This is page numbers 5877 - 5944 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 report.

Topics

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

True to form, the Minister answered a couple of my other questions, so I will skip to my last one. Unfortunately, the next Assembly will have a new Minister of Health. What advice can this Minister provide to his successor to help address these ongoing issues at the Health and Social Services authority in Hay River?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We face challenges across the entire Northwest Territories. Recruitment and retention is a big challenge. When it comes to Hay River, I have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of different practitioners and nurses, both in Hay River and out of Hay River, and one of the things that I have heard from some individuals outside the community is that they would love to go to Hay River. They think it's a great community. It's in a beautiful spot, it's a 10-hour drive from Edmonton, it's a brand-new health centre, but they don't want to go there because they don't want to leave the public service.

Frankly, I think that one of the initiatives that the next government does have to undertake is to bring Hay River into the public service to improve that security, ensure that they are getting the best pension, and expand their ability to reach out to additional services in the Northwest Territories, to make sure that we have those economies of scale that Hay River doesn't always get to take advantage of. I really think that the next government is going to have to find a way to bring them in.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to follow up on my statement on the Affirmative Action Policy. About 30 years ago, as a result of the Oka Crisis, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples did a report and released their findings on November 1, 1996. That was 30 years ago. In 2019, it is a long shot, but marijuana was legalized. Much has changed. My question is to the Minister of Finance. I asked the Minister this question before and did not get a direct answer, so I will ask again: why has the Affirmative Action Policy not been updated in the last 30 years? Does concern about the legitimacy of affirmative action for other disadvantaged groups have anything to do with the GNWT's reluctance to update its policy? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The policy is one tool related to recruitment of Indigenous employees. We have introduced a number of programs that will assist with increasing Indigenous employees within the GNWT and will help employees advance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

One of the suggestions is to identify an individual who, perhaps, could herald some changes in terms of instituting opportunities for career paths for Indigenous people. Will the Minister consider developing a standalone Affirmative Action Policy for Indigenous people? Will he instruct his department to begin this work before the end of this Assembly?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

We always want to try and increase the number of Indigenous employees within the GNWT, and I think that the government has taken a number of steps to do so. I think that the Member pointed out some of my past comments about merit, moving a lot of them along based on merit and what they bring to the job. In my career within the GNWT, and here in the Legislative Assembly, I have seen improvement.

The 19th Assembly, when they come in, can choose to take up this approach if they want, but I am not sure that changing the policy would be the best approach to increasing Indigenous employment.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Is there a model in other jurisdictions that has been successful in hiring more Aboriginal people into the government that the GNWT could perhaps use as a model?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I can get back to the Member, but there are few, if any, jurisdictions that have been as successful as the GNWT in increasing Indigenous employment. We share best practices amongst provinces and territories. I am not sure if there is a model out there that we can actually use; I think that ours is the model that they can actually use.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Question 790-18(3): Affirmative Action Policy
Oral Questions

August 12th, 2019

Page 5890

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we are on to something good here, so I will ask the Minister: will the Minister commit to bringing on board an Indigenous employee advocate who is tasked to work with the management to assist interested Indigenous employees seeking work with the GNWT? Mahsi.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

As far as an Indigenous employee advocate, I am not sure if we have one, but we already have a Diversity and Inclusion Unit and an Indigenous Employee Advisory Committee.

As I said before, we are winding down the life of the 18th Legislative Assembly, and as the 19th comes in, one of their priorities may be to include this as they move forward. We will let them make that decision, but we have already taken some steps to address the Members' concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. On September 27, 2017, my private Member's bill, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, was passed. The Minister committed to develop regulations as a priority. His department released a Key Elements for Discussion document on May 1, 2019, soliciting input on regulations. Can the Minister describe what he has in mind for regulations of cremation services? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicated, we did release a discussion document on May 1st with an opportunity for feedback until the end of May. We did receive two submissions, and, based on that information, we have issued some drafting instructions for the regulations. In broad terms, and, I mean, I could spend a significant amount of time going into the detail, but I am not going to, but, in broad terms at this point, based on the feedback that we received, we feel that the regulations are going to be quite consistent with that key elements document that was released previously. I encourage anybody who wants the details to actually go online and read the document rather than having me quote the entire document verbatim, at length, which would take a significant amount of time, and I see we only have 28 minutes left. I am pretty sure I could take up the entire time.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I have actually got the document and have read it, and I would not want the Minister to suffer any more pain today in discussing the document at great length, but can the Minister tell us a little bit more about who submitted comments and generally what those comments were on the discussion paper?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

The document was posted on the Health and Social Services website, and it was also distributed to a number of stakeholders that included the Departments of Municipal and Community Affairs, Environment and Natural Resources, the City of Yellowknife, the Towns of Inuvik and Hay River, funeral providers or the individuals providing those services in each community, and the NWT Association of Communities. Comments, as I indicated, and input were accepted till May 31st, and, from that process, the department did receive two responses, both of which were positive.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I want to thank the Minister for that detail. Can the Minister tell us, though, what he knows about what the remaining steps are to ensure that this is a fully regulated field: what other departments, orders of government are involved; what the remaining obstacles are to make sure that a service, a funeral home, say for example here in Yellowknife, can actually offer cremations?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

There is no territorial law or regulation prohibiting the practice of cremation in the Northwest Territories. The department and I did commit to developing regulations under the Public Health Act in 2019, and these will provide essentially greater support and certainty to providers who may wish to offer cremation services in the territories. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, the department is responsible for regulation of cremation that is limited to public health matters, such as handling the body and disposing of human waste materials. Other aspects of cremation actually fall under the mandates of other different GNWT departments, like Environment and Natural Resources is responsible for water use through the Land and Water Board licensing, and effluents such as sewage monitoring or emissions, which would be air regulations. Municipal and Community Affairs is responsible for areas related to municipal bylaws, and the municipality has some responsibility on licensing and allowing cremation in their individual communities. So it's a number of bodies. Health and Social Services is focused on the public health components, but we are working together with all of the partners to try to find a way to make this a reality as quickly as possible.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that response. I believe earlier he said that he hoped the regulations would be in place by the end of the calendar year. Can he just confirm that again for me and let me know what work his officials are continuing to do to ensure that this happens by the end of the year?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

The Member and I have been talking about this particular issue for four years. I would really love to say that they are going to happen, the regulations are going to happen, right away. We did issue drafting instructions in June to the Department of Justice, but, unfortunately, as the Member knows, the individuals who were working on those regulations are the same ones who are helping us move a number of pieces of legislation that are before us today and through the next two weeks through the House. As a result, they did not have the time or the resources to do the regulations immediately. They have indicated to us that they intend to make it a priority in August, after this sitting is done, and we are hoping that we can get these done as quickly as possible. I think it's safe to say that, with an election and everything else happening, we probably will not see the regulations until the end of the calendar year, but it will get done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.