This is page numbers 4243 - 4266 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 community.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Herbert Nakimayak

Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier, I spoke about the tourist boom in Tuktoyaktuk, and my questions are for the Minister of ITI. Mr. Speaker, to make sure that the community of Tuktoyaktuk can continue to provide essential services that are required for the 2019 tourist season, my question is: will the GNWT commit to an RV park or visitors' centre or other infrastructure that is crucially needed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an interesting situation. As we all know in this House, for many of us that follow this file very closely, with the construction of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, it's brought an enormous amount of people up to the Member's riding. I think the big challenge around the community has been, and I have been up there quite a bit and talked to residents in that area, the amount of influx of people was overwhelming for the community for the most part. We had over 5,000 people, I believe, that came there this summer.

We have had a number of meetings with the community leading up to this for a number of years. We have assisted them with development plans on how they want to address some of these things. You know, we have committed to doing certain things with them. We are trying to do a way-side pull-out right now along the ITH. It's one of the funding things that we are looking at, and we are working with hunters and trappers on that to try to resolve which place they actually wanted. There were three places put forward, and I think we have it narrowed down to two of them.

We committed another amount of funding, somewhere around $42,000, to complete a feasibility study to advance a cultural centre, but I think what we need to do with the community going forward is we need to get back in there and have a conversation of what happened this year with the amount of people that were there, what kind of needs that need to be put into place. A lot of this stuff needs to be entrepreneur-driven. The Government of Northwest Territories cannot do everything for everyone. There's a lot of opportunity around tourism and things going forward. I have had a number of discussions with people around the RV park for Tuktoyaktuk. I have had people come to me and say they wanted to do it, and then they come back and say they didn't want to do it. Then someone else has come to me, and they want to do it. The hamlet was into these discussions, and then they have called off those discussions.

As of late, I have sat down with the mayor, when I had an opportunity on a trip to Inuvik, and had those discussions. We will certainly continue to have those discussions on what we need to address. It's a different situation because most communities are struggling. How are we going to be able to change our economy? We are in a situation in Tuktoyaktuk that there's almost an overwhelming opportunity.

Herbert Nakimayak

Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput

Mr. Speaker, I believe that, you know, having an RV park or some sort of infrastructure like that should fall on the departments of the GNWT and ITI and maybe other departments within the government. I think it's only fair, given that Tuktoyaktuk used a lot of their capacity to do what they can to ensure that they did their best, Mr. Speaker. I don't know if I got a solid answer there.

Mr. Speaker, my second question is: will the GNWT fund a full-time tourism coordinator so that additional capacity can be provided?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

These positions, we have rolled out. We had three of them rolled out. We had one in Tuktoyaktuk, one in Hay River, one in Deline.

I think the challenge with what the Member is asking us for a full-time coordinator was these were going to be rolled around the Northwest Territories as the demand increased in other communities. This is an ongoing funding, I think, for a little bit, but we're going to sit down and look at which next three communities wanted to apply for this.

I know we're going to sit down with the community here shortly as I have said and all the stakeholders and see what is happening in this past year and what type of assistance is going to be needed, so I can't commit to, if we're going to continue this ongoing funding, but there is ongoing funding for different communities, and, maybe after the discussion we have with the community, maybe I'll have to make a decision that, you know, that Tuktoyaktuk has the biggest need going across the board, that we're going to have to continue to look at their assistance, but I'll have to get more assistance once we have the stakeholder meeting.

Herbert Nakimayak

Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput

It's good to see that the department is going in that direction, where they are consulting with communities and their needs.

Mr. Speaker, the community of Tuktoyaktuk is also dealing with the issue of a funded GNWT economic development officer, the EDO. This position was set up through the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk and there are some uncertainties as we speak. Mr. Speaker, the contract is on a year-by-year basis. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is: can this position come directly through the Government of Northwest Territories like other surrounding communities rather than through the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

My understanding on some of these positions like this in some of the smaller communities is we were having a hard time to fill some of these positions, but one of the conditions we took with the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk was, and we give them a significant amount of money to do this on a year-to-year basis, which is ongoing by the way, they have the flexibility to hire the individual they want.

We have had cases where I have had people of some communities come to me and they don't like our EDOs and another community that are assisting them. This gives the community the flexibility to hire the exact person that they want. Chances are, in this case right now, the person lives within the community and is part of the community and has done a great amount of work on this file for the residents of Tuktoyaktuk and in the Northwest Territories.

We have no plans of bringing this to the Government of Northwest Territories. We want to give the communities the flexibility to continue to hire the person they want, to suit their needs.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Herbert Nakimayak

Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's good to hear that there are no plans, but, as well, I think, if they do not plan on taking it on, they should fund the position appropriately like other positions that are in economic development or in the Government of Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, what will the Department of ITI do in the upcoming months to advance the tourism development plan for the community of Tuktoyaktuk with the hamlet?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

As I have said, in the coming weeks here, we are going to sit down with all the stakeholders in the community to find out what needs to be addressed in the coming months ahead for the next tourist season. During those discussions, the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk is going to have to come up with their own tourist development plan. They have to lead it. They are going to have to own it. They are going to have to need it and put it in place. We are there to assist them to do that, but we are also currently in conversation with CanNor to help develop another tourist development workshop in the coming months.

There are a number of things going on, as I have said. It's a good position to be in, but it's also a challenging one, I think, for some of the community members to take the advantage of these real opportunities that lay there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Question 369-18(3): NWT Economic Symposium
Oral Questions

October 12th, 2018

Page 4255

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.]

My questions are for the Premier, about the recent NWT Economic Symposium. When the Premier answered questions in the House on March 1st, he said that "the purpose of the summit is to seek input into the writing of the NWT chapter of the Arctic Policy Framework."

Can the Premier explain how this event morphed into a discussion of non-renewable resource development projects in infrastructure corridors? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The economic symposium, or better known as the NWT Economic Symposium, was funded using retained resource revenues from the intergovernmental council, which all intergovernmental council members fully supported. Three participants from each Indigenous government were funded. Many brought additional participants who were funded directly from their intergovernmental offices' budgets.

The costs are still being calculated by the symposium and will be provided once the calculations are done. The Member dismisses the discussions as only being about infrastructure, but the discussions were what was important to the Aboriginal leaders of the Northwest Territories, and I wouldn't belittle those discussions.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Of course, I'm going to take issue with what the Premier said there. I had intended no disrespect whatsoever to our Indigenous governments. I'm talking about the lack of communications about this event with this side of the House. The Premier promised on March 1st that this meeting would be about economic diversification, the meeting would be inclusive, and that experts from various sectors would be involved.

Can the Premier explain whether the symposium was inclusive, with representation from various economic sectors and experts?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Generally, he who pays the bill calls the tune. Along with Indigenous leaders and economic development representatives, there was a facilitator who is an expert in economic research and analysis in attendance.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I would like to thank the Premier for that information. It would have been helpful to have gotten it ahead of time, of course. He said that he would be pleased to discuss the event with committees, and we should at least have a discussion of it, referring to involvement of Regular MLAs in the symposium.

I don't recall any such discussion, and we only got notice of it less than a week in advance through the weekly ministerial activity media release. Can the Premier explain why Regular MLAs were not involved in the symposium, and why he did not fulfill the commitments he made in March in this House?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

As I said, the symposium is being funded by retained earnings from the Intergovernmental Council. It was focused on the Aboriginal leaders. The focus of the symposium was seeking input and agreement from our partners, NWT Indigenous governments, that the NWT economy needs urgent attention.

The symposium was in support of implementing the priorities of the Legislative Assembly to grow and diversify the Northwest Territories economy and work more closely with Indigenous governments. It was not about identifying new priorities.

Through the discussion, we identified concrete plans and actions to stimulate the Northwest Territories economy by leveraging the individual resources and authorities of participating Indigenous governments and organizations in coordination with the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Premier for that. The only public information about this symposium is a one-page communique. We have little idea of who was actually there, how much it cost, whether there will be some photo report of this event, and of course, all of this was done with zero input from this side of the House.

Can the Premier table in this House, before the end of the sitting, the cost of the event, a list of participants, and a full report of what transpired to help inform the debate and discussion? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

A summary report of the symposium presentations, discussions, and outcomes are being prepared and will be shared with the symposium participants. This report will also be shared publicly once the participants have reviewed it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up to my statement, my questions are to the Minister of Infrastructure.

Last June, I was very pleased to witness the $140 million in funding that is dedicated to the development of an all-weather highway in the Mackenzie Valley. Can the Minister of Infrastructure provide us with an update as to what work is currently being done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.