This is page numbers 5763 - 5826 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

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of programs, and just in coming up to the last question before this, what are we doing this to solve and what are some of the challenges. To the extent that training and opportunity is a challenge, there is a number of programs now, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Program, there's the Gateway Program, the internship program, student programs, secondment programs. All of those are opportunities to increase our presence within smaller communities and to increase awareness of the opportunities to work with the GNWT.

Another thing that I'd mention though, Mr. Speaker, we do have -- this was again part of the remote work policy that was introduced. It would provide some opportunity to have people working not only in a headquarters or regional place but to be doing that work remotely. We saw in COVID that it's possible. It takes a bit of getting used to as a manager. It may be, we realize that. We want to work with our superiors and managers so that they can better supervise people to give them those opportunities for remote work, where appropriate, where operationally allowed.

So a number of things, again, happening all within the space of a last couple of years and I am hoping that they will start to grow fruit. 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, one bright spot, if we can see it as that, is that Indigenous representation in senior management has reached its highest level since 2013 and currently stands at a whopping 19.7 percent. Can the Minister tell me what may have contributed to this little increase and can we expect to see exponential increases going forward? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate calling it a bright spot. I think that's the fourth question so maybe I am getting a bit of an easy going there. I recognize that 19.7 is not really a bright spot, at least it's on the right direction though. Mr. Speaker, I can say that one thing that was launched 2018, and finally actually got significant up gait in 2019 and 2020, is the Indigenous Development Training Program, previously known as Indigenous Management Development Program. It's an important change in terminology to go from saying management to development because it doesn't mean only for managers and it doesn't mean only to become a manager. It means it's an opportunity for someone who wants to increase their career skills to move up in seniority, in whatever path that might be, that they can do so. And it is certainly our hope that that program will continue to the extent that we expect that it has been part of the reason for this, that people will continue to apply for it and not see it -- and see that it applies to them, that it applies to any public servant who wants to increase their skills. 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 first set of questions is for ENR. I'm going to start with the foxes, Mr. Speaker. That's where the rabies are most present, and then they get into dogs, and then they get into humans. So can the Minister of ENR just tell us whether the department is presently concerned with their rabies outbreak in the current fox -- Arctic Fox population. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the questions. Rabies, as the Member said, is a natural occurrence occurring, and it's always present in Arctic Foxes in northern Canada, particularly above the treeline. The disease goes through cycles, and more cases seen in some years. We have more cases in the Beau-Del this year and a case in the Sahtu. ENR regularly monitors rabies in wildlife across the NWT and will continue to track numbers of cases where they occur if rabies occur. Cases are confirmed near communities or in domestic animals; ENR provides information and support to the Department of Health and Social Services to avoid people being exposed to the disease. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that, and I -- some of the people who are most at risk are our hunters and trappers, especially those who are trapping foxes above the treeline. But many of them have dealt with this; they notice the signs, and they know when not to deal with a rabid animal. I'm wondering, some experts have suggested that a bait program be put in place, specifically around communities to kind of act as a buffer zone so that rabies does not pass to other populations. Is this something ENR is considering? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the vast geographical scope of rabies in the NWT, vaccination of wildlife is not currently a practice or an efficient option right now. 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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of finance. It doesn't look it like it outside, but summer is coming. The sun is shining, and our university students will be home soon from university, and probably some will start to book their tickets and get on planes in just probably a few short five to six weeks. So I'm wondering if the Minister of finance can indicate how many summer students the GNWT plans to hire this summer. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Finance.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not a formal target in place. I will say that for the last three years summer student numbers have continued to go up. We hit 327 in 2022. So if there are some competitive supervisors or managers out there, they may want to try and beat that for the coming here. That would certainly be great. There is -- and I would just note, Mr. Speaker, it is early days right now, but they -- departments shouldn't hesitate in getting their papers going now and reaching out to the Department of Finance if they want to hire a student. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm whether or not there is a deadline that departments need to put forward applications for summer students by, and can departments continue to hire summer students into the summer months? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not a deadline. Certainly if departments get their materials in by January, which I think is sometimes the idea of a deadline, what that does is it allows human resources to work with the department so that the student is ready to roll, that they would have all their paperworks ready. And in that sense -- or rather by February if they can do that. If they can't, though, Mr. Speaker, then the students might just be hired later, and, indeed, there may be students who would prefer to be hired a little bit later. So while, again, the targets are to have everything ready in February, it gives students a bit of leeway, there's not a deadline as to departments and hiring managers should not hesitate. Please check in with their client services officer because we'd much rather have the students the start late than not at all. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand that my next question might be a little bit out of scope for the Minister, but I'm wondering if the Minister will then work with the Minister of ECE, because Education, Culture and Employment has a fund, a subsidy fund, that employers can take advantage of to hire their own summer students outside of the GNWT. And I heard from Kam Lake employers that the deadline associated with this subsidy is actually prohibitive for them to be able to hire summer students. I believe the deadline for that program is January. And so what happens is employers when they're looking for summer students come -- you know, when the snow starts to actually melt, they've already missed the deadline. So I'm wondering if the Minister will work with the Minister of ECE to extend that deadline? Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, we have a sense of some of the themes of what's coming at us, and I was just about to send a quick note over to the Member, but I've been kept busy today. So, Mr. Speaker, ECE, it's my understanding doesn't hold the summer subsidy program. These are actually quite a number of federal programs that exist, and there is a January 12th deadline, for example, for the employment and social development Canada summer jobs program, which might be the program that we're talking about. If so and -- regardless, if those are federal programs, what we could do, Mr. Speaker -- I'm sure that the Minister of ECE and I can work together on this. We both share responsibility for labour, with my ITI hat -- is get a list of the programs that are available, get a list of their deadlines, and at least -- at the very least get that out and put it out for employers to be very well aware of. To the extent that we can then perhaps go back to our friends over in the federal government and ask them for some flexibility, we could certainly see if there -- what options there may be in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, one of the things I absolutely adore in the summer is seeing kids that I once knew as tiny little children in our community come back as university students and work in -- in even this building here. And it's great to get to see them gain valuable experience for what they're studying at school and what they might want to do when they come home. Unfortunately, this is an honour that is often reserved for either people living in regional centres or Yellowknife itself and that my colleagues from small communities don't have the same -- the same pleasure of seeing students from around the community come home and work for the GNWT. The GNWT does have a program called building capacity in Indigenous governments, and I'm wondering if there is a portion of that funding that is available to summer students so that summer -- or sorry -- the GNWT can work alongside Indigenous governments to provide summer employment in NWT's small communities for our post-secondary students. Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Building Capacity in Indigenous Governments Program really has been quite a success. I'm happy to say it is oversubscribed. And that's good news because in this case, two departments actually are able to support two additional secondments. So it's oversubscribed, but it's being funded. So it's being fully utilized. It's an opportunity -- obviously I won't repeat the Member's visions of it. But we can't agree more; it gives an opportunity to expose public servants and an opportunity to build capacity with Indigenous governments within their public service. As for extending it further and creating essentially a new stream by which to accept funds, right now it is intended for existing public servants, for existing employees, not for interns. But I certainly can go back to the department and see if there's some opportunity for us to find new ways to recruit students back to the North to small communities and into the public service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Question 1455-19(2): Rabies and Vaccination of Dogs
Oral Questions

March 8th, 2023

Page 5771

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

I've got some more rabies questions, Mr. Speaker. So once we move on to wildlife, we get to pets. And dogs is actually the number one way that humans can contract rabies. In many jurisdictions, it's actually required that all dog owners have up-to-date vaccinations for their dogs for the rabies. That is not currently the case in the Northwest Territories. So my question for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs is whether he will consider mandating that every pet owner, every dog owner make sure that their dog has the rabies vaccine. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the question. Getting your dogs vaccinated for rabies is an important way to reduce the risk for you and your community. Responsibility to immunize your dog with a rabies shot or provide any other vaccination is the responsibility of a dog owner. To date, MACA has not heard from community government leadership that is an issue. If this is a concern for community governments, Municipal and Community Affairs would work with NWTAC and LGANT to understand the community's desire to make rabies immunizations mandatory. Depending what we heard, MACA will work to support the request through the appropriate piece of legislation, which may not be administered by Municipal and Community Affairs. For an example, Ontario is the only jurisdiction that makes it mandatory for dogs and cats, among other animals, to be immunized against rabies, and this is done through a regulation of their Health Protection and Promotion Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.