This is page numbers 1111 - 1152 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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Earlier today, I mentioned the recent Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories decision on the Acho Dene Koe First Nation case on the relationship of community investment plans to regulatory requirements under oil and gas legislation. Can the Minister tell us whether she has read or been briefed on this important case and what, if any, changes her department is going to make to ensure that Indigenous governments and all Northerners benefit from resource development? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am aware of this case. We are working to update our benefit plan guidelines that do exist under our oil and gas legislation. When it comes into force, the MRA will give us the ability, in law, to establish measures that will generate benefits for all Northerners.

Mr. Speaker, I must remind the Member that Indigenous governments and all Northerners are already benefitting from resource development. Every producing mine has an associated socioeconomic agreement in addition to independent IVAs that are negotiated with Indigenous governments. Since 1996, under our SEAs, socioeconomic agreements, almost $30,000 jobs have been realized for northern and Indigenous persons at our diamond mines. These same mines have spent over $16 billion with northern companies and service providers. Our government receives royalties that ultimately benefit all people of the Northwest Territories. Indigenous governments also share in resource revenues under the devolution agreement. We are already benefitting, Mr. Speaker. Let's not forget that. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I want to thank the Minister for that. I am not prepared to engage her in a debate in question period about whether there are benefits. My purpose here is to make sure that we benefit more from resource development. In August of last year, the Assembly completed its review and passed amendments to our oil and gas legislation that, among other things, would have done away with much of the secrecy around our management of those resources. Can the Minister tell us when those amendments will finally be brought into force and what is the source of the delay?

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

I am not sure that that work is delayed. Nevertheless, I can tell the Member that it is close to completion, and I am anticipating that we will be able to identify a target coming-into-force date fairly soon, possibly as early as the end of this month. There are two things in particular that have taken some time. The Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations, or OROGO, wanted the opportunity to develop two sets of guidelines and interpretation notes, which will help explain their application and administration of two of the amendments. These have now been drafted. More critically, our government needed to update our technology infrastructure to be able to host a secure, public-facing, online database. That is the work that is now almost done. When it is ready, we will go live and bring the legislation into force.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

That's great news from the Minister. I am glad to hear that we are weeks away from flipping the secrecy onus. I certainly pushed very hard to get the public registry as part of the legislation. In my statement, I also referenced the extraordinary power and discretion of Cabinet and the Minister in deciding what, how, and when benefits might be secured from mineral development through enforceable agreements or plans. Can the Minister tell us what the implications of the Acho Dene Koe First Nation court case are in relation to securing benefits under the Mineral Resources Act, and when will those provisions actually be brought into force?

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

I don't believe that I am the first ITI Minister to admit that I can't predict the future. The one for-sure thing we can take from this court ruling is that, when it comes to petroleum projects in the Northwest Territories, a very clear distinction was made between benefit plans and agreements that might be signed between project proponents and Indigenous governments. Now, as far as our work on the Mineral Resources Act is concerned, I can tell you that, as we get back to the more regular business of government, these regulations will become a focal point for our government. This work will take time, and our planning for it is under way. The MRA is a brand new act. We are building some of the regulations from the ground up, and that will require research and input from multiple parties. What I will do is assure the Member that, as our work moves forward on this file, I will keep him and the rest of the Members of this House involved and informed, as already committed to during ITI's main estimates review.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for another piece of really great news. Of course, it's a challenging time in the Northwest Territories for resource development as we have so little control over commodity prices and financing. What assurance can the Minister provide that securing benefits for Northerners from resource development to fulfill the promise of devolution is truly a priority as we enter an era of economic recovery? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

I am happy to provide the Member and this House with that assurance. Absolutely. It is part of our mandate, and I think it has been evidenced most recently in the rollout of our approach to COVID. I have said numerous times that we will need our resource sector to anchor our recovery. Mining and exploration are the biggest source of private sector jobs and income for our residents and, when they return to full operations, will once again be major buyers of products and services from Northwest Territories companies. We have worked with our mines and resource companies to ensure their safe and continued operation. We have taken steps to protect mineral tenure in the Northwest Territories by suspending payment and work requirements as we work on more comprehensive and coordinated relief measures. Also, the Mining Incentive Program has been adapted to support Northwest Territories prospectors and company-led mineral exploration projects to ensure that their projects this summer will be in line with orders and conditions of the Chief Public Health Officer. All of this, Mr. Speaker, because we recognize the importance of mining and resource development in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. As I am aware that the department is working about the District Education Authorities on their plans for reopening in the fall, today, there was an article released by CBC that the DECs were not informed about the decision that they have to fund from within COVID supplies. I hope this is not the case, as they don't have the budget. My question is: is the DEC responsible to cover this cost? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every single day, there are meetings between the assistant deputy minister of education and culture and all of the superintendents in the Northwest Territories. Every two weeks, I meet with the education leaders, the chairs of the 10 DEAs and DECs in the territory, and there is constant communication. We always make sure that we let the education bodies know what we are thinking, and we always want to know what they are thinking because, the way education is in the territory, it is so decentralized that we have to collaborate.

In terms of the costs, where we are right now is figuring out how we're going to reopen schools. The Chief Public Health Officer released a document that outlined how schools should be run in terms of the safety precautions that need to be taken, what sort of PPE is needed, what sort of distancing is needed, class sizes, and things like that. Since the day that that was released, ECE has been working with the education bodies to figure out how that could be implemented in the upcoming school year. I believe every school now has completed a plan. The Chief Public Health Officer is going to look at two of those plans, one from a big school and one from a small school, give feedback, and from there we can figure out if there will be extra costs. Then we can start talking about costs, but right now, we're not even at that point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

In the way that this has been rolling out, it's been so quick with COVID. It's not the schools' fault that COVID happened, either. I'm just wondering: if the department is going to be working with the DECs, will they have to cover the cost initially? How is this going to work? I know the Minister says it's not, but there has to be some kind of idea. Are they going to provide money, advanced money, or are they going to use within and bill back to the Department of Finance or wherever this COVID fund is? Are there COVID relief funds for schools?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

To the specific question: are there COVID relief funds? No. Those would have to come through this House, and that hasn't happened yet. Our budget, our main estimates, which we passed yesterday, that document was finalized before anyone had an idea that COVID was even coming to North America. There is nothing in there, and nothing has been in the supplementary estimates yet. However, we have allocated the full amount for the year to schools, so I don't think it's urgent that, on day one, we need to start making payments or deal with this because that entire amount is going to be available to them.

We're not going to leave schools hanging. That's the bottom line here. Students have had a rough break these past few months, and we need to make sure that they get back on track. We need to make sure that schools are supported. We're all in this together. ECE is in it with the education councils, and we're going to work together to make sure that what needs to get done gets done.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Before I arrived here, I wore a different hat. I'm very familiar with the Beaufort-Delta and the sizes of the schools and the number of students, and I'm very familiar with Inuvik East Three Elementary. We have a new school. Junior kindergarten got implemented. They took over the music room, the computer room. We have no space in that new school with junior kindergarten numbers, and I don't know where they calculate they can fit students in. We have on average about 450 students coming into our school in the fall that is already tight-fitted. How is the Department of ECE going to ensure that these students have proper-fitting PPE going into the fall?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

That's a good question about proper-fitting PPE. We can't just say students have to wear PPE and then not have stuff that fits them. Those are conversations that are happening right now. In terms of just PPE in general, ECE has received, I can't recall the numbers, but thousands of pieces of PPE have already been donated that are going out to the schools. The boxes of them are sitting here downtown right now. We're working on that. The Emergency Management Organization is procuring PPE for all government departments, including ECE. I can get back to the Member on those details because I have to say I don't have those exact details. It's a good question, and it's something we're going to have to work on.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of ECE to collaborate with ITI. I know that there was money available for supplies. As a past nurse, knowing that PPE is one-size-fits-all, so with little kids in junior kindergarten, they're not going to fit general PPE masks and gloves and things if they're going to need that. Can the Minister work with the Minister of ITI to maybe create some jobs in my community and in the rest of the Northwest Territories communities to maybe have some people sewing some masks and get on it in the summer and get some for the schools so that they can come up with a plan on how to do this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I do have the numbers about the PPE that have been donated. There have been 3,000 face shields donated. Those are going to be worn by the adults in the school, so that will be a couple each. Then 20,000 face cloth masks have been donated, and those come in various sizes for students. That being said, there will need to be more, so I'm happy to work with the Minister of ITI and figure out how we can do that and create some local employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] As I spoke in my Member's statement earlier, when Chief Jully Bruneau asked for a school, that was about 50 years ago. Again, today, I ask about Education, Culture and Employment that is under education [End of translation] ...for a new school in our community of Behchoko. I would like to ask questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about his capital plans for a community school. The first question I have for the Minister is: what criteria does his department use for deciding whether to build a new school or simply rehabilitate an existing building? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a technical question. What happens is that there is an evaluation of the school done, the structure of it, and a determination made of whether or not it would be more cost effective to retrofit the school or rebuild it. When I say "retrofit," I don't mean just patch it up. I know that the Member said that in his statement, "patch it up." The school I went to, the school that my father went to, is 50 years old. It just got a retrofit, and it looks brand new. It's not just a patch job here and there; it's a full-on renovation. That determination is made on whether the school can safely be retrofitted or not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.