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

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT is currently using the 2015 National Building Standards or the National Building Code. The code permits construction of mass timber buildings up to six stories. The 2020 edition that the Member's talking about was released in March of 2022, and the fire marshal's office has up to two years, or until 2024, to adopt it. But I'm happy here to say it to this here in the House and for the people out there that the fire marshal's office will be adopting it in the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's news to me. I'm glad to hear that we will be adopting NBC 2020.

I guess my understanding though, is we don't actually adopt it wholesale; we just adopt the small section of it that applies to fire prevention and then the fire marshal approves that. The rest of it is kind of left up to municipalities.

Also in one of the exemptions that a number of jurisdictions are exploring is whether buildings of four to six stories need two stairwells. I know this is a highly technical exemption but a number of jurisdictions have said that if you get rid of the second stairwell requirement, you see the nature of cities change, you see more buildings built in a different style. I'm just wondering if this is something at all that we have considered? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NBC 2015 requires at least two exits, and there must be arranged so that they are clear, visible, identifiable, and accessible.

For public safety reasons, we cannot facilitate a single means of exit, the current adoption -- or adopted code, as well as the 2020 code, requires two exits to ensure that at least one exit is available during emergency evacuation if one is blocked due to fire or smoke. I do not want to be the Minister that has only one exit and we have a fatality going out there. So we are going to follow the code as it is and follow the recommendations as it will have to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I guess this gets to kind of the heart of implementing building codes, as I can assure the Minister there are buildings all across this territory with one exit, and there are buildings all around this territory that don't meet the code because they were built a long time ago. And, you know, it's whether how we enforce those standards.

One of the specific standards beyond the National Building Code I'd like is the Canadian Safety Association Standard B561, also very technical. But the Human Rights Commission has said that in order to prevent a building from a discrimination case for not being accessible, this is the standard that we should adopt. The territory should be designing buildings to be accessible for disability standards.

I'm wondering if the department is looking into any work to be done so we could adopt that accessibility standard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the standard's already in place in the NWT as referenced in the current adopted edition of the National Building Code 2015. Many additional changes are incorporated in the 2020 edition of the NBC to further improve the accessibility design. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services concerning standards of care being offered in small communities.

On May 31st, 2022, the Minister stated I had the opportunity to go to six different NWT communities, and you had a lot to say about healthcare and delivery to them.

Can the Minister tell us which communities she visited, and what issues she heard from the residents? And Mr. Speaker, I don't need specifics, just a broad policy recommendation that represents the privacy of the healthcare clients. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Yes, thank you. I was honoured, Mr. Speaker, to tour your communities - Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchic, Aklavik.

I attended a constituency meeting with my colleague from Inuvik Boot Lake. I went to the Fort Smith Medical Centre and met with regional wellness council. I went to Norman Wells, and I met with the regional wellness council there and toured the long-term care. And I met with the Yellowknife regional wellness council which includes a representative from Fort Resolution.

The issues were what I would define as case management, which means that people had specific concerns about their own interactions with the healthcare system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank Minister Green for your answer.

The Minister has also said that the CEO of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services region has been to Fort Resolution a couple of times this month and has opened channels of communications with the leadership there.

Can the Minister elaborate on the number of visits and if they had an opportunity to meet with the Chief Louis Balsillie and president Arthur Beck. Mahsi.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm going to need to get back to the Member with details of when those visits happened by the COO of the Yellowknife region to the community of Fort Resolution. I know they happened in May, but I can't be more specific than that.

And I would also like to say that with respect to meeting Arthur Beck and Chief Balsillie, I haven't met Chief Balsillie. I have met Arthur Beck at various bilaterals that we've had. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to Minister Julie Green for your answer. Can the Minister tell us what she means by stating the communication channels have been established with Fort Resolution leadership. Does this mean that a plan to address the needs of community is in development? Mahsi.

Yes, thank you. I found in my notes here that the chief operating officer was there May 2nd to the 5th. She met with community members, the mayor, the staff at the health centre, to look at ways that communication could be improved within the community and between the community and the health and social services authority.

The service levels are a concern. I've mentioned this previously. We're very short of nurses, and that applies to Fort Resolution as it does to other places. Finding staff is done on a system-wide basis. So we don't have a plan that single out particular communities. We need to provide healthcare across the NWT. So everyone is considered at the same time.

I am pleased to hear that the community has taken advantage of the community suicide prevention agreement in the last fiscal year and received $41,000 to bring about that service, and that the Chief has been holding a six-week wellness camp and follow-up work shops. That's great. And I really appreciate communities applying for the community funds that we have available so that they can provide service directly to their residents according to their own needs and values. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister reassure this House that the health centres and personnel and RCMP Members in Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e, and other small communities, establish a meaningful and clear protocol process to understand their powers and responsibilities in the case of emergencies for the enforcement under the Mental Health Act. The community members and leadership should know exactly what to do and to whom to call for help in the case of emergency to enforce the Mental Health Act. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that there is a nurse on call, and so I would suggest that the first call be to the health centre. 9-1-1 is available throughout the NWT as an emergency service that can provide links to other emergency services. I think the RCMP are 24/7 as well.

So I think, if I understand the Member correctly, the services that he's referencing are available 24/7, and I would suggest that Members call their local service first, service providers before, trying 9-1-1. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of MACA confirm when we can expect to see SOAs for accommodations in Hay River? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the RFP for apartments, hotels, and B and Bs was just done on Monday. We're working procurement, and we're trying to work as fast as we can to try and get that standard offer out there for accommodations. As soon as we get it, we will make sure that Members are aware of it as well as the contractors who have submitted to the bid. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier in the week the Minister said we'd be seeing the standard list of values of items that'll be available for those that had damage.

Can the Minister confirm when that standard list will be available? Thank you.