This is page numbers 127 - 164 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was work.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Member, what is your line of questioning?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Will the Minister agree to direct staff to research the history of social housing in the NWT? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

I would like to remind Members to shorten your preamble and also to answer in short answers. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to make a clarification. In my answer before, I had said that we were half-Indigenous and half-Caucasian. That is incorrect. I have been corrected from the other side of the House, and they are absolutely right. We are about half Indigenous and half non-Indigenous. I do clarify that there are other people within our territory as well.

In regards to directing the staff to look into the history of the social housing, I will make my answer short and say yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

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

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the research, I am asking the Minister if she is willing to go back to the 1950s to when the first housing was built by Indian Affairs in the Northwest Territories. Thank you

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Yes, I will direct the staff to go back to the very original to see where the housing was, how many houses were turned over, and I will ask them to actually do research on the actual $28 million that is provided from the Government of Canada and to see if that money is actually being distributed properly, because maybe I am wrong. Maybe less than a million dollars a community is more than we are actually spending in Indigenous community, although I have a feeling that we are actually spending a lot more than less than a million per community per year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide a status update on the construction and delivery of modular units throughout the Northwest Territories communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, the delivery of modular units throughout the whole Northwest Territories, that has kind of kicked me off. I am going to try to answer this. My belief is that we had 19 constructed, to be constructed with Concept Energy, and one to be constructed with the Energy Wall here, in Yellowknife. So, we have eight that are partially built with Concept, and we have one completed with Energy Wall. We have four that are delivered to communities at this point, we will still need some work on, so at this point we are still short some, but I cannot do the math at this point.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister describe the comparison in costs and anticipated lifespan for modular units versus stick-built homes?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

The lifespan of all of our units within the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is about 40 years, so whether they are a modular unit or a stick-built unit, we do try to provide repairs and upgrades to make sure that they can last as long as they can. Some units of course suffer higher damage through a variety of reasons and so they do not make the lifespan of 40 years, but we do try to make sure that all units are repaired or upkept to meet that 40-year lifespan.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Mr. Speaker, increasing employment in our small communities is a priority for this government. It is a big item in our mandate, and the Housing Corporation has a role to play. How is the corporation planning its delivery of programs and services to create jobs and opportunities for residents, for instance in construction and maintenance?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, it was kind of interesting when I started this position. My understanding as the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation was that I was to put houses on the ground. It was a short time later that I realized that actually a large percentage of the Housing Corporation's money does go to providing employment in communities. Not only do we provide jobs for maintaining and building units. We have 23 local housing organizations in communities that we provide support for, too, so a huge amount of our money is actually going towards employing people in the Northwest Territories. Perhaps a question that I am going to put out there that I would have liked to have heard from the MLA is that are we going to continue with the houses in the North, the modular units. I will share right now, today, that we had some difficulty, actually, with barging the modular units into communities. So we learned from our mistakes, so what I have given direction is that, for communities that we have to barge into, we are going to try not to do modular units because of the barging difficulties.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is good news, but, you know, the Minister states that they are putting a lot of employment into the communities, but just to set the record straight, one building stick-built homes we have in the neighbourhood of five to six people working on one unit, whereas putting these modular homes into our communities, seeing first-hand when they brought the ones to Tsiigehtchic, we had probably two people who worked for one day to bring these units up the hill. Mr. Speaker, you do the math. The Minister may have a little trouble with this, but, you know, five to six months of employment for five people is no comparison to two days for most likely the same operator, as well, Mr. Speaker. So that is good news because they are barging into Tsiigehtchic, Fort McPherson, and Aklavik, so I am hoping that in the future we are doing stick-built homes. Will the Minister please confirm that?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

It is important to note that the modular units that are currently being delivered are built within the Northwest Territories, and my ambition is to have northern-built homes for northern people, so that is my priority, and I have still stuck to it. As stated in my previous answer, communities that have barges, we are looking at a different model of building because of the difficulty getting modular units onto barges. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Question 44-18(3): Caribou Calving Grounds
Oral Questions

October 19th, 2017

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Later today, we will be debating a motion about development in the calving grounds of one of our migratory caribou herds. The Bathurst caribou herd has plummeted from a high of 472,000 animals to 16,000. Indigenous governments have voluntarily halted harvesting, yet nothing has been done in terms of habitat protection. Can the Minister give us an update on the status of the Bathurst herd and whether there are any signs of recovery? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Bathurst caribou herd did decline to about 19,800 caribou in 2015. It was a 96 per cent decline from peak numbers estimated, as the Member pointed out, 472,000. The herd was fairly stable 2009-12, but declined further 2012-2015. A calving photo survey will provide an updated population estimate, and it is planned for June of 2018, and then management will be revisited once a new herd estimate is known.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister for that. I take it from his response that there is no signs of recovery. GNWT has been leading a range-planning exercise for the Bathurst caribou herd, and I commended the Minister in the House for this work back in March of this year. Can the Minister give us a status report on this range-planning exercise and when we can expect to see a concrete plan and some actions to protect the Bathurst herd and its habitat?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I need to commend some of the Aboriginal groups that are taking it upon themselves to preserve the caribou. I think just in the news lately, recently, there was a historic wildlife management agreement signed by seven Indigenous groups in Quebec that wanted to protect the caribou in Ungava Peninsula, and I think that takes a great deal of leadership. So they decided that they would do that on their own. The Porcupine Caribou Management Board also has taken an active role in the protection of the caribou in their area. The Member is right; we will be debating that motion later on today.

The working group met in late September to review a draft of the Bathurst caribou range plan, and the draft plan is based on the best available traditional knowledge and science and makes recommendations for managing disturbance to caribou. The draft plan will be presented to the Minister and Committee-of-Cabinet on Economy and Environment in November and will go out for public engagement.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister for that update. It was very helpful. Protection of NWT caribou herds is a complex matter as there are a number of communities that have traditionally harvested herds, most migrate between the NWT and Nunavut, there are different management regimes on each side of the boundary, and very little habitat has any permanent protection. That raises the issue of whether our government has any policy or position on resource development within calving grounds. Can the Minister say whether our government has a position or policy on resource development within caribou calving grounds?