Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask some questions to the Premier, who is also the Minister for the Executive, and I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement. I think these questions probably fall under his duties as Minister for the Executive. I mentioned in my statement that there was a program manual that was published, I think it was last year, a program manual for managers who deal with NGOs. I’d like to know what work has been undertaken by the GNWT as a result of that program manual for managers to deal with contracts more efficiently than what seems to be happening. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope it’s not news to the Members of this House that our NWT non-governmental organizations are invaluable to us. Since starting my job here three years ago, Mr. Speaker, I’ve advocated for the better treatment of NGOs, organizations who very capably provide services to our residents on behalf of this government.

Today I want to highlight a recent but alarming change in the practice of our government in regard to the relationship to NGOs.

Since the start of this fiscal year there’s been a move by the GNWT away from multi-year contracts with NGOs to one-year contracts...

Thank you for the information from the DM. Mr. Chair, I move we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a question with regards to facilities for women prisoners. Social Programs committee has been discussing with the Minister and the department for some time now the need to renovate, rebuild, build a new facility for women prisoners in Fort Smith. I would like to know from the Minister if he can give me an evaluation of the state of the women’s correctional facility in Fort Smith at this time. Thank you.

I’m disappointed in that answer. I’m not asking for a review of the total aspect of the New Deal, but simply a review of the infrastructure contribution, the capital part of contribution that this government gives to communities. I think that certainly could be done between now and the end of March.

We do supplementary increases for all manner of things, and communities and their capital structures are a huge part of the Territory and our residents, and they’re the basis on which most of us survive and live. So I would really encourage the Minister to rethink and just evaluate the...

Thank you to the Minister. My apologies. I was listening but I obviously didn’t listen very well. I didn’t hear that question earlier.

Five years seems like an awful long time, though. With communities taking over government buildings which used to be handled and maintained by GNWT and they’re now taking them over, and it’s happening more and more as communities get more used to having the autonomy and the responsibly and the control over their own assets, it’s something which I think the department ought to consider, whether or not five years to review is too long a time. I would think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the commitment from the Premier to get that information. I will look forward to that.

I did ask the Premier’s office whether or not there were criteria for the NGO Stabilization Fund and the answer that I got back didn’t indicate that there were any. So I would hope if there are some that the Minister will be able to get those for me.

I have stressed the need for long-term stable funding for NGOs. The Minister references a forum that is upcoming in November and that’s good to hear. Will part of the forum discussions, deliberations, will it look at and take...

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that it is going to be discussed with YK1, but I really don’t understand how solving the issue of a lockdown can be accomplished when you have no doors on classrooms. It really, to me, is not a safety issue that can be accommodated. If it is a bomb issue, you could move the kids out of the school, but if it is an issue of a gunman in the school, you can’t move them out. It is a safety issue.

I guess I just want to stress to the Minister and to the department that Sissons should be higher on the priority list than it seems to be. I would certainly hope to see it in...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll try not to do such a long preamble since I kind of did it once already. I’m referencing a couple of schools in Yellowknife, particularly Mildred Hall School and J.H. Sissons School. Mildred Hall has fairly recently had a renovation but it wasn’t all completed. Sissons is long overdue. Well, I shouldn’t say overdue, but certainly due for a renovation, and I believe it was a priority on the department’s list for renovations as much as six or eight months ago. I’m dismayed to see that neither of these two schools have any... There are no plans in the capital budget...

I appreciate that it will be into the next year’s capital plan, but that’s fiscal year 2012-13 and if the Aurora College lease expires in 2012, that is going to be a pretty tight squeeze to get any kind of a facility ready for Aurora College in the year 2012 when that’s the capital budget year. But I will leave it at that in terms of the timing.

I am particularly concerned with two schools in Yellowknife: Mildred Hall School and J.H. Sissons School. Mildred Hall has recently had a renovation, but there was a portion of that renovation which did not get done due to a lack of funds, from what I...