of Med-Response, we are already seeing potential for efficiencies. In some situations immediate access to physician support has confirmed an air ambulance was not required. In other situations the call centre has been able to deploy air ambulance flights that are already en route to pick up another patient, thereby reducing the number of flights and turnaround time.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services and Stanton Territorial Hospital have put in place an evaluation framework so that we can monitor how Med-Response is improving the system and our services. In the future we see potential for broader application of this service. For example, the call centre may play a key role in supporting first responders or health practitioners in communities without resident nurses.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to conclude with a quote from a community health nurse who has already had the opportunity to use the Med-Response service. She says, “When it’s after hours and you’re all by yourself, Med-Response gives you more time to focus on the patient instead of stopping all the time to pick up the phone. It’s pretty efficient. You feel like the team is right there for you.”

I am proud of the work that has been done to make Med-Response a reality and of the exceptional

service the team at Stanton is already providing. Med-Response is one example of how working as a single system across the territory can help realize our vision of best health, best care, for a better future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Ms. Lea Lamoureux, principal of Kaw Tay Whee School in Detah, on being recognized as one of Canada’s outstanding principals for 2015.

She is the most recent in a long list of Northwest Territories recipients who have been recognized for their dedication and passion for teaching our students in the Northwest Territories.

The Learning Partnership recently announced Ms. Lamoureux as one of 40 exceptional educators from across Canada. Through her leadership, Kaw Tay Whee School is now a vibrant learning environment, connecting families and the community of Detah.

Ms. Lamoureux and her staff have built an active, inclusive environment in their school, where everyone strives to do their best. Ms. Lamoureux’s leadership, with the dedicated support of her staff and community, has resulted in library and classroom resources to support a balanced literacy program, and a new computer lab to help students develop reading, inquiry and writing skills, with 80 percent of students now reading at or above grade level.

They have brought a community elder into the school to work with students in the Weledeh language and to teach skills in traditional activities like beading, sewing, working with hide and drying fish. They established an Aboriginal Role Model Program that brings in authors, singers, naturopathic doctors and other professionals to promote career pathways and the importance of education. With her guidance, her students created a story in clay and turned it into a book called “Walking in Dettah,” in English and Weledeh. You can find this book at the Yellowknife Book Cellar.

She has gone beyond the walls of her school and reached out to her students’ families, and every family now has alarm clocks to support the “On Time by 9” initiative. There is a family literacy initiative in place, and every family with children under 12 has a family library based on the children’s ages, interests and reading levels.

She also reached out to the community and forged key partnerships, which raised over $400,000 for

resources and programming that focus on literacy, science and technology, active living and nutrition programming. She and her staff were successful in securing funding for a community playground.

Mr. Speaker, I visited Ms. Lamoureux’s school this past October. I saw a passionate educator, engaged students and an environment full of activity and energy. Lea Lamoureux personifies everything we are working on in the Education Renewal Initiative. Through this initiative, principals have critical roles in creating inspirational and healthy learning environments and they are key connections in the school-community relationship. Ms. Lamoureux intuitively understands that this is the way to create the best school and learning experiences for her students.

Ms. Lamoureux now has the opportunity to attend a five-day Executive Leadership Training Program delivered by the internationally renowned Rotman School of Management later this month. Once complete, she will join some 500 exceptional educators that comprise the National Academy of Canada’s Outstanding Principals.

Please join me in congratulating Ms. Lea Lamoureux and her dedication to her students, community, and excellence in education. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Deputy Premier, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod and the Honourable David Ramsay will be absent from the House today to attend the Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women National Round Table in Ottawa. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to raise an issue where grandparents have been denied caregiver status when their grandchildren have been apprehended by Social Services.

When this happens in our small communities, our children are sent to another community like Fort Simpson and fostered to homes there. They are usually never fostered in the home community with

which they are familiar, where they have close extended family and childhood friends.

Throughout Canada it is increasingly common that grandparents are raising their grandchildren. Here in the Northwest Territories when our Aboriginal children are apprehended, grandparents and extended family are never seen as a first choice in placement of the children. Our jurisdiction has the highest rate of child apprehensions in the country, and approximately 90 percent of the children who are in the child and family services system are Aboriginal.

For years the Social Programs committee of the Legislative Assembly has been calling for a less adversarial approach. The committee has called on the government to put into practice what the act already stipulates, the use of the least intrusive measures whenever possible. The committee has likewise been calling on the department to use a more collaborative approach in specific cases, like in a small community, social workers and courts might engage in non-adversarial outreach by meeting with the grandparents instead of apprehending the children and sending them to foster care in a larger centre. Social workers might then have discovered that the grandparents were accustomed to caring for their grandkids and, further, that grandparents were willing and able to serve as foster parents. Considerable upheaval and distress to the children could be prevented.

On another note, our child care legislation provides for and recognizes the Aboriginal custom adoption practices, a less legalistic procedure where parents give up their child to a family to love and care for as their own, even verbally. We should also design our child apprehension laws to the same effect, recognizing Aboriginal custom and involve grandparents and extended families a role in caring for their children in their communities, not apprehending them and carrying them off to another community, which is so reminiscent of the residential schooling system.

I will have questions for the Minister of Social Services during question period. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank you and all my colleagues in the House for the pinkness yesterday. Anything we as Members can do to raise awareness of bullying is a good thing.

There was significant activity in the Great Hall at noon yesterday. Some 120 students from four Yellowknife schools were here for an anti-bullying

event sponsored by the northern chapter of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Thank you to Jack Bourassa, Lorraine Hewlett, Mark Populous and other PSAC staff for once again organizing this event, and a huge thank you to the students and teachers from William McDonald, Weledeh, St. Joseph’s and J.H. Sissons schools for taking part in the event. Not like the flash mob that we had a couple of years ago, but well worth seeing and hearing.

Ecole St. Joseph’s School did a skit about bullying and introduced us to the Anti-Bully League. William McDonald School brought two classes. The grade sevens shared their thoughts and comments on bullying. The grade sixes shared personal stories about bullying. J.H. Sissons School spoke en Francais and asked questions to make us think about bullying. They also did a skit to illustrate bullying and an intervention. Weledeh School brought their Think Pink Gang. They added members to the gang by inducting three people at the rally. It was my honour and privilege to be one of those three who were inducted into the Pink Shirt Gang as an honorary member, along with Steve Daniels from Education, Culture and Employment and Constable Maury Sparvier of the RCMP.

Bullying gets more awareness than it used to, but it’s still a major problem in our schools, our workplaces, our sports arenas, our playgrounds and our seniors homes. As the kids said yesterday, more than once, it’s up to each one of us, no matter our age, to fight against bullying when we see it. Recognize it, speak about it, stop it.

Mr. Speaker, we as leaders must ensure we don’t model the slightest action that could be conceived as bullying. Think before you speak or act, and remember that each of us reacts differently to words or actions. We must not assume that what is okay for us is not bullying for someone else.

In closing I want to again thank the wonderful, creative, committed students who highlighted bullying yesterday and also thank the Public Service Alliance of Canada for organizing the event. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I would like to give encouragement and support to the young athletes in our small communities. Last weekend girls under 15 from Deline won the basketball championship in the Northwest Territories, and previous to that they won first place in Grande Prairie.

In the North we have some really great athletes, even in the large centres such as Yellowknife and

Hay River and in our small communities of Deline, Norman Wells and Colville Lake. However, I want to say how much we appreciate the young kids coming out in whatever type of conditions to do their best for the North and for their community. Even with Colville Lake, no school gym, but they come out and they come into Norman Wells or Tulita.

The young kids from Colville Lake marvel at the school gym in those small communities as much as the young kids coming from Deline come to Yellowknife and look at the facilities they have here and they marvel at that. Yet they try hard. A big thanks goes out to the teachers who put out the extra hours for activities to make it happen for their young students. That’s what we want to support.

I think the parents need to be congratulated for raising money to take kids outside our communities. It takes thousands and thousands of dollars to bring kids from the Sahtu to Yellowknife for soccer, basketball or volleyball. We have to say thank you to the parents and encourage them to continue on with this and to look at ways that we can continue to support our young students going to school and playing the sports so that one day they may be recognized. We have students now in the Canada Winter Games and slowly up to the level of the Olympics and professionals. We have done it and I’d like to continue to support the families and the schools in the small communities and make sure that our students get the best type of training ever. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This weekend about 130 athletes plus coaches and chaperones from 15 communities across the Northwest Territories, representing all regions, will be coming to Yellowknife and participating in the 3rd Annual Traditional Games championships.

The importance of these games goes beyond just the physical nature. It creates a social intelligence within these young athletes but also spiritual and cultural revitalization in terms of these students participating in games that their ancestors did for survival.

There’s going to be 80 events over at William McDonald this weekend, and I encourage all Members to go and show your support to your constituents and these young athletes who are coming in and participating in these games.

As I said, these games have helped in the revitalization of Arctic sports and Dene games throughout the Northwest Territories, but it goes beyond that. It shows that we’re sharing our

cultures, we’re bringing games from the Beaufort-Delta, sharing with people in the Deh Cho, in the South Slave and we’re taking games from the South Slave and sharing with people in all other regions. It’s just a really great time and it shows our traditions, our northern hospitality and our northern way of life.

I’d also like to take this opportunity just to thank the elders who carry these games and traditions and pass them on to our young coaches and young athletes so that they can continue to show these games and show our traditions and cultures to our next generation.

As I’ve always said, events like these could not be done without support. So I’d like to take this opportunity to give a sincere thank you and acknowledge the hard work, dedication and commitment of all the volunteers, coaches, officials and, most importantly, the Aboriginal Sport Circle that has been engaging our communities, who have been taking these games to all 33 communities, taking equipment in there and leaving the equipment in the communities so that the students can continue to practice these games.

Just before I finish here, I’d like to give a quick message to the athletes. This weekend just play fair, try your hardest, show sportsmanship, which is embodied in the games that you’re playing, but most of all I want the athletes and the young this weekend just to have fun. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In business when one is faced with limited cash flow and facing tough expense control, you look at your balance sheet to find ways to leverage your assets. In all cases, whether you’re in government or in business, you strive to isolate financial risk and look at the balance sheet of self-financing your paid service models.

One such asset and paid service model is our Yellowknife Airport, to which the current governance is in dire need of a shake-up. Mr. Speaker, let me explain.

The Yellowknife Airport is under the care and regulations of the GNWT. This entity is at financial risk to taxpayers and is not self-financing. In reality, it is bleeding money to the tune of over $2 million a year and this shortfall is picked up by the taxpayer. In this age of financial stewardship this is unacceptable, even for a government, and especially a government teetering on the edge of a financial cliff.

What is the solution? To turn this around one would have to consider the success of some key metrics of financial performance, customer service, safety and a longer term vision. One would have to consider maximizing the value for the shareholder and for the community in terms of its socio-economic returns. There needs to be the right balance, the right governance, the right owners, the right efficiency motivation and the right economic objectives, which today are severely lacking.

It goes without saying, no two airports are alike, and similarly, no two communities have identical objectives for their airport assets. But without a clear vision for the role of the Yellowknife Airport and our government’s inability to continue at the helm, the stakeholders suffer, the community suffers and the taxpayers suffer as well. This is not a winning combination.

I will have questions later today for the Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The former mayor and council in Fort McPherson were in the process of planning for a new arena for the community. Since then, a public administrator has been put in place to administer the services for the next three years. I am concerned that this major piece of infrastructure will be put on hold during this time.

A new arena is much needed in Fort McPherson, and I would like to propose that the public administrator begin consultation with the community to design a new arena for Fort McPherson.

I will have questions for the Minister later today.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had planned to talk about a health issue today and I think one just sort of overpowered me and I felt that I had to address it.

Overwhelmingly, I feel troubled with the way and the approach the Mental Health Act is presently taking today. Although I certainly, like every single one of my colleagues here both on this side of the House and the other side of the House, will welcome a new act to help address the problems that we all see today, there are ways we can help today.

The other day I was asking the Health Minister about trying to find another way. There is another

way. I’ve been doing research with support from our advice here and we can find a way to help people right now. There are options that are available. There are tools in our tool kit of legislative power to change the lives of others.

In speaking to the loved ones who have family members who are good people, but sometimes they get off their meds because they decide that they know what’s best. Even though all the medical advice and all the facts prove otherwise, they decide what they want to do. It leaves the hospitals and loved ones paralyzed while we watch the continued downward spiral of these people. The RCMP will say there’s nothing they can do because unless they break the law, cause a crime or hurt themselves, they must stand by. The system itself is part of the problem. The system is the Mental Health Act that we are dealing with today.

We’ve heard the Minister with the anticipation that maybe if everything lines up it may come in May, but we also know that this is very unlikely. We’ve heard the Health Minister say that he will probably be in a position to table the new Mental Health Act late in this Assembly, sometime in the fall. That means the new Assembly will be choosing the destiny, the direction the new Mental Health Act will be taking. It will be up to the 18th Assembly to get

immediately up to speed on these initiatives and to take some action. I can’t speak for the 18th Assembly. No one can until it’s in place to make its decisions going forward.

But as I said, there is another way. Through hard work and a bit of research provided to me, there has been inspiration and we’ve come up with a solution. We’ve come up with a small change to the present Mental Health Act to provide much respite needed by families.

We’ve seen a recent case where someone was not criminally responsible. Why? There are so many reasons why, but the fact is things can be done. All I want to say as my time runs out is there are options before us and I’ll be bringing this issue back up in the near future. There are ways we can help make a difference to these families and save lives today.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s with pride that I rise again today to announce that Buffalo Airways recently was awarded the best factual program or series at the Canadian Screen Awards.

As Mikey McBryan says, “Eighty-seven thousand fans can’t be wrong.”

I’d like to give a big shout out to Mikey McBryan for his hard work on the Ice Pilots series. We’re obviously disappointed that that series has come to an end, but we appreciate all of the exposure that the Northwest Territories got under that program.

We need to continue to support the film industry in the Northwest Territories. It’s a good economic driver; it’s a good tourism promotion thing for the Northwest Territories. We look forward to seeing some more awards coming, maybe through Mr. Andrew Stanley and Fur Harvesters of the Northwest Territories and many of the productions that are happening in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all can speak of our elders here in this House and today I’d like to send a hello out to Mrs. Helen Kinnison in Hay River. I think of her today as I was thinking of something that I could wear to match my jacket and I found the necklace and earrings that she made for me about 20 years ago, which are made out of fish bones from fish out of Great Slave Lake that are dyed and were put together in jewelry.

So I’d like to say hello to Helen today, and I’d also like to thank all of the amazing, talented artisans in the Northwest Territories who create so many beautiful things for us. Thank you

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulate the NWT Montessori Society on their 40th anniversary. The

society has been part of the Great Slave riding for many years, delivering a high quality Montessori Casa preschool program from the society’s location on 52nd Street.

Yesterday the society celebrated their 40th anniversary with festivities at their downtown and N.J. MacPherson locations. Students were treated to a surprise visit from a mock Maria Montessori, founder of the Montessori method, collected material from a time capsule and enjoyed a reception with cake and fruit.

The Montessori approach provides a carefully planned, stimulated learning environment that helps children develop a foundational habit, attitudes and

skills that are essential for a lifetime of creative thinking and learning. Since the original preschool program started in 1975 with only 24 preschool-aged students, the program has seen a lot of change.

Today the society has grown to 83 school-aged students at five Casa classes spread out between the downtown Yellowknife Montessori School and N.J. MacPherson School. As well, through a partnership with the Yellowknife Education District No. 1, Yellowknife families have the option of a free Montessori elementary program. This unique partnership provides families with an option not available in many other Canadian cities.

Forty years ago a group of dedicated parents, committed to the principles and philosophies of Dr. Marie Montessori, founded the NWT Montessori Society. The work of those first parents has been carried forward through the years by countless parents, volunteers and teachers.

I congratulate all of those involved, parents and staff for their many years of commitment to the education of the Yellowknife community. The NWT Montessori Society occupies an important place in the educational landscape of our community and I hope the society continues to serve Yellowknife families for at least another 40 years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a few members of the Department of Health and Social Services here today with us in the gallery and I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize them: Yves Panneton, who is the manager of our primary community and acute care services and a chief nursing officer; Erin Currie, the senior nurse practitioner consultant; Carolan Bennett, the senior nursing consultant; as well as Peter Workman, the health emergency planner.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to recognize the chair of the Montessori Society here in Yellowknife, Dave Wasylciw, as well as the executive director of the Montessori Society, Denise Araya. Thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of Pages from Inuvik Twin Lakes that have been working here all week: Dustin Smith and Chantel Schab, and they’ve been chaperoned by my constituency assistant, who I recognized the other day without

saying her name. My constituency assistant is Leah Ipana, who’s chaperoning them. We appreciate all the work that the Pages do during our time in session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two Pages from Hay River who have been working with us all week: Jeffry Lamoureux, “JJ”; and Lily Gail Warrington. I’d also like to recognize my constituency assistant, Myrtle Graham, who’s been their chaperon all week. Thank you very much. Welcome to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a former resident of Deline, Erin Currie, also a great nurse practitioner. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I’d like to welcome everybody in the public gallery here today. Welcome to the House and thank you for taking interest in our proceedings.

Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in 1996-97 Main Estimates the government said publicly about the Yellowknife Airport, “The department will explore, for the privatization of regulations, pursue privatization opportunities.” According to my research, it never happened. In 2002 the government is quoted in the Yellowknife Airport governance review, “We also suggested option seven, private sector third party, is not a practical option or alternative.” Again very little rationale was offered. In 2003 in a Yellowknife Airport Stakeholders Panel report to the Minister the quote was: “goal: to explore the viability at a macro level of alternative governance models for Yellowknife Airport.” Its recommendation was a task force to be formed, and even though the devolution of airports in Canada from government to independent authorities resulted in many success stories across Canada, nothing ever transpired for the NWT legal largest airport.

My question today is for the Minister of Transportation. In my preface for today’s oral questions I referenced only a handful of reports, reviews and consultant papers.

Mr. Speaker, if one was to go back 20 years on the governance and the operational review of the Yellowknife Airport, can the Minister inform the House how many of these reports, reviews and

consultant papers has his department undertaken? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. There have been several reports. There was an indication that there may have been seven reports done on airport governance but there may be more than that. There have been a few reports done since then. Thank you.

The Minister is actually correct. In fact, dialogues behind the scenes reveal that there were at least seven reports in the 20 years in terms of trying to find a solution to this problem. Which leads me to ask: On February 10, 2015, in a series of oral questions from the Member for Range Lake, the Minister made a number of statements that the Yellowknife Airport governance was identified to be reviewed yet again by this government. Can the Minister elaborate? Thank you.

HON. TOM BEAULIEU: The latest report was completed in March 2014. It looked at five similar types of airports as far as landings and passenger volumes go and because of their varying governance systems. We’ve looked at those five reports. We’ve now put an RFP out, which will close on March 2nd , to examine the various alternatives in

those five different airports to determine which governance structure we feel would be the best to move forward with the Yellowknife Airport. Thank you.

Again, on February 10, 2015, the Minister was quoted as saying, “We’re going to look at management options at the airport so we can review all the options.” Again I ask the Minister, can he clarify what specifically is going to be uncovered that has not already been done, at minimum, seven times before? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There would mainly be three options, alternatives that we would look at. We would look at a Crown corporation; we’re going to look at airport authority and even possibly using a GNWT revolving fund similar to the way we administer petroleum products.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, there’s a lot of foolishness in all the delaying and deferring that the Department of Transportation has undertaken in the last 20 years on this subject. Again, the Minister made reference to a report. He claims that was on March of 2014. A report that has never been tabled in this House, a report that is buried in the website of the Department of Transportation to which I haven’t been able to find, but I did get a copy from the department.

We also heard on February 20, 2014, the Minister saying, “We’ve hired a consultant to specifically look at these for consideration, probably by the next government.”

Can the Minister indicate why this government is sloughing this responsibility onto the backs of the 18th Assembly? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the volume at the Yellowknife Airport changes fairly regularly. Right now we have approximately 500,000 passengers moving through Yellowknife Airport on an annual basis. We are looking at that now. We are hoping to… The RFP will close. We’re going to do an evaluation. What I’m seeing, just by drawing a timeline from March 2nd for the evaluation, hiring

the actual consultant that’s going to be doing the work, I’m seeing that the results of that would likely be sitting on the desks of the 18th Assembly. We’re

not sloughing the responsibility, but we’re looking at the timeline.

I realize that right now it’s costing us about $2 million to run the airport annually. If we were to do one simple math to determine how we’re going to recover that, we’d just be passing that $2 million on to the passengers who are flying through Yellowknife Airport. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health. We haven’t had an update lately on doctor recruitment and how that’s going. I’m wondering if the department has any additional information to add on to how we are progressing with getting doctors in the North and into the smaller communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The recruitment and retention of physicians continues to be a challenge, but I think at this point in time we are actually doing fairly well. We have moved to a system where all the physicians are actually employees of one body rather than multiple bodies. This has actually given us some opportunities, because individuals can now have rights and access to Stanton even if they don’t happen to live in Yellowknife.

When we originally went to this one model, the expectation was that we’d be having physicians in Yellowknife who can actually provide services in other communities like Fort Smith or Hay River or any of the communities in the Sahtu and up the valley. What we have found is by having one system where all the doctors were part of one

system, we’ve actually been able to recruit doctors in places like Fort Smith and Inuvik because they are part of the system rather than independent bodies. So that was a happy surprise.

We continue to recruit on a regular basis, but at this point in Yellowknife we are pretty close to having a full complement of doctors. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have questions specific to Hay River and I’m wondering, because of Hay River’s special consideration of not being part of GNWT employees, if we’re having any difficulties in putting those doctors into Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Unless anything has changed in the last little while, my last update was that we actually did manage to get a permanent physician into Hay River. I will check with the department to confirm that. But the reality of being outside of the public service hasn’t interfered with this medical process in obtaining physicians.

My next question about the doctors is: Are we getting them to move to the Northwest Territories? Are they staying in the Northwest Territories? Are we still using a lot of the locums to come into the Northwest Territories and then go back to their home communities in southern Canada?

We actually have filled a large number of the physician positions on a permanent basis. But given that we do have a contract here in the Northwest Territories, those physicians who are resident here are entitled to education time and sick time as well as annual time. We want to make sure that we are continuing to provide services, so there is still a use of locums. But for the most part, in Yellowknife, in Hay River, in the Beaufort-Delta we’ve been able to get physicians in on a permanent basis. But until all positions are filled that way, we will continue to use some locums.

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

I guess the other question that I have about health and professionals is are there other positions that we are having difficulties filling, whether it’s any specialists in any of the communities or in Yellowknife that we’re having troubles filling?

I guess that would depend on the definition of trouble. Health professionals are a hard-to-recruit position. We continue to recruit on a regular basis, but for many of the allied health professions there is high turnover. We’re actually putting into force a strategic plan, a Health Human Resource Strategic Plan that is going to put in a number of mechanisms and tools to help us recruit and retain

health professionals across the Northwest Territories. But we keep at it, we keep staffing, we keep filling, but turnover is a reality that we do have to work with.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement when I spoke about grandparents having difficulty taking care of their grandchildren after a social services apprehension. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Our legislation recognizes our Aboriginal culture and customs with custom adoptions. Why can’t we do the same and recognize the rights of our grandparents and extended families who want to become involved when there is an apprehension?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A significant amount of work has been done around child and family services. The 16th Legislative Assembly did a comprehensive review where this exact question came up on a number of occasions. Also, the Auditor General recently brought forward a fairly scathing report of child and family services here in the Northwest Territories, and committee has been very, very, very active in articulating their concerns and their desire for significant change. As a result, we are moving forward with Building Stronger Families, an action plan to transform the child and family services system here in the Northwest Territories, and this is a fundamental change in how we do business here in the Northwest Territories.

Currently, we already have the ability to work with families in a case of apprehension, and our goal is not to take children away. If a child needs to be apprehended as a result of abuse-type situations, we would like to work with the families to keep them in the community. If we can’t keep them in the community, we want to work with the regions to keep them in the region; and if we can’t keep them in the region, obviously we will have to look at other locations possibly.

But in a foster family situation we do have the ability to work with elders to go through a foster application so that we can put children with their grandparents or other family members. It doesn’t need to just be their grandparents. There are some challenges with that because we still need people to pass the application process in order to legally ensure the security and safety of those children.

We are working on this. We are fundamentally changing the way we provide child and family services here in the Northwest Territories, and I am regularly keeping committee up to date on the important work that is being done in this area.

Certainly, I can appreciate some of the complications around being a foster home, but I think what the grandparents are telling me is that they are not a foster home, they are the actual grandparents and extended family. Having police record checks is kind of demeaning to them. That’s difficult to grapple with. I know that the Social Programs committee has done some good work the last term, but apparently it seems like the culture about apprehensions has not changed in Social Services to recognize the Aboriginal culture. I think the committee uses the least intrusive measures whenever possible.

So, I’d just like to ask the Minister, internally, what kind of direction is being given to social service workers when they’re considering apprehensions? Thank you.

Research has shown that in the Northwest Territories the vast majority of apprehensions that have existed to date have resulted as a result of neglect, as opposed to abuse, which is one of the reasons we’re going to a completely differential response of dealing with children in those abuse situations.

The new approach is supporting families, finding ways to support families so that we can actually keep the children with the families. If they do need counseling, if they need all these other types of supports, we’re going to be there to work with them to find solutions.

When it’s abuse, we still may need to be in a situation where we have to apprehend, which is where foster family comes in. I hear the Member’s concerns about families wanting to go through the process, but we do have an obligation to ensure that these children are protected once we’ve taken them away as a result of abuse.

Many of these changes are taking place as we speak and some of them may take a little longer than others. The differential response is going to take three to five years to fully roll out and test and make sure that it’s meeting the needs, but at the immediate time we are doing a number of things to ensure that the direction is being passed down to our staff.

As the Member knows, the assistant directors have been delegated in all seven authorities as associate directors under the act. We’ve updated our manuals. Those are going live right away. Later today I will actually be doing a notice of motion for first reading of bills on the Child and Family Services Act where we’re going to be making significant improvements to the act.

One of the changes that we’re making to the act is requiring that notification of applicable Aboriginal organizations of an apprehension order in respect to an Aboriginal child and providing for Aboriginal organizations to be party of an apprehension hearing, a child protection hearing and youth protection hearing.

We want to involve the people, we want to involve the communities and we want to involve the appropriate regional Aboriginal governments when we are faced with an actual apprehension.

Thank you very much. When apprehensions occur, usually it’s not the first time. They’re usually repeated events. I call upon the Minister to assess the procedures that ensure that grandparents and extended family members are involved in the process because usually there’s a plan of care indicated after the first apprehension.

Now, as well, perhaps the Minister can expand on the concepts of voluntary support services agreement as well as the extended family foster placement concepts as well as why it seems that this is not in place right now. Thank you.

There are 43 minutes on the clock and I’m pretty sure you don’t want me to use the entire 43 minutes. So what I’ll do is I’ll actually commit to get the Member a little bit of detail, because the question did actually contain a significant amount of detail. Needless to say, as we move forward with this differential response, we are about supporting families and putting mechanisms in to help families who are in a situation where their children may be in a neglect situation. Abuse situations will be different, but I’m happy to get all of that information, the binders, the information as well as a full briefing on that detail. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much. No, I didn’t want to precede the Minister’s Child and Family Services Act that’s going to also be taken on the road by our Social Programs committee. But at the same time, will the reassessment of this act also consider grandparents and extended families as we had discussed during question period here? Thank you.

The act may not focus specifically on grandparents and elders or other family members, but the actual application of building stronger families moving forward is focused on the families. It is focused on providing supports to the families in situations of neglect to help those families find the solutions to the root causes of that neglect. Therefore, we’ll be able to keep the children in our communities, in our regions and in their homes for as long as possible, hopefully, until they’re ready to go off to college or university.

This is the direction we’re taking, and like I said, I’m happy to share that information and have further discussions with committee as well as the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I spoke of the need for a new arena in Fort McPherson. As we have a public administrator in the community for the next three years, I can see this project being held back for up to five years.

Will the Minister direct the public administrator to begin consultation with the community to design a new arena that will meet the needs of the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that they just met recently in the community, the administrator and officials, on the capital plan. I haven’t had an update on that yet. This may be part of the capital plan, because I know it was in the works before the public administrator was put in place and they may continue to do the work. But I would have to confirm that and relay that information back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With the process, it needs to be known that if it’s the wish of the community, they can make adjustments to the capital budget in that process.

Once the new arena is developed, will the Minister ensure that the next step of construction is underway?

Obviously, we want to work with the community and bring some of the wishes of the community forward, but this was a plan that was already in the works, and we will continue to see if we can carry out the plan. Once we do that, our officials at the regional level would work with them on the design, best practices, efficiency and the whole thing of financing. We will work with them on that, then the decision will be made whether to bring this forward or not, or begin the actual construction. There are some issues with the existing one, so that would almost cause this one to be a priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Lands. There is currently work being done to develop a Recreational Land Lease Framework or policy, I think both at this point. It’s been ongoing for a while. I would like to ask some questions to the Minister about that policy.

First of all, I would like to know what this particular work is concentrating on. What is the focus on the work that’s being done? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back when MACA had Commissioner’s land, we had started the work on a recreational policy framework on the area that we had covered or that was under our jurisdiction. Since devolution we’ve become responsible for 940,000 square kilometres, I keep reminding everybody. So we had to expand on the work that we’re actually doing. We’ve completed work through the MACA rec lease and policy, but we’ve had to expand on the work. Again, it’s building on the work that we were already doing through the Recreational Leasing Policy Framework that we were doing through MACA. I’m going on a little too long. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll sit down.

Thanks to the Minister. I understand that we are doing this work, but I don’t understand the actual focus of the work. In developing this Recreational Land Lease Policy, what is the department focusing in on or what particular kind of use is the department focusing in on? As part of that, I’d like to ask the Minister what his definition of recreational use is. Thank you.

Recreational is one of the highest demands here in and around the city. We have a focus area that we have withdrawn from any further potential leases until we do all the work to be sure that these areas sustain further development. We don’t want to be crowding these recreational areas. A lot of folks put up a small cabin and then they want to go out there for quiet enjoyment. That’s my definition of recreational, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for the answer. From what I am hearing from the Minister and in general as people talk about the development of this policy, I’m hearing that it’s intended to regulate cabin use. It’s not living dwellings, but dwellings that are used on an irregular basis.

I’d like to know from the Minister, if land is required for a use other than cabin use or an itinerant dwelling, let’s say for a motocross track, and I have some constituents who are interested in doing that,

I’d like to know from the Minister if they were already using an already established site but it’s within this corridor we’ve identified or withdrawn down the Ingraham Trail, is that the same as what the Minister has described as a recreational use? Thank you.

In this particular case that area is withdrawn and we have made it known that we are not entertaining any leases on any of the areas that are withdrawn. This would, I suppose, qualify as a recreational area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It goes to the desire of this group to establish an area where people can go and use motocross-type vehicles to get them out of going into the bush, so they aren’t destroying land which we don’t want them to destroy. The land in question has previously been used as a track. There are not going to be any dwellings on there, so it’s not going to be near any water. There are no lakes close to that and it’s unlikely that it’s going to be a prime site for any kind of a cabin.

So, if the use of this particular site is agreed to by the Yellowknives Dene or the Akaitcho Government, the Aboriginal government within which area it occurs, would the Minister consider entertaining a land lease for this particular site? Thank you.

We will do our consultation with the Aboriginal governments and get their views known. Again, the particular piece of property that we’re discussing, once the interim withdrawal expires, then we would consider taking leases on this particular piece of property. The issue we’re facing is we have had a lot of concern from folks around the capital that they find that too many of the areas are overpopulated and that’s one of the reasons we are doing this work, is we want to identify, through the rec leasing framework that MACA did… There was a lake that we had identified that had some potential cabin sites on it. The public told us no, that wasn’t a good idea, so we backed away from that and didn’t earmark any of them for cabins. Once we do our consultations, then we will determine our next steps and keep all Members of the House informed of our progress going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of MACA. The athletes in the small communities are really doing well.

Based on the early TEST Olympic skiers program they had up in Inuvik, is there any type of pilot project considered within the department, along with a partnership, to look at a program that once worked well and developed Olympic athletes? Is there something like that within his department for the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We would like to see all of our young people in the small communities, or in all of the Northwest Territories pick up physical activities, sport being a good one. Through this government in the 16th and 15th Assemblies we’ve dedicated a lot

of funds to that effect, and we’re starting to see the results of it now. I talked about the Arctic Winter Games a couple years ago when we had 27 of the 33 communities represented by athletes, and I think that indicates a lot of the good work that some of our sporting partners are doing. The Aboriginal Sport Circle, Sport North, the Rec and Park Council, they’re delivering a lot of programs out to the communities with some financial support of this government. So, we’re starting to see the results of that now and we continue to try and build on that because we could potentially have the 2023 Canada Winter Games here in the capital and we’re looking forward to having our athletes compete and do well in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’m not too sure if I’m suggesting that we’re pulling away from the good work that the communities and the people in the North are doing. What I’m looking at is a concept, an idea that we focus on a group of athletes in the community that would measure them in the results of the home life, the school life, the athletic abilities, you know, moving them through the stages of their growth and their ability. Like TEST did one time, we could look at this one program. Whether it be volleyball or hand games or basketball or martial arts, that we have a group and we measure them and say this is a good program. It can be equivalent to the TEST program that we have something here to develop these students through grades 6, 7, 8, 9 to Grade 12. That’s what I’m looking at. I’m not too sure if the Minister is looking at something like that. Thank you.

It’s not something that we are looking at right now. I know one of our sporting partners might be looking at something along those lines. But our sporting partners do provide a lot of workshops and that in the communities. They identify potential up-and-comers. We have a number of programs within the department that supports. Once they get to a higher level we have the Elite Athlete Performance Grant and we’ve had a lot of uptake on that. We have a

lot of athletes competing and doing well. So, there are a number of programs that we offer.

Again, the concept is very good. One of the challenges that we may face with a lot of these potential high performance athletes is having to move them all into one centre, and there may be some opposition to that. But these are things that we can identify as we go forward. Because, as I said before, we do have the Canada Games potentially coming to the NWT in 2023 and we want to make sure our athletes are ready to compete in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

MR. YAKELEYA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I always thought this would be a good concept to consider given that the limitations of some of our small communities and that we have to do without facilities such as the larger centres, that would help our athletes move into another level of category of their sporting abilities. I thought that something like this would be good for our small communities. For example, even with the youth hand games, the kids get really excited going to other schools to play hand games, and this way you keep them in school and keep them moving forward.

So, I just want to ask the Minister, is that something that could be considered and maybe flushed out over the couple months that we have here?

We need to take all these into consideration because, at the end of the day, getting our kids active is most important first of all. We have a number of active after-school programs that we support. We have, as Member Moses spoke to today, the Traditional Games championships going on here in the capital for the next couple days and it’s a great opportunity for, as the Member said, a lot of kids from communities getting together, trying out the games of other cultures. I’ve had the opportunity to go there a couple times and they enjoy that. They’re actually quite competitive.

Getting our kids active is the first step. Identifying potential athletes that might want to move on to the next level would be another step. Again, our sporting partners work very closely in identifying a lot of those young athletes that have potential, and we try to develop them. Again, I mean, this is something that we need to take into consideration going forward because, I think, as we’ve seen from the Yukon model, they have some great training opportunities over there. We’ve seen it in the Canada Games. I think they got a couple of gold medals, silver and two bronze medals. Actually, one of the golds was won, as Mr. Blake said, by somebody from Fort McPherson, so we’ll take some of the credit for that.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know there’s a high cost when we’re paying some of our utilities within our residences as well as commercial with the businesses. Today I have questions for the Minister of Finance in terms of our Net Metering Program. I know I’ve brought it up before. We hear Members’ and Ministers’ statements about we want to diversify our economy, support small business, support people in the communities.

I want to ask the Minister of Finance, with our five kilowatt cap that we currently have within our Net Metering Program, has that been reviewed and looked at so it allows people an incentive, such as businesses who would like to install solar panels into their communities to cut down on the costs that they incur over the winter months and be able to utilize it during the summer?

Can I ask the Minister, will that policy be reviewed so the kilowatt cap actually increases?

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That cap has been removed.

If the cap has been removed, how has that been made aware to the people, residents and commercial businesses fin the Northwest Territories that that cap has, in fact, been removed so that they can go ahead and move forward into looking at creating some solar?

That program is handled through the Power Corporation, and they’ve been taking care of the communications. If there are specific concerns from the Member, then I would be happy to talk to them about what may be needed to be done extra to ensure that those concerns could be addressed.

In terms of this initiative and the kilowatt cap and that being removed, we also have this Energy Efficiency Incentive Program. I was wondering if the Minister would look at seeing if there are any dollars that can go into that program to create more incentives for businesses and residents to take this initiative and this program into their own dwellings and businesses.

The energy programs have been consolidated in Public Works and Services including those incentive programs. Those incentive programs are funded. There are different types of programs for energy-efficient appliances, for assistance with installation of solar and other alternative energy sources, so that opportunity currently exists in those programs and

will now be handled by Public Works and Services and the Minister of Public Works and Services.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in Committee of the Whole it was discussed about the fuel barrels left throughout the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, does the department know how many barrels there are? I’m not speaking to every single barrel, but I’m speaking to the large volume of how barrels we estimate are out there and the general location of the larger cache of barrels. I mean, we can always understand there will be one or two here and there, and those are difficult to track unless you stumble upon them.

I guess the question is: How many barrels do we estimate are out there and do we have the rough location as to where these environmental liabilities are out there?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thousands, Mr. Speaker, and they would be invariably in areas where there were old abandoned sites either for exploration or some type of small mining venture from the days of yore, but a lot of it tied to exploration sites.

What is the plan of Environment and Natural Resources to address this environmental liability that has been left on the people of the Northwest Territories to carry this burden and to be financially responsible for it? In other words, does the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have any type of plan in place or plan for the future to address this liability of these fuel barrels sitting there on the land?

The issue has been flagged. It’s on our to-do list. We’ve been using the resources and capacity that we do have to look at the full rollout of our electronic waste recycling in addition to all of the other recycling programs that we’ve come into in the last few years. The barrel one, one raised in the House, as well, by the Member for Sahtu, for example, for the vehicles that have been abandoned are all things on our list that we intend to get to but not any time in the life of this government.

Well, that’s okay if the government doesn’t intend to get to it because they’re either not interested or too busy, but I’m not

uninterested, and I’m certainly not too busy to bring up good ideas for the department to get to work on.

As such, would it not make sense for the government to consider putting a bit of fee, a reward or a bit of bounty on every one of these barrels?

By way of example, and I know the Minister likes examples, so for example, if we put a $100 fee or reward or return price on every one of those barrels, we could fund that out of our environmental recycling fund. That way we could help clean up some of this environmental liability and at that same time we get Northerners involved in this process cleaning up the land. It would be a way to do this with the department not having any plan at this point.

I would be happy to concur with the Member that he is a fountain of good ideas. We are 270 days left until the next election. We have our to-do lists, work lists that are fully subscribed to. We are working to implement all those plus some others that have been added on over the course of the last year or so.

The Member raises a very legitimate, good issue. The issue of putting a fee, a recovery fee on each barrel is there. It’s a question of the resources and the time. We have an Environment Fund that is being used and managed carefully to do all the things that currently are in place. To start taking out significant sums of money at this point without a clearly thought out plan would not be the wise use of those funds.

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

First off I want to say, I dare not argue with the Minister’s keen eye and good observation of the assessment of the work being done here. I certainly like to agree when he’s right.

My final question is: Would the Minister be willing to devote a bit of time and policy development in his department to take some assessment of this particular potential? We have people travelling on the land in different forms, be it on the lakes and rivers through their boats, be it on skidoos and other modes of transportation, and what a great way to reward people on their long trips out on the land by putting a little money in their pocket. Say, $100 a barrel. They could be bringing them back and we could be doing a good thing. All I’m asking for is a little policy development.

Would the Minister task the department to at least flesh out the idea to see the merits behind it?

I was making the comments about the Member being a fountain of good ideas because we all know he tends to hide his light under a bushel and he’s very self-

deprecating and humble, so I wanted to give him that little bit of promotion to help with his battered self-image.

So I will add that to the list that I have as I meet regularly with ENR and we will give it the consideration it deserves. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to continue my questions with the Minister of Transportation on my topic today, which is the Yellowknife Airport.

Clearly today, we’ve heard 20 years of a government of complacency. We’ve heard about a government of perpetual planning where the guiding principles of “delay, defer and defuse” I believe are alive and well in this government and a government that is much okay with losing $2 million a year.

Given that the Yellowknife Airport is bleeding, as I said, to the tune of $2 million annually, can the Minister inform the house what are the short- and long-term strategies to financially balance the shortfall so that it’s not on the backs of the taxpayer? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.