This is page numbers 3411 - 3440 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 budget.

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Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I again thank the Minister for that. I'll bring, you know, everybody healthy living and for the communities to try to provide best service we can, and I'm really happy to hear that. We are short. And it's not only Nunakput as a whole but the Beaufort Delta. We have nine communities up there that really need help for post-stress, everything, anxiety. There's so much stuff that came out of this last two years. We can't even grieve for our families at funerals, Mr. Speaker. You know, having ten people going to a funeral and stuff like that, it's tough on everybody. It drains everybody so bad. And we're in a real tough situation. I'm happy the sun's coming back now, you know, and brighter days, longer days, that people are able to get out. But working with the Minister to get to all the communities with this travelling team, it doesn't have to be out of Yellowknife; we could contract people out. Is that an option? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate again what a difficult time this has been for people across the NWT in all the age groups. There is nobody who has been unaffected by the stress and the strain of the pandemic and now trying to rebound in the light coming back; it's still very cold.

Before committing to helping the entire Beaufort Delta, I want to take a look at the differing service levels in different communities, because I don't think all of them have the same needs. It is possible for us to contract services. We do that for child and youth community counsellors. We do that where there are fewer than 75 students in the school. If that's the case, there isn't a resident school counsellor. And so we can certainly look at all the possibilities there.

I also invite, I've realized this isn't the answer to the problem in and of itself, but the Help Line is there 24/7 to deal with people who are in crisis now; they can't wait for the travelling team or an appointment. And so I would really encourage the Member to post that number on his Facebook page for people who are in crisis imminently. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about the development of regulations for discharges from the Alberta tar sands. Can the Minister tell us what resources have been dedicated to this effort and whether we have the necessary expertise to fully engage the development of these regulations? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to be clear, there's no releases of oil sand process. Water is currently allowed under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act or the Federal Fisheries Act. The Alberta government has said its regulations will not be in place until at least 2023, and the federal government regulations will not be in place until at least 2025.

At ENR, we have employed sciences and experts as part of the GNWT water management and monitoring team who are reviewing the proposals to authorize each release, including those with regulatory expertise. We are also looking at hiring, or seeking external scientists' expertise to review the documents Alberta provided to fill six knowledge gaps identified to inform the development of the regulations. The team regularly engages with our counterparts in Alberta. So we are in constant contact with the Alberta government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Clearly, we're downstream of this mess, and there's a lot at stake with regard to potential impacts in water equality, aquatic life, and human health.

Can the Minister tell us what engagement this government has undertaken with Indigenous peoples and the public with regard to the development of a GNWT position and these regulations themselves? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. The department has been engaging with Indigenous governments and organizations for many years as part of the development and implementation of the Trans-Monitoring Water Agreement and the Water Stewardship Strategy. I've met with Indigenous leadership about the transboundary water agreement implementation and I've heard concerns from communities and residents about the proposed development regulations authorizing and the release of treated tailing water. ENR provides regular updates and seeks input from the NWT strategy Indigenous steering committee whose members appointed represented to the bilateral management committee. There are representatives for implementation of our bilateral agreement, including the agreement with Alberta.

ENR will continue to provide input and ensure that Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations and NWT residents are able to share their perspective. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Maybe he can share some of that information with this side of the House. Although I can appreciate the Minister's enthusiasm in saying GNWT is not supportive of discharges, I don't think that that's a tenable position for much longer. A more appropriate standard might be something like that the premier of Alberta can drink the discharged water directly.

Can the Minister tell us what the GNWT position is on discharges from the tar sands tailings ponds? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is not supportive of the plan to release treated tailing water from the oil sands to Athabasca River until we have all the information, data, and science to assess whether this can be done safely.

In this House, I've stated this publicly and make this clear to Alberta and the federal government. We will keep our Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations, committee, and other water partners, informed of our work on this matter which we know is a great importance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for that, and I really do encourage him to share some information with this side of the House, because I haven't seen anything, and that's why I'm asking these questions today.

Clearly, there are issues with regard to notice and adequate engagement of GNWT when it came to unilateral decisions that were made to stop upstream water monitoring last year. The transboundary agreement, I'm not sure it's actually strong enough to protect us.

Can the Minister tell us what progress, if any, has been made on increasing and strengthening our role in the transboundary water agreement and how this agreement is going to protect us if the federal government, or Alberta government, goes ahead with regulations without us on board? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this transboundary agreement's one of the best ones in the world. We were very lucky in how we were able do it. And it is our standard moving forward with our transboundary agreements.

To ensure NWT interests are considered in decision-making on the oil sands monitoring, ENR made a request to the federal government and provincial governments for a seat on their joint oil sands oversight committee. We were waiting for a formal response from the federal government. The department has asked for it and received the work plans and requests for proposals to understand how Alberta's working to fill the identified knowledge gaps. The GNWT and the Government of Alberta have also agreed to regular updates at the senior management level.

Through our Alberta-NWT bilateral management committee, ENR is receiving regular updates from the Alberta's oil sand mine water science team and the last one was just, it was held this January 2022. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. The statistics from the public service annual report show that, again from my statement, from 2013 to 2021 Indigenous employment went down by 23 while non-Indigenous employees went up by 61 staff. The declining trend has continued during this Assembly.

Can the Minister explain the main reasons for declining Indigenous representation at the Department of Justice when we have had programs in place like the Indigenous Career Gateway, the Indigenous Management Development Program since 2018? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to report that we have reversed that trend, and the numbers are on their way up. We hit an all time low about two years ago, or actually last year, and then we have reversed and we've made up ground by a couple years. So there's a long way to go, but the work is underway and there's a number of initiatives. I won't pre-empt any of the Member's questions by talking about them, but I just wanted to let everyone know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of our committee's government operations has had presentations from human resources on the Indigenous recruitment and retention framework, and each department must create a plan. So what is the plan specifically at Justice to reverse these trends? And I know he says that we're going up, but we should have a plan to make sure that number stays where it's going up and continues so that we have a representative government in Justice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This has been a priority of this Assembly and of this Cabinet, and it is taken seriously at all levels, so. And I had many conversations with senior managers at the Department of Justice, and this is something that they are regularly discussing. Procedures have been put in place within the department to ensure that, where possible, Indigenous candidates were hired, and if not, why not. There's checks and balances.

We are running a CNRTP program, which is the corrections training program, strictly for Indigenous trainees. So generally this is open to the public, but there's currently an application process for Indigenous persons only. And that deadline closes, I believe March 4th. So I'd recommend everyone who wants to apply get their name in. We are constantly looking at the job descriptions and how we can improve those to ensure that we're not unintentionally excluding people. So there's a number of initiatives, and it's something that is really being driven from the top down, and we want to ensure that we instill this culture across the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I go to my next question, I'm going to go back to this since the Minister has talked about the CNRTP program; I've brought this up in the past with the department. Will the Minister commit to having the hiring staff, the recruiting staff for this program, to go through some of those pools that we currently have in our HR department for any Indigenous applicants to see if they're interested. You know, they've put their resume in once already. You know, we should be utilizing those areas to see if we can bring these people into, like I said, a career in Justice. Thank you.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to say yes, but I can't commit to something that's already happening. I don't want to take credit for it. That is what's happening. And if the Member knows of specific instances where it appears that it's not happening, please let me know. We want to find out. No system is perfect. And if there are some gaps in the system, we want to figure out how to address those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister, and I hope it is happening. And, you know, I just wanted to say, like, to Mr. Speaker, when you and I toured the correctional facility here, one of the comments that I did make when we were there was that other than the warden at the time, there was not one other Indigenous employee that we saw while we did the tour. Every employee that we did see was -- and the counsellor. Just the two. And the warden is no longer there. So I just wanted to make that comment.

Can the Minister be bold and commit to issuing a ministerial directive to instruct hiring managers to use programs like the Indigenous Career Gateway and Indigenous management development and training programs as well as searching the pools, casual pools, and job before posting, at least until the end of his term? Be bold, Minister. Be bold.

---Laughter

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that's what happens. That's what's supposed to happen. We have HR processes in place. The Department of Finance, the human resources division, is the lead on ensuring that the work is done. So that is what happens. And I can't make a directive to -- you know, that is beyond my scope because we have government-wide policies in place. Again, if the Member, or anyone, is aware of instances where things aren't happening the way they should be, I want to hear about it because we do want to make changes where needed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.