Key Audit Findings
Overall, the Auditor General found that MACA did not do enough to help community governments improve their delivery of some essential services. The audit found that while MACA had some information on the essential services provided by some community governments, it did not adequately support community governments in providing key essential services in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements. The Auditor General noted that this lack of support means that communities were put at risk as a result of inadequate essential services.
Additionally, the audit found that MACA did not take adequate action to mitigate risks associated with essential service delivery in designated authority communities.
The audit found that MACA's support to community governments was inadequate to help mitigate risks in the key essential service areas of waste management, emergency preparedness planning, and fire protection services. However, its support to communities to help maintain safe drinking water was adequate.
In his report, and in the public review held by the Standing Committee, the Auditor General noted that MACA's role with respect to community governments had fundamentally changed as a result of the 2007 New Deal, but that the department had not fully stepped into its new role of providing support to community governments and, in particular, ensuring that community governments fulfil their statutory and legal requirements.
The Auditor General had positive comments on the value of the NWT Community Government Accountability Framework as a planning tool, noting that it significantly advanced accountability and transparency by requiring annual reports from community governments on essential service delivery. However, the audit also pointed out that the Accountability Framework did not require enough quality information from communities to allow MACA to determine if its support was aligned with community needs and, further, that MACA did not use other available mechanisms to fill the information gap.
Finally, the audit found that the department's School of Community Government offered a range of training to community governments. However, some of the school's courses were neither kept up-to-date nor periodically reviewed to ensure they were meeting the needs of participants.
Audit Recommendations
The report contains 11 recommendations related to support for essential services in communities and two recommendations related to capacity development for community governments. These are summarized below. Please note that the numbers in brackets signify the paragraph number of the recommendation as it is contained in the Auditor General's report.
Under the heading of support for essential services in communities, the Auditor General's report makes the following recommendations:
1. (Paragraph 41) MACA should formally assess information gaps related to water quality testing and work with Health and Social Services to identify and provide communities with support needed to comply with water testing requirements. It should also work with community governments to ensure that all water treatment plant operators get the training needed to become certified.
2. (Paragraph 53) In consultation with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, MACA should work with community governments to help identify and provide the necessary support and capacity building needed so they can comply with regulatory and other waste management requirements, including compliance with water licence requirements regulating the management of solid waste sites and sewage lagoons, and proper handling and disposal of hazardous waste.
3. (Paragraph 63) MACA should take immediate action to reassess whether communities with fire departments meet Safety Act requirements and assist those that do not to become compliant. For those without fire departments, MACA should assist in developing strategies for fire safety.
4. (Paragraph 69) MACA should provide the supports necessary for all communities to have current emergency plans and training to implement these plans.
5. (Paragraph 80) MACA should regularly review, and modify as required, the wording of the questions in the NWT Community Government Accountability Framework (the "Accountability Framework") to ensure community governments can correctly answer them.
6. (Paragraph 81) MACA should develop clear guidelines for community government officials to complete, and department officials to assess, performance indicator checklists in the Accountability Framework, including the criteria for each question and how to respond properly.
7. (Paragraph 86) MACA should develop a strategy to develop the accuracy of information provided by community governments under the Accountability Framework to support meaningful engagement with community governments on required supports and foster accurate departmental decision-making.
8. (Paragraph 95) MACA should identify standard performance information for essential services that could be required under contribution agreements. It should also develop a risk-based approach to identifying those higher-risk communities for which more frequent information should be provided.
9. (Paragraph 99) MACA should review its contribution agreements and the Accountability Framework with a view to using them more thoroughly to facilitate ongoing engagement with community governments to achieve the timely support needed for essential services. MACA should also continue to develop tools for identifying and collecting information critical to community government support.
10. (Paragraph 109) MACA's contribution agreements with designated authorities should include provisions related to the provision of essential services funded by MACA, which would allow the department to collect required performance information and take corrective action where these essential services are at risk.
11. (Paragraph 112) MACA should consult with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to determine how the two organizations could work more effectively together to strengthen community governance by designated authorities.
Under the heading of capacity development for community governments, the Auditor General's report makes the following recommendations:
1. (Paragraph 128) MACA should formally assess how it identifies training needs, and the suite of courses offered, to ensure it is helping community governments develop the capacity required to deliver essential services.
2. (Paragraph 129) MACA should explore the use of distance education and partnership opportunities with other organizations to maximize program delivery.
The standing committee endorses all of the recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General and recommends that the department ensure they are implemented in a timely manner.
Further detailed observations and recommendations made by the Standing Committee are provided below in the context of the standing committee's analysis of the department's response to the Auditor General's report.
Recommendation 1
The Standing Committee on Government Operations endorses the 13 recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General in its report and recommends that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs take the steps necessary to ensure that all recommendations are implemented in a timely manner.
Audit Conclusion
The Office of the Auditor General concluded:
…that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs did not adequately support community governments' delivery of the essential services it funded. Although the department monitored community governments' provision of some essential services to residents, it did not adequately assist community governments to help ensure essential services were provided in accordance with requirements. [The Audit] found that risks remained in delivering these services and that the Department's actions to mitigate these risks in many cases were not sufficient.
The Auditor General went on to note that while community governments are responsible for the delivery of essential services to their residents, MACA must adequately monitor and support them and assist them to manage the risks associated with inadequate service delivery.
Department of Municipal and Community Affairs’ Action Plan for Improving Support to Community Governments in the Northwest Territories
The standing committee is pleased to see that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs accepted all of the recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General. The department prepared an Action Plan for Improving Support to Community Governments in the Northwest Territories (Action Plan) in which it identifies the actions it proposes to implement the Auditor General's recommendations. The standing committee has considered the contents of this document and offers the following assessment and recommendations, based on the content of the action plan and the Auditor General's observations and advice to the standing committee.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to hand the reading of this report off to the honourable Member for Sahtu.