Masi. Members’ statements. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I must raise an issue brought to me by one of my constituents. In my riding of the Deh Cho there is a need for fuel subsidy for those with disabilities. For a bit of background, a program like this is already in place for elders and seniors. The Senior Home Heating Subsidy helps low-income seniors heat their homes, providing access to wood, oil, propane, gas, and/or electricity. But like many seniors, many people with disabilities live on fixed incomes. If they are approved by income assistance, they may be able to access a monthly disability allowance and incidental allowance. But in the cold winters that Northerners face every year, that may not be enough. Other jurisdictions use similar heating programs to support their residents. In Nova Scotia, low-income individuals and families can access home heating rebate programs, while in British Columbia disabled residents can access a vehicle fuel tax refund. These jurisdictions have responded to the needs of their people. The Northwest Territories must do the same.

In the government's mandate, we have committed to ensuring effective supports and programs are in place for persons with disabilities, and when we met in this House in March we urged the Government to create a five-year action plan to address the needs of the disabled community. Right now, the Department of Health and Social Services is working with other GNWT departments to make an inventory of all GNWT supports available to people with disabilities. I recommend that further review and discussion of this issue be part of that process. I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment at the appropriate time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members’ statements. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to talk about Northern Transportation Company Limited. NTCL is Northern Canada's oldest Arctic marine operator, and among Canada's largest barging companies. Since 1934 NTCL has provided reliable and critical marine transportation services to communities and resource exploration projects along the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories and across the Western Arctic, from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and as far east as Taloyoak in Nunavut. Services to Taloyoak have been recently terminated due to the financial constraint of the company.

The core business of NTCL is cargo transportation. In five short months every year, from June to October, NTCL has moved millions of tons of cargo in our seven and a half decades serving Northerners, and are as much a fixture of northern summer life as 24-hour sunshine. However in the eyes of many Northerners this may not be the case. The people of the Arctic, the Inuvialuit and the Inuit, are customers, owners, and after decades of delivering sealift cargo since 1985, NTCL has been a 100 per cent Inuit owned company, and is a founding member of the NorTerra group of companies. NorTerra is owned by the Inuvialuit Development Corporation of the Western Arctic on behalf of the Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic and the Inuit of Nunavut. The department has reached out to other potential supply and transportation providers and is confident that the new contracts will meet the resupply needs of the Petroleum Products Program and to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, my region of Nunakput relies heavily on petroleum products and dry goods delivered to the communities, and later on I will have questions to the Minister of Public Works. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Item 4, return to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to recognize a constituent of Yellowknife South, Gayla Thunstrom. I think I got it right today. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a couple of Pages from the Yellowknife North riding. I would like to recognize Aisling Dunn and Riley Menard, and thank all the Pages for the incredible work they do for us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to take a moment to recognize Marie Buchanan. Marie is a constituent of Range Lake, but she is also a nurse practitioner and spent many years within the North travelling to different communities and is a real value to the Northwest Territories. Thank you for being here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Ms. Crystal Lennie to the House today and take in our proceedings. I believe she's been regularly coming to Yellowknife to take her management and leadership courses and I wish her the best of luck in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize Marie Buchanan who helped with the birthing of either our son or daughter. It's over 20 years ago and I can't remember which one, but she was there and helped very much, and I appreciate her efforts as a nurse in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed those in the gallery, welcome. Thanks for being here with us. It's always nice to have an audience in the gallery. Masi. Item 6, acknowledgements. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to acknowledge a young lady named Haley Cassie who is participating in the current annual track and field competition in Hay River on behalf of her school, the Mackenzie Mountain School in Norman Wells. Mr. Speaker, just yesterday Haley broke the record running the 1800-metre track. No one has broken that record since 2002. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Sahtu region, I would like to congratulate her, her family, her colleagues, her friends, teachers, coach, community, on her success and wishing all the competitors at the function or event and from the Sahtu an enjoyable event. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, as you heard in my Member's Statement, community capacity is important. During my last constituency tour, a number of concerns were raised about Municipal and Community Affairs' role in this area. I would like to ask the Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs if he can explain the role his department has in regard to working with communities in regard to capacity building. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA has a different relationship with the local band government than we would have with other governments. Other governments fall under the legislation that defines authority and roles and responsibilities. Local band governments fall under the authority of the federal Indian Act and are the responsibility of the Indian and Northern Development Canada, or INAC. We have nine local band governments in the Northwest Territories, and MACA has a financial agreement with them to deliver municipal services. Beyond these agreements we really have no authority over their governance or their operations in their community. We work closely with INAC and, if there are areas that need to be improved within the Band, then we will try to work with the band to help improve some of the areas and help them build capacity as well.

I thank the Member for his answer. Can the Minister please explain how his department works with Dehcho First Nations to help band communities in the Nahendeh riding to ensure the bands are successful in their operations?

MACA has no relationship with the Dehcho First Nations as to the operations of the band within their area. We work directly with INAC, or we will work closely with the local band governments as it relates to the municipal-type services or responsibility that we have an agreement with them to deliver.

Again, I'd like to thank the Minister for his answer. In the past, we've heard about an accountability framework and how it is important to help communities out. Can the Minister please explain how this tool is used to help the communities to achieve success without the government stepping in or entering into a co-management relationship?

We would like to think that the accountability framework tool has been a very valuable tool for not only our department but for community governments as well. It allows us the opportunity to identify any issues that are small before they become big issues and work with the communities to try and resolve these issues. Before we had the accountability framework, unfortunately we ran into a few situations where communities had run into some difficulties and we had to step in later. With the new accountability framework, we believe we have the tools in place to respond to any small issues before they become a big issue, and we have to possibly go in there and co-manage with the community.