Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. In my Member's statement, I referred to an unprecedented letter sent by the regional superintendent of Infrastructure to the Minister of Lands on April 30^th that attempts to override the recommendations of the review board in an almost two-year-long environmental assessment of the Tlicho all-season road.

My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure as the proponent for this project. Did the Minister know about this April 30^th letter, and why was it sent when there was supposed to be some kind of a firewall set up? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to clarify something. I think the Member said that I sent the letter. I didn't send the letter; the regional superintendent sent the letter on behalf of the Department of Infrastructure. This was done as a formal correspondence on this file. It was a required course of business through the environmental process, and the letter was sent respecting the firewall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the Minister is a little bit confused here, because I am talking about an April 30^th letter that his own regional superintendent sent to the Minister of Lands saying that, if the recommendations from the review board were accepted, they might not have a project. I see that as a way of interfering with the review board's work.

Can the Minister tell me whether he was aware of his regional superintendent's letter of April 30^th and why it was sent when there is supposed to be some kind of a firewall set up?

Let me clarify something here. I said that the letter was sent respecting the firewall, and it was on behalf of the department through our North Slave regional superintendent. We believe all protocols were followed with respect to the environmental assessment. The only thing that I am aware of is that I had a discussion with my deputy about the environmental assessment, about the buffer size. Besides that, I didn't know much more about the environmental assessment process, and the department is handling that with respect to how the process is set up.

I want to thank the Minister for that. I am going to be tabling these letters later today, but that letter from his regional superintendent makes no mention of the firewall. In fact, it seems to be in breach of this apparent firewall that was set up.

I want to move on to the review board. They criticized this so-called "whole of government" approach that is required by Cabinet's Project Assessment Policy because it limits the availability of evidence and expertise and does not serve the public interest.

Does the Minister accept that criticism, and will the Minister work to change the Project Assessment Policy to allow for the full participation of all government departments and their staff?

One other thing I want to clarify around this letter is that it is posted on the web site. It is a clear, open document. It is available for everybody to read. As far as the Project Assessment Policy goes, that is the Department of Lands' responsibility. It is not my responsibility, and I am not aware of any criticism around the environmental assessment towards our department. I can look into that, but I am not aware of any criticism towards us, and I am going to remind all Members that Lands is the lead on the policy.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for that. I am a bit surprised that he is not a little bit more on top of this as the lead Minister for the project, especially after I gave him a heads-up about what I was going to talk about today.

In my Member's statement, I raised this April 30^th letter, and I believe it casts a long and dark shadow of interference with procedural fairness and legal uncertainty over any decision on the Tlicho all-season road, the GNWT's role in future EAs, and protection of the threatened boreal caribou. What lessons, if any, have the Minister and his Cabinet colleagues taken away from all of this? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I want to comment that I know what is going on with this file. We know what is going on. I am staying away from the firewall side of things. I don't need to be involved in that. That is Lands' role. We are the proponent. We are proposing the road. We are going through the environmental process. The environmental process allows us, as the proponent, to ask questions, and that is what we are doing. That question has been posted on the web site.

This Cabinet is committed to a fair and open and comprehensive process. We believe that has been followed through the environmental process that is laid out before us, and that is what we will continue to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about a project that was being performed by the homeless people of Yellowknife. I have questions for the Minister of Homelessness. Leading up to the launch of this new program, was the Minister of Homelessness ever approached by the city to get funding for this project, and if so, what was the answer? Thank you.

Masi. Minister responsible for Addressing Homelessness.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there were no requests for funding from the City of Yellowknife. We couldn't even give an answer, because there were no requests for this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am hoping that the government was aware of the project. I was wondering if the government would consider, or this Minister of Homelessness would consider, funding similar types of programs in all of the other communities across the territory where homeless people are looking for some form of employment.

Across all departments, we have certain programs. We are willing to work with NGOs, communities, and I think the City of Yellowknife has a really great program that can model to other communities across the Northwest Territories that are dealing with homelessness. I encourage other communities to speak with other departments, such as ECE. I can mediate those kinds of discussions as Minister of Homelessness.

I encourage communities to look at the model that the City of Yellowknife has done and try something in their municipalities. I think it is a really great story throughout the Northwest Territories, and Yellowknife should be very proud of what they have initiated here.

Using this model as the Minister indicated, would the Minister of Homelessness reach out to other non-government organizations, or even the Indigenous governments in the communities, to run a similar type of initiative in other areas or in other communities?

As I have just mentioned in my previous response, I would be willing to mediate that as Minister of Homelessness. We have had some great programs in the past. Inuvik Works did something very similar working on seniors' homes, community projects done in the community. I think that is something we can look at and get developed in some of our regional centres, and even small communities. Working with either ECE, also through NWT Housing Corporation, we do have a small community homelessness fund which provides funding for community proponents to deliver homelessness programs and supports for their own design. That's one option as well. We are willing to work with non-government organizations, municipalities, community governments, Indigenous governments, to look at how we address homelessness, but also develop training, skill development, life skills for people who really need that. We want to be there to support all departments here in this government.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister answered my upcoming question, so I would just like to change it up a bit. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister can work with other departments, but mainly with the Housing Corporation, of which he's also the Minister, of course, to determine what level of homelessness, whether it would be absolute homelessness where individuals are living on the streets, or relative homelessness where individuals are couch surfing and living in unwelcome environments across the territory, across all the communities? I would like to ask the Minister if he is prepared to make a commitment using Housing Corporation staff to determine how many people fit into those two homelessness categories across the territory?

As Members know, we have created a homelessness coordinator position in the previous government. To find out the exact number of homeless people we have in the territory would be tough, because we do have a lot of people who also do couch surfing. I will commit that we will try to address the issue; look at the model that the City of Yellowknife has done with this program. It is a great program, and I applaud the City of Yellowknife for taking that on and working with the NWT Housing Corporation and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We will look at continuing to support these types of programs. Finding out the exact number of people who are homeless in the territory will be tough, as I mentioned, because we do have a lot of people who do couch surf who wouldn't be identified, and we just need to work together with our NGO's, our Indigenous governments, and across departments to address the issue. I am glad the Member has brought this up today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a couple of questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, the department is doing a great job brush cutting on the sides of the highway. As I mentioned, they completed about 10 to 15 kilometres from Tsiigehtchic toward Inuvik, also all the blind spots from the Peel Ferry right to Inuvik, actually, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister: when will the department be doing more brushing along the highway to complete the whole Dempster? Hopefully, we get that far. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.