Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Diversifying our economy was one of the priorities identified within this Legislative Assembly, and so it is important that municipalities also look at diversifying their economies, as well. Tourism is a great opportunity within the Northwest Territories, as proven by our capital city and the City of Yellowknife, so I would recommend that all municipalities, towns, et cetera, contact the department of Industry, Tourism and Investment to find out what programs and services they have that they can actually access to support tourism within their municipalities.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Yesterday, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources made a statement about arsenic monitoring in the Yellowknife area and how our government would improve coordination of its responses. This is good news and is a helpful response to concerns I raised earlier in this sitting. While it is good to hear that ENR staff have begun monitoring Kam Lake and Grace Lake, look around. Yellowknife is surrounded by small lakes. What plans does his department have for a systematic approach to sampling most if not all the lakes around Yellowknife, and would this include speciation to detect more harmful forms of arsenic? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said the other day, we have been conducting some sampling in Great Slave and the Yellowknife River, and we have also sampled some of the lakes. I mentioned Kam Lake, Grace Lake. We plan on sampling them again this summer. ENR, what we are doing is we are compiling some water quality information from water bodies in the Yellowknife area because there are a number of other governments, industry, and academics who have collected water samples, so what we are doing is we are working with them to compile all that information. If there are some lakes there that need to be sampled, then we can look at that, but I think step number one is to see what information we have from all the lakes and all the studies that have been going around the capital, and put that information together, and then decide on our next steps from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for that response. I agree that a good first step is to compile what is out there. I am hoping that, in compiling that, we also look at speciation or the different forms of arsenic. Some are toxic and some are far less toxic. Sampling water in lakes is a good start, but we also need to think about sampling of sediments, soils, and fish. Does the Minister have any plans for a systematic sampling of sediments, soils, and fish around Yellowknife for arsenic in its various forms?

The quick answer is "yes," and I will explain. We are collaborating with the University of Alberta to study metals in large-bodied fish, including arsenic, from several high use and potentially impacted lakes in and around the Yellowknife area. We have taken some sampling in March of 2016 on Kam, Grace, Long, and Upper Martin Lakes, and it will occur during 2017 at Walsh and Banting Lakes. Existing sediment, soil, and fish data is also being compiled in the Yellowknife area. There are many entities, as the Member mentioned. Like the other governments, industries, and academics who have collected this type of information, again, we will work with those entities to compile a list of all the lakes that have been studied. If there are some that still need to be looked at, we can look at undertaking that.

Thank you again to the Minister. It sounds like all of this information is going to get pulled together, and that is a good start. Of course, we have to also think about how this information is going to be shared with the public. Will the results on any health implications be simply posted on a website somewhere? What is the plan to make this information available to the public?

As our information sharing protocol has improved, the reports and all information collected by ENR, we will share them with Health and Social Services after some analysis and review. Data collected by ENR will be posted on our website, and as mentioned, reports will be prepared and made public, as well.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thank you again to the Minister. As people know, I attended the Giant Mine Oversight Board's public meeting on May 16th. One of the concerns raised was how information on water and soil arsenic contamination and any health-related or exposure warnings can be shared with tourists and visitors. We could do this through the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, oops, we don't have that anymore. How does the Minister intend to share arsenic contamination information with tourists and visitors? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our information reports will be publicly available on our website. Any updates to the precautionary public health advisory will be made publicly by Health and Social Services. The office of the Chief Public Health Officer is examining the recent data for Kam and Grace Lakes, and will be updating the map to reflect more recent data on these lakes. The office of the Chief Public Health Officer is able to provide advice to agencies and community governments on possible messaging for residents and visitors.

For example, ITI worked with the office of the Chief Public Health Officer to develop signs for trail visitors along the Prospector Trail, which is a trail within the territorial park that is adjacent to Giant Mine. We are still continuing to have discussions with Canada regarding paths forward for an approach to legacy arsenic in the Yellowknife area, and information sharing with residents and visitors will be an element of these discussions.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided]. The Minister of Education is well aware that the addition of junior kindergarten has added increasing pressure on our schools here in Yellowknife. In my riding of Kam Lake, Ecole St. Joseph is nearing 95 per cent capacity. Yellowknife is currently assessed on the same level as everyone else, but has very different needs. Some of the schools have phantom classrooms, and the entire community is assessed as a whole rather than per district. I would like the Minister to tell me if he is willing to review the assessment for Yellowknife schools, and ensure that they are treated on an apples-to-apples analysis, and fairly, based on their needs. Merci.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, currently we have department staff that are working with the education authorities and the school staff to look at utilization rates, and to ensure that spaces that were developed when the school was made were actually being used for instructional time, and what other spaces aren't for instructional time. We are going through that review right now with schools in Yellowknife, currently. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am glad that the Minister is looking into this, but this isn't a new issue. I would like the Minister to commit to a timeline if he can, today, on when we are going to have a sense of when this needs assessment work has been completed.

Currently there isn't a timeline set in place. Obviously, we have to make sure that we do have appropriate time to go through the schools, with the staff, and have that idea of which classrooms are used for instructional hours and other classrooms that might be used for storage or other areas of use that were put forth by the school and together, collectively, decide which classrooms should be used for instructional classrooms, and identify that utilization rate. I don't have a timeline, but I will make sure the department comes back with something. I will share that with the Member.

It is difficult to get a clear answer on timelines from this government. Alas, this, with the addition of junior kindergarten, we have 95 per cent capacity reached at St. Joseph School. What does the Minister propose to do to assist the Yellowknife Catholic School Board to manage this capacity crunch?

When we look at the utilization rates, we look at utilization rates as they pertain to communities, so the utilization rate here in Yellowknife isn't as high as it is by the school. Obviously, we look at school sharing. We are currently in discussions with YCS now, how we deal with that utilization rate and the high numbers that they are getting. We have schools across NWT that also are at certain levels that we need to have those discussions. However, the utilization rates haven't reached that peak within the Yellowknife schools, but we are in discussions with YCS on how we come up with solutions for that.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.] We have 78 per cent for Yellowknife and 95 per cent for this one school. Clearly the Minister can see that there is a problem here. If we are going to keep pushing grades onto our school boards, we need to have some flexibility here so these schools can meet the needs of our families and our parents. I will ask again if, in the rollout of the new junior kindergarten funding in the fall, when these needs are assessed, will there be additional money provided to the schools to provide for temporary accommodations or retrofits to their facilities in order to accommodate these extra children? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had mentioned, we are in those discussions with YCS on how we deal with the situation. At those rates, we can't commit at that time. Yellowknife, as a whole, has some schools that have high utilization rates, but we also have schools that aren't meeting some of those high rates. We are trying to find a solution here in Yellowknife to accommodate all the students as well as staff.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.