This is page numbers 5875 - 5942 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 indigenous.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Jack Lee Mouse was born on May 15th, 1972, in Fort Simpson. He passed away on March 14th, 2023, at the age of 51. He was the son of Cecelia Mouse and Frederick Tonka. When we heard that he passed away, the family, friends and community were very shocked and saddened. Mr. Speaker, death has taken away a genuinely nice individual and, more importantly, a loving nephew, cousin, and brother. While the family and friends mourned the loss, they gathered in Fort Simpson to pay tribute and a celebration a life this past Tuesday. I can advise you that he had left a lasting impression in the minds of his acquaintances and others. People knew him as a pleasant, cooperative, helpful, and dedicated individual. Everyone at the service talked about how they always remembered his laugh and how it made them feel.

Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of knowing Jack in 1993 on the ball field in Fort Simpson when we played the Roadrunners team. He stood out because of several things. He has a reverse grip when he went up to bat on the left-hand side of the plate. He could spray and hit the ball into whatever location he wanted, and he was very fast. He played right field and enjoyed the game. On top of those attributes, he always had fun and was an excellent sportsman on and off the field. His team gave him the nickname "Tamarack Jack."

Mr. Speaker, as time passed, and the more I got to know him, I had the pleasure of chatting with him off and on throughout the years, especially when he walked past my home when I was outside. I can tell you he was a very proud person who loved where he was brought up and his family. He was a very nice person that cared about his family.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that this is a particularly difficult and painful time for his family. In extending to them my heartfelt condolences, I wish them courage and strength as they deal with their loss.

Mr. Speaker, I received a beautiful write-up from his cousin Angela, and I would like it to be deemed as read and printed in the Hansard.

Mr. Speaker, the family would like to thank everybody for their support during this difficult time, especially Liidlii Kue First Nation and their executive director. He will be sadly missed by his surviving family and friends.

Hi Shane, Please find enclosed the letter about my cousin Jack, as promised. First off, we will miss him so very much, he was so young.

Growing up with Jack, he was no different than my brother Daniel. He was so funny, and his laugh was amazing. There were so many good memories of Jack that we all loved, especially how good he was at fishing and hunting. He would share the food he hunted for, and he'd give it to family. He was so kind and always cared about others before himself. We all are like Jack this way so much.

One of the amazing things I loved about my cousin Jack was how fast he was at running. We were at Gramma's cabin across the river, we were just little kids then, and I tried catching up to Jack as he was running from me in the bush. I called out for him but he was super fast and he was gone. I was amazed how fast he was, just like his nickname "roadrunner" like the cartoon.

Jack was so very traditional. He reminded me of my amazing uncles. He would always be speaking Dene, and this was so important to our culture and who we all are. Jack and my mom Elizabeth Mouse taught me, my brother Daniel, and my little sister Mary-Ellen how to go fishing the amazing way - tie some fishing string on a stick with a simple hook holding a piece of bread or a small fish and it worked big time. I caught the biggest jack fish at ten years old with my amazing cousin Jack and my sister and brother.

Jack will be forever missed so much. Everyone loved Jack. He was such an amazing, good person. Thank you for the reading. Angela Elizabeth McGonigle.

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. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Oral Question asked by the Member for Kam Lake on February 28, 2023, regarding Child Care Funding Supports for Teen Parents.

The department will take the Member's suggestions into consideration, particularly as we advance the Child and Family Services Action Plan and explore ways in which we can work with other departments to provide integrated services.

As the department continues to enhance the delivery of services, we recognize there is a need for options. Currently, child and family services has two types of voluntary support services agreement options available to teen parents that can include funding for child care: the Support Services Agreement or the Voluntary Services Agreement. The difference between the two agreements is that one directly supports the youth while the other supports the family who is supporting the youth.

To access these options, the individual youth would meet with a community social services worker to determine the services that best meets their needs. The community social services worker guides the youth through the program options. All agreements incorporate a philosophy of maintaining family, culture, and community connections and can include support from relevant Indigenous organizations.

Mr. Speaker, child and family services acknowledges that colonization has created systemic barriers for residents. All NWT residents, including teen parents, deserve to feel safe, free from discrimination and racism when accessing health and social services. We are making some important progress in this area. For example, the cultural safety and anti-racism team tailored the existing cultural safety and anti-racism training specifically to focus on harmful historical and present-day child and family services policies that have contributed to anti-Indigenous racism and systemic barriers for clients. This training was delivered to child and family services staff in November 2022 and will be delivered again in November 2023. As a second example, the department is developing cultural safety and anti-racism principles in 2023 with guidance from the Indigenous Advisory Body. These principles will shape how we operate as a system, towards a culture of cultural safety. Child and family services continues to make improvements based on feedback from families, communities and stakeholders, and we are committed to continuing these discussions, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Returns to oral questions. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Oral Question asked by the Member for Great Slave on March 1st, 2023, regarding renewable energy.

Regarding the request for information about how much of the $20 million in funding secured for Taltson Hydro Expansion has been retained with northern businesses and how much has been sole sourced to former Government of the Northwest Territories, or GNWT, employees, I can provide some information in addition to what is already on the public record.

To date, approximately $11.5 million has been spent on pre-feasibility work for the project. This includes activities related to regulatory planning, commercial development, forming Indigenous partnerships, and establishing the technical parameters for transmission and generation components of the project. Of this amount, approximately $6.2 million, or 54.6 percent, of spending has been distributed to northern businesses, residents, and Indigenous governments.

Regarding specific sole source contracts, a total of $167,000, or 1.4 percent, was paid to a single contractor over a four-year term, from June 2019 to November 2022. The consultant was formerly an employee of the Government of the Northwest Territories whose experience was relied upon to build and coordinate working relationships between the parties involved.

The Taltson Hydro Expansion Project is being developed in partnership with the Akaitcho Dene First Nation, or ADFN, and Northwest Territories Metis Nation, or NWTMN. A key area of focus early in this project was the development of a guiding statement of principles and a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to advance the project. The success of a project of this scale hinges on collaboration and relationship building between the various parties at the table. Although it took some time to establish trust between the parties, this is a long-term project. An MOU was formally endorsed by the leadership of the ADFN and NWTMN at our first Taltson Expansion Steering Committee meeting which was June 2021. The consultant continued to support the MOU implementation until November 2022 and no further work is expected going forward.

Regarding the northern businesses, direct contracts have been awarded for services such as fixed-wing and rotary aircraft consulting. Thus far, contract work has been awarded within GNWT procurement guidelines, which includes guidance of the business incentive policy and adjustments for northern and local content on bids.

The reality of this project is that pre-feasibility work requires specialized and technical skills across a broad range of disciplines; accordingly, many technical aspects of this work are awarded to specialized southern contractors. We are seeing significant efforts by proponents to pull together teams that do include northern businesses wherever possible and expect northern spending to grow over time as we progress to a regulatory application and construction decision. This is good indication that the project is creating new opportunities for northern businesses, and the project will continue to prioritize the inclusion of northern businesses in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The cost of living continues to rise across the North. Flying in and out of our communities are expensive. It cannot prevent our youth from accessing sport opportunities in Inuvik or further south.

Can the Minister explain what funding supports are provided to territorial sport organizations and organizations like BDSRA given the impacts of inflation; is there any increases on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we give about $1.561 million to TSOs to provide opportunities for youth and that. For the BDSRA, I believe it was $250,000 we talked about it in the last sitting here. But I'll have to get back to the Member for the confirmation of that number. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, getting our kids out of the communities for sports tournaments and training camps are huge. We need it for our youth.

Can the Minister give us some background on current funding available for teams looking to travel from the communities to larger centres in sporting events; is there any funding available that they could access right through MACA? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do give funding to the BDSRA and then the BDSRA gives that funding to the community. So there is an application-based money allocated from the BDSRA for the communities to do that. Again, it doesn't give all the money that they need, but it's similar to the Mackenzie Rec Association that does the same thing in the southern part of the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is doing to ensure the education authorities have access -- like, I brought up in the House before that we want a big regional tournament in Inuvik with nine Beaufort Delta communities all participating such in sports like, you know, hockey, curling, Arctic sports, Dene games, and they have a swimming pool in Inuvik. Some of those kids never get to see that swimming pool from the communities I represent. Is there any possibility that the Minister and the department can ensure that if we don't give that money to the education, Beaufort Education Council, and keeping it in MACA, I'm wondering if the Minister and this government would step up to the plate and put our youth first and give monies to do something like this sporting event which was done in other years in this legislature? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have the after-school physical activity program that the Member talks about. That there goes to the schools and communities depending on who organizes the after-school programs. What the Member is talking about is regional events, and that was done and organized by the Beaufort Delta sport recreation -- Beaufort Delta Sahtu Recreation Association. Unfortunately, that organization defaulted. It's now talking to some of the leaders in the communities, especially the rec coordinators are trying to reactivate that, and that there does help develop the swim meets, the regional ball tournaments, hockey tournaments. But I can tell you right now that they have been working on one in Fort McPherson. They're actually working on a regional hockey tournament. This happened recently. They were working on that, and they're starting to work on those same types of opportunities, and they're getting money through the BDSRA, and we at MACA have given that money to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I still feel our communities that we represent are penalized because of where we live, in this government. Our youth don't have -- we have after-school sports in the community. No opportunities for those students to go to regional sporting events until they're older. Why can't this government step up to the plate and this Minister just give the funding that we ask for and put it in the budget? I mean, they always say youth are our future. They're so good at that. But nothing, nothing to back it up. They say -- and they put it all on the communities for the community mayors and everybody to stress out, to provide these sporting events for youth, when we should be doing it ourselves out of this place and supporting our youth, all youth across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I totally agree with the Member - youth are our future. That's our commitment, though. If you look at recreation funding, which is $825,000, we give that out there. We also give $450,000 to youth and child resiliency. We also give $400,000 for the regional sporting events. We also give youth contributions of $225,000. We also do $500,000 for youth court. So we do put money into that. We also then have the Mackenzie Recreation Association and the BDSRA, when we put money to them, and they provide to the programs there. I'm more than willing to work with the Member. I'm willing to work with the organizations, whether it's NWTAC - however we can work together to get this. As for the budgeting process, we are going through negotiations. We have a budget that we submit, and we are in the process of negotiating that right now, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Question 1467-19(2): Aurora College Board of Governors
Oral Questions

March 27th, 2023

Page 5879

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the appointment of the new board of governors for Aurora College, can the education Minister explain how this will change executive decision-making at Aurora College and with the transformation into a polytechnic university? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So before the board was put back into place, the functions of the board were carried out by the administrator, at the time Mr. Denny Rodgers, and so that is still the process. The board will make the types of decisions that the administrator was making. So those are decisions related to policies, developing policies of the college respecting the administration, operations, programs, and priorities of the college. But in terms of the day-to-day operations, the management, that is it still an operational aspect that is handled by the administration. Thank you.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, if the new board of governors wanted to make a change of direction with where the college is going and say it was different from the college president and senior management wanted, how would that be resolved? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The president works for the board so the board can set the direction of the college. And I hope they do set the direction of the college. I hope they are engaged enough to set that direction. And based on the conversations I've had, I'm sure they will. Thank you.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, does the board of governors have the ability to veto or overturn a decision by the college president and senior management? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aurora College Act lays out the responsibilities of the board and the responsibilities and authorities of the president. And it's quite clear -- I can't get into specific instances as there may be variables, but their roles are quite well defined. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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