This is page numbers 5567 - 5614 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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Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in the House to speak about a respected elder who passed away in Fort Simpson. I am lucky to be able to use the eulogy provided by the family. Those close to her knew her as Dinah.

Mr. Speaker, Diane Edwards made a difference to the people she touched, loved, and worked with. Diane Mary Edwards was born on November 1st, 1946, in Fort Liard. Her parents were William and Marguerite Edwards. After finishing high school at Akaitcho Hall in Yellowknife in 1968, Diane moved back to Fort Simpson. She was an active member of the community. Sports were her venue especially curling and softball which were very popular and well organized at the time. In the days without internet or cell phones, the whole community would be involved with special events such as tournaments, a source of entertainment and a common place to meet for everyone. Diane was very active as a participant or in the crowd cheering loudly for the teams.

Diane started her government career 1970 at early age. She has one of the single longest public service career in the NWT, with over 40 years of meritorious employment as a member of the public service of the GNWT. This is quite an achievement. Diane would always go the extra mile performing her duties at health and social services with a focus on excellence.

Diane is the definition of a working-class unsung hero who didn't look for accolades and acknowledgements. She would find comfort in humility, charity, and performing her duties at an above par.

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to meet and know Diane. She was an amazing person who could help you with whatever task you asked. When Diane retired from the government, they were hard pressed to find an award for 45 plus years of service. HR had to create a special plaque just for her as no one had ever retired with 48 years of service. What an accomplishment.

Diane was always a treasure trove of information and when HQ needed something, Diane was their go-to and always found what they were looking for. If somebody from HQ came to Simpson, they always wanted to put the face to the voice.

Diane Mary Edwards passed on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 1:49 p.m., surrounded by family and friends who loved her dearly. Her heavenly journey began, and she is now free from the bonds that held her back on earth. She's taking her place with our ancestors, and she will live in our memories forever.

Mr. Speaker, I have several messages that were shared at the service from people from the region, and I have added them to my statement here. I would like to have them deemed as read. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. She'll be sadly missed.

Family stories - When Ama passed in Oct 1999, Diane became very close with her sister Madeline, who also lived in Fort Simpson. And over time the two sisters became inseparable. Two peas in a pod, as Diane was the provider and protector for Ama in a supportive role throughout her life. It was a natural transition for Diane to provide that same support for her older sister Madeline, a widow living independently in her own home.

The two had many adventures together - Greyhound bus trips to Edmonton, gardening, berry picking, camping, and fishing were high on the list of things to do. They always found time for some "entertainment" and very well respected from all diverse groups of people in the community.

I went on a few road trips with Diane as well. She loved to travel but kept her routine simple and exact. She was a creature of habit. She only liked to shop at Army and Navy, stay in fancy hotels like the Macdonald Hotel in Edmonton. And later, after the Army and Navy store closed down on 97th Street, she would go to Kingsway. We went to Klondike Days together with my kids'. Boy, she watched out for them at all times, especially her favorite Brendan.

After Madeline passed in Oct 2018, it was a transitional moment for Diane. Her health started to wane, and her memory lapses became more frequent. Unfortunately this was foretelling her future.

With a series of ailments and accidents, Diane became bedridden and could no longer communicate normally. The fact that Diane was able to survive for as long is a true testament to stubbornness and love of life.

Kathy Tsetso shared about the first time she met Diane was at a curling tournament at the old community hall, way back in 1975. Diane asked her to curl on her team, so she did. Kathy never curled before and was shy since she had only been in Simpson for three months. They won the women's event. She was so pumped and grateful for being asked to curl by Diane. Side fact, this was when she met Albert at the Saturday night curling dance for the first time and they never looked back. Kathy credits Diane for getting her to come out and for Diane being a bit of a matchmaker too.

Amy - Diane... Lady Di as we would call her. Di was one of the kindest people I worked with who would bend over backwards for those she genuinely cared about, and I consider myself one of the lucky ones who got to be a part of her journey. I valued our special friendship, from our little break cruises around town, lengthy talks about when she was a little girl, berry picking in Liard, her love for curling, her travels with her sister, the special gifts she would bring in for me whether it be her niece's fresh bannock bread to share with me, or a new pair of socks or mitts she just finished. If I am honest, she was pretty choosy when it came to picking friends or people gave her time and trust to.

She would always make me laugh. Daily I would find myself in stitches with her spicy demeaned as she did not hide her true feelings well when she was not fond of someone. But if she was fond of you, she would give her shirt right off her back. I will cherish all the moments. Di is loved beyond measure and will be missed deeply by all those who had the pleasure of knowing her.

Cindy - I wish we were home a day earlier so that I can pay my respects to Diane. Diane was the sweetest and also could be a little feisty if she did not like you, lol.

I still have two pairs of knitted slippers that she made me. When we worked together, our office would do a gift exchange and if she did not get my name, she would always tell me to stop by, she had something for me, and I would get a pair of slippers. I loved exchanging gifts with her. Use to enjoy our Saturday outings with Sandra. Rest in Peace.

Deb - I am honoured and privileged to have had the years spent with Diane in my life. They were filled with adventure, our many trips to Fort Liard. Great stories. She was an amazing source of knowledge and always willing to share. Her sense of humour brought tears of laughter. Her heart was big enough to offer individual attention to every person that came to her for help through her role with health and social services. Diane made a difference in the lives of many. Her kindness and positivity will leave an in-wavering legacy in the community of Fort Simpson and many others whose lives she touched. Always missed, never forgotten. Go rest on that high mountain.

Diane's niece Shirley Ann Bertrand of Fort Liard sent me the following about Diane and her life in Fort Liard and she spoke with elders who remembered her.

The elders in Fort Liard remember Dinah. Here are some words they shared. "Dinah knew who we were" one said. Another shared a short story. "I trapped with Dinah's Dad (William Edwards). We used to trap beyond Fisherman Lake in the mountains. Dinah was born in Fort Liard and raised there until she was maybe eight or nine years old. Dinah's mom and Dinah lived in a house her dad built. After his passing, Dinah and her mom moved to Fort Simpson. Where her mom had family.

Even after she left to attend school, Dinah would return to Fort Liard time and time again. Dinah kept in touch with the elders, relatives, friends, including her sister Vera Bertrand and her family. Although a private person, Dinah would be known for working many years for Fort Simpson Social Services.

She also had a collection of photos. Dinah loved to go fishing and would be seen fishing at the mouth of the Petitot River. Dinah also liked to pick berries. Mahsi for sharing your life with us Dinah. Rest in Peace.

These are our memories of her from people of Fort Liard.

Diane loved Fort Liard and her family members there. So many times, she talked about going back and building a house on the lot she owned there but always something else came first. She was a devoted daughter, sister, auntie, friend, and co-worker to many.

When Diane's father passed away, they moved to Fort Simpson to be closer to her family William, Alice, and Johnny Tanche. The Tanche family have fond memories of their Auntie Diane. Diane was one special person in our lives, and she watched our children and grandchildren grow up. They all have memories, which I'm sure they will cherish. There is not one person in our family who did not call her Auntie. She touched their hearts in her own witty, kind-hearted person way. Auntie Diane will be missed.

She was so close to our family; she was Auntie to everyone.

She loved spoiling the kids and often bought them treats if she saw them in the store. One of the grandchildren said that their best memories of Diane were watching Animal Kingdom at Diane's while mom and my aunties played bingo. Diane and her mom looked after Cathy when she was young and loved her like their own. Later Diane would often tell Cathy that if she didn't let her go, she would have never married Tod.

She will be sadly missed but not forgotten.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community at this time.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of ENR confirm if any of his staff received notification from anybody in the Alberta government about the spills at the Kearl site in Alberta? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with regret, I have to inform the House, no, we didn't hear anything. I didn't hear anything. We didn't even get notified by any level of the Alberta government and we had to actually find out through, I guess you would call it the telephone system where somebody provides something else and then they cut to our staff and then this is how we found out. So, unfortunately, no, we did not find out the way we were supposed to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me if any of the Indigenous governments and partners were aware of this spill? Has he been in contact with any of them to find out if they were aware of it prior, because there was media releases out there and, you know, for some reason we didn't pick up on those. Thank you.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning after becoming aware of this spill, ENR compiled a "what we know" information sheet, and it is being sent to all Indigenous and community governments, partners, in the area. We are currently communicating with Indigenous governments in the town of Fort Smith to enhance monitoring of the water in the Slave River to track any potential impacts of upstream incidents. This is a precaution as we do not expect to see any changes based on the monitoring that is occurring in Alberta. We will continue to work closely with our Indigenous governments and communities.

Mr. Speaker, like I said, we received the information from an Indigenous government through the system there. So we are working with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a spill like this could have a devastating effect on the water, aquatic life, mammals, vegetation and that. So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me what impact his department thinks that may have on the residents, water, aquatic life, animals and that, and vegetation as well? Thank you.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to make it clear there is no evidence for concern about the water quality at this time. Enhanced testing of water, drinking water in Fort Chip, where the water is typically drawn from the Lake Athabasca show no evidence of contamination. There is no denying that the truth of Indigenous governance, community leaders, and our government has been affected by the failure to provide direct notification. So we are working with it down in Fort Smith as well to keep the monitoring of this, and we will provide information if we have concerns moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue, I guess, arose partly because of Imperial probably wasn't doing their job by informing people but the other thing is that the Alberta government failed. I'm not sure if it's because it's a Conservative government and not some -- another one, but anyways. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell me what are the next steps this government will take on this matter? More importantly, what steps will they take and what discussions will they have, if any, with the Alberta government? Thank you.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right. Residents rightly want to know their government has taken steps to ensure they're safe. To this end, we continue to work with Indigenous governments and the Town of Fort Smith to enhance water monitoring in Slave River. We also communicated with the Alberta government officials to better understand the nature of the spill and the potential for impact and plans for cleanup. Recognizing this is an unacceptable breach of our bilateral water management agreement with the Alberta government, we will be activating the agreement dispute resolution provision. We will be working to ensure the terms of our agreement are honoured by the Alberta government. And most importantly, we will continue to work with our Indigenous governments and communities and keep them informed.

Mr. Speaker, I've been trying to reach out to the Alberta Minister as well. I will be reaching out with a letter to both the Alberta government, the minister, as well the federal minister. This is unacceptable. We need to be informed, and that's what those transboundary agreements are about.

So, again, I apologize to the residents of the Northwest Territories that there was a failure with this system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to -- I'm pretty sure that M18 project, I think we gave $2 million a few years ago. So if I was -- I correct myself if -- out of my Member's statement.

Mr. Speaker, what work is the department doing to bring down the cost of fuel and electricity in the Nunakput communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure is working to get more fuel storage into the communities. We've applied for funding through the DMAP, which is the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, program. So we're expecting to be able to expand our fuel storage capacity in Sachs Harbour, in Ulukhaktok, Paulatuk, and Tuktoyaktuk. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's really good news, and it's good to hear. Will that drive down the cost of fuel, though, if we bring in bulk fuel? Mr. Speaker, what programs are available through the GNWT to help residents in the High Arctic communities, who are paying the highest price for fuel and electricity, to pay their bills? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not aware of any specific program through the Department of Infrastructure. Maybe perhaps through income support in trying to work with residents to be able to help fund some of the electricity and fuel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on income support, the inflation, I guess, it's went up by about 11 percent. Is there any increase into -- to that being said, then, is there increase for food and power and making sure that the rent's paid increase in inflation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And during the Member's question there, I was able to look over and get some support from Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to be able to say that the Department of ECE provides 100 percent funding for both utilities and for -- just the utilities? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know that we live in the most harshest environment in the territory. The cost of living and inflation's gone up so bad and it's the people that are on the income support, the monies that they do get, it lasts, I guess, three -- used to last three weeks. Now it's lasting two weeks. People are going hungry in our riding, Mr. Speaker.

Will this government and our Minister in regards to working together with the energy plan, I guess -- because when the energy plan has to get in place sooner than later because of the cost, and it's going to fluctuate right across the board in regards to the stores, to the Northwest Company, to the Co-op, to the Stanton Group, Mr. Speaker, is there a way that we could work together with them, I guess, to get this energy program going sooner rather than later because people are -- in my riding, we pay three times already the cost of anywhere across from Yellowknife, three times more. So we get less. And we have big families and they need help, Mr. Speaker. Can this Minister guarantee me that she's going to work to get this done sooner rather than later? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have the 2030 Energy Strategy which is to be able to guide the development of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy for transportation, heat, and electricity here in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, we have this plan in place. We have the overall strategy, then we have the action plan. So we look at the action plan to ensure that we're keeping within timelines so that we can be able to make some changes and go forward on the strategy.

The GNWT is working with Arctic Energy Alliance, as one example of one of the programs that we provide support for. In 2021-2022, the GNWT invested $52.5 million on energy projects. Mr. Speaker, I think that's a pretty good number for here in the territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given recent statistics on the record number of suicides and drug overdoses within the NWT over the last year, can the Minister of health tell us if there's an urgency, or any renewed effort within her department, to convert any vacant buildings within the NWT into an aftercare and detox centre? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.