Good afternoon, Members. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The land, water, air, wildlife, and plants of the Northwest Territories play a critical role in the lives of Northerners. They are part of our heritage, identity, and way of life. They provide for us in many ways as food for our families, traditional clothing, and transportation routes. The land sustains our livelihoods through hunting, trapping, and gathering. It is a basis for our arts and culture.

The Government of the Northwest Territories has made a mandate commitment to develop country food programming, as well as enhance existing programming and build new partnership initiatives to support healthy and sustainable traditional lifestyles. Together, we work continuously to support our residents' ability to go out on the land.

Mr. Speaker, in an effort to meet this commitment, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently established a new On the Land Unit to address the needs and challenges of our communities regarding land-based activities.

We have heard from our residents about the unique needs and challenges faced by communities in accessing country foods, sustaining a vibrant traditional economy, and maintaining opportunities for land-based learning that involves elders and youth.

Our new On the Land Unit is working to address these important issues by engaging our Indigenous partners, communities, land-users, renewable resource boards, and other stakeholders to discuss and prioritize ways to support community-driven sustainable livelihoods programs and initiatives.

Starting this month, representatives from the department will be holding open houses in communities across the territory to get input on the challenges, needs, opportunities, and priorities linked to country foods, the traditional economy, land-based learning, Guardian programs, and traditional knowledge.

The information gathered through this public engagement process will be used to shape an ENR action plan for supporting sustainable livelihoods, and help us as a government to better ensure traditional knowledge directly informs our decision-making.

Mr. Speaker, our new On the Land Unit will also oversee the existing program that we have been partnering on successfully with communities for many years, including the Take a Kid Trapping Program, the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program, our Community Harvesters Assistance Program, hunter education and training, and public education and outreach initiatives, to name a few.

Ongoing education and outreach, community engagement, and support for community-driven research are fundamental to the department and our collaboration with our partners. The new On the Land Unit represents the strong commitment ENR has to supporting programs and services that position northern knowledge, livelihoods, and culture as central to the work we do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Ministers' statements. The Honourable Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be absent from the House today and tomorrow due to a personal matter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Ministers' statements. Item 4, Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members might get tired of hearing me talk about the importance of mineral development to our economy, but I'll risk it.

Mineral resource development is truly a pan-Canadian industry, but it's significant to the North. Exploration and mining is the North's largest private sector employer and largest employer of Indigenous people, creating about one in every six jobs. Mining exceeds 20 percent of our GDP and brings in investments in the billions of dollars. Mining is also the largest private-sector partner of Indigenous businesses, so it's not only strengthening the NWT economy, it specifically supports Indigenous economic prosperity.

It was good to see this week when the federal government released the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan, or CMMP. The CMMP will guide Canada's mineral resource sector, focusing on areas like global competitiveness, advancing Indigenous participation, environmental protection, and incorporating leading science and innovation into the industry.

Industry recognizes that much of its future growth will be made in remote and northern areas, but creating an operational mine requires a huge investment, Mr. Speaker, and even more so in the north. An industry study found that, because of the "infrastructure deficit," a mine in the north costs about two-and-a-half times as much to develop as in southern Canada.

Mr. Speaker, in days when investor confidence is soft, dealing with that infrastructure deficit is an important priority. We have to demonstrate that we're serious about growing the economy, and that means encouraging Ottawa to play its part in reducing our cost of doing business.

We need less expensive, and green, power. We need transportation routes to reduce the cost of essential goods in our communities, as well as to provide access to our resources. We need to increase our efforts to manage, and not contribute to, a rising cost of living.

Mr. Speaker, we've been demanding that the federal government act to help reduce the infrastructure deficit with large-scale investment. Yesterday's announcement of over $5 million in funding for the Slave Geological Province project is welcome news, and the new CMMP highlights priority areas that will be good for the North, our economy, and jobs for Northerners.

Mr. Speaker, even though it's an election year, we need to hold Ottawa to its commitments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to visitors in the gallery today with us. I am pleased to recognize interns from the Library of Parliament. They are here in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to increase their knowledge of the different Canadian parliamentary systems, such as our consensus-style government, and to gain experience in policy, in our legislative process, and in public education as it relates to library research. Along with their supervisor here with us, Lalita Acharya -- I might have pronounced it differently -- Sarah Allan, Roxanne Brisson, Jorge Luis Flores, Andres Leon, and Robert Mason. Masi for joining us here. Welcome to the Northwest Territories.

Colleagues, with us, we have some students here. I do recognize some faces over the weekend. They had a basketball tournament, as well. Grade 9 class from Ecole St. Pat's High School. Welcome to our Assembly.

Members' statements. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. This week, the Gwich'in have been welcoming and celebrating one of their own.

Chef Rich Francis has made his way home to Fort McPherson. A brief history on our chef. Rich's mother is from the Six Nations of Ontario. His father is Tetlit Gwich'in from Fort McPherson.

Rich graduated from the acclaimed Stratford Chefs' School in Stratford, Ontario, finishing at the top of his class and receiving the institute's award for culinary excellence.

Mr. Speaker, Rich was one of the finalists and only First Nations competitor on Season 4 of Top Chef Canada.

An article written of Rich Francis states: "Rich is literally on fire in the Indigenous culinary world. He has won honours for his approach to native foods and Indigenous ingredients that revitalize food and culture."

Through his work as a chef, he has addressed issues that affect First Nations as a whole, such as truth and reconciliation, colonization, diabetes, obesity, and food sovereignty, just to name a few.

Mr. Speaker, this week Rich has travelled to Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson where he was in the schools teaching students basic cooking skills. He is in Inuvik all this week, where the traditional games are happening. We are very honoured to have Rich in the region. Welcome home, Chef. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.

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Mr. Speaker, David was a beloved dad, brother, uncle, and friend. He passed away on October 26, 2015, at the age of 77.

David's daughter Ruby says that her dad loved playing fiddle, especially playing with Johnny Landry, Alberta Canadien, and the boys. He also taught fiddle to young men in the community, and was teaching his granddaughter, Jody, too.

Mr. Speaker, music was very important to David. He didn't play to be famous. He just loved to play fiddle, and to sing and dance, and he loved talent shows. Whenever there was a talent show or other performance, David performed his very best, from when he was a young man to the last time he played with Johnny Landry at a show in March 2015. That's how his family wants to remember him.

Mr. Speaker, members of the community, led by Loretta Landry and with some help from the Dehcho Bison Jamboree Carnival Committee, they are organizing a talent show in his honour. There will be a youth competition on March 22^nd, with prizes for singing, fiddling, and couples jigging, as well as door prizes and other musical performances, and memorial buttons are being sold as a fundraiser.

Mr. Speaker, I hope you and my colleagues will join me in recognizing the life of David Bonnetrouge, and the strength of the community he left behind. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The manufacturing sector is one of the bright lights of the NWT economy. It more than doubled in value from 2014 to 2016 and directly employed 129 people. Let's hope that number has grown as much between 2016 and 2018, despite the fact the sector is still waiting for the government's long-awaited manufacturing strategy. The mandate commitment for manufacturing speaks to expanding the sector, identifying potential areas of growth, promoting and marketing products manufactured in the NWT, and aiding in the professional and technological advancement of the industry. What we need is a detailed plan.

Mr. Speaker, last year, I had the pleasure of travelling to Iceland. I toured a small-scale enterprise called Atlantic Leather. Fishing is big business in Iceland, and for the last 20 years, Atlantic Leather has been buying fish skins from local fish plants. During a three- to four-week process, the skin is cleaned, cured, and dyed every colour of the rainbow. Each skin is uniquely beautiful, with the pattern and texture of the fish clearly visible through the colour. The end result is soft and supple leather that is as sturdy as lamb leather. It is made into ties, buttons, purses, shoes, and other things. The factory sells these goods to tourists, but the biggest market is with the luxury-goods manufacturers such as Prada, Jimmy Choo, Fendi, and Dior.

Mr. Speaker, Atlantic Leather prides itself on its sustainability. All of the material used is a by-product from other industries, such as the food industry. They say the chemicals used in the tannery are as sustainable and environmentally friendly as they can get. As a bonus, the tannery has become a novelty stop for tourists. The staff conduct tours and describe the process of creating the leather. A small shop sells both the leather and the finished goods that they make to both tourists and locals.

Mr. Speaker, our fisheries industry produces a lot of skins, and we could investigate their use for leather, as well. What happens to fish skins that come from the lake now? They are thrown away. Instead, given some business development assistance, it may be possible to create a market for fish leather products.

Mr. Speaker, this is the kind of innovation I am hoping for in the long-awaited manufacturing strategy. I will have questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Mahsi.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. On January 18^th, the Standing Committee on Social Development heard a very interesting presentation from representatives of the NWT Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research Unit, otherwise known as Hotii ts'eeda, which is hosted by the Tlicho Government. Their vision is to support health, research, and training that is rooted in Dene Naowo, lnuvialuit, and Metis knowledge and responds to the needs of patients, communities, and governments.

Hotii ts'eeda recently released a very interesting discussion paper on building a knowledge economy. I strongly support this initiative. I urge our government to adopt this approach wholeheartedly and make it priority. In the view of Hotii ts'eeda, the knowledge economy is using knowledge to innovate, solve problems, create jobs and value. The discussion paper sets out the following principles and ideas:

• Ensure legislation, regulations, and policy makes researchers feel valued and empowered to work in the NWT to undertake research that will result in improving the lives of residents.
• Legislation, regulations, and policy should create an environment where Indigenous peoples have control of research being done on their lands and with their people.
• Research with Indigenous peoples should provide economic benefits primarily to NWT residents and communities. Indigenous governments and research institutes should have a primary role in creating a sustainable knowledge economy.
• GNWT should request information from researchers that will enable us to measure the social and economic impacts and outcomes in the Northwest Territories.
• The polytechnic university should be positioned and built as a catalyst for increasing research funding and innovations in the Northwest Territories.
• Each government department needs to put in place processes for the review and approval of research proposals and to help leverage external research funds.
• Develop science communications and knowledge translation capacity with appropriate funding and support.

I will have questions for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, who has the lead for this government on the knowledge economy, later today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to address several concerns which have been raised by my constituents and francophone stakeholders on the matter of the Ministerial Directive Enrolment of Students in French Language Education Programs. Here in the NWT we are left with a hangover from the time before responsible government, a ministerial directive and direct ministerial oversight of French language admissions process. This only exists in the three northern territories. Every other jurisdiction in Canada has devolved these responsibilities to arm's-length organizations and done away with what is in effect a colonial legacy, treating francophone families different than their anglophone counterparts.

Mr. Speaker, all Northerners ought to have a fair and equal access to education in the Northwest Territories, and this mandatory oversight by the Minister over admissions is unnecessary busy work at the ministerial level and for the public service. The Commission scolaire has the ability to internally manage this process of student admission. I am curious as to why we here in the NWT require such direct control by the Minister over only a select portion of our public education system.

The goal of supporting language and culture revitalization is an important one for all of our official languages. This goes without question. Sadly, this ministerial directive is an unnecessary public policy decision that limits the opportunities of the Commission scolaire to thrive and adapt to the ever-changing demographics and needs of Northerners.

The francophone community is a proud part of our heritage and enriches our culture. I am saddened that the advice of the francophone stakeholders in our communities on how to improve the directive has not been taken up by the current Minister or the Minister's predecessor. Later today, I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on the Ministerial Directive for Enrolment and how this government can improve access to francophone education in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.

Mr. Speaker, people in Fort Smith, throughout the Northwest Territories, and beyond our borders were saddened to hear of the recent passing of long-time Fort Smith resident, Alex Hall.

Alex was born and raised in Ontario and began canoeing as a boy. Educated as a wildlife biologist, he received a Master's degree in Animal Ecology from the University of Toronto. In 1974, Alex established Canoe Arctic, an eco-tourist/travel business based in Fort Smith, which he ran for more than 40 years, taking adventurous tourists on canoeing expeditions along the Thelon River and other tundra and Barren Lands rivers.

Accomplishments and awards in his career include:

• In 2002, he was a runner-up for the Arctic Award, an international award administered by the World Wildlife Fund for linking tourism and conservation.
• Alex authored a number of magazine articles. He also wrote a book on the Barren Lands entitled "Discovering Eden: A Lifetime of Paddling Arctic Rivers." The Globe and Mail included Discovering Eden among its year-end list of the top 100 books published in Canada in 2003.
• In 2004, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award for his impact on the development of the tourist industry in the Northwest Territories and for his conservation work in connection with the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary.
• In 2007, National Geographic Adventure chose Canoe Arctic's canoe trips in the Canadian Arctic as one of its "Top Destinations for 2007 and Beyond."
• As recently as last fall, Alex was honoured at the NWT Tourism AGM for his contributions.

Mr. Speaker, I was honoured to know this extraordinary man, whose contributions to conservation and tourism in the North will be an enduring legacy. Thank you.

Masi. Our condolences to the family, and also to the community, as well. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Albert George Norwegian left behind an incredible legacy of family, humour, love, and friendship.

Albert was born on December 21, 1933, at Rabbitskin, Deh Cho. This was during the time of the Mad Trapper of Rat River story. His mother was carrying him at this time. Albert's life began with this adventure, and he and his family talked about the story of his mom worrying about the Mad Trapper coming to Rabbitskin.

Albert was the last son of Joseph and Elizabeth Norwegian to pass away. Albert lived in Fort Providence when he passed away.

Albert possessed an incredible work ethic. His life motto was: "Always teach yourself to win a little bit all the time." A perfect example of this was when he carried a 400-pound motor from the creek to the cabin. Once he got to the top of the hill, there was blood coming from his shoulder, but he did it.

Albert was not educated in the modern way. However, he was self-taught and extremely educated in traditional culture and teachings. Due to his incredible work ethic, Albert was very successful. He was extremely inquisitive and industrious. Even with his limited ability to read and write, he trained himself and was motivated to do well, and he did.

Albert's celebration of life depicted his incredible sense of humour. Right to the end, he was true to himself, always focused on the lighter side of life. He loved to laugh and make jokes. Even when he was near the end, he would close his eyes for about five minutes, and then he would open his eyes and at the same time say, "Boo," at his family members who were sitting with him.

Even as his life came to an end, Albert maintained his humour and was actively joking with his family. His daughters and sons shared how he departed onto the next journey on his own terms.

As Albert was nearing the end of his journey, laying on his hospital bed in Edmonton, all of the wrinkles on his face disappeared. All at once, he stopped breathing on February 21, 2019. Embraced by his family, softly, silently, the eagle flew back to Rabbitskin.

Albert is survived by his two sisters, six daughters, six sons, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The Gargan and the Norwegian families would like to thank everybody for their loving support and prayers during their time of sorrow.

Mr. Speaker, Albert George Norwegian will be sadly missed and never forgotten.

Masi. Our condolences to the family and to the community, as well. Members' statements. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize the students from grade nine at St. Patrick's, my junior high alma mater, located in the riding of Yellowknife North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery, thanks for being here with us. It is always great to have an audience as part of our proceedings. Masi. Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the NWT and, in particular, the Nahendeh, many residents require academic upgrading, even after finishing school. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: how is the department working with Aurora College to meet the needs of adult learners in the region? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are two ways to meet the needs of adult learners that can be done. If people are looking to do upgrading, they can do that, actually, by addressing their home community school. Often they will take students who are over 21. That is common within the smaller communities. As well, within community learning centres, we try to upgrade their credentials. Through Aurora College specifically, we offer two upgradings. One is through the Occupations and College Access Program, and the other one is the University and College Access Program. Those are two that pertain specifically to the college administrating them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am looking more specifically at the small communities in the Nahendeh, so again, could the Minister tell us: could existing schools be used to deliver upgrading where there is no community learning centre available?

Yes, definitely. Schools can actually offer upgrading if they have the capacity to do so. Some of the schools don't have the higher learning grades. That has been addressed over the years with the Northern Distance Learning. There is funding, actually, to provide through schools if they want to address the higher grades, 10, 11, and 12. There is funding through Education to provide for that. We do try to support students as much as possible, and using the existing schools, as well as community learning centres, is something that we need to do as much as possible.

It's great to talk about learning centres, but if we don't have them in the small communities, it doesn't really help. Could the Minister advise: in the future, will learning centres be expanded into these small communities and all communities in the Northwest Territories?

The community learning centres is an area that I can't, right at this point, say is going to be expanded into all communities. Right now, they are offered in 21 of the communities. We need to do a whole review of the community learning centres, and not only on where they are. That is something that I could commit to looking at, where they are located, but also the services that they are providing within that. That is part of the polytechnic review, the process that we are working on, so we are a little bit ahead of the game today to say that we will expand it when we are trying to figure out what exactly we are doing and how we can strengthen those community learning centres today.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and again, I would like to thank the Minister for the information provided here today. At the end of the day, though, we want to help our students who are graduating. This is my understanding: students attending access programs at Aurora College are able to access student financial assistance. This is counted against the maximum allowable semesters limit under SFA. Can the Minister explain why this is, and has ECE considered not counting these access programs against the student's maximum allowable limit of SFA? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, the Education Act actually does define what can be provided through student financial assistance. It is legislated, so it is difficult. We need to look at it and actually change the legislation, which is a lot more difficult than changing policies. Will we look at it? Absolutely. It is part of the process that we need to look at within the college. The difference, though, is that normal upgrading courses can be addressed within their communities, through schools and the community learning centres, which we only have 21 of, I recognize.

The access programs, really, are not a general upgrading where you get grade 12. The access programs are really looking at the programs that you need to get into college or university, so it is a different type of upgrading. I do have concerns with it, as well, and so I have stated that we will be looking at it as we move forward with the whole polytechnic university and how we are providing services to the public. I think it is an area that needs to be looked at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Colleagues, for visitors in the gallery, as well, I forgot to mention Gerry Burla, who is with us here today. He is also part of the Legislative Librarians here at the Legislative Assembly. Welcome to our Assembly. Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not particularly like Facebook. There is too much gossip and negativity on there for my liking, but I check it so that I can keep abreast of what is going on around town and in the Northwest Territories. However, Mr. Speaker, after this week, I might have to swear off Facebook for good. When I opened it up the other day, the first thing in my feed was a picture of the inside of the outhouse at the GNWT-owned north-of-60 visitors centre. It was not pretty, and I will spare everyone the gruesome details.

This has come up before. I have seen articles in the News/North about it. I know that other Members have asked questions about it. This is a perennial issue. It goes on and on for years, particularly at the border when the ice roads are in and all of the big trucks start coming from the south. It is where the truckers stop, and, you know, they don't take it easy on that bathroom, Mr. Speaker, and it is not a great way to introduce visitors to the Northwest Territories. I have some questions for the Minister of ITI on this.

I apologize to the Pages who came here hoping to see some political discourse, and I'm talking about outhouses, but that is the way it is sometimes. I have to ask the Minister: how are ITI's roadside outhouses maintained during the winter months? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unlike the summer park season, when we have contractors who look after these facilities on a daily basis, in the wintertime, we send our contractor out once a month to look after these facilities. Then, when conditions like this happen, of course, we dispatch the contractor out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Once a month just isn't enough. As you know, it is winter, it is cold, things freeze, and they pile up, and I am not quite sure how they are going to deal with this. What is going to be done in the short term to fix this situation and ensure that these outhouses are kept clean this winter?

I can reassure the Member that we have already sent a contractor out there to clean this up. This has come up in this Assembly every year at this time of year, and we have to make it quite clear. This is a difficult situation for us. These things are isolated and remote. There is no power at these locations, and we spend a significant amount of money on this. We spend roughly $50,000 annually to clean these things up in the off-season, and we could probably spend that a week, if we had to really get after this thing, but we don't have the money to do this. The department is certainly going to be having a look at what we need to do. We are doing a review right now of our strategic plan on parks, and I am sure that this is going to be a topic of discussion.

It sounds like there is a review happening. There will probably be a report that comes out of it; maybe an action plan, maybe a framework, who knows? This has been ongoing for years and years and years, so there must be some sort of plan. I know that there are some bright people working in that department, so what is the long-term plan to ensure that these outhouses remain clean?

As I have said, we have sent someone out there to clean out this facility right now, and the Member is clearly right. We have 8,000 loads going to the mine site this year, so there are 16,000 extra trucks of traffic going just past that facility alone. Just think about that, if that was your washroom, the amount of toilet paper you have to supply.

We are looking at this thing. This is clearly an issue that is not going to go away unless we do something about it, but as I said, these things are located in locations where there is no access to power. We have to have a serious look at how we are going to be able to rectify this problem. Do we put in rotating porta-potties? Do we look at some type of antifreeze? Do we put bigger tanks in there? Is propane heat an option? These are the types of things that we are going to have to have a look at, or maybe, in this particular case, if Members really get on side and really push and help me access some funding from the Finance Minister, maybe we run a power line from the Alberta section to the border.

Certainly, with help of committee and the Members across the House, we can maybe rectify this problem, but we are looking at all of these alternatives. As I have said, we are working on our winter strategy and what we are going to do. This is going to be a conversation, not with just this facility, but with a number of facilities, and it is a challenging thing.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I understand the challenge. There is not even cell service out at the border. There is no power; there is no heat; there are no gas lines. I know that, in Alberta, they have gas lines, they have power, and so they have nice heated washrooms and don't run into these issues. Has the Minister put together an estimate on how much it would cost to install some heated washrooms or some type of infrastructure to avoid this? Do we have numbers that I can at least bring back to my constituents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Roughly, from the department's numbers that I got from them, it costs $70,000 to construct just a regular outhouse. I suspect, for us to do a heated facility, as we have talked about in this House here and the challenges in the location that it is, it would probably be double that. We would be spending something like $140,000, not counting to run power out to this type of facility. We will work through this through our winter strategy and try to come up with something here before next winter about how we can try to rectify this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, I spoke of the directive for the enrolment of students in French language education programs, which, I would submit, is a hangover from a previous time when Ottawa was calling the shots. This seems to be only present in the three territories. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment give us a compelling reason why this is important public policy that must be maintained? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With only having a few minutes to think on my feet what the question is, I guess the first thing that pops into my head as a compelling argument is that we only have two schools in the whole of the Northwest Territories that offer French immersion as a language. That is Hay River and in Yellowknife, and we have to make sure that the numbers don't go over 85 percent, otherwise we are looking at new schools, and we don't have enough money to add more schools, other than what we already have in our current plan. I guess, thinking on my feet, the first argument that comes to my head is making sure that it doesn't go over the 85 percent capacity, which is when we have to ensure that we are looking at new builds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Does the Minister have the current enrolment numbers? Are we close to 85 percent? Is this a live concern that there are students, you know, waiting to flood the francophone schools and completely overwhelm the current capacity?

As stated, I didn't get any of those questions beforehand, so no, I do not have the enrolment of the French schools on hand at this moment. We do have 49 schools in the Northwest Territories. It is impossible for me to try to memorize those all and bring them up with advanced notice. Therefore, I cannot say where we stay close to the 85 percent.

I have some sympathy for what the Minister has just provided to the House, except that there are only two schools, one school board, that requires Ministerial approval of enrolment. I would hope that she is a bit more in touch with the numbers on this file. Will the Minister commit to reviewing this policy again and, this time, to listening with francophone stakeholders, which was not done the last time? There are major concerns left with this policy. Is the Minister open to another review of the enrolment directive?

I do know that there are only two French language schools, but there are also 47 other schools that I am also responsible for, so it is something that I have to make sure that I spread my ability throughout. As for looking at it right now, if that was brought to me, actually, when I first started in April or two years ago, before it was my portfolio, I would have considered it, but we have six months left, and it is in the legislation. It is inappropriate at this time to start looking at that. We just don't have the time in this Assembly.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the Minister is incorrect. This is government policy; it is not a legislative change that would be required. This is something that she could change right away, so I will ask now if the Minister will consider getting rid of this policy altogether? Thank you.

Again, because we only have six months left, I have a lot of priorities, and I hate to say that. I mean, it is not that I don't want to work with them. I think it is important to build the relationship and work closely with the francophone community. However, I have a polytechnic on my hands right now. I have new initiatives with the secondary school. I have childcare issues. I have income support issues. How far can I stretch myself in six months and make sure that everything is done to the best of my ability? At this point, no. I think that I will continue to maintain the relationship and build on the relationship with the francophone community, but it is something that should be brought forward in the new Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, my questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Earlier today I spoke about the federal government announcing their new Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan, and I would just like to start by asking the Minister: we are aware that he attended PDAC recently, and so I am wondering if he can enlighten us a little bit about the conference and, more in particular, about the announcement of the new Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly can update the House on our trip. I just got back this morning. PDAC, again, was another great success for the Government of the Northwest Territories, and a big thank you out to all of our staff who are down there still attending for the next couple of days to help educate people and promote the Northwest Territories. I was there, along with Minister Sohi and Parliamentary Secretary Lefebvre, to announce the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan, and when we announced it, we had a large turnout, a contingent of people who were there, who were very supportive of the plan that we have been working on as Ministers for the last year.

A little bit of a history on this plan: this all actually started going back as far as 1994, when representatives from the federal, provincial, and territorial governments signed the Whitehorse Mining Initiative, so that is where this thing actually started.

When we introduced this thing yesterday on the floor of the conference there, it was well-received. What this thing is going to do is it is going to set the stage for the Canadian government to work together to build a competitive, sustainable, and responsible industry for the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan. It is clearly a document that is shared by all provinces and territories. We all worked on it together. It is a valuable document needed to anchor the minerals and metal and mining industry in the Canadian economy. It clearly states that. We are all very supportive of the plan going forward. It clearly lays out in this plan, and the whole conference, actually, speaks to a number of things about this, and it goes to the Member's comments in his Member's statement today about the source of employment and business growth and opportunities for all Canadians and Indigenous people and Indigenous corporations across this country. We clearly say that we have to have a modern regulatory regime and new technologies to ensure safety and responsible mining in this country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for his reply. I appreciate a little bit of the update from PDAC. We have done significant work in the North here with regard to our own efforts in support of mineral resource development. We have developed our own mineral strategy. We are also in the midst of developing our Mineral Resources Act. Can the Minister share with us a little bit about how he feels this new Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan will align with the efforts that we have undertaken, in particular, our mineral strategy and our Mineral Resources Act?

Our staff clearly worked on this with all of the staff right across the country. It is clearly lined up with what we are trying to do in the Northwest Territories, and when I am out there speaking on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the residents, particularly around the mineral sector, we are pretty much a leader on a lot of stuff in this country. Our new Mineral Resources Act is going to be something that is not seen anywhere else in this country. Our government predecessors to our Assembly came forth with the resource revenue sharing, which is clearly not adopted by all the people in this country. I think that we are the only jurisdiction; maybe Saskatchewan has something sort of similar. We have socio-economic agreements, which clearly are supportive of the residents in the Northwest Territories, to help us retain as many benefits as we can from these sorts of things.

The challenging thing for our government still is around the regulatory thing, and the Premier has been out there working diligently to get the federal government to have discussions with us to turn that over to us. Specifically to the Member's question of how this plan lines up with us, I think that we were a great contributor to this thing. I think, from everything that I am hearing and what you have seen here lately, with the Fraser Institute bumping us from 21^st to 10^th place, it clearly shows that our officials and staff in our departments are working very hard and that it is paying off for us.

Thank you to the Minister for the reply. PDAC is obviously one of the largest gatherings of mining companies from around the world, and thousands upon thousands of delegates join there every year. That is where industry meets every year. I would like to ask the Minister if he has any insight on what the commentary or what the feedback has been from industry with regard to the federal government's announcement on this plan, and in particular, if he can, what the feedback is from our northern industry partners on this plan.

We had the Nunavut-NWT Chamber of Mines actually attend PDAC this year. They were there for this announcement, and they were clearly supportive of what is in this documentation. There were a number of resource players from the Northwest Territories at PDAC. I had a number of side conversations with them, and they are quite happy with what is in this document, I think, as a country, as a whole, and how we are going to try to promote this industry and make us a global leader in this area of production in this country, but I think it got overshadowed a bit with our other federal announcement that took place down there.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, that is a good tie-in to my next question, which is: I would like to ask the Minister, then, if we recognize that the new plan is going to identify aspects around environmental responsibility and about Indigenous participation, does the plan identify anything specifically with regard to the infrastructure challenges, the infrastructure gap, that we have in Canada relating to resource development, but in particular in the North? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am not so sure that the plan specifically speaks to exactly what our infrastructure deficit is, but those conversations are always at the forefront of all of our conversations, be it with industry players, the government, or other levels of government, be it provincial or territorial.

At the same time, when I was down there, we took the opportunity to meet with some industry players and financiers, again, to explain what is going on in the Northwest Territories and clearly lay out what we are trying to do in the NWT, particularly around infrastructure, be it the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project, the Slave Geological Province, or the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Those are the three big ones. We clearly laid out what we are working on, what participation of federal government has given us support here in the last couple of months to work on a number of these projects, and had some meaningful discussion about how we think that people can participate in these types of projects, be it either Indigenous participation with equity involvement or what P3 type of opportunities there might be to come out of these things, but how we have to work with all people in the Northwest Territories to help move these projects forward and make sure that everyone has a voice at the table. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I would like to ask him when he is planning to table the Manufacturing Strategy. Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is something that we have been working on, but to update this House, we have actually shared this with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment on February 15^th for comment. Once it has been looked at by committee and responded to, we will be working on finalizing the strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Could the Minister give us a preview by telling us how that strategy will assist a small-scale manufacturing plant like the one that I discussed in my statement, the fish-tanning plant in Iceland? How will this strategy help that kind of enterprise?

This strategy has been something that I have been following very closely. As the Member probably knows, I used to be the chair, I guess, of the Manufacturing Strategy. We actually invited the Canadian president of the Manufacturers' Association of Canada to come up and participate with committee and the Members, and we actually had a couple of the Members of the committee participate. I think the Member from Hay River North was there, and the chair of the Standing Committee on Economic Development was there, as well, to be able to participate in these discussions. We have had a number of actions that are proposed in this draft strategy moving forward. Through discussions with the northern manufacturers to date, these proposed actions have been met with a positive response by the manufacturers, and it should lead to strengthening the strategy.

To your specific question of what would it do for fish tanning, I have had discussions with the Member on that, and it is a very novel concept. It is something that I actually thought was very interesting, and that I didn't even know about, that is taking place in other parts of the globe. That would have to be an initiative that would have to be brought forward by an entrepreneur, and if there is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to have a look at that and make some money on it, I would certainly encourage it. It was something that I was very impressed by.

Thanks to the Minister for that answer. I understand that the Manufacturing Strategy isn't to conduct the business, but to assist the businesses that are going into manufacturing or expanding it. It is my understanding from discussion in this House last fall about the Manufacturing Strategy that there would be no money attached to it. Is that still the case?

Currently, there is no new money attached to this strategy.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It was my understanding from that same discussion that money for enhancing manufacturing would come from the existing SEED fund, and I note that the value of the fund is not budgeted to increase in the next fiscal year. I guess I am wondering how this strategy will be implemented. Mahsi.

As I have said, we have shared it with committee. The Member has an opportunity to access that, I believe, through committee, to have a look it. We have worked on this thing closely with northern manufacturers, and the proposed actions that we have in there, as I have said, have a positive response. We will continue to work with the manufacturers' association, committee, and all Members of this House on trying to figure it out; we are already the leader of manufacturers in the three territories, but how do we make it even better? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today I discussed the presentation made by Hotii ts'eeda for their great discussion paper on the knowledge economy. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources has the lead for our government on the knowledge economy, and I would like to ask him for an update. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 2019 draft main estimates, which we are debating in Committee of the Whole, for Industry, Tourism and Investment, they have identified some money for work to begin on April 1, 2019, on a strategy to advance the knowledge economy. My understanding is that a project manager has been hired and work is under way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I am wondering whether the Minister or his staff have had a chance to review the discussion paper by Hotii ts'eeda on building the knowledge economy and how they intend to respond to it.

We welcome any work towards advancing research priorities of the knowledge economy in the North, including the recognition of social developments and health, the importance of multiple knowledge and informing research in economic diversification. As to the Member's question, I could not tell you off the top of my head if we have had an opportunity to review that. I will find that out, and I will get back to the Members. If there was some work done towards it, and if there was an opportunity that we had to address it and review it, I am not aware of that, but it may have been done, so I will follow up and inform the Members.

Thanks to the Minister for that. To help him with his homework, I am going to table the document a little bit later today. That trusty mandate tracker website shows that the knowledge agenda action plan was supposed to be released in the fourth quarter of 2018. Can the Minister tell us why it has been delayed and when the public can expect to see it, hopefully in draft form?

The work on the knowledge economy continues to progress appropriately. ITI, from my understanding, is working on the background research to support the development of the draft framework for the advancement of the knowledge economy, and we are hoping to have this work done by the winter of 2019 for review by the next government. That goes towards the Member's question.

It was supposed to be a mandate item in this particular government. However, there is still some work that we need to be doing. As I said in my Minister's statement before, some of the work that we are doing on the on-the-land program is, starting this month, we will be holding some open houses with communities across the territories to get input on the on-the-land unit and some of the initiatives that we are working on. For this particular issue that the Member is raising, my understanding is that we are hoping to have the work done for review by the next government.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to thank the Minister for that. I was hoping that we were going to get to the work on the knowledge economy a lot sooner. It was something that we added to the mandate at mid-term. There may be a chance to talk about this again tomorrow. Again, that trusty mandate tracker shows that there is supposed to be a proposal developed for a northern centre for sustainability and community resilience. Can the Minister provide a status report on the development of this proposal, including how much funding has been secured? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Departments of ENR and Education, Culture and Employment are preparing to undertake a feasibility study in 2019-2020 for the northern centre of excellence. In light of the recent Aurora College foundational review, it was determined that the scope of the feasibility study would be revised to consider the outcomes of the Aurora research review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I was asking the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about upgrading, and stuff like that. I need to follow up with a couple more questions for the Minister. We have set up a meeting to go into the communities. Can the Minister make a commitment to be prepared and to have her staff prepared to discuss upgrading and the challenges they are facing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going into the Nahendeh riding for a constituency tour, as long as the plans all follow through and we can get a double-engine plane. Anyone I hear at those meetings, I am willing to talk to. I am willing to listen to all of the concerns of the people, of whoever I meet with. That has just been my style. However, for me to make any commitments around how we are going to deal with upgrading or the community learning centres at that time would be inappropriate, because that is a process that has to be done within our polytechnic university as we move towards that. Yes, I will hear it, but no, I probably won't commit to anything at that time, unless they are easy commitments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am not asking her for a commitment, but I am asking her to make sure that she has her staff there, the superintendent of schools, ECE, and a couple of other people there, to hear the concerns from people about the upgrading needed. Can she commit to having at least a couple of those people available to be part of the tour?

I can commit to having staff available from Education, Culture and Employment. I will check with the superintendent. I am not sure of his availability, so I can't stand here today and commit to a superintendent when I don't even know if he will be available.

The Minister talked about distance learning and the program that the department is using, and it is a great program. However, it is very much a peer setting. It is the top level, to get people into college or to university. Can the Minister advise: is the department looking at adding additional courses to the distance learning opportunity?

When I first took over Education, I was shocked that we didn't even offer the upper-level courses in all of the small communities. I was naive and made an assumption that education was accessible to all. I have since learned that that is not so.

At this point, we are just trying to get the Northern Distance Learning into all of the small communities. With the adding of the four that are coming up now, that will bring it up to 15. Those are for the upper level. Those are the grades that people cannot access right now, currently, in their communities, although we still have issues with other ones. At this point, until we can get that Northern Distance Learning into every small community to address those top levels, I am not willing to look at it. After that is done, I think it should be something that an MLA should question the Minister on.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. Unfortunately, I'm asking the questions today, so I am not going to wait until tomorrow or until the future. I am asking about other courses, the expanding of the program right now that exists. Have you looked at that opportunity? Could you make a commitment to get the department to look, at least, that opportunity for expanding it to other courses, just not the peer courses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Like I said now, with the adding of four new schools this coming year, that's only bringing us up to 15 schools, and then, next year, we'll be bringing it up to another five, so we can actually have 20 schools. I will put the offer out there to the department and ask them to consider it. I will not make it a full-blown research project with a "what we heard" document, an action plan, and a framework because I don't think we're at that stage yet, Mr. Speaker. I think we're still trying to implement the beginning intent of the programs before expanding it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Housing about the Housing Corporation's future plans in Hay River. I'm aware that there's a seniors' planning study that was undertaken, and so, that's probably going to be fed into what becomes a broad plan for the town. Instead of asking about what's the big plan, I'll ask about some specifics. The Hay River high-rise has been an issue for years. It's been ongoing, and I've asked the Ministers questions about this before. There are many units in that building rented out to people on income assistance who are waiting for social housing to become available. If you just look at the news over the past couple of years, there are ongoing issues with the fire marshal, different structural aspects of the building, and there are concerns that this building may be shut down at some point. Every time I bring this up, I get the answer that we're working on it. We have a team that's looking at things. This team has been together for years, now. What is the plan in case the Hay River high-rise has to shut down and evict all of its residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right. Currently, there are no public housing units in the high-rise. It is on our agenda to take a look at, obviously, if something should happen in terms of if the building should be condemned. We need to have a plan. We are working with the leadership in Hay River to address that. Obviously, under the National Housing Co-Investment Fund that I've made statements in this House about, that provides an opportunity for partners to collaborate and work together to develop possibly a new rental construction.

We do know that that is an issue in Hay River. Like I said, it is on our agenda. The Member did make comments that we do have the seniors' planning study, is another concern that we do have in Hay River, and we are willing to continue work with our stakeholders to see how we can address this. As the Member knows, we have sat down with the new leadership in Hay River to look at how we can move forward in terms of addressing whether it's the market rental units, or even public housing in Hay River. As I've said in this House, our community housing plans are going to help us create priorities, hopefully for all our communities across the Northwest Territories, and we are looking forward to working with the Town of Hay River to address these needs. Thank you.

I, too, hope for the best, but I think we need to prepare for the worst, and it doesn't sound like there's actually a concrete plan to deal with the possibility of a lot of these people being essentially homeless if the high-rise is forced to shut down.

Another issue is the Riverview Lodge in Hay River. It's a seniors' home. It's about 40 years old, and I've heard rumours that it might be replaced. It might be demolished. I'd like the Minister to speak about what are the plans for the Riverview Lodge in Hay River?

Yes, we are going to be looking at a replacement within the next five years for that building. The Housing Corporation plans to construct the replacement seniors' complex on existing NWT Housing Corporation's own land, avoiding the need to displace the current senior tenants. We do have a plan in place moving forward. I can get more details for the Member, but there is a plan in place. As I mentioned, we're looking at a replacement within the next five years. Obviously, we don't want to displace our seniors. We want to make sure that they are in an existing infrastructure, and we will keep the Member updated on that plan.

I appreciate that answer. I'm also asking because the employees of the housing authority need to know what's going on, as well, because they're the ones who really have to work on the front line and answer these questions. The Minister mentioned that the Riverview Lodge will be built on existing housing-owned land in Hay River. There's a lot of land owned by the Housing Corporation in Hay River. There are the 26 lots all clumped together that were formerly known as Disneyland. Can the Minister give us an update on what the plans are for those lots of land in Hay River that the housing authority owns but are not being used?

The Housing Corporation currently owns six vacant lots in Hay River. Four of these lots comprise, as the Member said, the Disneyland property, which is earmarked for the replacement of the Riverview Lodge. At present, this land is required to support the NWT Housing Corporation's capital planning needs, and we'll continue to focus on that. Should any land or property be identified as surplus at a later date, the property will be disposed of in accordance with the NWT Housing Corporation's disposal policy.

Masi. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's very interesting, that they're planning on relocating the Riverview Lodge there. I didn't know that. Every week I look in the Hay River Hub, our newspaper, and I see ads from the Housing Corporation imploring residents to sell them land. You know, if private individuals have land, the Housing Corporation wants to buy it. What is the plan with all of this land the Housing Corporation is trying to buy up? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In short, we're always looking for land that will support our future capital planning and the projects that we are looking at developing. Obviously, in short, we are just looking for land that we can look at developing. As I said, the community housing plans that we are going to be working on, working with the leadership and stakeholders in the Town of Hay River, will help address the priorities that are needed. Yes, just in short, we're just looking for land that is going to help support our capital plans for the Town of Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.