Debates of March 3rd, 2020

This is page numbers 437 - 482 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 going.

Topics

Oral Questions

Members Present

Prayer

Promoting Importance of Oral Health

Trades Apprenticeships

Northwest Territories Housing Corporation Policy on Rent Scales

Whati Housing Plan

Affirmative Action Policy

Health System Navigator

Regulatory Change to Improve Preventative Oral Health

Implementation and Promotion of Environmental Rights Act

Indigenous Languages Promotion and Revitalization

Ms. Green's Reply

Trades Apprenticeships

Rent Scale Policy Review

Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) Legislation

Process Convention

Affirmative Action Policy

Promoting Indigenous Official Languages

Oral Health Report

Arnica Inn Transitional Housing Project

Review of Rent Scale Policy on Income Verification

Full-time Psychologist for Children and Youth for Treatment Centre

Written Question 6-19(2): Educational Facilities

Tabled Document 47-19(2): "Our Ever Awesome NWT Brushing Song!" Book by Richard Van Camp and Neiva Mateus

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Tabled Document 30-19(2): Main Estimates 2020-2021 - Justice - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Justice

Tabled Document 30-19(2): Main Estimates 2020-2021 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, carried

Report Of Committee Of The Whole

Orders Of The Day

Committee Motion 3-19(2): Tabled Document 30-19(2): Main Estimates 2020-2021 - Justice - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Justice, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 448

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it, and I look forward to seeing that. I believe it is quite a high return on investment, especially up here, once again, if you get an artist to meet certain qualifications, they can go access Canadian Council for the Arts funding.

I just want to get a sense of how much of this arts funding is for artists in communities, because I believe that's really the market we need to look to develop.

Page 448

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister.

Page 448

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. I don't have a breakdown in front of me of the distribution of these funds, but that's definitely something we can get to Member. We might be able to get it by the end of the day. I know we have people watching and working furiously and sending us emails. We can get that done, and hopefully, I'll be able to have an answer for you later on. Thank you.

Page 448

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Page 448

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Page 448

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you. Are there further questions on this item? Member for Thebacha.

Page 449

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to reiterate what one of my colleagues said. I would appreciate that, I see the NWT Arts Council, the funding remains the same throughout, and also the Indigenous languages. When you're having flow-through money, I think it's extremely important that we increase them, because the communities are affected. We have a lot of very talented people in the communities, and I think that it's a positive thing. Almost every weekend there are different arts things that go on, even at the museum in Fort Smith. Languages are extremely important, and the cultural aspect of it, to Salt River and to the Metis Nation, and also to even the Francophones. I'd like to see, in future budgets, that these two line items are increased. Okay? I'm going to be accepting them as they are now, of course, but I just want to make sure that you understand how important these are to the outside smaller communities and regions. I know that there's a lot of access to these two line items, especially in the community of Thebacha.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Member for Thebacha, did you have a question you wanted the Minister to answer? Okay. Thank you. Minister, would you like to respond?

Page 449

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, and I appreciate the Member's comments. Just this upcoming weekend is the K'amba Carnival in Hay River, so we talk about culture and language and arts, and it's very close to home. I appreciate the Member's comments, and I would love to see increases across the board in all of the great things that we do. We'll have those discussions over the next year about how we're going to allocate our funds. Thank you.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Page 449

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions, and I think I'm going to start on language since we're there. The Minister had mentioned an influx of federal dollars available to Indigenous languages. Last year, in 2019, the federal government deemed 2019 the international year of Indigenous languages, and they opened up a federal funding pot of $333,700,000 that they were going to distribute over five years. I'm wondering if our government was able to provide, or does provide, any support to Indigenous governments to access that federal funding. Thank you.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.

Page 449

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. Our government has not accessed that, to date. Thank you.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Page 449

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. My question was: do we provide support to Indigenous governments in any way possible, in any of our capacities, to be able to provide support for Indigenous governments to access that funding? Thank you.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.

Page 449

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

To my deputy minister, Ms. Mueller.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.

Page 449

Mueller

Thank you, Madam Chair. In total for Indigenous languages and supporting Indigenous languages, we had, in 2019-2020, about $20 million. It's supporting a variety of different initiatives, both in the schools and outside the schools. We do distribute approximately close to $5 million to help support all the various Indigenous governments' language plans that they have, that they've developed, and they've done that in a five-year plan at a time. That's what we do. Thank you.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Page 449

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. For my next question, I'm going to go back to the conversation about the NWT Arts Council. I know that there is an arts strategy currently in the works in conjunction with ITI, and I'm wondering when we can expect to see that. Thank you.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.

Page 449

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. We hope to have that ready for tabling in the upcoming May-June session. Of course, prior to that, it will be making its way to committee for comments, feedback, et cetera. Thank you.

Page 449

The Chair Julie Green

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Page 449

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The next two line items I'd like to talk about are the Indigenous broadcasting and Indigenous scholarships lines, which seem to have disappeared from the budget. Is that because they have been moved to another place within the budget? Thank you.

Debates of March 3rd, 2020

Topics

Help us improve OpenNWT