This is page numbers 1299 - 1316 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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 land.

Topics

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I'm not exactly sure what kind of investigation you're asking for an update on. I don't have any more information to share than what I just said.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

I came up with some of these questions on the fly, so my apologies for that. My last question is: are we going to be expecting any more cases aside from these three presumptive cases?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I have no way of knowing whether there are going to be additional cases. There was some contact tracing going on, I haven't seen the results of that. If there are additional cases as a result of that the public will be notified through the public health advisory process which we used last week through the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. If a person tests positive after being in a community already, what is the government's response or protocols around contact tracing? Could the Minister please walk me through a scenario of what would happen in that instance? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for the question. There is a protocol in the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer that a team who are trained to do contact tracing then figure out who the contacts are and then confidentially call those people and make them aware that they are a contact of somebody who has tested positive. They give them advice on the next steps to take in the event that that has happened.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

I heard her mention that there had been training on contact tracing. Has the staff of the Department of Health and Social Services as well as the CPHO had formal training, certified training, on contact tracing?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you. The training is done by the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer. I'm not sure what the Member has in mind with formal training. There is a national protocol that is being followed. I don't know if that's what she means, but this is not something unique to the NWT. There is a formal process, or a national process, that is followed in contact tracing.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

I'd ask then, if there has been training done, if the Minister would supply me with records of training for the staff of the CPHO and the HSS. In the recent cases of COVID in Yellowknife, were these protocols followed?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I don't have an answer to the Member's question.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

More of a comment: I can't believe the Minister doesn't know if her own protocols were followed in a case such as this.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you. I'll take that as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will continue my questioning of the Minister of Lands. He refuses to create a process guide for transferring land in fee simple for Aboriginal titled Indigenous governments because presently he cannot. We have a land lease only policy in the Northwest Territories. I believe it is a Cabinet policy. My question for the Minister of Lands is: is he willing to get rid of the lease only policy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lands is undertaking a broad review of the effectiveness of the Land Lease only policy in collaboration with EIA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

I appreciate that there is a review and work is being done. Will part of this review consult existing lease holders and see whether they can transfer their land to fee simple? I believe a great example is: I think we have six agricultural leases in the Northwest Territories. That's about six famers who would be better off getting mortgages, getting loans, and running their farms if they had their land. Will such work conduct a review of leases we can convert to title?

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

As I said before, we need to consult with EIA and with our Indigenous governments moving forward.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

That's not quite the answer that I'm looking for. That would be an answer that we are going to get rid of the lease-to-own policy and replace it with something that allows fee simple title. In this same vein, presently, about half of Akaitcho territory, half of the southern Northwest Territories, is withdrawn. Does the Department of Lands have any role or plan to decrease the amount of land that is presently withdrawn in interim land withdrawals?

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

The quick answer is no, but the Member should ask the Minister responsible for EIA that type of question.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the problem I'm trying to get to. Right now, I am not prepared to support putting a multi-billion-dollar road through Akaitcho territory when half of it is withdrawn, the other half will likely go to Akaitcho, and we have no guarantee what their mineral staking regime will look like. We have not provided investors certainty in this area, and I don't believe it's just EIA. I think it's EIA, ITI, MACA, and Lands, and this huge gap in land administration in the Northwest Territories. My question is: will the Minister of Lands work with EIA to come up with a comprehensive strategy on what we are going to do with land outside of the formal land claim process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

[Microphone turned off] ...the Member, but to make him feel better: yes, we will work with the Minister of EIA. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Question 372-19(2): Large Emitter Carbon Tax Grant Program
Oral Questions

October 19th, 2020

Page 1314

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to just ask a couple of more questions, if I may, of the Minister of Finance on the large emitter carbon tax grant program. I think she almost started to make a commitment that she was prepared to review the current program and the policy that is in place, so is the Minister prepared to do that? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.