This is page numbers 2819 - 2866 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 mrspeaker.

Topics

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Justice has a division called legal division and that is essentially the GNWT's in-house law firm, and legal division provides legal advice and services to GNWT departments and entities such as the Office of the chief public health officer. And since the beginning of the pandemic, the legal division has been working with the chief public health officer to provide advice in respect of the drafting of-- they will suggest wording. There's probably, I'm sure there's been some back and forths to ensure that, you know, the wording is what it should be. With that said, ultimately the final say on what an order says is that of the chief public health officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak to whether or not the department has reviewed the relevant sections of the Public Health Act to determine what constitute and is the legal definition of "significant risk" as it relates to the current COVID-19 public health emergency. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in the Public Health Act, a public health emergency is defined as something that presents a significant risk to public health, and determining whether there's a significant risk to public health is the determination of the CPHO. The Department of Justice's lawyers do what they can but ultimately, they are not medical professionals and there's a lot of science involved in determining risk and so ultimately they of course have to defer to the chief public health officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak to whether or not the department's reviewed the relevant section of the Act to determine the legal definition of "reasonable measures" as it relates to the current COVID-19 orders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you can imagine, this has been a focus of the department for over a year now and the Public Health Act has been reviewed, other pieces of the relevant legislation, the ever-evolving case law, Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So, yes, all of these have been reviewed. And, again, this is similar to the "significant risk," the definition, this determination is made by the chief public health officer.

The department does provide advice on the risks associated with specific measures and orders, that is to say the legal risks. But in terms of the risks and what is reasonable in response to those risks in terms of the public health orders, that is, again, under the authority of the chief public health officer. But Justice does examine those and provide advice and opinion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it appears the risk of COVID-19 and variants have subsided due to the introduction of vaccines along with the health safety measures in place. Can the Minister confirm if his department has considered the possibility that a rights infringement court challenge may be forthcoming that seeks to have the court vacate the public health emergency and on all related CPHO orders? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure government lawyers are always worried about court challenges coming and so, yes, they have definitely considered the possibility of a court challenge since day one. You know, this is a very unique situation and no one knew how far orders could go at the beginning. There has been case law around Canada, not necessarily in the territory, that has tackled some of these issues and the department is watching that. But it's always on the radar. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ITI. Can the Minister confirm whether ITI has applied for a reserve on the lease containing the Con dock?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, indeed, ITI has applied to Lands for as a reserve of the Con dock mine area and the purpose being to create a new boat launch and the associated docking facility mentioned with respect to the commercial fishing industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does part of that, then, also include the fish transfer facility itself, or will that be located elsewhere? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just by way of preface, there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of any kind of design, the final design, which could look a variety of different ways. But in short, the main access, or the main interest area, indeed, is to create a fish collection station so that fishers can offload from the lake and have it shipped down to the, but then, hopefully, constructed plant in Hay River. And as such, this will be one of the associated sites that fishers around the lake can be attending. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so I'm glad to hear that it is about maintaining the public access. I'm going to throw the Minister a little bit of a curve ball here. There isn't a lot of room down at this location and the area adjacent to the dock and the access point for it was a former tank farm, tank fuel facility. So, maybe the Minister will have to get back to me but I'm curious to know if the plan is to expand, then, into the old fuel tank facility area, and if so, is that area remediated? And she can get back to me if she needs to. Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's always nice to have a bit of an out, to be able to get back to the House with respect to detailed information. What I can say, Mr. Speaker, at this point is that any of the work that's involving the lake is going to have to involve the Department of DFO for the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, small craft harbour specifically. And at this point, what I understand they are looking at is at least three different potential designs and as such that it-- my understanding of them, not being someone who's designed this type of facility, is that it likely will still be surrounding on the dock area specifically and not into the tank sites. But what I can do is say that once they are ready to have that feasibility study done, that work done, we'll make sure to communicate that with the Members so they can understand what they will entail. And last comment, Mr. Speaker, I understand too that the fact of us seeking this land is actually out for a public consultation right now. So there certainly is more available information with respect to the land that is at issue, and there will be more information available once we are at a further advanced stage. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has provided me with a lot of information. I did hear somewhere in there then it sounds like the dock is actually going to get repaired then. If they were going to put all this facility down and not in the fuel tank area, then that means a large expansion for the dock would be my guess. So I'm very excited for that to come and be part of my constituency. I guess the Minister has mentioned-- and again I am a little off script here, the Minister's mentioned to me or mentioned that there's public consultation ongoing. Could the Minister commit to providing me with the information where my constituents could then be involved in that? I understand that they are meeting with the City of Yellowknife however I'm not sure if I'm constituents understand, or I understand, how they can feed into that stakeholder engagement. And also, will the Minister commit to coming and having a meeting with residents in that region? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there have been meetings with the city already, between the city and ITI, and I understand that those discussions have been positive. I understand there is public consultation now, I suspect with the Department of Lands so I'll certainly confer with my colleague and get that information out to be sure we can share it publicly. And then lastly, Mr. Speaker, it would be again with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who would have the final sort of critical role to be playing in terms of the repair work at the Con Mine dock. But indeed have been engaged with us thus far and have recently corresponded to confirm that they'll be working in collaboration with ITI. So, again, we will ensure that that information gets out to. And I would be more than happy to walk down the street and meet with the folks in the riding of Great Slave. 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 believe it was yesterday in the House, the Minister of Justice was talking about integrated service delivery and the goal being to, you know, make government processes designed for the people and not necessarily what is easiest for government. For almost a year now, the Yellowknife department of motor vehicles has not accepted walk-in appointments. You have to get an appointment. I've had numerous constituent issues regarding this. So my-- I believe this is clearly easier for the department to run it that way but not necessarily the public. So my question for the Minister of Infrastructure is when is the Yellowknife DMV going to be reopened for walk-ins?

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Yellowknife DMV office, like all government offices, has an approved exposure control plan in place to be able to protect the staff and the general public. So this plan was-- was limit the number of clients allowed in the DMV office, are no more than eight at a time. So in order for us to ensure compliance with this exposure plan, the Yellowknife DMV had to implement appointment-only service and have a security person on-site. The DMV will not be able to reopen to walk-ins until the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, or even reduced. The chief public health officer-- we are very hopeful that the updated Emerging Wisely plan document will be able to address this or at least provide us with some timelines so that we could be able to be reopen to the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'll save some of my questions for Dr. Kandola when we can reopen the Yellowknife DMV.

During COVID, the DMV was completely closed for a period. But they were actually-- offered more and more services online and some of the traditional in-person services were being done by email. I guess my question to the Minister of Infrastructure is what is preventing all services from being offered online? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has a robust online service menu, which includes things like renewing and replacing driver's licences, general ID, book/cancel/reschedule driver exams, renew/print/cancel vehicle registration, commercial truck permits - the list goes on. So because of the nature of these-- some of these services, they cannot be completed online. Transfer of a driver's licence or ID card, obtaining new vehicle registration require in-person verification of documents for the authenticity of the-- as well, just to be able to identify person requesting this service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I guess I one day hope that there's a path forward where the Yellowknife DMV can look to do what most capitals across Canada and most, you know, government service officers in other jurisdictions do, which is have a portion of their hours be available, either on evenings or weekends, just for a small few hours for those people who cannot get time off work to make normal 9-to-5 hours. Is there any possibility of that happening, Mr. Speaker?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have reviewed the possibility of extending hours of the YK issuing office. As the Member mentioned, he's been trying to get this office open evenings and weekends for the past year and he has not had any success with several DMs and several Ministers. Because, and I want to say that there are many different factors considering, including the costs, staff safety, cost of services. Also the UNW Collective Agreement. Opening-- we did analyze the cost of opening on Saturdays and it was about a $170,000 a year. So these costs would have to be passed on to the clients, resulting in increased fees, and no one wants that. We also would be able to require to have a client program officer in headquarters be able to provide overrides or authorizations as well as require system support from the Department of Finance. The staff at the issuing office have to deal with sometimes irate clients on, you know, perhaps a regular basis, and these clients are usually dealt with by the manager. So that means the manager would have to be on-site after hours as well, so putting additional stress on some of our staff. And, this is very important, the UNW Collective Agreement defines a regular workday as Monday to Friday between 8:30 and 5. And any change to this requirement would mean that the union-- it would be an agreement with the union and the employer.

So I'm sorry, I mean, I agreed plenty times with the previous MLA but this time, there is no plans to extend the hours of operation at the Yellowknife issuing office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.