This is page numbers 3291 - 3324 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 work.

Topics

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now for the million dollar question. We have businesses in the southern NWT working further north, and they're travelling back and forth in, you know, through BC or the Yukon and working up north and then coming back. And they're finding it costly to go through Grande Prairie and come around. And you know, they have an idea of when they're leaving the -- they know when they're leaving the North to come back this way, and they would like to have access to that border to come through, through back into either whether it's Hay River, Yellowknife, or Simpson. So I'm wondering if there's any way that those hours -- or they can be accommodated and supported so they don't have to make that extra trip and live with those extra costs? And some of them even said, you know, if there was a little cost to have the person go out there and open the gate, they'd be willing to pay for it. Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do know that the community was very concerned about COVID, and so I do know that once we reach a certain population that we opened it up a little bit more. But people -- businesses do have to reach out and let us know when they're coming. So we're trying to work with them as much as possible but we're also trying to make sure that communities are safe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during the winters you'll usually see work on the pipelines, and I'm not sure if there's going to be any work this winter but I suspect there will be, and there's equipment, you know, coming in from the South and, you know, some of it comes around through Highway No. 1 while other equipment and goods come through Highway No. 7. So has Premier -- has the department I guess, or the secretariat, looked at how they could support that by, you know, extending those hours at that border crossing when there's a large movement of traffic coming north? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, the border open was specifically made to address the needs of truckers coming into the communities, needing to drop off supplies, etcetera. So that's been taken into account. Most of the trucking companies, speaking of almost two years, are well aware of the times of operation. If there's anyone that is not, they are required -- if they're an occasional user, they are required to file a self-isolation plan and therefore hopefully will identify what they need and we can get back to them on that. But if anyone has issues and can't access it and can't get information, let me know because we're here to help. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For Minister of Education.

Since 2018, how many Northerners graduated from Aurora College specifically in nursing, teacher, and social work program?

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I try to stay up on my files but I don't have that level of specific information for the Member right now; I apologize. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

It's going to be the same reply, but that's okay. How many people in the NWT have a grade 12 education and are Income Support? Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recommend perhaps a written question or sending these to my office because I don't have that information on hand either; I apologize. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Okay, another one. Can the Minister provide data showing how many Indigenous teachers, social workers, and nurses are in the NWT?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Mr. Speaker, I'm unable to produce that data for the Member right now; I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

I think he can answer, okay. So when will the report be completed for the teacher and social work program? When will the Aurora College open the doors to start accepting students for teacher and social work program? Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I expect the earliest those programs could be reinstated would be the 2023-2024 school year, so not the upcoming school year that would begin in September 2022 but the following year. 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 want to follow up on some of the questions that my colleague from Kam Lake asked.

Presently one of the requirements to get Canadian Council of Arts funding at a certain level is to have an exhibition in a public art gallery. We are the only jurisdiction right now who does not have a public art gallery. Well, we kind of have one. It's a trailer that drives around to communities and shows public art. But I really think there's a lowest common denominator here where we could get some sort of space somewhere that meets the criteria of a public art gallery. Is that something we are planning to do anytime soon? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre has two curated shows a year where they display the work of an artist. I would imagine that that would count as an art gallery for the purposes that the Member is speaking about. In terms of a public art gallery, building a new public art gallery, there are no plans to build a new public art gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister speak earlier about, you know, usually the arts organizations were thinking about a grassroots and then they go and they can access and leverage all this federal funding. And a similar thing exists for museums across the country. Many museums heavily settle for publicly funded but also receive a lot of federal donations and private donations and have an independent board. And I think this gets to some of the tension about what exactly the Prince of Wales is intended to be and what its mandate is. I think one of the ways to solve that would also be to put the museum arm's length. Is this something the department is considering?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is being looked into. The Member points out most -- I think we're probably the only jurisdiction that funds 100 percent of museum. This is not the way it works. Most museums in most jurisdictions are funded by organizations outside of government who can access millions of dollars from the federal government, from private organizations, etcetera. So yes, we are looking into this.

We have to keep in mind that the Prince of Wales also contains a significant amount of office space for the GNWT and it contains the territorial archives. So there are considerations, but it's definitely something that we are looking into because it could be an avenue to accessing additional funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister speak earlier about, you know, we don't necessarily have a bunch of new funding for the art strategy and we have to look at what we're spending right now and evaluate that. And my understanding is how these things usually go is we do a strategy and then sometimes we do a framework or an action plan.

Can the Minister just speak to whether there is some subsequent document coming out of the art strategy and will it have any funding attached to it? Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So one of the first things in the art strategy is to review all of the different funding, how it's working. Now, I had the option to just not put out an art strategy, and I considered that because I knew that people would want something a little more concrete and specific and I thought, well, we can just do this work without sort of telling the public what we're undertaking. But I thought, no, for the sake of transparency let's release the strategy, say, this is our plan; it's going to take some time but it's our plan. And then after we take some of those steps in that plan, we'll be able to put out some concrete actions. And so what I expect after we do the evaluation of the funding is a plan to show how we are going to distribute that funding. So I'm not going to say that it's going to include new funding. The case could be that what we have, used in a different way, is sufficient. So there definitely will be something more pointed and concrete in the future coming from this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.