This is page numbers 3767 – 3794 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

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask some follow-up questions not to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, but the Minister of Lands in regards to assessment. In this House, the Minister said that they do their least payments based on the assessments done by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Can the Minister advise this House if this is the actual process that is being done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have mentioned previously, lessees are charged assessed value of land, and on the territorial lands it's 10 per cent of appraised value. Now, I don't know the method which MACA uses to arrive at these assessments, but I think there's a scientific way in which they do arrive at the assessments of the property. Of course, on that assessment is based the lease fees. Thank you.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for that answer. Can the Minister clarify: does the Department of Lands get two separate assessments, one for lands itself or one with lands and improvements on it?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Of course, our fees are based on the value of the lands, so the assessed or appraised value of the lands is the number we're interested in, and on that number, we base the lease fees.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for that clarification. There seems to be a disconnect here, because my understanding from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs that they assess the land based on the land and the improvements on it. Now I'm hearing from the Department of Lands here, it's just on the land itself. Can the Minister please clarify: is this the correct process? Is this what they do? Is it based on the lands, and if it is on land, do they have a separate assessment done?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

I can't speak for MACA, but I believe the way that assessments are usually done is that there's a division between land and buildings. For example, if you receive an assessment for taxation purposes from your municipality, there's a breakdown showing how much is assessed for the land and how much is for the building. I believe that's the way that MACA does it, but the Minister may know more about that than I do.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that answer from the Minister. Is the Minister willing to share with me the land assessments of lots in my riding, so that I can share this information with the residents? Thank you. Mr. Speaker.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Normally, Mr. Speaker, we wouldn't do that, but generally in each community, you can go to the tax rules and find out what the assessments are. In that way, you could determine what the values placed on land and buildings are. I believe every municipality has that information available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At least the tax-based municipalities. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up those questions which I asked about the fire department in Norman Wells. My question is about whether the department is working on standards for fire departments across the Northwest Territories. I understand that that is not currently in place. Is the Minister taking steps to standardize fire department funding and operations across the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are standards for fire provision within the Northwest Territories. Our Office of the Fire Marshal works closely with the communities to develop safety plans in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I'm talking more about fire departments. As I think we're all aware, firefighting is a dangerous undertaking. I appreciate the Minister's response that community members are willing to pitch in. I think that having trained firefighters is a better solution.

It's my understanding there aren't trained firefighters in every Northwest Territories community, so I'm wondering whether the Minister is considering making changes to ensure that there are fire departments and trained firefighters up and running in every community?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

As stated, the responsibility for fire departments is the municipalities', and we work closely with the communities to define what they see as their capital assets. Some communities are still working on water treatment plants. Some communities want recreation centres. Some communities want arenas. Some communities already want the fire department. So it would be inappropriate for me to go to every community in the Northwest Territories and say, "You need to put all your capital asset planning on hold because I'm telling you as the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs that you're going to put in a fire department. That is your number one priority."

We work closely with them. We provide training to them. We provide assessments. The office of the fire marshal goes in to work with them to try to make them understand their safety, their needs, and then once they have done that and defined their needs, we work closely with them to support them in making sure that their community has the needs to ensure if a fire happens that they can be dealt with at the community level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The other thing I want to say, though, is that, if it comes to a territorial, if it gets out of hand, we watch closely. If a house is on fire, that might be something that I don't get told of right away, but if it's in danger of spreading, I am told right away, and then the territorial government has an obligation and we will go in there and make sure -- not only us. I mean, we work with other jurisdictions. We work with Canada to make sure that fires are addressed within the Northwest Territories.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I'm working from memory here about the Office of the Auditor General report that was produced last year. It looked at things like water plant operators and training. It looked at waste disposal, and it looked at fire departments. What it found is that the fire departments are very ad hoc, that there is a need to standardize the operation of fire departments across the NWT. I have not yet heard the Minister talk about whether she is willing to undertake that work.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

All of the recommendations within the Auditor General's report are being implemented. We have said that many times through standing committee, in the House, whenever the questions have come up. We are committed to addressing all of the recommendations that were identified in that. We were actually working with the community of Norman Wells, prior to the Auditor General's report, on assessing their fire needs. Our Office of the Fire Marshal is working diligently at this time, going into the communities to assess their needs, to reassess their needs, to define what is needed, to support them in doing that. Once that is done, we will bring that information to the communities. Our job is to support the communities. We will put that information in front of the community municipal governments or designated authorities and help them to define what they need. Some communities do not have the infrastructure needed or the ability to have a full fire department, but we look at how we can support them in address their needs in case of fire. We do not let our communities go without support. I really want to emphasize that Municipal and Community Affairs, the department, the staff, are totally committed to supporting communities, and we do everything in our power to provide that support. I appreciate that department.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's good news that the fire marshal is travelling the communities of the NWT to assess their needs. Could the Minister tell us when his report will be ready and whether the needs will be funded in the next business plan? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

The Office of the Fire Marshal is not doing a general report and saying, "This is what we need everywhere." He is working closely with the communities to actually bring it forward. When that is done, when he does his assessment, we, the regional staff for Municipal and Community Affairs, work with the community governments to bring that information forward on a community-by-community basis.

Safety is a priority over all other things, so we bring that forward to the community, and we work with the community to define what their needs are and how we can support them. Again, we provide training; we provide first responder training; through our school of the community government, we provide training. We have other assets in a lot of the communities, such as people that have trained. Our forest firefighters, they are spread out throughout the Northwest Territories, those members, and I do give credit to them. They have an honourable job. Anyplace where there are airports, we have people who are trained in providing that service. So it's not like our communities are left with nothing, and, if the community has nothing, we will fly in, we will help that community. Safety is number one, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that I get to come back and ask some questions of the Minister of Lands. He talked about tax-based, and, yes, the Village of Fort Simpson is a tax-based community. However, the community of Fort Liard is a hamlet, and then the other four are designated authorities, so how is this information made available, since he does not want to share it with us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have mentioned previously, the appraisals or assessments are not done by my department. I know, in the tax-based communities, you can generally go to the town office to look at the assessments of the individual properties. I am not certain how MACA deals with informing the residents or the property owners as to what the assessments are.