This is page numbers 1035 - 1054 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 health.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

The past two light duty trucks purchased for highway staff saw one vehicle go to the Yellowknife camp and the other to the Behchoko camp. We are purchasing two loaders this summer, one for the Yellowknife camp, one for the Behchoko camp. Both the Yellowknife camp and the Edzo camp have aging equipment and vehicles and the department is working on a solution to update both equipment and vehicle requirements at both locations. I can tell the Member that the North Slave Behchoko will be receiving a new plough dump truck valued at $400,000, and they will also be receiving a wheel loader valued at $130,000.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, the Edzo highway camp, the crew will be happy with this announcement. They have been waiting for some time now, so it's good. Mr. Speaker, my last question to the Minister was alluded to earlier. Would the Minister please provide a complete schedule of the past visits to the Edzo highway camp by either herself, regional manager, superintendent, assistant deputy minister, deputy minister? Would she commit to having her department or her staff or herself travel the road to visit and meet with the staff of the Edzo highway crew? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

As part of the transition with the regional superintendents, it is my understanding that the new superintendent did visit the camp. However, I don't know when the date of that was. I am disappointed to hear that the employees at the camp are not feeling supported or enough interaction with senior management, so I commit to the Member that, not only will senior management go, I will also go to the camp. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, monsieur le President. I don't think that I have had the pleasure of asking the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about benefits from the Giant Mine Remediation Project, but he sat next to me in the last Assembly, so this won't come as a surprise. The Giant Mine oversight board is again making recommendations about securing northern benefits. The remaining expenditures during active remediation are the equivalent of spending on another Stanton hospital. Has the Minister read the most recent report from the board, and does he support the recommendations? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Lands.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right here, and I have another copy right here. Yes, we did receive it. It was brought to the front desk here. We have looked at it. So the Member is aware, the department and the project team are currently in the process of viewing the Giant Mine oversight body 2019 annual report, and the GNWT and CIRNAC will be responding to the report publicly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I have props, too, but I can't use them. The problem seems to be that no one is taking the leadership and responsibility to ensure that Northerners, especially Indigenous peoples, do not continue to lose out from the tragedy that is Giant Mine. Can the Minister tell us what specific action over the last year his department and others in the GNWT have taken to secure northern benefits?

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

The Member did give me a heads-up on this, so I'm going to read from my notes so I can give him exact information. The Giant Mine Remediation Project has developed a socio-economic strategy, which is currently in place to maximize benefits for Indigenous and Northern businesses. An implementation plan is currently being finalized for the strategy. ENR, ITI, ECE participates on the senior socio-economic advisory body at the senior deputy minister's level with CIRNAC, the City of Yellowknife, the DFN, North Slave Metis Association, and Alternatives North. In 2018-2019, total dollars spent by the main construction management, Parsons Canada, totalled $28.77 million. Of this amount, 91 percent went to Indigenous suppliers and northern businesses. For Indigenous governments, it's $22.69 million or 79 percent, and for northern business it's $3.45 million or 12 percent.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm just going to get a little more personal here. Can the Minister tell us what he has done personally and whether he has raised the issue of northern benefits with the federal Minister of Northern Affairs and if not, why?

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

The GNWT, through the Department of ENR, is a co-component of the Giant Mine Remediation Project. I have and will continue to advocate and promote northern benefits for this project.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The federal Minister of Northern Affairs was here several months ago. I had asked whether you had a chance to meet with him, but I can take that offline. The remediation of Giant Mine has the potential to allow the NWT to develop and expand remediation economy, given the number and scale of contaminated sites across the NWT. This should also be one area of focus for the polytechnic university. I suggest in this House, Mr. Speaker, that the GNWT should seek an accelerated federal investment in NWT contaminated sites to help with economic recovery. Can the Minister tell us what he has personally committed to do on the Giant Mine remediation file over the next year? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

We continue to work with the Giant Mine Remediation Project to find ways to develop new skills and provide access to jobs related to the cleanup of Giant Mine. Conversations between Giant Mine Remediation Project and contaminated sites staff are taking place this week to continue to explore linkages and promote economic opportunity for Northerners. In addition, the department continues to work with other GNWT departments to secure federal funding to support remediation of contaminated sites to support economic recovery efforts in the NWT. The department is continuing to work in partnership with CIRNAC and Public Services and Procurement Canada to ensure Northerners, Indigenous communities benefit from federal procurement process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no doubt that almost every Member in this House would say they are committed to a more open and transparent government. However, I think there is a bit of disconnect in that open and transparent government doesn't happen without clear intention in changing the systems we operate in. Every single jurisdiction in Canada, except ours and Nunavut, has an open data portal, a place where you go to get all of the departments' data in one place. Right now, this is scattered across various GNWT websites in various different forms. My question for the Minister of Finance is: will she commit to creating an open data portal? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Well, that was easy.

---Laughter

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

When can we expect to see that open data portal operational?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

That's a slightly more difficult question to answer. I took note yesterday when the Member gave a very impassioned speech about the importance of being quick, sometimes, with what government does. Certainly, in our COVID-19 response this government has been nimble and quick and responsive, in my view. Taking action with government data that includes personal information, private information, health information, information with all sorts of privacy concerns, privilege concerns, labour relations concerns, that is not something that we're going to be able to rush through quickly. The information shared services unit was created in April of 2019. Yes, we are behind, but we are now taking steps. ISSS resides in Finance. I am very much tuned into the fact that we are behind, and I don't like being behind. While I don't have a timeline now, I intend to have a timeline and not perhaps in this sitting, in the next six days, but I will have a timeline by the time we are back in the fall as to how exactly this is going unfold.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

I look forward to hearing that timeline. I think, to me, there are two steps. One is getting the portal, and the second is populating it. I recognize it will take some time to get certain data in there. Right now, there is a simple matter of collection and putting it in one place. I believe we could start that work immediately, and then you will get this user feedback from departments and other people looking for this data. Step one, get the portal to exist. Step two, let's populate it. One of my concerns is the GNWT really loves its PDFs. The problem with that: most recently, we published our budget. It's a 400-page PDF, and I don't know a single accountant who doesn't operate in spreadsheets. What I'm looking for from the Minister of Finance is a commitment that, whenever we publish reports, we will include the open data with them.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

There is a steering committee that has been formed, as well, which has led to the ISSS being developed. It is co-chaired by the chief information officer, whose position resides within Finance, as well as executive, the EIA department deputy secretary. While I appreciate that there are a variety of possible views on what the correct process or best process might be, what I would commit to is to bringing forward some reports through to the Member and, if interested, then to a relevant committee about what process is underway, what process has been chosen, and why, and certainly, to take back what information and what response we then get from that.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.