This is page numbers 1779 - 1798 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 housing.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

I respectfully disagree with the Minister on her characterization of the supports the GNWT is providing for mental health. I am glad to hear the helpline is 24/7. There is a website somewhere that I came across the other day that said that it only operated from 7:00 to 11:00, so I'm really glad to hear that. My next question has to do with small communities. Are safe places being developed in small communities where victims can feel safe? Have they been vetted with a COVID lens? What is the department doing to protect vulnerable people in small communities where isolation may be causing more depression and is a factor?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I'm just going to go over some of the things that we have available to people in the communities. We now have child and youth care counsellors in all schools north of Yellowknife, so that includes many of the most isolated places in the NWT. We have the NWT Helpline, which I mentioned. We have land-based healing, which has had good uptake from Indigenous governments. We have counsellors in 19 communities who are resident, and in the other communities, they are flown in or driven in to provide care on a schedule of so many days per so many weeks. We also have the Strongest Families Institute, which is an assist for families with children aged three to 17, to assist them with questions that they may have there. We also have the Kids Helpline, which is specifically for youth to receive services. There is a great deal that is available to all residents of the NWT. If they find that anonymity is hard to achieve in their house, they are welcome to make an appointment at the healthcare centre and take the call there.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thanks for, again, listing all the resources you did yesterday. However, that didn't answer my question as to: Are there safe places in the Northwest Territories for victims to go to that are not in their abuser's home? However, I will follow up with the Minister on that one personally. My next question is: Are people in remote communities being asked to initiate the counselling documentation process from their communities when there is a known lack of resources to do so? How is the department facilitating the use of their services in small communities where the access to technology may be limited or language barriers exist?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Just first to the Member's other question. Of course, we do have family violence shelters, five of them in the NWT, and a 24/7 crisis line for people experiencing family violence. As you heard when the Minister of housing talked to the Member from Nunakput, freestanding extra places to go and take calls are in vanishingly short supply in small communities. If people are wanting to send documentation to counsellors or other entities, they can go to the government services offices that exist in most communities and they can send faxes or have scans made there in order to provide the necessary information for counselling services.

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. I'm not sure that the Minister actually listened to my statement today, so more of a comment that people, as stated, do not want to go to people in their communities and talk to them about their mental health supports so, if we are not facilitating the Health Canada counsellors to come through and help them, which is more anonymous, then I don't really understand how we can stop these people from falling through the cracks. Again, I'll just make more of a comment. I completely disagree with the Minister's characterization of her supports. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. I'll give the Minister an opportunity to respond, if she'd like.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

The Department of Health and Social Services takes mental health issues extremely seriously. We spend $17.5 million a year on mental health supports. We are looking at a range of offerings, which should not be readily dismissed. They are tailored to different kinds of issues and different kinds of communication styles. We have very dedicated counsellors working in 19 communities. We have barrier-free access. You can go in on a drop-in basis. You can go the same day for counselling. We are pretty confident that people are not falling through the cracks because Health Canada is not on the scene. We are the healthcare provider in the NWT, and we take that job seriously. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. On Wednesday, I was very excited to hear the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment make reference to the take a child to work day, and the Minister said that the department is currently working on revamping the program. I'm wondering if the Minister can please speak to how they are revamping the program and if those changes will be available for November of this year. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The take a child to work program is a great program. It has been offered for many years. It's very successful. Unfortunately, in this last year, due to COVID, it went online, and so it was not at all the same experience. It will be back in full force in the fall, and I can look into any potential changes and get back to the Member. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

I welcome the opportunity to discuss take our kids to work day opportunities with the Minister. I know that there are a lot of businesses that would love to get involved and play a greater role in the day. My next question for the Minister is: Given that this government has a mandate priority of advancing universal childcare, I am wondering, since we need to start somewhere, if the Minister would be willing to provide universal childcare for full-time Aurora College students.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

The Member is sort of jumping around with her questions, topic to topic, but that's okay. I get where she's coming from; it all ties together in the end. Right now, the government has a mandate to advance universal childcare, and that's what we are working on. We are going to be making some advances in determining just how we are going to do that, and we are going to be making those advances in the coming months.

As for right now, standing up here and saying universal childcare at Aurora College, I can't say that. I would love to be able to say it, but we're not there yet. The fact is, there are not enough spaces in places like Fort Smith for all of the students who would need childcare. As well, there are community learning centres throughout the territory and other campuses. We are not at that point yet. We need to build up the number of spaces. We need more trained childcare workers before we can go full on in universal childcare, but I whole-heartedly agree that that would be awesome.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

I am happy to provide some context of connection between my questions for the Minister. I am looking for different ways that we can think outside of the box in order to get more people involved in trades. I do feel that providing Aurora College students with universal childcare would be a great way for us to encourage more people to go back to school, because I know that childcare for young children is a barrier for people. It was identified as a barrier for me to be sitting here, and that's why we have now a kitty that we can access for subsidies for childcare for people to become more involved in politics who have young kids. I am thankful for that, and I want other people to have the same opportunities.

Within the same breath, I understand that there are needs for infrastructure for childcare, but I also believe that there are other ways that that can be attained, and that could be attained, as well, through subsidies for existing childcare spaces. I am wondering if the Minister has an idea of what the cost would be associated with providing subsidies or universal childcare for Aurora College students.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

No. I don't have those numbers now because part of those numbers would involve capital infrastructure costs, because it's hard to call something universal childcare if it's only a subsidy for the lucky few who can access it. We need more infrastructure. We need more trained individuals before we can say that we are providing universal childcare. I don't have those numbers.

That being said, the federal government has expressed an interest in some sort of a national universal childcare program. I will be meeting with the federal Minister next week to be discussing this to see exactly what that vision is. I have had a number of conversations with him already and expressed to him that this government and this Assembly are very interested in advancing this. It's in our mandate, and there is a lot of support for it. I really look forward to that and seeing how we can move forward for universal childcare, not just for the college, but for everyone.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am very happy to hear about this conversation that will happen next week, and I will be sure to come and visit the Minister after that phone call. I would love to know what the cost would be. If the Minister or the department is prepared to look into that, I think it would be valuable information going forward, as we are in a budgeting exercise, and we will be doing the same for every year that we are privileged to be in this House.

Given the conversation that the Minister is having next week with the federal government, the Yukon government just announced yesterday that they are doing $11 a day childcare, and they have an average cost of childcare on a daily basis of $43. Here in the Northwest Territories, in Yellowknife, in my days of paying for childcare, it was about $55 a day. Speaking to other parents in places like the Beaufort-Delta, it can go upwards of $70 a day for childcare. $11 a day would be pretty amazing to have in the Northwest Territories. I am wondering: Can we be more like the Yukon? Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

The Northwest Territories is unique. The Yukon is unique. I don't know if we are going to be more like the Yukon, but I think that we do share the goal of eventually providing some sort of universal childcare. The Yukon just announced this yesterday. We reached out to them immediately this morning. We don't really have any details on what exactly their plan is, how much it's going to cost, or anything like that, but we are going to have those conversations. Once we get that information, I want to give the Minister in the Yukon a call and see how things are rolling out, what led them to this, and any concerns like that. I also want to point out that the Yukon does not have a junior kindergarten program, so any of the four-year-olds who aren't in care have the opportunity here for at least some sort of childcare during the day, some sort of enriched environment.

This is an exciting time when it comes to this topic. I am open to hearing all of the ideas that come forward, and over the next few years, we might be able to make some big strides if we can get the support of the federal government and the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our mandate commits to a United Nations declaration terms of reference working group being created by summer 2020. My question for the Premier is: Have those terms of reference been created, and can they be released? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, within the mandate, we did have timelines for this work. However, I learned quite quickly, being the Premier, that it is not appropriate for this government to push our agenda onto Indigenous governments. They backed me up quite quickly. What I can say, though, is that we have initial meetings. We are agreeing to meet after session is over again. We have had an initial meeting. There were questions that came up. Some of the Indigenous governments quoted article 37, which states that the concluded agreements and treaties must be honoured and respected. Within that article, they asked for a separate table, and I honoured that request. They will be having a table with the modern treaty groups; there are five of them. Then we will also be having a larger group with all Indigenous governments on it, as well.

Although it might take a little bit of time, Mr. Speaker, about the terms of reference, what I can say is that I do try to listen. There was a previous Indigenous leader who said to me, "You might have to give them some ideas. You might have to push a bit." What we are committed to doing in March is that we will actually be bringing forward the BC legislation to them so that they can review that and see if that's where they want to go. We have had the first meeting with the modern treaty groups. At that meeting, they had talked about wanting to go through each section individually one-by-one.

Mr. Speaker, what I can say is that I do believe in self-determination. The United Nations declaration speaks about self-determination all through it. Respectfully, Mr. Speaker, I will take the time that the Indigenous governments need to define what this looks like for themselves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

I look forward to seeing the progress of that work, and I think that bringing forward what the other jurisdictions have done to the working group is a good first step, although I believe that working group is only half of this work. The other half of this work is looking at our own internal processes and looking at our own departments and the over 5,000 civil servants we have and directing those departments to change their processes to make sure that they are implementing the declaration and truly being a government living reconciliation. Each department was directed in their mandate letter to develop declaration priorities. Can I have an update on whether that work has been done and how that fits into the overall implementation plan?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Absolutely. Like I said earlier, there will be two groups of Indigenous governments, one with all of the Indigenous governments and one with the modern treaty Indigenous governments. We also are forming a GNWT working group that will encompass these departments, so that work is beginning, as well.