This is page numbers 3897 - 3946 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

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 for that and, of course, my Member's statement was about making small communities self-reliant in terms of their energy needs, and this 2030 Energy Strategy, the doomed strategy, is not going to get us there.

So what assurance can the Minister give us in this House that the new energy action plan will start to seriously evaluate options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, value for money, and build community energy self-sufficiency when we can't even get a transmission line right? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll answer the fifth question here. You know, I did talk about the actions under the 20 energy -- 2030 Energy Strategy that is assessed against some of the main goals of having the reliable services here in the Northwest Territories. You know, it is our mandate to be able to reduce emission of greenhouse gas. You know, we are looking at public engagements. I encourage everybody to take part of the engagements because it's the feedback from that that helps us go forward in the action plan. That's all I'll say. 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. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. And I'd like to know what kind of training initiatives are currently being offered to our small communities to help them build tourism capacity? And I know many of these, COVID kind of threw a wrench in it, but when those programs will be available in person again? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, quite a number of training opportunities are available. Some have continued; some have gone virtual for example. And I'll just note that they're available on ITI's website so if I don't get through them all, keeping in mind our time, I certainly would commend anyone interested to go to ITI's website. And perhaps we'll put something out more specifically on this given that tourism is hopefully restarting with a vigor.

Northernmost Host is a two-day customer service workshop that's available. It is generally done in person but it's certainly going to be ramping up now with regional staff. They're Starting a Tourism Business; it's a half-day workshop. Business Market and Trade Ready; again, Mr. Speaker, something that is making sure that the companies are ready to go. Business mentorship opportunities, formal program there that does not necessarily require anything in person. Youth tourism mentorship. Mr. Speaker, there's funding available through Tourism 2025 for most of these programs as well. So again, quite a variety really aiming to connect with businesses at whatever point they might be in their business lifecycle. And again, commend folks to go to the ITI website and make sure they're finding their way or talk to their local program coordinator. They will -- they will find something to meet them where they're at so that we can get tourism up and running. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate those programs, and I think it's good to get the word out that anyone who wants to take them can do that.

My question is, can the Minister speak to any work currently being done by the department to prepare small communities for the return of tourism and specifically any work that's being done to make sure that, you know, tourists don't just come to Yellowknife and they can actually have the opportunity to visit some of our other communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I totally agree with that, and the simple fact, Mr. Speaker, is that if folks are coming into the Northwest Territories looking to go and have an experience outside of a major centre, that is going to benefit the whole of the Northwest Territories. They're going to be landing in one of the major regions, likely spend some time there, and then be able to go out and travel. So this is a full win for everybody.

Mr. Speaker, we've not ever stopped. Tourism has been one of the areas that received quite a lot of the relief and recovery effort and focus. I mean, all of these are all the snappy acronyms you might recall - GRIT, and PREP, and TRIP. There's also the Tourism Product Diversification Marketing Fund. That one's been around a while. And Community Tourism Infrastructure Contribution Programs. Again, I do believe communities are well aware of them but, Mr. Speaker, we will be making every effort to make sure that those programs are getting ramped back up and that folks are aware because this -- we do certainly hope to see a return to tourism as fast as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to speak a bit to the role of tourism development officers, especially as we seem to be placing more of these positions in communities, but I think there's a bit of a -- sometimes those communities simply don't have the operators or tourism infrastructure already. And I think we could look at some other models. I point to the McPherson tent and canvas company, a subsidiary that we own that loses money every year, but I think it -- it's worth it. It's worth owning that to provide services. And I'm just wondering, given tourism development officers are often there to inspect operators, are they actually empowered to maybe work with the Indigenous governments or work with communities to establish some sort of other model where we provide services and if we got to subsidize it for the first few years, Mr. Speaker, I'd be more than happy to see that. Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This sounds like it might be a bit of a full program revamp that I have not certainly turned my mind to here on the floor of the House. Community tourism coordinator positions do indeed assist the community-owned projects and community governments. So Mr. Speaker, yes, they already perform that role of not only monitoring but of actually being a conduit of information. Similarly, tourism development officers, Mr. Speaker, they're the ones delivering on those programs that I had mentioned earlier in a lot of cases. So I do think there's -- they have an important role to connect local operators to bigger funding opportunities, to connect local operators one to another, if they're developing a product, to be able to facilitate and sell, and to help ensure that communities and community tourism operators are aware of all these funding pots that I've been talking about.

So Mr. Speaker, more than happy to have conversation with the Member if there's something that is not being achieved in all that, because that certainly is the vision that we have is to make those connections and to be that enabler for this important industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think similarly to the McPherson tent and canvas model, which, you know, I do consider a success, I think is the win -- or Indigenous governments through the development corporations become operators, and I think this is, you know, being acknowledged as a priority for the department, is to develop the Indigenous tourism sector. I'm hoping the Minister could just speak to some of the work being done to partner and work with our Indigenous development corporations to get tourism operations off the ground. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think this is going to be a growth area in the Northwest Territories, ecotourism opportunities to experience Indigenous communities and culture firsthand. I really -- I fully believe this is an area where the Northwest Territories is on a leadership track. We do already have some good positive examples. The Sambaa K'e Development Corporation, down on the shores of Trout Lake, this is an opportunity. Similarly in the Sahtu, it will be one of the development corporations that's looking ultimately to be involved in the Canol Trail which would be, you know, world class in terms of what it may offer historically and in terms of hiking. So this work is happening, Mr. Speaker, and would fully agree that there is opportunity here to do even more. So I'm happy to bring some attention to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Department of Health and Social Services about crack cocaine in small communities. I want to ask the Minister, does the Department of Health and Social Services have services available for people who are addicted to crack; are those service available in the communities? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not aware that we have community specific or drug specific treatment. I think that we deal drugs -- we deal with drug addiction as a whole and with alcohol addiction separately from that. So in terms of a detox, we are working on a medical detox model. It is possible to go to do detox here in Yellowknife. For full scale facility-based treatment, the person would need to be south to one of our six options for residential treatment. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. Will the Department of Health and Social Services increase services available to people in the community?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an area that we continue to invest in. We have created some specific funds like the Aftercare and Addictions Recovery Fund which was not fully subscribed in this fiscal year. The Peer Support Fund which helps people who are coming back from treatment, also not fully subscribed. The On the land Healing Fund, which is worth almost $2 million, also not fully subscribed. So I feel that we have a selection of services available to people to try and meet them where they're at and for the needs they have and that -- I think our biggest challenge is making that known to the public rather than increasing the number and variety of services. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. Can the Minister commit to undertaking a pilot project where a team of Indigenous counsellors and services are available to provide more direct intervention to people caught in the cycle of addictions? Thank you.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the point of the addictions and recovery after -- Addictions Recovery and Aftercare Program is in fact to assist communities to hire their own counsellors to deal with issues around addiction and recovery. And in particular, as you may know, there are -- there are 16 people being trained in BC who are called the Dene Wellness Warriors. And there's money available to communities to hire those folks and help them with their addiction services. That fund is not fully subscribed so I would encourage the Member to speak to her leadership about applying for it. Thank you.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Thank you. Could the Minister commit to working with the Minister of Education and Justice to ensure youth are educated and supported within the school curriculum and through counsellors to help youth in small community choose healthy lifestyle free of drugs? Thank you.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have different kinds of media engagement with youth to warn them about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, and I believe that that is delivered within the curriculum at the schools although that is really not my department. But we certainly agree that talking to youth at a very early age about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse is important to keeping them healthy and ensuring that they get the best possible start in life. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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