This is page numbers 957 - 1010 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.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a big question. There are 10 different education bodies and 49 different schools in 33 different communities, so a lot of different steps have been taken. As the Member noted, school was closed in mid-March, and the decision to close it for the remainder of the school year was made, I believe, on about March 26th. The reason for that is because the authorities and myself felt that, if you waited every two weeks to see if we would reopen, we wouldn't be putting the effort into delivering distance learning, and so the decision was made to close the schools for the remainder of the school year and put our efforts into preparing ways to educate students when they're at home or when they're out on the land.

Depending on where you were in the territory, there have been different methods taken. There was an assessment done in every community on how well different types of education would work, how many students had access to the Internet, how many students had access to computers. If those were low numbers, then that school would primarily be using a paper-based distance education. There have been lots of those done. There were no layoffs in the schools. All of the support assistants remained working, all of the teachers remained working, they continued to provide food programs. Many, many things have happened, and I could stand up here all day and talk about it, but the point is that an amazing effort was put in to ensure there was a continuity of education.

Now, has that worked as well as having in-person classes? Absolutely not. There is no way it could. Parents don't have time to teach when they are working full-time from home. Students need to be in school, there are no two ways about it. While much has been done, I will say that it's no replacement for in-person classes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

I really want to highlight again from my Member's statement that our local DEAs in the Beaufort-Delta did an awesome job, and still are doing an awesome job, on a paper base, giving weekly homework for the students. I'm just wondering: is there any possibility with the local DEAs to assist the students who are home and not conducive to learning in regard to computers and stuff like that?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I'm not sure if the Member is speaking about students who don't have access to computers. In those cases, students have relationships with their teachers and, right down to the level of teacher and student, there was outreach. Teacher have done their best to connect with every student and ensure that every student has the opportunity to learn. In a number of locations in the Deh Cho, and I believe up in the Beaufort-Delta, as well, there were initiatives to distribute computers, Chromebooks. There were other jurisdictions where they were lending out their equipment. In communities where students might not have Internet, the schools would extend their Wi-Fi out into the parking lot so people could come and use the Wi-Fi, so every effort has been made in that sense during this school year. As much as could be done has been done.

I'll mention that I was on a call this morning with 17 education ministers from around the world, and we were all facing similar issues. In the United Kingdom, in Singapore, in Germany, all of these places have the same issues, and so we have done as well, I would say, as most other jurisdictions. We're also competing for supplies, as well. While we wanted laptops and Chromebooks, so did everyone else. So there were a lot of pressures on us, on the education system, but everyone really gave it their all and have been working full-out since the closures.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Yes, good job on the teachers phoning every second or third day to the students in my household. What is our government offering for counselling for supports for students who require immediate help?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Just like all the teachers and support assistants are still working, so are all the counsellors. Every school counsellor in the territory is still working, and they have continued their relationships with students. So, students who they were meeting with on a regular basis, as soon as the schools closed, they reached out to those students and continued those relationships. ECE and the education authorities did our best to let all students know that those counsellors were still available to speak with any student, so it's just not the ones who already have relationships. They're still available, and they're still available to speak with counsellors.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What's the TA's and the school's plan to start getting ready for the opening of the school year to prepare their classes and schools for opening in September? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

As soon as the Chief Public Health Officer released Emerging Wisely as well as the backgrounder document related to schools in which she made the recommendation to reopen schools, the department and the education bodies and the NWT Teachers' Association have been meeting on a daily basis, working to plan for next school year. Now that we know the requirements, we can start the plan. What ECE has done is, they've created a framework so that we have some continuity across the territory, we have a common framework to go by. Schools are now creating plans to open schools and abide by the orders of the Chief Public Health Officer. We're looking at doing some bigger schools and some smaller schools, medium sized schools, just a range, and then submitting those to the Chief Public Health Officer, getting feedback, and then that will help us plan for the rest of the school. This work is well underway. There's a bit of a reprieve. Right when the schools closed, everyone was working full out. Things sort of calmed down a bit, and they're going full out again, and people are putting in a lot of time to make sure that students will be safe when they return to school in September. 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. In my Member's statement, I'm talking about the floods in my region. Can the Minister of MACA provide me with any resources available for residents in the NWT dealing with floods? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are actually a couple of disaster relief programs that people in all regions can apply for in the Northwest Territories. One is through Municipal and Community Affairs. It's a Disaster Assistance Policy. It more works with things, infrastructure, roads, et cetera, deals with private properties, but it's about primary properties with that one. The other one that we deal with is the harvester disaster compensation program, and that's through ENR, Environment and Natural Resources, and it provides support to NWT harvesters when they suffer loss or damage to their assets, to help them with their harvesting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

I'm glad that our Madam Premier is the Minister of MACA as well because then I can ask her if she can commit to ensuring these resources are advertised and readily available to the people living in the Beaufort Delta right now dealing with the floods that are currently happening.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Absolutely. The GNWT is known for not being the best communicator, but this Assembly is trying to do better, so I will make sure that Municipal and Community Affairs reaches out to the community governments, to the communities, let them know what services are available. I do know that the Minister of ENR has also got regional representatives in the area that can provide information to harvesters, as well.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

With this flood this year being the highest, in 2006 I remember we lost a lot of cabins. I think back to when I was a child, I remember waking up in the middle of the night and having to be moved from my bed, out the window, into a boat, because our cabin was flooding. This does happen, but it doesn't happen as often as we have seen it lately, and the water seems to be rising. With climate change causing the changes in the Arctic and the Delta so drastically, more than anywhere else in the country, is the government looking at ways to assist our region to help the harvesters to be able to prevent their cabins and the damages to their properties in the future, if there is money that we can look at as a government to help move them, raise them, all those types of things?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

If they do fall within the Disaster Assistance Policy, if they qualify for that, then there would be funds provided for that. I'm not too sure about the harvester disaster compensation program. I'm assuming that they would if there are assets that would be reimbursed. I know that one of the northern communities, Tuktoyaktuk, was actually looking at prevention. Those are a little bit harder to get. The federal government tends to just give money for the disasters when they happen. It is something that we need to keep bringing awareness of to the federal government. Climate change is affecting the North more than any other communities in Canada, and so it's important that we continue to raise that to the federal government, to look for proactive money versus just reactive money.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to add to that, just looking if there's a commitment, we as a government tend to deal after the fact in a lot of circumstances, and we're more so not always focusing on preventative, if we can as a government work to prevent some of our climate change problems. Can I get a commitment that this is something that we will try to do in the life of this government? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

I can't make a commitment that we will address climate change in this government. This is a longstanding issue. However, it would be inappropriate for any government, any Legislative Assembly, to not try to address climate change as we go forward, from now until the end of time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Masi, Mr. Speaker. As I alluded to in my Member's statement about the on-the-land treatment program, so I do have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, the first question I have is: how many treatment facilities has the GNWT operated and subsequently shut down over the past 25 years? Masi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has a contract right now with four treatment facilities in the South to provide addiction treatments to Northwest Territories residents. They include the Poundmaker's Lodge, which is located in St. Alberta, Alberta; there is the Fresh Start Recovery Centre, which is located in Calgary, Alberta; the Aventa Treatment Centre for Women, which is also in Calgary, Alberta; and the Edgewood Treatment Centre, which is in Nanaimo. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

If the Minister can provide the detailed breakdown over the past 25 years, that would be great. The second question I have is: how much does the Minister's department spend annually to send Northerners out of the territory for residential addiction treatment programming? Mr. Speaker, the Minister has referred to four treatment program down south, treatment centres. How much do we spend on an annual basis?