This is page numbers 3131 - 3164 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 know.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm confused then, because when I look in the paper all I see are advertisements for ER and ICU nurses. So can the Minister speak to what's going to happen when those positions aren't filled and those wards have to close down. Thank you.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you. I'm very pleased that the Member has taken note of our recruitment efforts. And those are ongoing of course. We want to make sure that we have the full component of staff. And as I said earlier, we are not anticipating any more closures at the hospital. We have, through a variety of people foregoing holidays, working extra shifts, locums, and so on, we have enough staff to provide the excellent services that residents are used to. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since the Housing Corporation has assumed the responsibility of both the homeless shelter and the warming shelter in Inuvik, what short-term measures have been put in place to ensure that those who are using the warming shelter have been taken care of? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Homelessness.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would just like to express my sympathy to the Member's riding as well too with the recent fire in her community, and also thank you to all of the Inuvik fire departments, the RCMP, the Housing Corporation, and all that have attended and tried to work with this tragedy in her riding.

Right now, our short-term plans, we are working with the Department of Health right now, and we have acquired a temporary shelter right now in Inuvik and we are looking at a possible government building. We haven't finalized those agreements yet. The other thing is that we are looking at the possibilities of federal units in the community as well too and just acknowledging that we do have market housing units that are being built for the RCMP. So I'm questioning if those units may be available to the Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I mentioned in my Member's statement, you know, moving our most vulnerable from empty building to empty building to empty building is not a solution. So could the Minister elaborate on what are some of the longer term plans for the Inuvik warming shelter and its residents in my community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as this is unfolding in a community right now, we are working with the Indigenous groups. We have just established a governance committee in the Member's riding. Right now, we are just looking for a building to get started on in making sure that we could find a more long-term solution, and I will update the Member as all of the information starts to come into my office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, Mr. Speaker, I've asked this question a couple of times I think. I've emailed the Minister, and it wasn't just this government, it was the last government that promised us a homelessness strategy. When are we expected to see that strategy? And I'm hoping to hear an answer and a date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, during our February sitting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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, and this may be more of a comment. I just want to thank the department for their quick action, like I said and, you know, and one of the things is that the department has taken on is assumed all the staff within the -- my community. So maybe it is a question as to what the long-term plan for this is, if she can elaborate. If not, I'd like an answer if I can get it in writing. Thanks.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will follow up with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first question for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs is does the department have a backlog of legislation?

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Never a backlog; we've always got work to do. So MACA is responsible for 21 statutes and their associated regulations. And some of it needs to be examined to see if changes are required. MACA will be selecting one taking on and prioritizing legislative initiatives. The department needs to balance the age of legislation, its complexity, the nature, and an extent of changes required, whether or not or stakeholders are experiencing issues with its administration. MACA must also consider the capacity of stakeholders to support the legislative development, the NWTAC and LGANT have both cautioned about the capacity to participate in multiple initiatives at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought I threw MACA a softball 'yes' there. I note the Minister said that the department is responsible for 21 Acts. That's -- ENR has nine and Lands has three. That's almost twice as many as the other departments. And I guess my question is how many pieces of legislation did MACA intend to bring forward in this Assembly and how many realistically are we going to see? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I gave him his 'yes' last week so he's done for the yeses. So besides the joking aside there. So MACA initiated -- when were first started, we were looking at three legislations. We brought forward Property Assessment and Taxation, the Fire Prevention Act, and the Senior Citizens Disability and Personal Property Tax Relief Act. Unfortunately, COVID hit, floods hit, flood recovery hit, and so we realistically looked at what can we achieve at this point in time. So what we said is the Senior Citizen and Disability Property Tax Relief will wait until the 20th Assembly. But we're doing the necessary work to get it going there.

Also MACA is providing advanced work with this Assembly to bring a municipal -- municipalities under the assess -- to Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. However, I can tell the Member I just had a meeting with the deputy minister and ADM this morning, and we are looking at ways to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know what, I'm hopeful we're going to see the Property Assessment and Taxation Act. The MLA from Frame Lake often remarks that when he was on council in 1997, he asked for that act to be brought forward. And a lot has happened in the intervening 24 years except amendments to the Property Assessment and Taxation Act.

Mr. Speaker, presently the on-the-land implementation unit has nine funded staff to bring one act in -- into force. The on-the-land policy shop there is actually the largest policy shop in the GNWT for one act, yet MACA with 21 acts does not have nine policy staff. So is the Minister willing to look what his other departments have done and maybe bring forward a similar unit to catch up MACA on their backlog of legislation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member talks about 1997 and all the backlog of the way things developed. In other departments, I've got 40 and 50 years of backlog so I am working on that there.

So MACA, like what most other departments, does have a policy unit. Unfortunately, some of these positions haven't been filled to date. We have been having some recruitment challenges. However, I can advise the Member and this House here that we're looking at other alternatives and other ways of dealing with it. And like I said, I just had a meeting with the deputy minister and ADM on this exact issue, and we're trying to come up with a creative solution. And once we have the solution, we will reach out to committee to expand on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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. Yeah, I think there is some creative solutions, and perhaps some of them are in the hands of the Premier with some corporate restructuring and looking at making sure all policy shops around each department are created equally.

I guess my question is in the previous Assembly, the way MACA did get some work done with the lotteries was to go out and hire a contractor. If they can't get it done in-house, sometimes they just got to hire someone to do some of this work. Is that an option that the department is exploring?

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Man, I hate to do this - yes, we're looking at alternative option -- all options available to us. So -- and that is one of them that we have discussed this morning. So, man, the MLA for Yellowknife North has got two yeses out of me so I think I'm done. I don't want to talk -- say yeses anymore, Mr. Speaker.