This is page numbers 3847 – 3882 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 change.

Topics

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize my youngest grandson, Ezra James Whelly, first time in the Legislative Assembly, with his mother Jaqueline Whelly, and her father-in-law, Sean Whelly, who is a Council Member for the Village of Fort Simpson. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to recognize the representatives from Dechinta, in particular, Catherine Lafferty, who is here as the director of operations. Also Elder Sam Gargan, and I also would like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris at this time. Welcome to the House. Thank you for being here.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Deh Cho.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to recognize Chief Eddie Sangris. Also, at the same time, Sam Gargan, a constituent of mine from Fort Providence, and also, I did recognize him as a professor, I recognize him as an elder, of course, a former Speaker from the Assembly, so I'd like to recognize him. And plus, from the Dechinta University, Catherine Lafferty. Marci.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to also welcome and recognize Catherine Lafferty, Director of Community Development and Indigenous Education for Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, as well her little entourage of supporters and people that do the work in the organization. Welcome. Mahsi.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery, welcome to our Assembly. It's always nice to have an audience as part of our proceedings. Masi. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about the future of post-secondary in the Northwest Territories. I want to be crystal clear; I appreciate the hard work that happens at Aurora College, and I think if there are any issues that need to be addressed, it needs to be addressed by this government. Aurora college is unique in Canada and perhaps the world in how it is funded, how it is operated, and we see a lot of involvement from this department in the day-to-day operations, program course offerings, all those kinds of things. We need to cut the strings on this, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister if he envisions a future for Aurora College where it will become an independent university or post-secondary institution that is research-driven and has the academic freedom to be accountable to government funding but completely separate from the GNWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently at this time, no. We do have public funds that fund the Aurora college, and we partner with them to look at their program services that they provide to residents of the Northwest Territories. What I can let the Member know is that we are working currently on an over-arching legislation that will bring other possibilities of post-secondary institutes here to the Northwest Territories as well working with Dechinta Research and Learning Centre, College nordique, that will offer those opportunities. So we are on the right path. Right now, we're going to work with Aurora College. We do fund them through public dollars to do those programs and services for the people of the North, but I think as we move forward, after the foundation review is complete as well the legislation, working on developing that, we'll start to see that this government is moving in that direction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

I'm not advocating that the public funding for the Aurora College be cut; far from it. There are other universities in Canada that receive public funding, but are independent academic institutions. So can the Minister reassure me and others that, for the nearly $30 million we invest in Aurora College's operations, we are delivering the highest-quality programs that can stand up in other jurisdictions, without proper accreditation? Can the Minister confirm that what the students are learning at Aurora College can be used elsewhere in Canada?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Yes, I know one of our best programs that we do have at Aurora College is the Nursing Degree Program, and we're also working on this foundational review that's going to address some of the accreditation quality assurance concerns that Members have brought up on numerous occasions. That foundational review, we should have that to me by the end of this month, and we'll be taking a look at those recommendations that are going to be in that final report moving forward. I hear what the Member is saying, and moving forward, we want to make sure that anyone who takes any programs with any of our post-secondary institutions will be able to have that opportunity to go and practice their career and their training elsewhere throughout Canada.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

I heard one program involved. So out of all of the program offerings at Aurora College, can the Minister give me a percentage of how many of those meet accreditation standards outside the Northwest Territories?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I don't have that detail of the percentage of programs that are being currently run throughout any of our three campuses in the Northwest Territories at the moment, but I can look at getting that information for the Member and sharing it with him.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's commitment. Mr. Speaker, the other areas that are required for a successful university or post-secondary institution are independence and, of course, an institution driven by research. Aurora College has ARI, the Aurora Research Institute, but what it doesn't have is an independent board. When will the Minister reappoint an independent board so the college can be at arm's length from government and control its own affairs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As Members of the House know, and I'm sure the public knows, we are currently going through a foundational review. I did mention that that review is going to be given to me by the end of this month, and we will be creating a management response to that review. In that review, governance is a topic of priority to take a look at. So once we get that foundational review, we will develop a management response to some of those recommendations. Should the board be one of the recommendations, we will take a look at it, and once the management response and the review is complete, we will be sharing that with committee members, all Members of the Legislative Assembly, and our stakeholders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I spoke about some of the things that the community of Fort Simpson has done to address the tragedies that have occurred in the past year. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services to hopefully clear up some stuff. Can the Minister tell us what the department has been able to do in response to the number of tragedies in the Deh Cho region in 2017? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our first priority when a tragedy like this happens is to work with the families, to make sure that we have counsellors and other supports meeting with the family to help them address their grief and their loss. That has always the first priority. That is something that we made available in the Deh Cho region.

We also recognize that, given the large number of incidents and crises that were happening in the Deh Cho, there was a significant demand on all the workers in the community and the region who were reaching out to community members and families. We also made counsellors from other communities from across the Northwest Territories available so that they could come in and provide some backfill and some additional supports to the community, given that there were a large number of people who were seeking help and wanted to receive supports during these crises.

We also had individuals from the headquarters come down, as well, and meet with the communities. There was first reach-out to the families. Then there were additional community people, additional supports came in from different communities. Then the departments were able to provide some support in the communities.

We had a number of good conversations with residents in the community about the types of things they need, and we are continuing to work with the community and the region to try to find some additional solutions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister and his department for the work that they were doing. Thanks for that information. As I said in my Member's statement today, there were a lot of departments that have been part of the support network. Can the Minister advise how the department has been working with other departments and organizations to ensure that everybody is aware of each other's services, including the mental health and addiction staff, Child and Family Services staff, Victims Services staff, and Education, Culture and Employment staff?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

As a government, this is certainly one area that we can do better in, break down some of our silos and make sure that staff in one department know what is going on in another department. We have been trying to work with our partners to make sure information is shared. We have been able to collaborate on a number of initiatives. We have been able to work with community members in the Deh Cho region. We have participated with them on different events.

For example, on February 7th and 8th, the department staff attended workshops in Fort Simpson that offered mental wellness, suicide prevention, as well as What Will it Take Program and Talk About Mental Illness, which is often referred to as TAMI Program. The speakers travelled with our staff, so we had an opportunity to talk about the types of programs that are available both through Health and Social Services, but also through communities and other agencies. I know that the federal government has supports that they have provided in different situations at different times.

I think we all need to work together to try to get the information that we are all doing. This isn't something that one department, one government can solve. This is something that is going to take everybody working together. We are going to work harder to make sure the information of the programs we are offering is out there. I look forward to working with the Member to help get some of that information out over time.