This is page numbers 2867 - 2906 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

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate my question from the other day because I think that we have to keep focused on what we want to make change on within this government. Between 2016 and 2020, there was a total of 303 appeals to human resource hiring decisions; however, only 17 of those appeals were upheld. And all appeals all together were denied in 2019-2020. Does the Minister believe these statistics are fair and not indicative of broader issues within the appeal process in human resources? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, I don't necessarily take the view that the appeals process, the number of appeals nor the success of appeals, necessarily gives us a lot of clear information that I can then apply to the staffing process itself. Mr. Speaker, I spent many years working in the criminal justice system where there were often appeals, and they were not always very successful. And it doesn't necessarily tie back to what's happening in the appeal court represents what should be happening at the front end. I don't know that it's much different here. What's happening at the appeals and staffing process doesn't necessarily tell me what I need to fix or change within the hiring processes of the human resources approach. There may well be a better way of running the appeals. There may well be a better opportunity to be more engaging but right now under the appeals process that we have, it's fairly strict. It's fairly narrow. It looks at process. It looks at where the rules follow, those of Collective Agreements, the Affirmative Action Policy applied, and in general, because those are procedural I'm not necessarily surprised that, in fact, the answer is yes, that the procedures are being followed.

Now this is reflected in the Public Service Act as well, so. Mr. Speaker, we're doing what is in the act. We're doing what we have the authority to do. You know, if there's a different philosophical approach to hiring, which is what people -- I think really the issue to be getting at is there a different approach to hiring. That's when we get into the recruitment and retention framework as one solution. We're only just at the point we're being ready to start to roll that out and to bring it to committee to consider. Will it be the panacea; will it be the end all and be all? Probably not. But it will be a significant new tool that we'll have in the toolbox for human resources.

I have ten more minutes left. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to not have to continually stand up and talk about human resources. I'm happy to do it. The process is being improved continually, and there's good people there working on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

I was just very impressed by the capacity of my colleague to keep talking.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ITI. I'd like to know how is the value of art sales generated through the NWT arts program tracked. For example, are website analogs tracked and reported, and does the NWT Arts Program currently plan to expand to an e-commerce based platform? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Mr. Speaker, you've seen nothing yet in my capacity to speak. Now I get to talk about arts.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to art sales and art sales tracking, so at the moment I can say art sales aren't tracked by the NWT Arts Program in terms of the dollar value per sales or number of sales had. Again, you know, again, this is one where there's a number of individual artists across the Northwest Territories, some in collectives, some selling on their own, some selling, I know, under various social media channel.

And this is not an opportunity, this is not an area where the government is able to track those individual sales through -- again, certainly not through the arts program. I would say, though, a bit of a plug in terms of generating broadly more sales in the area that there is right now a workshop series being developed for artists to learn about all the different ways that they can be selling their art, whether it's direct to consumer or retailers or online. That is expected to be ready for this summer. So tracking of course is important. But, really, we do recognize that we want to get our numbers up and improve the sales of the incredible arts product we have in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm very excited about that program. And I'd like to offer, as a Member of standing committee that will be going into communities, to take any of that information into communities with me and I think that MLAs can be a really good resource to get information out on that.

So I guess I'm wondering, too, does ITI know who the primary markets are for NWT arts and who they're trying to attract to purchase more NWT art and who's already paying attention? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as of the moment -- well, the arts program does work with partners across Canada. They are working also internationally at this point. There's been showcases of NWT arts products at the WAG, in Edmonton, and internationally at the British Museum. So there's quite a lot happening in the recent couple of years to try to promote and increase awareness of the incredible arts that we have here.

That said, the demographic information that we have is that at this time, a majority of the artwork is still being sold here within the Northwest Territories. I mean, I can look around the room here and see a number of people wearing, whether it's clothing or jewelry or otherwise. So we all know the value of the arts product that is in the Northwest Territories but it is clear that we still need to get that message out more broadly beyond the borders of the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that and I appreciate the work that is being done by ITI. I do, however, think that ITI needs to understand, and I'm sure that they do, that the cost of web sites is very expensive. And also sometimes technology gets the best of us, Mr. Speaker. And so I think that expanding into an e-commerce type platform for NWT arts brings people together to that site where people are already being brought to, in order to not only showcase artists but then be able to say, 'hey, look at that person and what can I purchase from Tanya Larson that's already on that website?' How can I get there? And so I think that being able to capitalize on people's desire to -- you know, instant gratification - buy right away. I think we're missing out on a big opportunity. And so I'd like to ask the Minister to please explore an e-commerce platform for NWT arts. Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, you know, would be remiss not to acknowledge that, of course, the Department of ECE has a shared responsibility over the arts. With respect to e-commerce, I can say that the challenge here -- one of the challenges here, far apart from the technology alone, is, of course, then are we at risk of displacing those who may not wish to be part of the GNWT process? Would we be at risk where we are creating a situation where we're influencing or, you know, creating a market place that isn't fully fair and accessible to all? So there are some challenges in an online platform that is administered or run by the government. I think part of the bigger challenge, is it the role of government to create the market, to create the economy, or is it the role of government to enable and facilitate that kind of work happening within the arts community in the Northwest Territories. So I know when there's questions earlier about an arts council, I'm obviously paying attention keenly as well. ECE may be the lead but, again, we're taking a whole-of-government view here. We're going to certainly all be conscious and be aware of what work we can do together to support the arts community so that they can get their products out there, whether it's through a government-enabled website or through their own methodologies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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 think that there's some great precedent already within ITI. We have the fur program which works quite well and has been very successful. My last question for the Minister, then, is would the Minister of ITI, given that they do have the film commission and they do have support for entrepreneurs of the arts, would they support an independent arm's length council? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Well, so, again, Mr. Speaker, this is an -- the area of the arts, it's an area with joint responsibility between ECE and ITI. So it's not a simple question that I have the opportunity to say yes or no to. It's a question to which there needs to be discussion between us, between the two departments, as well as with the various councils and commissions that already exist. The arts program, the film commission for example. You know, and determining what it is that the community would benefit most from. I can say I've had inquiries to my office under ITI from members of the arts community in this regard so there certainly seems to be some buzz happening within the community around better and new ways to organize and to promote the arts in the Northwest Territories. And I'm sure that we will continue to have those conversations internally as well as with the external partners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about night shelters for homeless, and I'd like to I guess ask the Minister of Housing and the Minister responsible for Homelessness is that in Hay River, we had a shelter this last winter, but as of March 31st, it's no longer operational. And so I'd ask the Minister if her department has been in discussions with anyone in Hay River to deliver that service for this coming winter because, you know, we might be in spring but winter's going to be here fairly soon. So I just want to get ahead of the game here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Homelessness.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Housing Corporation provides the homelessness initiatives during the winter months. I'm not too sure of the date that the shelter would be open again in the fall. I will have to get back to the Member with that specific date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The shelter was funded by Housing last winter. So I ask the Minister is there ongoing funding, is there funding that's earmarked for shelter for Hay River for this year, or is it -- or are you looking for a proposal to make it happen? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the beginning of this Assembly, there was a lot of, you know, concern about Hay River and looking at what we had experienced during COVID-19 and recognizing the most vulnerable at the ground level. There was a lot of advocacy from Hay River to establish a homeless shelter. So with that, we ended up working with one of the nonprofit organizations and opened up a homeless shelter in Hay River. Just to answer the question, yes, we will be continuing those efforts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a number of federal government units, I think that are becoming available or that are available in Hay River, and I ask the Minister if she's willing to look at those units and possibly securing one and -- you know, with four bedrooms at least, and making that available to a nonprofit group to provide shelter this winter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the efforts with the RCMP units that we are currently constructing and the agreement that we do have, the RCMP units are issued to be completed next year but we do have a delivery throughout the Northwest Territories, and there is questions about what are they going to be doing with the federal units that are available in the specific communities. So the Housing Corporation has been in contact with the federal government as well in looking at future programming that we can offer at the community level and recognizing that -- that we do have nonprofit organizations in Hay River. This is a key for us, for the Housing Corporation that we would be able to work in partnership with this organization and hopefully be able to establish specific programming that we would be able to work with those -- work with those individuals as well.

But not only that, I also wanted to recognize that we do have other outreach as well, too, in looking at food delivery that is in the community. Like, I'm not too sure about that specific, but we're trying to work in conjunction in the community of Hay River to making sure that we do acknowledge and work with the homeless population. 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, I'd ask the Minister, you know, to be proactive in this, and maybe her department is, and, you know, have somebody from, you know, her district office reach out to the Department of Health, people there, like, the Hay River health centre, and some of the other groups and the mayor, I guess, and, you know, it has to be a meeting that has to take place to talk about this issue, and, you know, and to come to some resolve here before winter. So, you know, everybody talks about it but nobody makes the first move, and, you know, I've been trying to put the bug in everybody's ear to make this happen. So I'm hoping that the department can maybe, you know, take a lead on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that bug is in my ear. And I have been working with departments as well too and I will keep the Member informed as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, our time for oral questions has expired. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Finance.