This is page numbers 2575 – 2598 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 2nd 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 going.

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Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have been in the Assembly for a large number of years now, and this has been possibly one of the most frustrating files that I have worked on. Something that should be such a good news story has turned out to be quite a frustration. We had hoped we would have a location by now. We have had several locations that we thought we were very close on, and for a variety of reasons such as contaminations in buildings, inability to get leases, we have not been able to get a firm location. We have come up with a temporary solution that will be beginning shortly. We are looking at doing some joint releases with the city. I will not say what that is at this point in time, but I did share it with the Members. The Members did get an update by e-mail where we are, and I did indicate that we are working on a joint release with the city. At that point, I will be making it public to residents of Yellowknife in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I thank the Minister for his answer. I understand that what he is working on now is a temporary solution. Could he please talk about what he is doing toward a long-term solution?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We have to look at this in a short-, medium-, and long-term approach. We do have something in the works for the short term, which we hope to be announcing very shortly, in cooperation with the city, who has been a fantastic partner on this. In the medium-term, well, we have to put it in medium-term because there is a longer plan in place. We have looked to acquire and put a hold on the downtown location, which is the Yellowknife Day Care at this point. They are vacating the building. The GNWT owns the building. That building does have to come down. We believe that that is a prime location for a sobering centre day shelter in the downtown core, but we will not be able to move onto that site for approximately two years, which means we have to come up with a medium-term solution.

For the medium-term solution, we are looking at a number of different properties in Yellowknife. We have got two that are possible. I would hate to say what those properties are because we have had lots of properties that got really close, almost to the point where we were ready to do some retrofitting, and have failed at the last minute due to environmental remediation or other issues. So we have a short-term solution we are going to be announcing shortly. We are still looking for the medium-term, and we have a long-term plan for a future sobering centre day shelter here in Yellowknife.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Lots of good news in that answer. What I hear is that it is really the medium-term now that presents problems. I am sure that this is a very high priority for you to provide continuity of service once the sobering centre opens. I know that this has been frustrating, that there have been a lot of setbacks. What kinds of new approaches can you take to try and work with landlords or repurpose GNWT-owned assets to find that medium-term solution?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Last time we talked about this in the House, I was inundated, thankfully, with just a large number of people saying, "Have you tried this building?" "Have you looked at that property?" "Have you followed up with?" The answer in most situations is, yes, we have looked at those properties. We've talked to those landlords. We've been looking for a solution. There were a couple that were a little bit more difficult because it involved moving GNWT staff and re-profiling billing just as the Member has suggested. We are looking at some current GNWT space that we might have to take our staff out of and relocate. I'm not going to name those places at this point in time because we're still working on some of the details and there's another property that may be available. We're trying to ascertain whether or not that is something we can get on the medium-term basis.

I've made the mistake, Mr. Speaker, of saying we're close a couple of times on a medium-term solution, so I'm going to cautious. I want to say that we're going to have something in place shortly. The only thing I can say for sure is we've got a short-term solution in place that we're going to announce shortly. That will take us to the end of September. We're really hoping we can find a medium-term solution because, as the Member has said, continuity on this is going to be critical.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I'd like to thank the Minister for his response. In addition to the physical location of the sobering centre, could the Minister please review what kind of staffing and services will be available in that facility? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services has talked to the stakeholders. We have listened to the comments and suggestions from Members. We have put together a bit of a program design on how a sobering centre would operate here in the Northwest Territories and that has often driven the size of the location we need to have and how many beds we can support. So we already have that in place. I'm happy to share that with committee if committee is interested. I'm happy to come and have a conversation with committee and provide them with a bit of an update on where we are as far as programming. We haven't been there to that point so far because we've been struggling to find a location, but I'm happy to meet with committee at their request.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to follow up with some more questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. During the presentation on Wednesday, the Minister and his staff spoke about healthier relationship programming. Can the Minister briefly explain to us what that program involves? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As stated in the NWT Safe Schools Legislation and Regulations, every school in the NWT is required to offer healthy relationship programming to its students. Our department works with the University of Western Ontario Centre for School Mental Health to deliver a healthy relationship training program for NWT grades 7 to 10, teachers, and other school staff. The evidence-based program is for grades 7 to 10 students. It teaches students how to build relationship skills, understanding of making safe decisions about substance abuse, sexual relationships, bullying, as well as violence. That's the main focus of these healthy relationships. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for that explanation. It's great to hear what they're doing there. Can the Minister advise us how this program was promoted during implementation?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Approximately 225 NWT teachers across the North have been trained in the healthy relationships program called "The Fourth R." Training is provided to all NWT schools free of charge as well through continued working through the partnerships that we do have with the University of Western Ontario and as part of a federally- funded research project on youth and mental health. We work with our partnerships with the University of Western Ontario. We offer it to all schools in the Northwest Territories, and any schools that haven't received the training or feel that they might want more training, just contact their education authorities or the superintendents to get that training offered.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for his answer. This is very important program and I appreciate the department for the work they're doing in this area, especially with all the bullying that we hear about through the news and from what I'm hearing from parents. Can the Minister explain how this information is shared with parents in the DA member annually so they know that this is a system that the Education Department is implementing in all schools across the Northwest Territories?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As part of regular school businesses, both schools and education bodies have the responsibility to get any type of information that we work with these education authorities or initiatives of the department to the parents and to people that are doing work inside the schools. DE members are informed about school programs through their principals and their superintendents and the requirements such a program as well as it is required under the Safe and Caring Schools Legislation Regulation. It is a responsibility of our education authorities, our principals and superintendents to make sure this information is shared with parents.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess I'm struggling with some of the parents not hearing about it, and it is something like that. I guess, is the Minister able to provide me and other Regular Members with an update package so we can better understand this program and actually help promote this process so that parents are aware of how our education system is working and how we're making it healthier and better for our students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We did make a commitment during the presentation that we had to standing committee the other night and we'll make that commitment in the House that we will get those packages, Safe and Caring School packages to all Members should they want them, but we'll make sure that the honourable Member from Nahendeh gets the package and that all Members that would like one, we'll get one to them as well.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We spent a lot of time this sitting debating education. I'd like to ask the Minister of Education now how the ambitious plans for post-secondary education are rolling out of the departmental level and if he can give an update to the House on the work to date on developing a thorough post-secondary education regime to the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As all Members know, we are currently going to conduct the foundational review. I believe we're still waiting for feedback on the terms of reference that's before committee, and as soon as we get those terms of reference back on this foundational review, we'll go ahead and move and see the structure within our Aurora College system but also looking at utilizing our community learning centres a lot more and taking direction from our Skills 4 Success focus and also working with our partners' continued support with our other partners that run post-secondary programming. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Sadly, it sounds like not much has changed. I'm particularly interested in post-secondary academic education. I think the community learning centres do an amazing job, but I'm more focused on the degree granting institutions. I know that the Minister committed to doing a bit of work on this, developing some legislation around it. Can he provide an update on that legislative process and when we're going to be able to grant northern degrees from northern institutions here in the North?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Yes, we are currently working on that legislation. We are going to be doing some consultations during the summer months and then get the feedback from our stakeholders and partners on that and then proceed forward. However, we're still going to have to look at the foundational review of the port where we are going in terms of post-secondary, which I made a commitment to the House to look at that foundational review with the Aurora College but also getting feedback from other institutions and other stakeholders in the Northwest Territories regarding the legislation that the Member has been bringing up.