Mr. Speaker, I did not serve on the standing committee on the review of the bill, and I'm not aware if this section of the act was actually within the scope of the bill that the department was proposing, but I certainly did support the changes that brought the act in line with the federal Civil Marriages Act, and I apologize for going on at length, but, regardless of what happened then, this is still an issue. Is it something the Minister is concerned about, or is this not a problem that is worth addressing? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, just a note, just so we are clear, the bill was discussed in Committee of the Whole clause by clause and did receive unanimous consent in this Assembly from all Members.

As per our normal process, the bill did go to committee, who had an opportunity to do a thorough review of the bill. We did get a letter from committee expressing some questions around this particular issue. The issue is the ability of a minor to marry. The legislation requires that, if a minor does desire to get married, they must still obtain a marriage licence. To obtain a marriage licence, they must get consent from their legal guardians. If their legal guardians are not present or do not exist, they do have the ability to get an order from the Supreme Court that allows them to move forward with the acquisition of a marriage licence, regardless. Issuers are required to communicate with potential applicants to ensure that they understand the nature of the marriage licence, the nature of entering into a marriage contract, and getting married.

We feel confident that there are checks and balances to ensure that individuals will not be coerced into marriage, are not forced into a marriage, that they are entering of their own free will, and understand the nature of the arrangements they are entering into. So, no, Mr. Speaker, we do not see any concerns at this time.

If the Member is aware of any situations, I would be happy to review those situations, but, at this time, given that we have gone through this process and we have unanimous consent, we are not intending to change the legislation again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am not aware of any marriages that have occurred since 2006, at least, of minors in the Northwest Territories. I am just wondering why, again, this is required. It seems like the department has put a lot of thought into putting safeguards around it, but, if no one is using this section of the bill, why does it need to be there?

The legislation has only been live and active for one year. Actually, it will be one year on June 1^st. It is consistent with the Civil Marriages Act from the federal government, and we want to be prepared, should and if any minors do desire to get married, that there is a process that is fair and open to them, so we are not planning to change the legislation at this point.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While we are on the subject of this bill, I have received some correspondence from several marriage commissioners in the Northwest Territories who feel that there are sections of the bill that don't speak to the changing regulatory environment they are working in, specifically around marriage fees. Can the Minister confirm if marriage commissioners were consulted on the bill and if their concerns were taken into account when the bill was brought forward to the House? Thank you.

As with most of our legislation, we did go out and consult with stakeholders who had an interest in that legislation, individuals who were involved in issuing licences and others. We did talk to clergy who have the ability to provide marriage licences within the legislation. Committee did have an opportunity to conduct a review of that legislation. We were working to comply with federal legislation, as I have indicated several times, the Civil Marriages Act. That is a federal piece of legislation.

If the Member has some specifics, I am always open to hear about those specifics, concerns raised by his constituents, and to work to address those where appropriate. At this point, we have no indication that a piece of legislation that received unanimous consent in this House just over a year ago and has now been active for just under a year requires changes, but, as with all legislation, I am open to anything. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Question 300-18(3):
Partnership with Royal Military College

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement on the partnership formed by this government with the Royal Military College, my first question to the Minister of Infrastructure: I understand the Department of Infrastructure has sponsored or supported engineering projects with the Royal Military College of Canada. What is the aim of this sponsorship, and what expectations does the department have? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Infrastructure fully understands the engineering and project delivery in the North, of challenges that we have around that, and one way we feel to be successful is we expose young engineers and technical students in their formative years to real life northern issues, and they get fully involved and be part of it.

We have arrangements with southern universities, a number of them. I could probably name them all, but there are four or five of them: University of Calgary, Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, and the Royal Military, as the Member has stated today. Roughly about 150 students and their staff have come to the North and worked on engineering projects.

When they do come here, we expect them to spend about 200 hours of research and formulation of various viable solutions to the problems, and we expect them to work as a team and learn how to plan and organize their time, but we also expect them to gain a better understanding and knowledge of the North and the unique northern environment and challenges of engineering projects in the North.

I think this work is very valuable, not only to them, but to us as the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to support that, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. It is good to hear that the department is reaching out to other universities to provide on-the-job training.

My next question: what was the nature of the projects, and what have we obtained from the students?

We wanted these projects to match real life issues and the challenges that we face in the Northwest Territories, so a sample of what the engineering design staff experience every day in our departments.

We have had them have a look at a couple of things: the Slave Geological Province alignment; health monitoring of the Deh Cho bridge; road alignment for the new winter road to Deline; repair options for airports at the Hay River, Yellowknife, and Inuvik runways, as we have challenges around them; options for Highway No. 3; and possible options for permafrost as well.

One thing about having these students up here is it is always good to have a fresh set of eyes on these projects. These students have given us a wide range of ideas over the last few years, and they have actually assisted us in solving some of the problems that the department has had. At the same time, when they are up here, particularly the Royal Military College, DND has had them look at a number of issues that they face in the Northwest Territories. They get a good, true picture of what is going on in the NWT and the challenges that we have, particularly around some of these climate change issues and alignment issues. They are a great asset, and we welcome them back here any time.

Thanks to the Minister for that reply there. It is good to see that we are reaching out on the care and maintenance for other assets owned by this government within our territory.

My third question: will there be any recruitment of current NWT engineering students participating in these programs for these particular projects?

I think one of the concepts around this whole idea of inviting these southern engineering students to come participate in the NWT is to expose them. No different than the tourism industry and no different than many people that we know in the NWT, they come here, they think they are going to stay for a day or two, and some of them end up spending a lifetime here.

We are hoping that this is an opportunity to recruit some of these people and, at the same time, exposing them to the NWT and the people of the Northwest Territories and the challenges that we have. We welcome the opportunity to hire any of them that want to come north that fit the criteria for jobs that we have posted.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Question 301-18(3):
Aging in Place

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is sort of difficult. I am trying to get through to how to move some of the money from the larger centres into small communities. It's kind of all over. I just had to kind of pick a Minister that I wanted to ask. I am talking about the school in Detah that is not moving up the line. There is a health centre in Lutselk'e. I would like to, I guess, focus in on the long-term cares that were approved in Inuvik and Hay River and more in Yellowknife, and I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services why the department didn't go looking more into allowing seniors to age in place. It is a much cheaper model and much more acceptable for the citizens of the NWT. Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I accept fully that helping seniors age in place is the best way to go, and we want to support seniors aging in their homes, in their communities, in their regions as much as possible, but as we have discussed several times in this House, even as we continue to make progress in supporting aging in place, there are times and there are individuals who ultimately need care that is not available in their homes. They will need 24/7-type care that is offered in the level 3 or 4 long-term care facilities that we are constructing here, in the Northwest Territories.

We did do a thorough plan on the demands of long-term care, which identified 258 bed shortages, building upon today's existing bed shortages, that will exist by 2026. Those numbers were conservative and recognized and accounted for us doing more to support people to age in place in their communities. The demand is there even though we intend to and are making progress on supporting to age in place.

We haven't forgotten what the Member is saying. We agree with what the Member is saying, but there is the reality that long-term care is already a shortage and will continue to grow, even as we do more to age in place.

Mr. Speaker, several years ago, before I was in this House, the decision was made by Health and Social Services to move away from facilities where individuals were not necessarily aging in place in their own homes but aging in place in their own community, so they had some health facilities, which we refer to as seniors' homes, and those units were shut down. Anyone that didn't have more than 10 beds were shut down and they've kind of gone to a more central model in the larger centres.

I'd like to ask the Minister if the Minister would re-examine that decision. That decision I think was a wrong decision, and we've felt the impacts in both Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution, where individuals had to move from their community because that level could not be provided in their own home, but could be provided with a bit of an upgrade in nursing and other types of services that could be brought in there. So I'd like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he would examine that decision that was made long before he became Minister, of closing down those senior citizens' homes and re-opening those as long-term care facilities.

Mr. Speaker, we have a Continuing Care Action Plan that we've released and I know the Member has seen, where we want to support families and communities to help seniors stay in their homes, first and foremost, as much as possible, because all evidence suggests that the outcomes for our residents are better the longer they can stay in their homes.

To the Member's point, yes, we do know that there are times when an individual will need a greater level of support or they may not be able to maintain a home, although they are still able to live independently. To that end, thank goodness that the NWT Housing Corporation has stood up and has worked with communities across the Northwest Territories to put in independent living units for seniors. Often these units are more apartment-like, where individuals can live in an apartment setting, where they don't have to worry about some of the normal activities of maintaining a home. We feel that that fills the gap that the Member is talking about. We applaud the Housing Corporation, who have worked with Health and Social Services to expand some of the space in these independent living units that will allow our healthcare staff to come in, homecare staff and other supporters, who can provide some support and activities of daily living for the seniors who are living in these independent living units.

To that end, Mr. Speaker, we also know that some of the individuals will not be able to stay in those facilities indefinitely, and they may need long-term care, so I feel like we've already moved in the direction the Member has talked about, with the support of this House, to put more independent living units out there for seniors and communities throughout the Northwest Territories.

I agree that those are important facilities, as well, and that does extend the time when these seniors will be able to remain in their home. Some of the decisions that I'm talking about where, to be very specific, if we were to look at the Great Elders Facility in Fort Resolution that if we were able to use those four units, we could be extending the time when the individuals stay in that community for an additional 10 years, perhaps, instead of going from in their own home, where I'm not seeing the effort that the Minister is talking about. I'm not seeing that in the community. I'm not seeing a whole bunch of units becoming barrier-free, as an example, and I'm talking about turning units barrier-free of people that are 70 years old, and, instead of moving into long-term care when they're 80, they would move into long-term care when they were 90 years old, for example; an extension of 10 years. So I'd like to ask the Minister if he could again look at that, recognizing what's in place but adding to that through aging in place and looking at those facilities that were previously shut down?

Mr. Speaker, the Continuing Care Action Plan is not just a Department of Health and Social Services action plan. It does recognize that these challenges are across departments, and the Housing Corporation is a solid partner on trying to find solutions for our residents to stay in their communities as long as possible. I hear the Member, and I will certainly continue to have dialogue with the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation about where we can look at incorporating or building new or more independent living units for seniors. Starting in the last government, we made commitments for five communities. I believe most of those are now done. I think Fort McPherson is one of the communities that is still being constructed. Fort Good Hope should be finished soon. I believe Whati, Aklavik, and I'm blanking on the last one, have already been done. But I take the Member's point completely. I agree with the Member. I think we all do. The obvious challenge is making sure that we have the capital resources to help bring those independent living units to communities throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.