Can the Minister give the reason in terms of the delay and the nature of the deficiencies? Mahsi.

I am not aware of the specific deficiencies, but I understand there were some life safety-related issues with respect to the facility. The contractor is working on those and we expect them to be done shortly, well before the March 31st contract close date. But for specific details, it might be better to go to the Minister responsible for Public Works and Services who is responsible for the build of this facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Can the Minister confirm whether the cost of the building exceeded the $11 million target? Mahsi.

Thanks to my conversations with the Department of Public Works and Services, it is my understanding at this time that we are on time and on budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister update this House in terms of the discussions with the local community as to the fate of the old health centre? Mahsi.

There have been discussions with the community ongoing, but as far as the most recent round of discussions with respect to the opening, I will have to confirm that information with the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority. I will commit to the Member to get him an update as quickly as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I would like to follow up on his statement from today about Aboriginal language programs and progress. The Minister mentioned it his statement that the GNWT invests $15 million each year to support and promote Aboriginal languages. One of those is to build the capacity of Aboriginal governments to implement their five-year regional language plans. I support that change. It is a change in the approach from the department. It’s an investment in language and it’s one that’s needed, so I support it.

I would like to first ask the Minister, of the $15 million that Education puts into language programming, how much of that goes to the Aboriginal governments for their five-year language plans? Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. On an annual basis we provide $15 million to Aboriginal language organizations. It does vary to various organizations within the communities and Aboriginal governments. I highlighted some of the key factors, I believe it was last week. Approximately $15.127 million: $8.4 million goes directly to education authorities; $6.2 million is split between Aboriginal governments and the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat; we provide the breakdown to the DECs that I can share with the Member, a breakdown of $3.2 million investment captures teaching and learning centres, Aboriginal Languages Program support, Aboriginal languages culture instructor support; broadcasting, terminology and, as I stated in my Member’s statement, language acquisition initiative, cultural, heritage. That is money going directly to the organizations, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Maybe I got lost in the numbers there, but I don’t think I heard the Minister tell me how much of the $15 million is going to the Aboriginal governments for their regional language plans.

This is public money. It’s coming from taxpayers. It’s coming from the GNWT. So I feel that the Legislative Assembly has to be accountable for this money that is going to Aboriginal governments and that we need to be accountable for all the money that we distribute.

So, I’d like to know from the Minister, is there a system in place between the GNWT, his department and Aboriginal governments to account for both the money that they are receiving and the results, in terms of language that is happening or not happening, relative to this money that we’re giving them? Thank you.

Yes, indeed there is. There has to be strict accountability when we provide public funding to any organizations in the Northwest Territories, not only Aboriginal governments or Aboriginal organizations. The organizations that we deal with, we want them to be accountable, whether it be reporting mechanisms, how the money is expended. There is monitoring, evaluating and also accountability, MEA that is currently in place with Aboriginal governments and Aboriginal organizations and other organizations, as well, throughout the Northwest Territories. It is an accountability mechanism that’s in play now. So, we follow through with those organizations with monitoring, evaluating and accountability reports. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister. So, I’d like to know from the Minister, then, I presume monitoring and evaluation and accountability will produce a report. I think he mentioned a report at the end of his answer there. So, these reports presumably would go to the department. I’d like to know if the reports will also go to committee and to the public so that the Members and the public will know how their taxpayer money is being used. Thank you.

When we received the reports, obviously it’s public money so it is a public document as well. Most of the information that we receive is also on our website. Through the monitoring, evaluation and accountability we make sure that everything’s accounted for. Any time that the standing committee requests a public document, we’d be more than happy to share that with the standing committee, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

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

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I guess I would say, it would be nice if committee didn’t always have to request a document, but if a document is being publicly posted, it would be nice if the Minister advised committee that it was there so we could go and look at it.

I know that this is the beginning of these regional language plans with Aboriginal governments so it’s fairly new, but I’d like to know from the Minister, apart from these monitoring, evaluation and accountability reports or plans or whatever it’s called, a framework, how is the Minister going to assess success of the program.

What will he be looking at to determine whether or not the money that we’re spending on language is actually increasing the use of language and broadening our Aboriginal languages across the territory? Thank you.

Obviously, seeing the results, strengthening our working relations with our partners at the regional level, the stakeholders that we work with, obviously the success will depend on each group. So we’re doing what we can as a department to work with them. But at the end of the day, it’s just the results through monitoring, evaluation and accountability that will be in play with the Aboriginal governments, with the Aboriginal organizations and other organizations in the Northwest Territories. The communities need to determine their success as well. So, we’ll be monitoring that as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don’t have legislation, as far as I’m aware of, that dictates or requires us to put money into health promotion. But as the Member knows, we have increased the number of dollars that we have put into promotion and prevention here in the Northwest Territories during the life of this Assembly significantly, and we’re always looking to work with partners to find ways to create awareness and encourage healthy living for all residents in the Northwest Territories by way of prevention and promotion. Thank you.

I agree with the Minister in terms of putting more dollars into prevention and promotion, and we are slowly seeing some of the results with the health status reports and what we’re hearing in the communities.

I know in Ontario, Ontario has a Health Protection and Promotion Act. Would the Minister be looking at this legislation and looking at possibly seeing if it’s something that this government might want to look into and possibly put into documents going into the 18th Assembly? Thank you.

I’m, unfortunately, not aware of the particular legislation that the Member is talking about, but it is an interesting idea and I’ll certainly have the department take a look at the legislation and provide me with a bit of an overview of what it is and how it works within that jurisdiction.

As far as moving forward, I’ll share the information I get with committee, and if it’s the wish of committee, we’re certainly willing to have those discussions. Thank you.