This is page numbers 6031 - 6090 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 tax.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The two departments do, of course, work together. For example, the Department of Lands provides guidance to MACA and community governments when developing and implementing community development plans. Now, the department utilizes the community plans of the municipal governments to ensure that the applications are consistent with the use identified in the plans. MACA has the responsibility for ensuring that community plans are in place, so the two departments do work together in this important area. Thank you.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Once in a while you come across a policy that is seventies-era. That's when Ottawa made all of the decisions for people of the NWT, and times have changed. My question is: what concerns or obstacles would stand in the way of the GNWT converting all public land within municipal boundaries to fee simple title for transfer to municipal governments or current leaseholders?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Of course, Lands is bound by the law in this area. With respect to that, there is the Commissioner's land regulations that, among other things, in dealing with an application, the deputy minister has to be satisfied that the land is no larger in area than is reasonable for the purpose for which the land is required.

There is no overall policy to turn all land over to the municipalities. In fact, the GNWT may have its own future needs for infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals, and so on. These future needs have to be considered if contemplating the turning over of lands to community governments. Also, in unsettled land claim areas, the Land Lease-Only Policy applies, which requires extra steps to transfer land to the communities in fee simple. There are processes that we have to go through. We do realize, of course, that the municipalities do have bona fide reasons to acquire lands, but they have to make application, and a certain procedure has to be followed.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

As the Minister, what improvements does he think the Department of Lands could make to its processes to address the issues with land administration being raised by municipal governments?

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

Lands is working with the communities to clarify processes for the transfer of land and fee simple, as well as the responsibilities that go along with the administration of land within the communities. I understand also that Lands and MACA staff are currently working on a strategy or finalizing a strategy on the process for the transfer of land and assets specifically to community governments. We do realize that there is an issue here, and we are taking steps to improve the process.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to ask my question that I wanted to understand this policy here. The Minister had indicated that communities have community plans. I would think that those community plans are community land use planning zones. There are lands identified as residential, commercial, and industrial lands, and there are future lands that would be zoned in. I wonder if the Minister could clarify that and whether most communities have those community plans in place in the NWT? Mahsi.

Louis Sebert

Louis Sebert Thebacha

I am not certain whether all communities do have community plans in place, but I know that MACA can work with communities, and Lands can also assist in developing a community plan, which is important for the progress and future of the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Question 816-18(3): NWT Arts Strategy Action Plan
Oral Questions

August 15th, 2019

Page 6044

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. My statement recounted the disappointed arts community leaders who report that they have long appealed for the collection of hard data on the value of extended productivity of their sector. They say that this kind of data should have driven consultations around the development of an action plan for the NWT Arts Strategy. I would like to ask the Minister: why has the detailed data collection, through a survey of artists, producers, and presenters, not been done? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is quite disheartening to hear these comments today, in all honesty. I had a conversation with the MLA the other day about one organization representing the interests of all of the people who would be covered within that. This is an example of how, sometimes, it doesn't work really well.

We started out with the Arts Strategy, and between November 2018 and March 2019, we have done 16 key stakeholder engagements, we have 277 general public members who responded to an online survey, and then we realized that we hadn't engaged with the Arts Council, the NWT Arts Council, who are the leaders, who are supposed to represent the people who are artists. So I spoke to my colleague Minister, because we both have an interest in this, the Minister for ITI, and he agreed with me.

We stopped the process, we called the NWT Arts Council, and we got together. My department worked with them on input into the strategy. I did a personal meeting with the NWT Arts Council. I spent three or four hours with them in an evening and told them how important it was that we work together. This strategy would not be good if we did not work together; it's all of us.

To stand here and hear that the leaders in the arts community felt that we didn't hear them is really disheartening, because I did my best, Mr. Speaker. At no time when I was meeting with the NWT Arts Council did any of this data thing come even to fruition, so I am kind of not feeling really good about this, Mr. Speaker. I am open to feedback on how I can reach out to leaders. If the Arts Council is not the leaders, then I need to know who I should be dealing with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I just love the passion of the Minister. I am not criticizing the engagement process that was gone through in terms of developing the Arts Strategy. I am talking about the action plan. These are the specific actions we need to undertake to support the Arts Strategy, and at the core of that is knowing where we are, the kind of information data that will drive how we can improve, and give us the direction of where we need to go. That is what I heard from the leaders who I have been talking to. How is the Minister going to ensure that the new action plan under the Arts Strategy is coordinated across the three departments that she just mentioned?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

We just finished the consultation pieces on the action plan, people from throughout the Northwest Territories on what their ideas are. We are just compiling that information right now, and we will developing a "what we heard" report, just like we always say. The reality is, after that report is done, actually, we need to meet together, all departments that are involved in this action plan and in the identified actions, because I do not even know what they are going to say yet, and any department that has some kind of action that will be required, we will be working together to make sure that those happen. I also want to expand on that and say that, with my meeting with the NWT Art Societies, I also emphasized again that this plan is about them, this is their stuff, so we have made a commitment that we will work closely with them on the development of the action plan. The strategy was the beginning. The plan is going to expand on that. My commitment, the other Ministers' commitment, was that we were all engaged in this together. We have made a commitment to work as closely as possible.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I just love the passion of the Minister, again, and I am sure she can encourage her fellow Ministers to be as collaborative on all fronts with this side of the House. I would like to know, though: how is the Minister going to ensure that the new action plan under the Arts Strategy is put together in a way that it ensures our support programs are designed to take advantage of matching funding in other complementary programs?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Any good program needs money. We all know that. I don't think I am going to get any argument on that one. Part of the action plan, an action plan is supposed to be comprehensive. The strategy says: this is what we want. The plan says: how do we get to that strategy? If we are not looking at how we are getting funding, then that would be a detriment to the plan going forward, so we will be open to accessing outside funding sources. I also want to say that we are already doing some of that. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment regularly accesses outside funding sources, such as those available through Canadian Heritage. I am also pleased to say that I am also meeting next week with the executive director for the Canadian Council for the Arts, so, although it's not mandated or anything, we regularly do look for outside funding sources to help any of the programs. That is what we do as Ministers.

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. Just sometimes it's actually easier for those outside of government to access federal money, but I am sure the Minister knows that. However, it's never too late to put in place a proper data collection system to help us build the case and rationale for further investment in the arts and cultural sector, so will the Minister ensure that the relevant departments working on the action plan under the Arts Strategy make data collection a priority?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Again, it was just today that I realized that this was an issue, at all. I started out here four years ago. When I did a speech in the House about getting in to become a Minister, I talked about my experience in accreditation, not knowing anything about politics, only about best practices. Best practices in accreditation talks about evaluation, it talks about data, it talks about measurable outcomes, so I have carried that right through my whole four years. I did that with the polytech education act about quality education based on best practices. It would be foolish for me to stand here at the end of my term and say I am throwing out what I believe in, so, yes, I will definitely make that commitment, that data is important for any program evaluations. Measurable outcomes are important, and we need to make sure that we have those in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. It must be the end of our session. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure some questions regarding his statement earlier today. He noted that there are going to be specific requirements established for hiring and training local residents with regard to the Tlicho All-Season Road. This is something I have advocated for a long time, that we actually have specific targets and commitments and requirements built into large infrastructure projects. Can the Minister provide us some details of what these specific requirements are actually going to be? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Minister of Infrastructure.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have that level of detail, of course, at my fingertips here on something like that, but this is something that the department took as an initiative under this P3 project, that we want to be able to capitalize as much as we can for northern opportunities for businesses and people in the region. I think our staff did a great job in implementing that, but I can certainly get all of the details and supply that to this House.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

That is great to hear, that he is going to give it to the House, and I commend him for doing that. It's something I have advocated for a long time, and it could and should have happened with Stanton, as well. Is this a new policy, or is this a one-off?