Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That would be part of this work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, one of the reasons I'm interested is I've been speaking with paramedics and they'd like to be regulated and they'd like to see an Act. So lest a Member bring it forward in the Private Member's bill, which probably isn't what the Minister wants to hear, when can we get assurances that there will be a bill in this House to review, to vote on, that will regulate paramedics and allow them to do the jobs that are so crucial for our communities, especially our small communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I think this is a -- this is why we're looking at how can we implement paramedics into the small communities because currently right now, you know, they work in larger regional centres and not necessarily -- what has happened is over the summer months, we do contract paramedics that are on standby to be deployed to the health centres if needed, an evacuation in a community. And so since we have them -- and usually summertime is when we have our reduced services -- they've been in the clinics doing triaging and helping the CHN, working alongside the CHN. I cannot commit to saying that that -- there's going to be legislation. You know, I'm looking at the legislation and the regs that we want to have to be able to work towards and implement in this government. The department is a small department to try and implement things. It's one thing to pass legislation and then it's to implement it, then it sits there. So what I would like to do is get the current legislative list through this House before the end of this government so that way we can have the implementation plan ready to go with them as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I still had one more question for the ECC. But I do have three questions, two for MACA and one for ECC. So I can get it back on the list again for MACA.
One is for ECC, given the increasing frequency of evacuations and climate-driven wildfire threats, what is the GNWT timeline for implementing a fully proactive wildfire management strategies that prioritize prevention over response? Thank you.
Minister of ECC.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, happy to stand here and say that we've already started implementing that, and that has been certainly part of the work that we have done over the last number of years as the threat and the impact of climate change, you know, is affecting us as a territory. I think one thing that's really clear here is that we are a vast territory in land mass but we are small in population, and the remoteness of our communities certainly is one of the very challenging barriers that we face when it comes to, you know, being responsive to wildland fire. We have small resources stretched over a vast area. You know, we've got a lot of programs on the go through collaboration and funding arrangements with the federal government for FireSmart initiatives, with community governments, with Indigenous governments, with the population general, and ensuring that as we move forward with our programming that we're communicating with all of our Indigenous government partners, Indigenous organizations, and communities to maximize those resources to ensure that we are very proactive in our response to wildfire prevention in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you Minister of ECC. Do you have another question for ECC, Member from Monfwi?
For MACA, yeah.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to ask further questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services, this time about supports available for community health centre nurses. So, first, how is either HSS or the health authority working to rebuild the successful model of continuous physician care that was being practiced five years ago, for example, in Behchoko and Fort Good Hope where a designated physician would be on call to support the community health nurse for non-emergent matters seven days a week? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for this question. You know, I know that right now Fort Good Hope, the physician model is currently being under evaluation now. The pilot has been ongoing. And when I was into the community and I even met with the physician that was the lead on that, they are hopefully to have the review completed by April 2026, and that work is actually going to be helping us to form, you know, when we do our -- with our model of care for small communities. As I said, improving the model of care in our small communities is and always the priority. And so as for the on call, I know I did raise it to ask questions just to -- because it was the first time, I've heard of it. I can follow up into it more to see when it stopped, why it stopped, or those kinds of information and behind that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So next, what options have been examined to take the pressure off community health nurses being on call after hours? For example, to have 8-1-1 or 9-1-1 or MED response field direct calls to what's now going to the on-call phone instead of community health nurses being the first point of contact after hours. So this could, for example, screen whether the call is actually an emergency, and it could help protect community health nurses if there are harassing phone calls that are coming. So what options are being examined to change the way on-call/after-hours calls are being fielded in small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point, there is no capacity to remove the responsibility from the CHN; however, you know, the CHN is still the most responsible and only provider able to handle this service within the current model of our -- the community model of care. But there are many different things that are going on right now, including primary care reform, Deh Cho's journey mapping, the work on small community model of care, which I spoke about in my statement today. We are improving continuity of core services delivering by both how other professions, like we just said, paramedics and LPNs can be implemented into the system. That is one of the areas where we are thinking that could be shared amongst, you know, the different health care providers because what is happening is, is the CHN is the one that's usually having to see them all hours of the night and then it closes the clinics the next day, and then they all get cancelled. So if we can have the paramedics being on call at night or somebody else, recognizing that community health nurses essentially cannot be replaced so we have to find better ways to support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. But to get clarification there, so obviously the community health nurse would have to be the one in a small community to offer the assistance or the care if they're the one in-charge. But when I'm wondering is whether the call could go through, for example, a 9-1-1 or an 8-1-1 just as, you know, people could call 9-1-1 in emergency and then that dispatcher would determine the nature of the emergency and then activate the appropriate emergency responder or person in-charge, such as the community health nurse, but having that extra screening could field out calls that are, you know, simply harassment or calls that are not an emergency to -- that the community health nurse would not have to respond to anyway but would avoid them having to be woken up in the middle of the night multiple times. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we encourage all residents in the Northwest Territories to call 8-1-1 for non-emergent questions on their health or their family's health, and we encourage all Northwest Territories residents to call 9-1-1 first before calling, you know, the health centre. Health centres are generally used when -- and that was -- but the thing is, is the change. The change management in small communities is this has been the model for so long and that's where they're so used to calling that they don't call 8-1-1 and they don't call 9-1-1; they call the health centre. And so the health centre always has a nurse on call for those emergencies as well because when you call 8-1-1 or if you call 9-1-1 and they redirect it to MED response, then MED response will be calling the nurse anyway. So the nurse is always on call. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are to MACA, to MACA Minister.
So readiness and preparedness -- I'm going to say it again, readiness and preparedness are critical to wildfire management; however, the evacuations that occurred this summer suggest that the government's wildfire operation are still too reactive in nature. What specific step is the department taking to improve early detection and response measures, so communities are not forced to evacuate at the last minute? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Emergencies happen anytime, anywhere, not just with wildfires. It is important that the territorial government supports local governments in being prepared for emergencies. MACA supports communities in emergency management and developing their community emergency management plans to ensure that they're prepared when an emergency strikes. If there's a flood and they need to evacuate, we need to have those preparedness documents prepared well in advance so that there isn't that instant reaction and place -- things are in place in order to assist a community when they're being evacuated. So this isn't a one-time thing. This is an ongoing thing. We need to make sure communities' emergency plans are up to date and that they're practiced so that when an emergency strikes, we know exactly what to do. And municipal and community affairs is there to support communities every step of the way. The communities are the ones that know their communities, and MACA will be there to support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With climate change, wildfire is an issue, and for many of us in small communities and the water level low is a major concern. With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, when the decisions are made that lead to a community evacuation, it seems communities and their residents are caught off guard in most cases. Is the government contemplating changes to wildfire management that allows for more proactive communications to both communities and our residents so that they are more aware of threats of wildfire and the potential for community evacuation? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will speak only to the wildfire -- or sorry, the emergency evacuation line of the questioning there. And essentially what the goal is to make sure that communities are prepared and the resources that are provided by the GNWT to the communities in order to make sure that they're prepared to evacuate include educated people in ICS, people trained in the management for community emergencies, and the ability to work and -- the ability to assess the emergencies and the hazards and make those decisions with the community, not the community telling the -- sorry, not the government telling the community they have to evacuate. So all agencies are working together, all levels of government in order to make that decision, not just one government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ECC. Is there a minimum or maximum distance a wildfire has to be from a community to be actioned by ECC? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of ECC.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have a specific distance per se to this question. There are a number of factors that would play into the preplanning, if you will, of trigger points. So there's weather, there's wind, there's drought levels, there's moisture, duff moisture codes. There's a number of contributing factors that would be taken into account as they determine what those trigger points are, whether it's a recommendation for an evacuation alert or a notice or an actual evacuation. So those things will vary depending on the specific location. Like I said, the specific level of threat and the weather conditions at the time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is there a wildfire protocol or policy in place to ensure safety of residents when there's fire coming towards a community? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the forest fire management policy is based on priorities with the number one priority being human life. And certainly as fires are detected on the landscape -- and I'll use 2025 as an example, we had about 201 fires. Of those 201 fires, 100 received some form of direct action. And of those, 80 of those incidents were close enough to communities to pose some level of threat, with 20 of those fires being close enough to pose a higher level of threat. So certainly the first priority, based on the policy and the information that is provided to our decision-makers, is to ensure that we're following that policy and that the number one most important thing is that we're looking out for human life first and then we look at values, etcetera, and it moves on from there. So, yes, Mr. Speaker, that is our priority. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ECC. Final supplementary.
Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of strategic infrastructure, and I believe I'd like to focus in on specifically what I raised in terms of my Member's statement.
Mr. Speaker, when I raised the issue that the West Kitikmeot region is pushing a project, that it's on the second-tier list of the major projects list, industry -- local industry, even NWT industry doesn't see themselves as part of this sort of important venture that the territory needs, that adrenalin shot in the arm basically to our economy. Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister do to assure that our project -- our side of the project is now either included or will be added to that major list? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Well done, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thank you. First of all, we're not second- tier, Mr. Speaker. We are on -- we're on the side of the list that puts the major projects office directly responsible for making sure that our project, in fact, gets moving and gets going. We've already met. Staff from strategic infrastructure were in Calgary to meet with the new major projects’ office. The YKDFN and the Tlicho are deeply involved in this project. We meet with them regularly. There's a significant plan that's been developed conjointly with those two nations on whose lands and traditional lands this project would potentially be running, in addition to which is a whole of government, Mr. Speaker. As the Premier already mentioned, we were actively meeting with counterparts in Ottawa, both myself, Minister Cleveland, the Premier's office. So this is actually moving on a number of fronts. And I've also spoken with the city of Yellowknife on this and done presentation last year and an update on this. So, again, happy to have the profile raised here, and I sort of number one would say I think perhaps it's time to do another perhaps meeting publicly with the city so we can get people aware of the work that is, in fact, ongoing on this. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I'm a little confused on the side versus second tier. It doesn't sound like it's on the list of number one projects, and it's not even the -- doesn't sound clear enough that it's even on the second visiting of this particular project. Can the Minister tell us what will it take to get it as a major -- sorry, the Arctic Economic Security Corridor identified as a major project in this next submission? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of people asking the federal government that very question. I'm not the federal government. What we are recognized, the Arctic Energy Security Corridor was formally recognized as a project of national interest, so there was five projects that are in it the first sort of -- if you're calling it tiers, they're in the first group of projects that were named as national projects. That is important for the projects that need to go through the Bill C5 process. Being named there gives them access to the schedule 2 or schedule 1 which changes how they're going to go through the regulatory process. Our regulatory system's different, Mr. Speaker. I don't need to go through the process that's there. I do need the major projects office to get involved, help us figure out the funding, the stacking of the funding, and the way that we're going to fund this project to get it moving. And so in that sense, Mr. Speaker, we are on this list, we are a project of strategic interest, we've got the major projects office involved, and I intend to work with them to make sure that they can get us across the line. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won't go at length. My whole statement talked about the shot in the arm of adrenalin we need. So when can that initiative see the light of day where we'll get funding or our proposal will be reviewed for funding on this type of initiative? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's so much happening on many fronts on this. And so what I'm going to suggest is that we perhaps need to do a better job of telling our story on this project here. We were just in Ottawa. We spoke with a number of Ministers while we were there, with Council of Leaders. Council of Leaders are getting the word out. The Tlicho are getting the word out. YKDFN. But, again, there's a lot that's been happening. Both of those nations have gone through elections in just the last few months. Those processes are done now. We're all ready to get moving, and I would certainly like to say that we will get something out publicly about how we're working together and what our next steps are. Happy to make that commitment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Public Service Act.
Bill 26 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on May 26th, 2025, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.
The committee received briefings from the sponsor and stakeholders between June and September 2025. The committee also held a public meeting on September 23rd, 2025. The committee has also received 28 submissions from members of the public to date.
The committee has not yet conducted a clause-by-clause review of the bill; therefore, Mr. Speaker, in accordance with Rule 8.3(2) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that the review period for Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Public Service Act, be extended by 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the motion.
