Mr. Speaker, I don't believe the meeting will be public because we will be discussing certain confidential information that would not be appropriate to share with the public. There are, however, many of the issues around this incident that are already known. I can advise this House that the report, which was quite comprehensive, found that the escapee acted alone, he exploited a gap in the physical security of the building to access the roof of the building; the number of correctional officers on site at the point of escape was appropriate, and proper procedures were being followed at the time of the escape; the area used to access the roof was one the inmates had been using for the past 12 years, since the opening of the facility, without incident. Proper emergency procedures to address the escape were immediately implemented and no changes to those procedures are required.

Mr. Speaker, did this comprehensive review take into account any additional security concerns related to the neighbourhoods in my riding of Kam Lake close to the correctional facility? Was there an assessment done on potential security issues related to the close proximity of neighbourhoods with a correctional facility?

Mr. Speaker, I don't have the report, pardon me. I think the report mainly looked at the institute itself, the walls, the roofs, and so on. Obviously, we are aware that the facility is in the middle of an urban area, so that would be an ongoing concern. I'm not sure if it was addressed specifically in the report, but I can advise this House that we are very aware of the location of this facility, of the possible dangers to the neighbourhood.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Mr. Speaker, has the Minister spoken to frontline staff or personally toured the facility to see their daily experiences and the challenges they face and, if not, will the Minister commit to do that so he gets a good sense of what our peace officers go through in their daily lives?

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I did have the opportunity some months ago to go on a visit to the facility. I had been there many times in my former capacity as a defence lawyer. I do not speak to, and I don't think it would be appropriate for me to speak to the individual workers there with respect to this incident.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the last meeting that we had with the federal/provincial/territorial Ministers we had strongly advocated for Northern consideration within the national housing plan. The result of that meeting is that the federal government is going to do a Northern Strategy, so that meeting was very successful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister when the Northern Strategy would come into effect and if there's any money associated with the Northern Strategy insofar as money from the GNWT or money from the federal government? Thank you.

I cannot say exactly if there will be any money or when there will be money. It is hopeful that there will be money, but until the federal government releases that, we don't know. I will be meeting again at the end of this month, with them again, advocating for a northern strategy, and as soon as I find out then I can bring the results back.

Mr. Speaker, our mandate is not incumbent upon money from the federal government as far as the Aging in Place goes. I'd like to ask the Minister if there has been any budgetary discussions pertaining to a program that will allow seniors to age in place?

There's actually quite a bit that we're doing to assist seniors to age in place. So there are many programs; we have a CARE Major program that will do major renovations such as ramps up to their buildings, et cetera; we have CARE Minor; that'll do small programs, and then we have the preventative maintenance that we do every year that goes in and looks and tries to just nip it in the bud and make sure that their houses are in sustainable shape so that we're not looking at extended renovations.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I spoke about the deterrents that were associated with a lot of the programs NWT Housing Corporation is delivering, deterrents that make the seniors apprehensive to apply for the programs that are in place. Has the Minister had a discussion with staff or with Cabinet on features that might be added to a program that specifically looks at allowing seniors to age in place in their communities without a lot of the deterrents? Right now, those individuals are not applying for the programs for various reasons. So I'd like to see if the Minister has really focused in on trying to allow the seniors to age in place without a lot of the deterrents that I spoke of in my Members statement. Thank you.

It is a mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly and we do take the mandate very seriously. I think that all Members actually have a serious concern for our elders and a respect for them and want to promote them to stay in their own communities. So we're doing a number of things. Actually, one, prior to the engagement survey, that we're asking every person in public housing, every person that is taking part in housing programs, what's working, what's not working, what they want to see, so I'm taking that very seriously. Once that's received, we'll be going through every single policy, every single program that Housing provides so that we can alleviate as many barriers as possible for people.

The other thing specifically that we're doing right now actually for seniors is since September and ongoing until the end of November we've made a commitment, and we're going into every single community and we're reaching out to seniors specifically to tell them about the programs that we have to assist them in understanding what they are eligible for and to try to identify any barriers that they have. So we're taking our commitment very seriously and we are going into every single community as of now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. In my statement I made reference to SEED funding in the amount of $21.5 million that were distributed to all 33 communities in 2014 and 2015. The question that I have for the Minister is how are grants and contributions monitored to ensure they are used for their intended purpose? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to inform the Member that ITI, who currently distributes SEED, is reviewing the outcomes and effectiveness of the program and the delivery of seed programs, and this is something that we'll be hopefully finishing up by the end of this fiscal year and be able to present to the standing committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Could the Minister state in terms of committee and this side of the House, in terms of how it is that perhaps the review's been done, whether there's a scope of a terms of reference or a framework in terms of just how detailed perhaps the report could be developed in terms of accounting for that amount of money from that year, but also perhaps for the past fiscal year?

I can't answer that question in detail, I'd have to get back to you exactly how we're doing the review. But what I can say is we are completing it. As I said, the SEED policy and programs is expected to be completed this fiscal year, and we will be tabling it with the Committee as soon as that's possible.

From start to successful stage in terms of deriving profit from perhaps a business venture, what are we doing to help small businesses become self-sustaining? Mahsi.