The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Colleagues, before we begin, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize an important visitor to the gallery today. As you can see, our table officers are wearing something a bit different than their normal barrister's robes.

Ms. Ann Firth-Jones, who is originally from Fort McPherson created these Gwich'in-style parkie covers representative of the Mackenzie Delta. These garments are a reflection of the Legislative Assembly's shared commitment to diversity and reconciliation.

It's important for me, as a Speaker of this House, to work towards changing the status quo and to incorporate our northern cultures and traditions in the work we do as elected officials. Thank you for attending today's proceedings and for creating these beautiful garments for our tables' officers. It is a pleasure to have you here. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Ann Firth-Jones to the House today. Thank you.

Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide an update on the territorial emergency response that is underway to support K'atlodeeche First Nation and the Town of Hay River as some residents of these communities return home following a second year in a row of evacuations caused by natural disasters.

On behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, I offer my sympathies to everyone impacted by this year's wildfire. I am personally familiar with this experience having been forced to evacuate my own home in 2021 due to severe flooding that year. I know what many of you are experiencing now as well as the path you are now on to repair damage and help rebuild your community.

I want to provide assurance that the GNWT is actively supporting community governments in their response to this wildfire while also continuing to monitor for potential flooding in other communities during this high-risk season.

It was a relief to residents of Hay River when they learned that they could return home last week. However, it must be stated that the town remains on evacuation alert and residents must be prepared to evacuate again on short notice. Unfortunately, evacuees from K'atlodeeche First Nation are still under an active evacuation order and cannot return home until it is safe to do so.

The evacuation centre in Yellowknife and all associated supports remain active until the evacuation order is lifted. A Pathfinder also remains in place to provide information and assistance to evacuees.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is aware that other community governments have provided support to evacuees who choose not to go to the evacuation centre. I would like to thank all the community governments for the assistance they have provided and recognize that this help has come at a cost to you. To this end, the department has introduced the Community Government Hosting Evacuation Grant to provide financial support. I wrote to all community governments last week to advise them of this grant, and I encourage applications once community governments have had some time to rest and regroup.

There has been a tremendous amount of work undertaken in the past few weeks. While I do not have the time to mention everything now, I do want to highlight some of the key activities that have taken place. Municipal and Community Affairs and K'atlodeeche First Nation completed an initial assessment of the damages to the community last week. This assessment will inform the next steps in recovery planning and confirm how many homes have been destroyed, what homes have sustained damage, and what homes are fit for residents to return to. Work to provide detailed damage assessments started this week, and the results will provide information on the nature and extent of the repair work needed. Municipal and Community Affairs is also proceeding with an environmental review of the affected area on the reserve to identify where any spills may have occurred.

Discussions have taken place between Municipal and Community Affairs, K'atlodeeche First Nation, and Housing NWT to coordinate long-term accommodations for displaced residents. Housing NWT has already started work to replace their assets destroyed by the fire, including housing units and the Judith Fabien Group Home.

As the Department of Infrastructure makes repairs to the community access road, Municipal and Community Affairs will continue to support the K'atlodeeche First Nation and the Town of Hay River and meet regularly with administration and leadership from both communities.

As Northerners, we know all too well the devastating impact of natural disasters and the threat they pose to our communities and residents. I want to acknowledge and thank everyone on the front lines who have helped during this evacuation period and continue to lend their support. I also want to acknowledge the resilience of all those displaced by this wildfire. We know this is a challenging time and we are working with community governments' leadership to provide much-needed assistance.

Lastly, I want to thank the GNWT departments and external partners and agencies who continue to offer their support. The response to a disaster of this magnitude involves many people from multiple departments and agencies, and we could not do this work to help the NWT residents without you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Mr. Speaker, three years ago I was mandated to initiate a review of our government's Student Financial Assistance Program with the goal of improving access to post-secondary education for all Northwest Territories residents by reducing barriers and ensuring benefit levels are meeting the needs of students. I am happy to say that we have completed our review and are now taking steps towards implementing necessary, significant changes to the program to better meet the needs of students.

The review examined the Student Financial Assistance Program's alignment with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action, the final report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and analyzed feedback received through a client satisfaction survey. Based on the findings of the review, the department is proposing significant enhancements to the program.

Mr. Speaker, to improve affordability and accessibility to post-secondary education, the department is increasing the benefit levels for tuition, books, and monthly living allowances. To better assist students with disabilities, we are increasing the grants for students with disabilities to align with the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program and expanding supports to students with persistent or prolonged disabilities.

Mr. Speaker, this government recognizes that Indigenous students in the NWT may face additional barriers with accessing post-secondary education. To alleviate some of these challenges, the department is proposing to remove the semester limit for eligible Indigenous students to access the SFA program. This will better support Indigenous students with pursuing their post-secondary studies by increasing the flexibility to complete their post-secondary education without concern of maxing out on the number of semesters for which they can receive student financial assistance. This change will also encourage Indigenous students to pursue post-secondary education beyond undergraduate degrees, such as master's.

Mr. Speaker, in an effort to ensure consistency on how living costs are determined, the department is aligning the monthly living allowance with the Canada Market Basket Measure and will continue to calculate rates based on family size. The department is also increasing living allowance rates for all NWT students, removing the semester limit for remissible loans and expanding remissible loans to all NWT residents regardless of any years of schooling completed in the territory. This change will improve accessibility and affordability of post-secondary education, allowing NWT residents to obtain the education to help them succeed and build the NWT workforce.

Mr. Speaker, this government is mindful that students may face unexpected challenges throughout an academic year, which could result in their withdrawal or failure from a course or program. The department recognizes that suspending students from receiving student financial assistance may add additional barriers in their ability to successfully complete their post-secondary education. So, we are proposing to remove financial assistance suspensions for failing or withdrawing courses. This will ensure that students continue to be able to access the SFA for the duration of a student's academic career, regardless of any setbacks they face.

Mr. Speaker, the department has been working diligently to ensure regulations and policies are amended along with developing a performance and measurement plan to evaluate the performance of the program. The regulations are currently posted for public review with feedback due to the department by May 31. I am pleased to advise that we are well on our way to having these proposed changes ready for students who are want to attend post-secondary studies this fall. I would encourage any students considering attending post-secondary schooling to complete an application prior to June 30th. A student does not need to be accepted into a program to apply for SFA.

Mr. Speaker, these changes will ensure that the Student Financial Assistance Program continues to be one of the best, if not the best, student financial aid programs in the country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Mr. Speaker, water is life, and our government is committed to ensuring we always have an abundant supply of clean and safe water.
This year has been challenging to say the least. Earlier this spring, we learned of a large wastewater spill and seepage that had occurred in the Alberta Oil Sands. To our dismay, these spills had not been communicated to the GNWT or Indigenous governments in the territories. The NWT is downstream from the oil sands and water flows here so we need to know when these incidents occur.

Mr. Speaker, these events hurt the trust built between the Government of Alberta and the Government of the Northwest Territories. But most importantly, communities downstream now have less trust that the right steps are being taken to ensure the safety of their communities, including water, fish, and other wildlife they depend on.

Today, I would like to provide an update on the work being done to monitor the Slave River.

We will ensure that waters that are downstream from the oil sands are safe and will continue to share what our government does on an ongoing basis to monitor water across our territory.

Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate that out government acted quickly when we were informed of these incidents. We worked with the Town of Fort Smith, the Fort Smith Metis Council, and the Smith Landing First Nation to develop an enhanced monitoring program for the Slave River at the border with Alberta. This increased monitoring was conducted to ensure that there was nothing from the Kearl mine incident that could cause harm to people, wildlife, or environment. We continue to work with our partners to review and assess results of this enhanced monitoring. To date, nothing troubling has been found in our water.

Mr. Speaker, our government always continues to monitor water quality beyond the Slave River. We have over 50 water quality monitoring sites across the NWT, collecting samples and interpreting results, to better understand the quality of our waters. Through the Community-Based Monitoring Program, we work with partners from 21 communities to train local water monitors who then share what they have learnt with us to enhance our understanding of water quality across the territory. These monitoring efforts span every water basin in the NWT. They help us spot potential problems, understand them, and act when necessary to address them.

Mr. Speaker, our government is also working to ensure that Northerners have a voice at the table related to oil sands. After extensive lobbying, we have secured Indigenous representation from the NWT on the oil sands oversight committee struck by the federal and provincial governments. Going forward, we will continue to ensure our voices are heard in discussions about releasing treated oil sands tailings.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to highlight what our government is doing to monitor and evaluate water levels and climate conditions prior to and, during spring breakup to help inform the level of risk for flooding. The Department of Environment and Climate Change is a partner in the NWT Hydrometric Network, a group that measures water level and water flow. This network consists of 106 monitoring stations across the NWT, and all of its data is publicly available.

Data from this network was used by to issue a special NWT water monitoring bulletin on May 5. This bulletin notified the communities and the public of potential for high water levels and flow rates on the Peel and Arctic Red Rivers during breakup. The Department of Environment and Climate Change commends the community of Fort McPherson, and other communities at-risk of flooding, for their work preparing for the spring breakup.

Our government will continue to work with emergency management officials at all levels to ensure they have the latest data on water levels and encourage the sharing of community information and photos related to current water level and ice conditions. The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to keeping our territorial waters clean and safe now and forever. The actions we do every day will reflect that commitment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, enhancing road safety is a priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories. We all want our highways to be as safe as possible for everyone who uses them.
To support this effort, I would like to announce that as of June 1, 2023, the hours of service regulation will be amended to make electronic logging devices mandatory for commercial vehicles weighing 4,500 kilograms or more.

This is a made-in-the-North solution that balances driver safety, the needs of our local industry, and compliance with federal requirements.
An electronic logging device, or ELD, is a device that tracks a driver's hours of service instead of using a paper logbook. Hours of service are the maximum amount of time commercial drivers can be on duty, including driver time.

Government of Canada has mandated the use of ELDs, and all jurisdictions will implement and enforce this mandate in 2023. Commercial and regulated vehicle operators that require a logbook, as well as National Safety Code vehicles that cross provincial-territorial lines, are required to use ELDs.

Mr. Speaker, some may ask why ELDs have been made mandatory. This is about making our roads and highways safer. Because ELDs are a more effective and accurate way for drivers to log working hours. They can help reduce driver fatigue and with fewer tired drivers on our roads, we will prevent accidents and save lives.

ELDs automate the tracking, making it easier for drivers and commercial carriers to comply with the hours of service regulations under the NWT Motor Vehicles Act. It also allows territorial drivers to operate in other jurisdictions and earn a living while outside the territory.

Mr. Speaker, when making a major change to how an industry operates, it is important to engage with that industry. The GNWT held three stakeholder information sessions with the trucking industry to discuss the impacts of ELDs and address any concerns they may have. These sessions took place in August and November 2022, with a final session held in March 2023. The draft regulations were also posted for public comment from March 13 to April 13 on the GNWT's "have your say" public engagement portal.

The stakeholder sessions showed that there is support for the use of ELDs in the Northwest Territories and started a discussion around the unique elements of the territory's commercial trucking industry. As a result, the ELD regulations include exemptions specific to drivers in the NWT. If a driver operates within 160-kilometers of their home terminal and return each day to that home terminal, they are not required to complete a logbook entry and therefore do not require an ELD. Instead, carriers or owners must keep track of driver hours while working within the 160-kilometre radius. If a driver leaves the 160-kilometre radius at any time, they will require an ELD. Additionally, commercial vehicles registered in the NWT that weigh under 11,795 kilograms and operate strictly within the territory are also ELD exempt. Drivers must still produce a logbook entry on request.

Any exemption that is given through the federal Act is also included in the territorial regulations. Other vehicles that do not require ELDs include school buses however they will be required to use paper logs when the vehicle exits its 160-kilometre zone. Emergency vehicles such as police, ambulances, fire trucks and utility service vehicles for power and telecommunication companies.

Mr. Speaker, this made-in-the-North approach to implementing the mandatory use of ELDs has allowed the trucking industry to provide its valuable input and make this transition easier for those directly impacted by this change. Road safety is an issue that affects all Northerners. By implementing the Government of Canada's requirement for the electronic logging device in commercial vehicles, the GNWT is contributing to enhanced road safety in the NWT and across Canada. Quyananni, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. Member for Hay River South.

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we now have a picture of the devastation the fire caused to structures and homes on K'atlodeeche First Nation lands. This event follows in the footsteps of major flooding last year from which residents of K'atlodeeche and Hay River are still feeling the financial impact and are once again having to dip into what savings they may have to cover evacuation costs.

The current financial support of $750 per person offered up by this government, although welcomed, does not go far enough for those already dealing with the high cost of living. It excludes many and leaves many without. Residents are looking to the compensation package Alberta provided to evacuees, and our residents were expecting the same.

Mr. Speaker, throughout this event the questions on the minds of evacuees were:

• Are family and homes safe?
• When can we return home? And,
• Beyond what has already been provided, what financial support is available?

The first two questions have been answered, and now the focus is on the financial support promised. Some residents have been notified to access personal insurance coverage to help offset costs. While income assistance clients were provided support, there are many outside that group who have limited support or no support at all.

Mr. Speaker, I have been receiving numerous calls from residents who are looking for the financial support payments promised. This government must inform those as to how and when financial payments will be made. It is a week since Hay River residents returned home and while K'atlodeeche residents are still waiting to return, both are saying although applications have been submitted, payments have not been received. Residents need financial support as soon as possible just to put food on the table, make rent or mortgage payments, and meet day-to-day expenses.

Mr. Speaker, we also have the communities of Yellowknife, Enterprise, Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, and others, who all welcomed evacuees with open arms and supplied services prior to any financial commitment from this government. Why did they do this? Because they knew it was the right thing to do.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased this government made a financial commitment to those communities who have supported evacuees. I will expect compensation for each of those communities to be equitable and timely. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, our failure to act quickly with adequate financial support will make people think twice about leaving their community next time an evacuation order is made which may result in loss of human life. Thank you.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak again about the need for more aftercare and detox services within the NWT. This is an issue that I've spoken about several times throughout the 19th Assembly because this is an issue that touches everyone in the NWT in some way.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot speak to the subject without also bringing into the conversation the old Trailcross Treatment Centre for youth that recently closed in Fort Smith last October. As I've said previously that building is well-suited to be converted and repurposed to be used as some other wellness-based facility. We all agree that there needs to be more aftercare and detox services made available in the NWT, right? So given the strong necessity for that, why not consider the availability of that building as an opportunity to fulfill some work on the aftercare front as well?

Mr. Speaker, I believe it is in the best interest of all the people of the NWT for that facility to continue to be used as some sort of health-based or aftercare and detox facility. Overall, it's a great location and there's nothing physically wrong with that building that's preventing it from being used further.

I know that back in March the Minister of health said her department has done a preliminary assessment of Trailcross which, she said, had determined it did have some viable some life in it. I have yet to hear more details from the Minister about that.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I know that the Minister and I can agree on the fact that more needs to be done in providing additional supports to vulnerable residents in the NWT. And I know that there are many options that can be done with the old Trailcross Treatment Centre to ensure its continued use by the Government of the Northwest Territories within the community of Fort Smith. I know there's a great potential to convert that building into a territorial aftercare facility. I still believe that is a good idea for all of us to consider because, once again, given the way that building was structured, it makes an ideal location to house both men and women clients separately under one roof. I will have questions for the Minister of health later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.