Debates of May 29, 2025 (day 62)

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? Motion carried.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ever so briefly, I want to recognize and acknowledge all the incredible interpreters we have here. I would certainly say to some degree they are all my favourites; however, Mr. Speaker, I have one favorite who is just a little more favorite, and that happens to be Ms. Sarah Cleary. She's here, and she interprets Dene Kede, and I'm certainly grateful to call her a friend as well a constituent, and I appreciate the hard work she does here every day we sit. Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy today to recognize Inuvik Boot Lake constituency assistant, Ms. Sheila Nasogaluak here today. Her advocacy and certainly her passion and hard work for our constituents is invaluable for the work that we do up there, and I would not be able to do my job without her. Thank you.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, [Translation] Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  I want to thank all those that are here.  Also the -- especially the interpreters for Tlicho interpreter, Jonas Lafferty and Maro Sundberg and also all the outlining community interpreters, I thank them.  They are the language keepers, so I am so thankful to them.  And also we have all our staff.  It is because of them that we do our jobs very well.  I'd like to thank them.  And also all the leaders here, we will be travelling home.  I wish everyone a safe travel home.  And we will be thankful for that.  Now it's the summer is upon us, and we won't be able to come back until fall time. So I thank you. [Translation Ends] masi. That's it. I'm done.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to take the time to recognize two of our pages that have been with us and working hard all week that are Yellowknife North constituents. We have Solomon Young and Ace Wickens, who are both from William MacDonald School. So thank you and thanks to all the pages for all of your help and patience with us this week. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to also thank the pages for the tremendous work they've done this week, and I'd like to recognize the pages from PWK High School in Fort Smith, Elli MacDonald-Jaque, Kyla MacDonald-Schwartzenberger, Paisley Jones, and their chaperon Jana Jaque.

I'd also like to recognize Agatha, or Aggie as she's known. My MSA will be leaving this week, it's her last week, on to a new adventure, and I just wanted to thank her for all the tremendous work that she's done for me and everyone in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Thebacha. Colleagues, it's recognition of visitors in the gallery. Please focus on that, thank you.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a visitor in the gallery who is right behind me; it's Christian Bittrolff. He's the president of the International Association of Firefighters, Local 2890. Thank you for being here today, Christian.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chambers. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to see people in the gallery and allowing us to be representatives for you here representing the people.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, today I would like to acknowledge the staff and students of Ecole Allain St-Cyr on 35th Anniversary of this important Frame Lake institution.

The NWT's French- first language school got its humble beginning in 1989 with a single class in a portable classroom at Ecole J.H. Sissons on the initiative of passionate francophone parents. 35 years later, the school has grown considerably. It has its own building on Taylor Road now and is home to more than 200 French-first language students, from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. A ceremony celebrating the milestone was held last week at the school where a time capsule was opened.

I want to extend my congratulations to Yellowknife's francophone community. [translation not provided] Ecole Allain St-Cyr. Merci, you Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in an unusual circumstance here, I gave the Minister a head's up on this particular one, so the Minister of housing won't be surprised on my question because it's so important we can't miss this opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, the question is about helping Northern United Place on their renewal project. They have obtained loans and processes all on their own, and all they require is housing to support them as a backstop to help underwrite the loans, the million dollars of loans they are potentially receiving. So, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister direct her department before the May 30th deadline lapses, and they miss this energy efficiency renewal project. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Yes, this is a great project, excited to hear all the good work that the NWT Community Services Corporation has done, and the exciting work around the rehabilitation of Northern United Place with the renovation project. Housing NWT at this time is still working on a response, Mr. Speaker, and I'm hoping to have something today or tomorrow with the response to the NWT Community Services Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At first, it may appear like a layout of cash but it's not. It's just a guarantee, and the GNWT will get its money back because this is a 50-year organization that is cruising to work.

Mr. Speaker, what communication has the Minister, through her department obviously, had with the Yellowknife Community Association in the context of NUP about what they're doing and how they're trying to meet their deadline of tomorrow May 30th? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, Housing NWT, we cannot guarantee anything. This is a financial management board decision because we can't continue to take on debt. It reduces the borrowing capacity of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Internal discussions right now with the Community Services Corporation and Housing NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to freshen up the memory of this particular House, it was housing was supported through a move forward on $41.6 million, Mr. Speaker. Ooh, that's a lot of money. Mr. Speaker, I'm asking is there any way to tap into that financial opportunity temporarily to support this multimillion dollar initiative they got all on their own and they're going to pay for it all on their own. And, Mr. Speaker, lastly, they've done this for 50 years without interruption, and they've served this community well. Can the Minister find a way to make this happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, thank you to the Member for the emphasis on how important this project is, especially for downtown Yellowknife, affordable housing, Aurora College students. This is really important that we provide a place, and the renovation project sounds like a great renovation project and some good work by the NWT Community Services Corporation.

We're looking at the community housing initiative funding and seeing if there's any opportunity to provide some funds through the community housing initiative fund to the NWT Community Services Corporation. So, again, these are internal discussions, and I'm pressing Housing NWT for a response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had a young constituent of mine reach out to talk to me about AI technologies and how they're changing the world, increasingly becoming the norm in industries from, you know, coffee shops to the highest levels of military. So my question is for the Minister responsible for the public Service. What policies are currently in place to govern the use of AI technology in the GNWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the use of artificial intelligence obviously is a new area. It certainly is one that we are looking to provide better guidance to our staff on. So what we've done thus far, we looked to what the Government of Canada's doing, we've also looked at what the Government of British Columbia doing, and that is likely to be where we'll find the most alignment that can help us move this forward a little faster. And with that, we will be able to produce our own guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence, which I expect that and then training associated to be ready for staff in the very near future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would appreciate knowing a clear timeline on that. Are we looking at the end of term or next year or something like that because this technology's moving fast every day, and faster still, it's learning a lot. So when can we expect to see those new policies come in place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that this work is well underway. I don't have the timeline in front of me, but it certainly will be this government and I would say, really, not the end of the government but fairly soon. So I'll certainly happily commit to get that timeline back to the Member. It is an area where we want to ensure that people are able to use this. It can be an opportunity for efficiency, creativity. But it needs to be used responsibly, and it needs to have human oversight to make sure that we remain, you know, obviously, transparent in what we're doing. So happy to provide that date as soon as I can. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you would use AI to write your own policies but let's not do that.

Mr. Speaker, there's also AI technology you could use to better manage our energy systems, our emergency management systems, and a host of other things to improve that. Is this policy also going to cover the use of those technologies that could be procured for other public policy purposes? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I mean, looking at using AI technology in areas of infrastructure and actually replacing type of different infrastructure systems is beyond what I'm speaking to here. What I'm looking at here is how the public service is using AI really more in day-to-day functions. So, again, don't want to be overpromising in terms of what it is, but it's really meant to be guidance for the public service in how we use it in a public service context and not necessarily when it comes to, for example, battery systems. Certainly open to having an opportunity to look at those as well, if it would answer questions here in the House, but this is really focused on the public service who are delivering functions to public, you know, policy generation for example, not necessarily replacing infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier's sessional statement highlighted facilities-addictions treatment and dedicated aftercare. So my questions today are for the Minister for Health and Social Services.

The Minister knows that I have had constituents who have required to go to facilities down south, and it's a very convoluted and complicated process and public-facing information is limited. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me what she is doing to improve pathfinding for addictions treatment in other territories for the people of the NWT? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question and, you know, this is -- I received BFs on this. And so one of the things that I've asked my department to do is to look at the front-facing and, you know, when a lot of times when people are looking, you know, we tend to search online and so that was the first thing that, you know, we look at is how do we find what we service providers are offering. And it is very difficult on our website to find facility-based addiction treatment and how to access it. So that is one of the directions that I've given to the department. But what I would like to say is that every one of our communities has access to the community counselling program, and that would be the first step to doing that. And if you're living in a health centre -- a community with a health centre, then it would be the health centre that you contact.

I've asked the department to try and to be able to do this and make this information a lot more clear for people that are needing this service, you know, and I -- and I appreciate the questions because I think when we have somebody who is struggling through addictions or through this type, you know, they may struggle to just try to find the energy to find the services, and so we have to make it as easy as possible. So that is what I've given the direction to my department to look into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the Minister for her compassion on this issue. One thing that I heard from my constituent specifically, who was dealing with this in December of last year, was the inability to secure a case manager in time for their family member to receive a path forward expediently to treatment. So can the Minister please tell me what the quickest way to connect with a case manager to make sure that people who are expediently seeking care, who don't want to relapse, can find that way to treatment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we heard loud and clear from many users of the service is that there used to be a -- you needed a pre-approval just to be able to apply for this program. That has been removed. But what I would like to go back to is the expedient of the facility-based addiction program. There is a necessary -- you know, and I know that when people are ready to go, they might be ready today, there is a process still that can take -- you know, it can be up to -- once you have a caseworker, can take three to five weeks to get into a facility. The reason why that is that we have six facilities that we have contracts with, and those are the only contracts that we pay for. So we have six contracts outside of the territory. And there is an application process. There's an intake process. And so any community counsellor can be. In Yellowknife, Tree of Peace is an intake place. But what I would also like to share is this is not an immediate entrance into a facility. And I know when people are going through this, they're urgently wanting their family members to be put into somewhere. What we have gotten federal funding for is for detox beds. So if there is a need for detox, the process for that, though, would have to go through a practitioner and, you know, and we -- you know, so if you're in a community, you may be referred to the hospital once you're ready or you're, you know, preparing to go for intake. Some of our facilities actually have the detox so that would be something that the caseworker would work out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister also speak to what availability and communication of that availability of aftercare is available to folks who are coming back from treatment. I know that with some of the resources that are coming on in line in Yellowknife, which are fantastic -- I'm so excited that we have that, those dedicated spaces, but what information can family members receive about making sure that their loved one is coming back and has a safe place to land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, aftercare -- this is one of the concerns that we do have a gap in and so -- but what we do have the gap in is the living accommodations. For those who go out to facility-based addiction treatment, if they're going from homelessness then they're not coming back to a home, so we -- you know, we are working on a transitional housing after recovery program. We just recently announced that the one in Yellowknife will -- you know, and then the -- we have one kind of be coming online in Inuvik. But aftercare is just the support, so there are some of the facility-based addiction treatments that continue online in virtual aftercare once they leave. There's also our community counselling or the caseworker that they worked with that helped them send them out can also be the person that can connect them with the aftercare counselling that they may need in the community that they're returning to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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