Good afternoon, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to provide clarification on the implementation of junior kindergarten in the Northwest Territories. I think we can all agree that we want to give NWT children the support they need to thrive and be successful, Mr. Speaker.

Junior kindergarten is one of the ways this government is going to give the NWT’s kids the best start that we can. Junior kindergarten will provide four-year-old children with the necessary foundation for learning in the early years of their life. It provides a safe and caring environment and promotes the cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical development of all children through a play-based approach.

Equitable access to quality programming in our school setting so young children can be ready and prepared for success in the K-12 system is something we can all strive for. That is why it is important to have junior kindergarten implemented and available to all parents in all communities in the Northwest Territories in September 2017.

We expect junior kindergarten to cost $5.1 million to implement across the remainder of the communities. As a government, we have committed to fully funding these ongoing costs for the 2017-18 school year and into the future. We have increased funding in the proposed 2017-18 GNWT budget and made a commitment to include the remaining funding in the future.

Some people may have wondered why we did not put the full amount in this year’s budget, Mr. Speaker. The answer is because the whole amount is not going to be needed in this fiscal year. While junior kindergarten will be fully implemented in all communities this September, school board budgets line up with the school year, which means they cross two GNWT fiscal years. The total cost will also be affected by the actual number of children who enroll in junior kindergarten, and so cannot be fully known in advance.

What we do know now is that this government is committed to fully funding junior kindergarten, Mr. Speaker. We will work with the boards to make the money they need to implement junior kindergarten available to them when it is needed. Once we know the actual enrolment figures, the government will bring a request for supplementary funding to the Legislative Assembly in the fall of 2017 to fully fund implementation.

I would also like to add, the department will fund the one-time expenses associated with purchase of play-based equipment and for any classroom modifications. As a result of these commitments to fully fund junior kindergarten implementation, there should be minimal impact on other classroom programming. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Ministers' statements. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to highlight the work done by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs to support the Government of the Northwest Territories' priority of lowering the cost of living for residents of the Northwest Territories. Progress towards our commitments in this area is essential if we are to improve our residents’ quality of life and attract more people to make their homes in the territory.

Mr. Speaker, Municipal and Community Affairs is assisting community governments to address energy management and improve energy efficiencies. Municipal and Community Affairs serves on the Arctic Energy Alliance Board and has developed a strong partnership with the organization in the area of community energy planning, energy audits, and representing the interests of community governments related to energy management.

The Northwest Territories Asset Management Strategy was released in May 2016. The strategy works towards supporting communities to meet basic maintenance requirements in order to extend the useful life of their infrastructure. It also takes into account new building technologies that support improvements in energy efficiency as community governments respond and adapt to climate change. In early 2017, Municipal and Community Affairs will roll out a pilot program to train and support community governments as they implement asset management software.

Through the department’s School of Community Government, community government elected officials and staff are able to access a variety of training related to government's responsibilities and administrative operations. Municipal and Community Affairs is currently reviewing all of its course curricula in order to ensure that, where appropriate, content related to energy management, capital and asset management, and funding of energy management initiatives is included. All of the various curricula will have been reviewed by the end of fiscal year 2019.

Municipal and Community Affairs is also completing research into the feasibility of enabling Northwest Territories community governments to set up revolving funds for energy efficiency measures. Municipal and Community Affairs has met with the City of Yellowknife to discuss this initiative and will be conducting further stakeholder engagement with other Northwest Territories municipalities in the coming months.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to the programs and support available through the department, community governments are also able to access various federal funding programs to help with the development of community public infrastructure.

Since 2013, Municipal and Community Affairs has been working with community governments to access funding through the New Building Canada Plan. Under the umbrella of this plan, the Government of the Northwest Territories has signed an updated Gas Tax Administrative Agreement and the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component, both of which provide funding to community government to support the development of public infrastructure at the community level.

The Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component will provide $258 million towards Northwest Territories projects. Of that funding, $38.7 million will go to community governments through the Small Communities Fund provided between 2014 and 2023.

In 2016, the federal government announced two additional funding programs:

● the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, which will provide $51.7 million for water and wastewater infrastructure before March 2019; and

● the Public Transit Fund, which will provide the City of Yellowknife with $320,000 to support public transit before March 2018.

Our investments into energy efficiency and improved infrastructure for community governments help to lower the capital and operational costs for community governments, thereby increasing the supports community governments can provide and ultimately increasing the quality of life for Northwest Territories residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Ministers' statements. Minister of Transportation.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that the Department of Transportation’s contractor has started its fourth and final winter of construction on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. As we come nearer to completing construction, I want to talk about the significance of this project to the communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk and the residents of the Beaufort Delta.

The project has already significantly contributed to local employment. At the peak of construction last winter, more than 430 individuals were employed on the project, with 74 per cent of these coming from the Beaufort Delta region or other NWT communities. Additionally, approximately 185 people have benefitted from training and educational experiences like learning how to operate heavy equipment to wildlife monitoring. These are skills that can be transferred to a variety of industries and support the development of a strong northern workforce.

Improved access to natural resources resulting from the new highway will create economic development and employment opportunities in the future by attracting development from industry.

Further employment opportunities will become available through future operations and maintenance contracts for the highway. While the Government of the Northwest Territories continues to review its procurement options, we expect to make a decision on the operations and maintenance contract by spring 2017.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is working with the communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and other GNWT departments to celebrate the opening of the highway and prepare residents to take advantage of the resulting benefits.

Two multi-stakeholder Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway committees have been meeting monthly to organize three separate celebrations.

The first celebration will be held in spring 2017 to celebrate the last winter road between the two communities. The winter road has long served as an important link to residents of Tuktoyaktuk, supporting intercommunity travel and the delivery of essential goods. Once the highway is done, residents of Tuktoyaktuk will be able to realize savings from a more cost-effective year-round delivery of these goods.

The official opening of the highway will take place on November 15, 2017. This event will be a full celebration with all stakeholders, including dignitaries from the communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, Aboriginal governments, the federal government, and Members of the 18th Legislative Assembly. The official opening will be a celebration of national significance, marking the first time Canada has been connected by highway from coast to coast to coast, and has been designated one of four Canada 150 infrastructure projects by the federal government.

These celebrations are being planned in both Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk to ensure maximum participation of community members from both communities.

Finally, a celebration led by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment will be held in June 2018 with a special focus on promoting tourism-related opportunities around the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. The opening of the highway will help attract a host of visitors from across Canada and around the world who are interested in visiting the Arctic Ocean and exploring the natural beauty of the Beaufort Delta.

The Government of the Northwest Territories will help support the communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk to take advantage of business opportunities promoting tourism. More attractions will enhance tourism, promote economic spinoffs, and encourage return visits. The Government of the Northwest Territories is investigating the development of wayside pull-outs and rest areas along the new highway. Investing in and supporting projects such as the development of a recreational vehicle park in Tuktoyaktuk will help enhance the availability of tourism products and services in the region.

In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation's contractor continues to work hard to complete this historic infrastructure project in the NWT, and we remain fully engaged with all stakeholders on properly recognizing this important achievement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, monsieur le President. We all know of the terrible environmental and financial legacy left by the Giant Mine here in Yellowknife. I'm here today to deliver some good news. The Giant Mine Oversight Board recently officially opened its storefront office here in Yellowknife on Franklin Avenue. This board is the public face of an independent environmental watchdog on the Giant Mine Remediation Project. It is set up under a legally binding environmental agreement among the following:

● The Yellowknife's Dene First Nation;

● North Slave Metis Alliance;

● City of Yellowknife;

● Alternatives North;

● Government of the Northwest Territories; and

● Government of Canada.

The board is a non-profit society run by a set of directors appointed directly by these signatories to the agreement. The board consists of technical experts in various fields, including environmental health, contaminated site remediation, water quality, and more. They live in Yellowknife and elsewhere to ensure that we have the best expertise to provide proper oversight. The office also has a staff of two here in Yellowknife, and they are in the gallery watching us today. The board reviews submissions to regulators by the Giant Mine Remediation Project, reviews monitoring results and management plans, and reports publicly. Perhaps most interesting, the board also has the responsibility to coordinate research and development of other ways to manage the underground arsenic. That includes investigating technologies to transform the arsenic into less toxic or non-toxic forms.

The funding for the board comes from the federal government at $650,000 a year in 2015 dollars and is indexed to inflation for their oversight function. The research project funding is separate but ramps up to $250,000 a year in 2019-20. It is also indexed to inflation and can be carried over from year to year. Any unused oversight funding can be rolled into the research program. The funding will last until all monitoring and maintenance is finished, or basically forever. This board and the agreement are a tremendous achievement for Yellowknife -- a government remediation project will now have independent oversight. This board will help to begin to build public confidence in what is happening at Giant Mine.

I also want to salute the work of the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to my colleagues. I also want to salute the work of the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, the environmental watchdog on the Ekati Mine that served as a model for what was negotiated for Giant Mine. That agency was established in 1997 and has a stellar reputation for technical oversight and working with communities. Perhaps these two oversight bodies, the Giant Mine Oversight Board and the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, might prove to be examples for what can be done for the remediation of Norman Wells.

We in the North have developed interesting arrangements in co-management that in many cases are the envy of the world, and I've just talked about a couple of those examples, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to expand on something I raised in my reply to the Budget Address last week. I reminded the House that: "People with low incomes and no jobs have a tendency to have poorer health. That is simply a fact -- not just here, but all over the world."

So our response to poverty doesn't only need social interventions like education programs or housing assistance and economic interventions like job creation. We also need health interventions. Poverty is a thief of dreams and opportunities, but it is also a thief of health, the so-called "life expectancy gap" or, more bluntly, the "death gap."

That's right. The wealthy are healthy, while poverty shortens our lives just like obesity, heavy drinking, or smoking does. One recent study tells us that low-income adults lose an average of 25 months off their life, while obesity takes off eight months and alcoholism, six months.

The group Canada Without Poverty recently zeroed in on our own poverty problems in the NWT: widespread disparities in housing, income, and employment that hit our First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people in our smaller communities harder than others.

Because, when it comes to health, poverty is a two-headed snake. Indirectly, poverty stands between people and education, employment opportunities, proper housing, and food security. Meanwhile, poverty directly causes chronic stress, linked to shorter lifespans and decreased health durability. Can you imagine how much harder it is to keep your body and mind healthy when you're stressed, hungry, tired, cold, and can't dependably access healthy food?

These things happen in Canada, Mr. Speaker. These things happen here.

Before taxes, 17.2 per cent of NWT families would be considered low-income, but that statistic doesn't tell the whole story -- it's also where you live within the NWT. It is 8.9 per cent of Yellowknife families and 29.8 per cent of the families in our small communities. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Confronting poverty can feel like a daunting chicken-and-egg problem. What do we tackle first? Are our people poor because they do not have jobs, or are they unemployed because they are poor? Are people poor because they are unhealthy, or vice versa?

The Department of Justice recently piloted an integrated case management project where different departments worked together to better serve clients. I wonder if we couldn't pilot something similar in health with a poverty focus, with expertise from Health, Education, even ITI, for traditional knowledge and economic know-how to target the health impacts of poverty in our small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of MACA alluded to in her statement earlier, the 18th Assembly's mandate includes an important commitment to addressing the current high cost of living. Going into the next period of our government's term, I would like more discussion and commitment to specific steps we can take to improve this territory's food security as a key factor in decreasing our cost of living.

Currently, we have committed to the development and implementation of an agricultural strategy. This will be a key document that will allow our government to give guidance and support to a budding agricultural movement in our territory. However, for us to reach some of the goals we have outlined we cannot focus on growing and harvesting of local food only. I think we must include the distribution and retail issues in our food systems as well.

For example, we want to revitalize commercial fisheries and traditional harvesting activities as part of our local food system. This will include distribution and retail issues that we must explore and examine. In order to fully understand the issues, I think we look to and include our municipal and private sector partners, Mr. Speaker.

We know that the measures we are supporting will reduce the cost of living and reduce our territory's carbon footprint and increase the types of economic opportunities that will be available in all of our communities. We have some very important examples of this right now with the Northern Farm Training Institute in Hay River and the Yellowknife Farmer's Market. These organizations are working at the community level to improve local food systems and support healthy and traditional food choices. They are able to identify issues beyond production and make suggestions to us on policy, program, and legislative changes to consider in support of reliable community food supplies.

For this reason, Mr. Speaker, I think it is imperative that our government continues to partner with these and similar organizations. These partnerships, along with other investments we are making in community transportation infrastructure, are what is going to change the food security challenges we are currently faced with.

Mr. Speaker, I think we all want to see a territory where people have opportunities to participate in the economy while lowering costs of living and supporting their local and family food needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to discuss the small business community. We recognize the small business community as a large contributor to the NWT economy; however, the small business community needs and requires a number of elements to sustain their viability. The NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation currently lends to 118 businesses throughout the NWT, operating across the Northwest Territories as well. As a result of BDIC's assistance, these businesses currently support 944 full-time positions' equivalent in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, small businesses must have a healthy and sound environment on commerce and opportunity. Mr. Speaker, one word is needed, "opportunity" through market demand, projects, government programming support, management training, and affordable and expeditious access to capital.

Mr. Speaker, we as a government are continuing to design, redesign, upgrade, and support this important NWT sector. We can only do this by reviewing the number of past projects and must continue efficiencies on upgrading of NWT programming. Mr. Speaker, later I will have questions for the appropriate Minister. Mahsi.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I still have a bad cold so I may have to stop and cough. Mr. Speaker, several national anti-poverty advocacy organizations released reports in November. The news for Canada as a whole and the NWT in particular is pretty grim: the fact is one in five children live in poverty; food bank use is going up, and so is the use of emergency shelters. The latter point was starkly confirmed when CBC North reported in the fall that emergency shelters are so full that people are being turned away. Their options are to ask people to sleep in RCMP cells. We know that some people have been walking to the hospital to sleep in chairs there in the lobby and others have been sleeping over a warm air vent. It's my concern that a cold exposure death is almost inevitable, and yet it is also preventable.

All of this news coincided with the 4th Annual GNWT Anti-Poverty Round Table held at the end of November in Inuvik. The major takeaway from the gathering was that the department has launched a new anti-poverty website and it will continue to administer the anti-poverty fund. Neither initiative is anything like the transformative action we need on poverty.

The Anti-Poverty Fund has funded some good work, mostly related to providing short-term help often in the form of food, but providing food is not the answer to hunger. Increasing local food production is a better alternative. As the saying goes, give a man a fish, he'll eat today; teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime. Investments in housing and homelessness have also been meagre given the size of the fund.

The Minister of Health and Social Services is fond of saying government can't solve the problem of poverty on its own. That's true, but only government has the capacity to make investments that will create systemic solutions to poverty. We need more housing, a basic income guarantee for those on low income, and investments in food production and distribution. The GNWT has obtained money from Ottawa to fund emergency shelter renovations and assist Housing First, but has yet to make a truly substantial investment of its own beyond the Anti-Poverty Fund. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Delegates in Inuvik looked at indicators suggested by the Minister's staff that will tell us whether progress is being made in six areas of poverty reduction, including housing, food security, and income assistance. Unless and until there is significant government investment in poverty reduction, the indicators will show that nothing much has improved and some people are worse off, as the national reports reveal. The band aids we now provide are not a solution; they trap people in poverty, sometimes for generations. It's well past time for that to change. I will have questions for the Minister. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. This past Thursday in my reply to the Budget Address I spoke about the importance of communication. Well, that very day at 9:00 a.m. students who are taking the Social Work Diploma course were told that the class would start a bit later. At 9:30, the staff came in and said that the students would be receiving an e-mail from the college on what was happening. When asked the question, they were told that they could not answer anything until the e-mail was sent to them.

Mr. Speaker, at 10:23 a.m. the students taking the social work program were informed that they were the last intake and the college would not be taking any new social work students, including the students taking the access program this year. The following message came from the vice-president of education and training:

This morning, Aurora College is making some announcements about upcoming changes in programs and staffing of several programs, as well as changes to student housing and tuition rates. You will receive an all-student e-mail shortly with more details. One of the upcoming changes may affect you as a student in the Social Work Diploma program. Effective immediately, Aurora College will not be accepting new registrations in the Social Work Diploma program. However, courses in the program will continue to be offered for up to two more years so that the current students and any former students who are partway through the program will have an opportunity to complete. I know this news may come as a surprise, and I want to assure you that these changes are in no way a reflection on the work your instructors have been forming or the value we place on your program.

Mr. Speaker, in other words, the program was phased out without having the college strategic plan completed. I, like the students taking the program, am deeply saddened, disappointed, frustrated, and angry to hear this news. In speaking with several students, past and present, they strongly feel and I agree that the program was creating a workforce of northern social workers who are invested in the NWT. I have seen this program improve their lives immensely. To think this opportunity will no longer be available to the NWT is unreal. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to finish my statement. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, the social issues in the NWT are not going away with an increase in industrial development. It needs to be a balanced approach by this government. When you look at our social issues in the NWT, they are vast and many, which could possibly have lessened with a workforce of people trained and educated on northern social work program.

Mr. Speaker, here we go again -- the fiscal restraint taken over without looking at the long-term picture of the Northwest Territories. The ill-advised cuts to Aurora College are misguided at best and downright silly at worst.

After seeing the approach the college has taken, I believe we need a review by an independent group and with a lot of input from all stakeholders, not just top administrators. While there are some great things about the college, more relevant programming, proper recruitment, improved staff morale, and more emphasis on northern courses would be a great start.

We need a social program in the NWT, and this decision is not acceptable. I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment later on today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.