This is page numbers 5011 - 5050 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

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, that's certainly not my intention. It may happen to be an election year coming up but at the present time that's still quite far away. And the way that the budget cycle works, the budget that we're preparing now is based on main estimates process where -- based on a business planning process that started back in June. Again, this is sort of full circle. The reason we do budget dialogues in the spring and summer is because that's when departments are actually preparing their materials going into the next year. And while I certainly have said in the context of why we have government renewal going on, that doing incremental budgeting has its downsides, it has an upside. And it has an upside which is there's stability within departments that is not tied to the political whims of any particular administration. Departments do need to continue to provide for fundamental programs and services to all of the residents of the Northwest Territories and the businesses of the Northwest Territories, and that is one of the upsides of incremental budgeting, is it provides that stability. So, Madam Speaker, I do not believe there's any political pressure on us to do or not do anything. Quite on the contrary. I think we are moving forward with quite a number of things. In fact, some of them that are going to only really see their fruits bear in the next Assembly, for example, government renewal. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

November 2nd, 2022

Page 5026

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, in my Member's statement I referenced the letter I tabled last Thursday from the NWT Seniors Society to the Minister of Housing NWT. Their letter mentions the Minister had missed a meeting with them last month on October the 4th. Can the Minister tell us why she missed that meeting and if she has rescheduled a new meeting with the NWT Seniors Society? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5026

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Housing.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5026

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That day that I was scheduled to be meet with the seniors society I was ill. I came down with a cold, and I had to cancel. I did inform the seniors society that I wouldn't be in the attendance. But I am willing to reschedule that appointment and hear the concerns from the seniors society. But once again, I was not feeling very well. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5026

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Madam Speaker, in the letter from the seniors society, they mention receiving reports of people being subject to ridicule, intimidation, harassment, disrespect, and threats of eviction from Housing NWT. They also state that people must not live in fear and insecurity or be threatened with becoming homeless. Does the Minister agree with that? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5026

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As a Minister, I take these concerns very seriously and as with the portfolio that, you know, we try to change the way that we are doing business and being more client-focused as well. Through our renewal and through our mission, our vision, our values, we strive towards to be more client-focused. And I look for more improvements within the way that we work with the general public. I'm looking for fairness, respect, and compassionate client service working with the people throughout the Northwest Territories. We've also looked at the client service training that will be conducted throughout the portfolio and throughout this time to support the frontline service workers. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5026

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Madam Speaker, in the letter from the seniors society, they proposed two actions that Housing NWT could begin immediately. One, comparing the maintenance and repair funding allocations to all communities with the actual spending and the number of units repaired. The other is to start a pilot project to address repairs and other needs in a timely manner. Will the Minister commit to look at these proposals and consider them for Housing NWT? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5027

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And Housing has responded to the letter. They are working with the seniors society on the request of these proposals. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5027

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Madam Speaker, will the Minister commit to work with the NWT Seniors Society to address all the concerns outlined in that letter dated October the 22nd, 2022? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5027

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And thank you to the Member as well. I do value all of the feedback that she is providing, the letter that has been received. And, yes, I would like to work with the seniors society and try to come up with solutions for the issues that they've addressed. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Question 1287-19(2): Housing
Oral Questions

Page 5027

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question for the Minister of Justice is will the Minister be getting rid of the time change once and for all? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish. Unfortunately, there's likely going to be at least one or two or three more time changes. Of course, we've recently engaged with the public. There was a six-week engagement session. Within the first couple days, there were thousands of responses, and 3,500 -- about 3,500 responses to the question of "do you want to get rid of seasonal time change?" And 87 percent, so over 3,000 of those 3,500 people, wanted to get rid of seasonal time change.

When it comes to sticking with daylight savings, or standard time, the territory's a bit more split. Just over half wanted to go with daylight savings time permanently and while the rest wanted to stick with standard time.

And so that is just the beginning of the conversation. The Yukon recently changed -- got rid of seasonal time change, and there's a lot of lessons learned from there. It is not a simple task. It might sound simple but it is by no means simple. There are, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of actions that need to be taken in a specific order in order to ensure that it is done correctly. And it's not only government who has to be involved. Every individual has to be involved. The government isn't going to come and change your alarm clock. You know, satellite companies, railroads, airlines, you know, Microsoft, Apple, all of these companies need to be engaged. And so the Department of Justice, you know, myself, we can't do it alone so we are reaching out to the rest of government and trying to figure out is this something we can do. I know that personally I would like to see it happen but is it worth the cost to government and the cost of the public and potential cost to the residents of the territory? So we have to do that work now that we've received this information from residents, that they do want to get rid of time change, and we have to figure out how we might be able to do that, if we can, going forward. Thank you. And I will just say there will be a What We Heard report summarizing all of this information released in the next couple weeks. Thank you.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think the Minister answered all of my subsequent questions there. So thank you for that. I look forward to the report.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is for the Minister of ECE, Education, Culture and Employment. I wanted to thank the Minister of ECE for his response from yesterday. He responded to my question with short sentences, and I need clarification.

Yesterday the Minister mentioned that he is discussing MOUs with Indigenous government in the context of the Education Act modernization. Can the Minister explain when he started working on the MOUs with the Indigenous partners? Will these MOUs include phase 1 of the Education Act modernization, or are they about phase 2 only? Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So we don't have the capacity to engage in, you know, the very intensive process of developing MOUs while we are also working on phase 1. So once this phase 1 work is completed sometime in the new year, we will begin working on the MOUs for phase 2. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. Are these MOUs between ECE and the Indigenous government or between Executive and Indigenous Affairs and the Indigenous governments? Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So as I've said, we haven't started on those so I can't answer the question. These MOUs don't currently exist. At some point in the new year, in 2023, I will have an answer. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. Well, he did mention it so that's why I thought I'd ask about that.

So Madam Speaker, I wanted to ensure that I am clear, and that our people and students in the small communities are clear, about what is coming to them. How would the Minister explain to students in our small communities, how will their school prepare them to access secondary education? How does he work with their Indigenous government to prepare them for secondary education? Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So it sounds like we're on a new line of questioning here about how the GNWT is working with Indigenous governments for education.

So obviously the Education Act modernization is going to be one of the center pieces of that engagement. I've had a number of meetings with Indigenous governments, as Cabinet where the issue of education is discussed, many meetings where education is the sole issue being discussed. We're of course working with the Tlicho government on Chief Jimmy Bruneau School, working with Colville Lake on their school. There's locally developed courses where Indigenous governments and education bodies work together to develop classes for schools. So there's a number of ways that we are engaging. There is the curriculum renewal. We're, of course, adapting British Columbia's curriculum. And we are -- we've reached out to Indigenous governments and asked them to identify some representatives that can work with us on ensuring that's adapted properly so it reflects local Indigenous cultures. And I could go on, but I will stop. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

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