This is page numbers 4061 - 4110 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.

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Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a visitor from Australia is Mr. Geoff Atkins, chief founder and the managing director of Vital Metals Limited, the parent company Vital Metals Canada and Cheetah Resources. Mr. Atkins brings to Canada an extensive career of experience in the rare earth mining and marketing industry. If you could maybe put your hand up.

Also, Mr. Speaker, well-known businessman David Connelly and vice-president of strategy and corporate affairs of Cheetah Resources Corp. Cheetah is headquartered here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Connelly is one of the team responsible for bringing the Nechalacho project to the market. Mr. David Connelly.

Mr. Speaker, Bill Braden is a former elected Member of this Assembly, and has found life after politics as a freelance writer and photographer. He is here today as the media relations manager for Cheetah Resources. Mr. Bill Braden.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, Cody Drygeese is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and is the environmental officer for Cheetah Resources and Nechalacho project. Mr. Drygeese has extensive experience in the environmental field in the diamond industry here in the NWT. Mr. Cody Drygeese.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Recognition of visitors in the galley. Member for Great Slave.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to rise to acknowledge the members from Cheetah Resources that are here, as well Mr. Bill Braden is my constituent in Great Slave and formerly held my seat. I did not do my statement on Cheetah Resources today, but I think everybody knows how I feel about our resource extraction industry and I can't support them enough. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, I guess this is a Cheetah day here, so. I had the pleasure of meeting George Atkin. He spent 40 hours on a plane. He missed the, because of flight connections he was long overdue at airports, but he had the opportunity to meet with me and Minister Wawzonek and the Premier today at lunchtime, as well as David Connelly. I also understand that Cody Drygeese is here as well as Bill Braden, from Cheetah. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Honourable Premier.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I would be negligent if I didn't also recognize Cheetah Resources in the gallery today. As stated earlier, my family has been in the industry longer than I have been born, over 60 years. I think our previous MLA Bill Braden, BradenBurry, was part of the resource sector, indirectly, as well, so a lot of knowledge in the gallery today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Colleagues, I too would like to welcome Mr. Bill Braden, former Member of Legislative Assembly. Welcome back. It's always good to see you. Also if we've missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber and I hope you're enjoying the proceedings. It's always nice to have an audience. Mahsi.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Question 1040-19(2): Mike Zubko Airport Project
Oral Questions

March 28th, 2022

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Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure.

Work has been stopped or put on hold on a project that has major implication for local employment and national security. Is the Minister aware of the pressing timeframe issue regarding the next phase of work and that if a one cubic meter trench is not completed before this spring's thaw, the project will be delayed for at least one year, jeopardizing the project's timeline and national security related to Arctic sovereignty; yes or no?

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister's department are knowingly causing a delay to a project of major national security importance. Minister, what has the government done to avoid this delay and to move this work forward on its intended timeline in the interests of national security and to assist with post-pandemic economic recovery of our local businesses? Thank you.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the senior officials from Infrastructure, as well as the contractor, and National Defence, are meeting this afternoon to have that discussion. And may I further add that as the Premier's statement earlier mentioned that, you know, she's having discussions with the briefing officials at the highest level of military/security/intelligence branches of the federal government and also met with Minister Anand on the -- Minister of National Defence, and Minister Vandal as well. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, it's -- it's really hard to have some positive with this -- this Minister right now because before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, you know, this wasn't even at the surface. This delay has been going on. This is not anything new. And we're only looking at it now because we've been raising the issue. You know, I -- I -- Mr. Speaker, with everyone looking at Arctic security, will the Minister use her power to direct her department to stop holding up this important phase to get the contractors on it ASAP and not to delay this project by a year? It's been delayed long enough. Our local businesses need to get to work on this project.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned there's a meeting that's currently underway as we speak at the deputy minister level, and we'll be providing an update on the joint venture once we have concurred on a way forward. 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

My final supplementary is this: Minister, you know, with the amount of this phase that's been allocated, it's a small amount that needs to be done before the thaw. You know, I know it's cold today but it can change next week. So what I'm asking is this Minister to direct her staff to release that $8 million to get going on this phase that we won't lose a year. The rest of the project, the -- you know, after the meeting today but will she commit to that today?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member mentioned, the project came in significantly over budget; more than what the GNWT estimates and more than a third party estimate that used information that was collected by regional contractors. The -- you know, it's -- I understand where the Member's coming from. I mean, Inuvik is my community as well and this is something that, you know, we push at the Premier's level, to have that discussion with National Defence so we don't lose the time. So I'm hoping for a favourable outcome today as a result of those meetings. 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

[Remote] Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Some people experience with accessing or working to access support services feel that support services from NTHSSA are at an all-time low and are very siloed in today's environment. Schools are currently trying to find funds to pay out-of-pocket to secure access to support services like speech language pathology, occupational therapy, but this is incredibly costly.

So will the GNWT work with schools to fund access to support services if it does not have the capacity to deliver those services in house? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Member bringing this question forward. We recently reorganized speech language pathology to focus on more equitable service delivery for children in age birth to five years old. So we did that knowing that this is a critical period of a child's development and that there are considerable wait times for rehabilitation services, and we wanted to make sure that we could improve the turnaround time for these basic screening tools that practitioners use with this group. So equity is really our concern here, and the refocus of service in speech language pathology is the means that we're taking.

We have high staff vacancy rates in these rehabilitation service areas, and so as a result we have long wait times. The problem is that as with other healthcare professionals, there is a very strong demand for these -- for these professions and not a very robust workforce and so we, like everywhere else in the country, have experienced a shortage of people in these areas and the result is unfortunate wait times for patients. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister's willingness to have this conversation together. Today, many schools are fall -- are finding that they -- they follow the process to reach out to secure support services within NTHSSA but that they don't necessarily hear back from NTHSSA about the appointments, the timing to wait for them, or the availability.

And so will Health and Social Services commit to service standards for schools so that schools are able to communicate not only with students and families but also understand what is required to access supports for students? Thank you.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to be able to make a commitment to service standards knowing that we are short-staffed and that the answer may be greater spending which we don't have in the budget at this time. But certainly I don't see any reason that people who call and ask for appointments can't receive accurate information about their wait times so that they can make informed decisions about what their next steps are. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's comment. Some of the problem, though, is that without the service standards, some people aren't receiving that phone call back or that email back to let them know that it's going to be a year or a year and a half or two years before a student receives services. So the schools are really unable to make alternate arrangements or alternate plans for the care and the learning and development of that student.

And so will the Minister commit, then, to response service standards for school professionals so that NTHSSA is committing to responding to schools within a certain amount of time so that they can move on to other alternative approaches? Thank you.