This is page numbers of the Hansard for the 20th Assembly, 1st 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 public.

Topics

Question 662-20(1): Relationship between Alberta and the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Question 662-20(1): Relationship between Alberta and the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Range Lake

Well, Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I caught myself there. So I'm looking more for a political commitment from the leader of our government to support the voices of First Nations in Alberta in their struggle to keep this country together and oppose a very dangerous precedent that is being floated by the Government of Alberta. Thank you.

Question 662-20(1): Relationship between Alberta and the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure exactly what the Member is speaking of in technical terms. He's looking for my support for events in another jurisdiction. So I'm quite -- I'm unclear on the parameters that he's talking about, what would I be committing to support. I'm focus on the Northwest Territories. I'm the Premier of the Northwest Territories. We have strong relationships with Indigenous governments. We are moving to a future where the territory will be covered by settled land claims and self-governing Indigenous nations, and we are continuously working towards that end. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 662-20(1): Relationship between Alberta and the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

May 21st, 2025

Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, prior to 1993, the Government of Canada provided funding to CMHC on an annual basis so that they could provide funding to the GNWT through the NWT Housing Corporation where they built at least 600 homes per year up to 1993 from approximately 1988 or so.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, with Prime Minister Carney coming into power now, he's asking to build 5 -- sorry, he made a commitment to build 500,000 homes per year. My question will be to the Premier.

Will the Premier seek a commitment from the Prime Minister to ensure federal housing funds flow directly to regional Indigenous governments here in the Northwest Territories, and will he ensure that Indigenous leadership and is meaningful included in the federal/territorial housing discussions so that decisions impacting housing in Indigenous communities are reflected in their priorities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Premier.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For many years, it's been the policy of this government to support direct payments for housing, the funding, to Indigenous governments from the federal government, so we will continue to do that. I'm happy to support Indigenous governments in their advocacy to the federal government. I never want to stand in the way of funds flowing directly to Indigenous governments. So I want to make that very clear. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And some of the programs that was provided back in the early days was programs like the homeownership assistance program, the home improvement -- the homeownership improvement program, the senior citizens home repair program, emergency repair program, and they also provided public housing. And so, Mr. Speaker, and it would be -- will the Premier advocate for restoring and reinstating these programs in partnership with the federal Government of Canada and ensure the use of that -- these funds for the delivery is directed to regional Indigenous governments? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, we have a number of those programs. I'm not -- I won't say I'm an expert on past programs from previous decades, so I don't want to speak too much into that. But we are advocating to the federal government when it comes to housing. We're happy to see money go to Indigenous governments.

I'll also mention that the GNWT provides a lot of social housing in the territory, and we also meet our own funds. So we are doing that as well to advocate for a renewed agreement with the federal government where we'll see increased funding to support social housing at the same time that we are supporting Indigenous governments to access funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

Richard Edjericon

Richard Edjericon Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you know, some of the policies that are in place in government now sometimes don't really meet some of the community needs. So, Mr. Speaker, with CMHC funding set to expire with Housing NWT by 2038, there's an urgent need to build capacity with Indigenous governments immediately so they can deliver and manage their own housing.

Will the Premier work to ensure that the annual federal public housing funding, along with the operational maintenance support from CMHC, is directed to regional Indigenous governments so they can begin building and maintaining their own public housing units? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is why it's so important to settle land claims and implement self-government agreements, so that Indigenous governments can begin providing, you know, appropriate social housing, if that's what they wish to do. In the meantime, the Government of the Northwest Territories provides social housing, and so we need to ensure that we have an agreement with the federal government that is supporting our ability to provide that social housing. And like I said before, at the same time, we'll support Indigenous governments in their aspirations around housing as well, and we'll do that by going to Ottawa together and advocating together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 663-20(1): Housing Programs in the Northwest Territories
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Question 664-20(1): Access to Transgender Healthcare
Oral Questions

Kate Reid

Kate Reid Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over one year ago, just a few months after Alberta's government announced proposed changes to gender affirming care, Northern Mosaic Network reached out to Minister Semmler to get answers to questions. The community members shared with that organization about how to access -- how their access to gender affirming care would be impacted.

So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain what actions she has taken to -- since then, to address the concerns of our 2SLGBTQIAA+ community members on access to safe health care out-of-territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 664-20(1): Access to Transgender Healthcare
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Question 664-20(1): Access to Transgender Healthcare
Oral Questions

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to assure NWT residents that health care services for transgender individuals, including children and youth, will continue to be available within our health system. If the Northwest Territories clinical experts in transgender care cannot meet the needs of the residents, a referral can be made to an out-of-territory practitioner. What I have taken -- steps I've taken is to ensure that concrete steps to a safeguard access for NWT residents are put in place. I have directed my department to secure alternate out-of-territory care pathways for these individuals, meaning when a service is not available to the Northwest Territories -- to a Northwest Territories resident in the Northwest Territories or Alberta, physicians will refer patients to a jurisdiction where they may continue to receive the care they need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 664-20(1): Access to Transgender Healthcare
Oral Questions

Kate Reid

Kate Reid Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, considering that the Alberta Premier's visit to Yellowknife for the western Premiers' conference, the Northern Mosaic Network has reached out to both the Premier and the Minister to collaborate on an action plan to address the state of trans health care for NWT residents. And I'm so glad to hear that she has directed her department to secure alternative pathways. However, will the Minister also commit to meaningful collaboration with Northern Mosaic Network on trans health care for NWT residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 664-20(1): Access to Transgender Healthcare
Oral Questions

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, yes, but I'd like to explain a little bit more. So we are already -- we have an established working relationship with the Northern Mosaic Network. They helped draft the Northwest Territories guidelines in 2020 and in April 2024, representatives from ECE met with Northern Mosaic Network to discuss and review an update of those guidelines which will incorporate new research that they're conducting with the University of Manitoba. And we look forward to seeing the recommendations that come from this work, and I am fully committed to continuing our collaboration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 664-20(1): Access to Transgender Healthcare
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.

Question 665-20(1): Administration of the Hamlet of Enterprise
Oral Questions

Sheryl Yakeleya

Sheryl Yakeleya Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has noted the importance of stabilizing operations in Enterprise. Can the Minister of MACA explain what goals or targets community services would have to meet in order for the department to be satisfied that the governance and financial issues facing the hamlet have been resolved? Thank you.

Question 665-20(1): Administration of the Hamlet of Enterprise
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Member from Deh Cho. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Question 665-20(1): Administration of the Hamlet of Enterprise
Oral Questions

Vince McKay

Vince McKay Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off, I would like to say that, you know, it's a last resort to put a government under public administration with the GNWT, and we've worked with the community many times throughout the last few years, including before our Assembly started, in order to maintain the government structure of Enterprise. So this isn't a new issue. This is a longstanding issue within the community.

So right now we're working with the public administrator who's in place right now to determine an action plan on what our processes are and how we're going to move through that. So one of the main issues is getting ahold of the accounting processes. There has been no documented accounting procedures done in quite a while, and we don't have any financial statements after 2023-2024 season -- or year, sorry. So the goal right now is to determine what our path forward is and how to get to where the community's back on track again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 665-20(1): Administration of the Hamlet of Enterprise
Oral Questions

Sheryl Yakeleya

Sheryl Yakeleya Deh Cho

Thank you. Can the Minister discuss what steps the new administrator is currently taking to enter into municipal service agreements with Hay River and other NWT communities to deliver or operate services, public utilities, or facilities in Enterprise? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 665-20(1): Administration of the Hamlet of Enterprise
Oral Questions

Vince McKay

Vince McKay Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, we are a little bit too early to determine that. We just had our administrator put in place, so it's currently -- the actions that he's doing right now is going through the operations of the community, finding out what resources are needed to operate. Currently, right now, they are operating as they were, so they've already had agreements in place or some agreements in place. So those are currently being worked on, and then obviously if there's any more that's needed, he will work those out in order to satisfy the community needs. So, again, it's just he's in the state of processing what exactly is needed and have a plan coming out with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 665-20(1): Administration of the Hamlet of Enterprise
Oral Questions

The Speaker

The Speaker Shane Thompson

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Deh Cho.