This is page numbers 6257 - 6302 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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Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is with heavy heart that I address this Chamber, not only as an Indigenous MLA representing the people of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, but also as a voice for the countless survivors of the unfathomable suffering experienced by our people in the Indian Day School institutions, the lasting impacts of which continues to reverberate through our communities.

After the transfer of responsibility for the Indian Day School to the Government of the Northwest Territories on April 1st, 1969, the hope was that a new era of education practices would begin, one that would foster a sense of culture, pride, and providing a nurturing environment for our children to thrive. However, what transpired within the walls of these institutions was a betrayal of trust as an insult of our dignity and the systematic insurance of our culture.

For far too long, the horrors inflicted upon our children had been buried beneath the weight of silence and secrecy. Today we must shatter this silence to confront the painful truth. Our children were subjected to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of those entrusted in their care. They were stripped of their language, culture, identity, and forbidden from speaking their own native tongue and forced to adopt a foreign custom that left scars on their souls.

The devastating consequences of this abuse are visible in the intergenerational trauma that plague our communities to this day. We have witnessed the shattered lives, the loss of self-worth, and the struggles to heal from the wounds that never truly fade. The resistance of our people is awe inspiring, but we must acknowledge that healing cannot occur without justice, accountability, and meaningful redress.

I call upon this Assembly to lend unwavering support to the survivors of the federal day school system. We must see that the GNWT acknowledge the abuse that took place on its watch after April 1st, 1969, and take full responsibility for the harm that was caused by the Catholic and Anglican Church who were on contract to the GNWT for 16 years before the Catholic Church and Anglican Church contract expired with the GNWT. There can be no more excuses, no more attempts to evade culpability today. We must hold these institutions and our own government accountable for their actions, or lack thereof, in protecting our children and preserving their culture and heritage.

Furthermore, it is imperative that we advocate for a robust comprehensive support services for survivors and their families here in the NWT today. This includes culturally-appropriate mental health services, counselling, financial assistance to aid in their healing journey. We must ensure the necessary resources are made available to those in need in the community level, allowing survivors to reclaim their lives and regain a sense of agency and self-determination as followed of taking over the responsibilities for the federal day school of April 1st, 1969. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Members statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mahsi. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. In addition, we must prioritize the inclusion of Indigenous history, culture, and language in our educational curriculum. Our children deserve an education that embraces and celebrates their heritage, that foster culture, pride, and that empowers them to succeed while maintaining a strong connection to their roots. By investing in our youth, we invest in a brighter and more equitable future for all Indigenous here in the NWT. As a representative of the people of the legislature, we have a moral obligation to address the painful legacy of the federal Indian Day School system prior to April 1st, 1969, and after April 1st, 1969, when the GNWT took over the education portfolio from the federal Government of Canada. We must work together to dismantle the structure that perpetuated the marginalization of oppression of our people.

Let us join in hands and solidarity to commit a meaningful change and ensure the voice of survivors are at the forefront of every decision we make going forward. The road to healing will be long and arduous, but I have faith in the resilience and strength of our communities. Let us honour the survivors' courage by taking the swift decisive action. Together, we can pave the way to a future where justice, truth, and reconciliations prevail. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I have questions for the Premier at the appropriate time. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to speak about an amazing opportunity for youth in the Deh Cho thanks to NWT Judo Association and the DDEC. As I witnessed in a couple of the schools in the Nahendeh, there is a great deal of excitement growing around this program for the youth. I can say the youth get so excited when they see the instructor in the school.

With the incredible support of the DDEC, the NWT Judo Association has created a judo program for the entire region with full-time coaches currently in Fort Simpson and Fort Liard with a third on the way for the community of Fort Providence. The goal of this program is to provide kids with physical literacy, build their self-confidence and, more importantly, have fun. Judo teaches important life skills like how to fall safely and creates a safe environment to physically interact with your peers.

One of the principles of judo is jita kyoei meaning mutual welfare and benefit, and the students are very quick to help each other when learning a particular skill when it is challenging. Not only have we witnessed excitement from the students but numerous teachers in the schools are excited to watch the children participate in class and in many classes, they have participated in classes themselves. To watch the students help their teacher learn to perform a break fall is amazing as they quickly beam with pride getting to play the role of teacher briefly.

The participation in the program is not only free during school hours but the extracurricular programs are as well and is not limited to school-aged children. Providing children with more than just something to do, but a program with purpose and professional guidance has been a breath of fresh air and creates a lot of happy faces.

In the past year, the NWT Judo Association held regional gatherings in Yellowknife, Fort Simpson and Inuvik from the DDEC taking part in all of these events at no cost to the families of the participants. They also brought two students, one from Yellowknife and one from Fort Liard, to the first ever outside of the territory even. The Edmonton international was the largest judo tournament in Canada in the 2022-2023 season and the NWT athletes performed incredibly well, returning home with a silver medal. The success and enthusiasm that has been created in the southwest region of the territory is something they hope to recreate in other regions. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. The regions with eventual goal of having this program territory wide. They believe strongly that the confidence built in learning judo is transferable, becomes confidence in one area often builds confidence in other aspects of life. As an individual sport, you do not require a team of talented athletes to be successful but the success of one athlete can no doubt inspire the belief in others that can achieve their goals as well, and these goals do not have to be limited to sports.

Mr. Speaker, with the three-time world champion and a two-time Olympic medalist, Yuri Alvear joined the coaching staff this summer, there should be a lot more excitement and headlines in the near future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize former city councillor Julian Morse here in the gallery watching the proceedings today. Welcome.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Recognition visitors in the gallery. Once again, I'd like to recognize Sharlene Blake, Kenton Blake, and Carol Ross who now lives in Yellowknife. It's always good to see people from Little Hollywood they call it, Tsiigehtchic.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement today was in regards to shipping with MTS in regards to servicing Nunakput communities. Last year shipment, again, Mr. Speaker, did not make it to Sachs Harbour and the goods were left in Paulatuk. Many of the goods were flown into the community at no cost to the residents, which I'm really grateful for the department for doing that. But, Mr. Speaker, there's still goods sitting in Paulatuk that was -- so it's an unfinished delivery.

Can the Minister tell the House when all the goods from last year will make it into Sachs Harbour? 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, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; we had a delay in shipping some of the goods to Sachs Harbour. We did that for the reason to prepare our sailing season for this year, so we had a pause, and now we're continuing to deliver some of these supplies back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The sailing schedule for this year for the communities is extended by a week. I'm really worried in regards to are the goods going to be able to make it into the communities this year and will they be brought in earlier, and then trying to service contracts and putting our people first? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to share a few updates with some of the work that's underway to get ready. Engineers have been brought back early to be able to perform routine maintenance, as well as reactivate the vessels in Cambridge Bay and Paulatuk. Engineers and other workers in Tuktoyaktuk are also preparing Nunakput for reactivation. Mr. Speaker, we are set on our targets for sailing season. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year the Minister said to the House that there would be a post-season evaluation. I understand that what went wrong to present the sailing schedule from last year? Considering the evaluation, can the Minister assure this House that MTS will reach all communities in Nunakput earlier than August this year and stick to the schedule? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we've made improvements. We have our "lessons learned" report. The plan is for us, for our tugs to leave August 15th from Tuk and, you know, we hope to get the Inuvialuit settlement region communities by the end of August. That's our plan, Mr. Speaker. However having said that, we are faced with some challenges, challenges including the fire in Hay River for example. You know, that set us back ten days. 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, there is vessels in the Beaufort Delta, in the Beaufort. I just want reassurance that the Minister and department make sure that the goods in regards for the communities. Again, I said earlier in my Member's statement the high cost of living in regards to carbon tax, we have to be able to make sure that everything that could be barged into the community makes it in. And so I want reassurance from this Minister, are they able? Because the ships are in the communities already, are they able to put -- get the goods into the communities quicker? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Marine Transportation Services has been working closely with Transport Canada as well as Canadian Coast Guard. These relationships are key to ensuring that MTS can try and keep as close as possible to the current planning for the 2023 sailing season.

Mr. Speaker, as the Member is aware, I am looking forward to coming into the Inuvialuit settlement communities in the next couple months, to be able to visit the communities. It would also be a good opportunity for me to talk to some of the leadership about any questions or concerns they have about our sailing season. 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, can the Premier tell us if Cabinet's new homelessness strategy titled A Way Home: A Comprehensive Strategy to Address Homelessness in the Northwest Territories, which will be tabled later today, will actually reduce the number of homeless people in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that yes, the hope is that with having a homelessness strategy that we will reduce the number of homeless people in the Northwest Territories. The strategy works best as an integrated approach, both internally but we recognize we also have to work with partners outside of the GNWT. Not only are we looking at trying to alleviate some of those that are potential of being homeless but also to address chronic homelessness so that people that are homeless will not be living on the streets for 10, 20, 30 years as I've seen in my experience. We do know that homelessness will never be eradicated completely but this strategy is to try to lessen, to try to lessen the chances that people will become homeless and lessen the time that people will be homeless. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier explain what outcomes Cabinet is expecting to achieve with the introduction of this Government of the Northwest Territories homelessness strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a number of things that we're trying to achieve within the homelessness strategy. I think the bigger one is to make sure that all departments in the Government of the Northwest Territories are actually working together instead of in silos, which we often see, making sure that people do have the wraparound support, the integrated case management that they need to succeed. Those are major objectives. But the other thing is data collection. And as I've said earlier, I've said many times, is that before I never realized the importance of data collection and so I always thought get the work done, nevermind about the data. But I was wrong, Mr. Speaker. And it's important to get data collection, not only to identify how many people are homeless but, as I've said earlier, is that since I've been in politics I'm seeing women on the street that have succeeded, that I knew that had been in the shelters for 20, 30 years and have become healthier, stopped whatever substances they were using, actually got into the field of helping people.

So we need the data to find out what worked with those people as well. We can't be doing services that we don't measure. So two things: Really integrated service, working together instead of in silos; and, making sure that we know what's working and what's not working and how many people we're dealing with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, I understand the final version of the Government of the Northwest Territories homeless strategy will be tabled later today. So can the Premier explain why the Government of the Northwest Territories homeless strategy has taken this long to complete and finally be tabled? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I remember correctly, it was a commitment made by a housing Minister. I'm not sure if it was this government or the past one, I have a feeling it was the past one, that committed to doing the strategy. When that was said, I mean, because of my background being a social worker and working so long with these people, that I knew that it wasn't going to be just as easy as we've stated. So we soon realized that it wasn't only housing that was needed. It was housing, it was health that was important, it was justice, it was income support, education, culture and employment. The problem was, Mr. Speaker, is that we had two years of COVID and the same departments that needed to work on this strategy were struggling, working desperately to save the lives of people. So once COVID kind of subsided, we got a handle on it, it's not gone evidently, but once we got a handle on it then we've started to focus back on to this and it was brought to my attention, as I thought earlier, that it needed to be an all-of-government approach. So at that time then housing handed it over to myself as Premier for an all-of-government approach.

Mr. Speaker, it could have been done. I could have said that there was a strategy when I first tabled or brought forward the draft. But I realized really quickly that we didn't have the feedback that was needed. We did not ask the people, and I'm a huge advocate of asking the people that experience it. They have the expertise. So we took a step back and we spent time to actually interview people - NGOs, community governments, Indigenous people, the general public, and people with lived experience - so that we could actually have a more comprehensive strategy and the feedback from standing committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier explain when Housing NWT is going to alleviate the number of people who are on the housing waiting list in Fort Smith and how a great solution to end homelessness, like the tiny home project from the Salt River Nation, be dealt with; and lastly, how all other communities around the NWT will be better served by this new strategy titled A Way Home? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.