Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. To the motion. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the experiences that I accumulated over the number of years fighting fire there way back when I can't remember, it's been so long here; we had rubber boots in those days. And to see the climate change and the very likelihood of having forest fires in our territory every summer is very likely to happen. So in short, I'll be supporting this motion on the spirit of management, efficiencies, and responses to protect our homes. We only got to look at the community of Enterprise, Mr. Speaker, the losses there and the effects and the costly effects for that matter, Mr. Speaker, of forest fires in our territory. Yes, I'm glad to see that we're making reference to other jurisdictions. We take those into account, what other jurisdictions are doing. But in the spirit of efficiencies on fire management, it's really the responsibility of the Members sitting around this chamber. We got to keep in mind that we learn from our experiences. And, Mr. Speaker, from those experiences, we have the responsibility to do what we think is best, not only for the communities in the south but the communities in the north.
I quote my brother-in-law during the evacuations of these communities in the southern territory. He had mentioned to the community in Fort Good Hope that we should be doing a feed the water ceremony, not a feed the fire ceremony, on the spirit and intent our family and friends and neighbours in the south need water. I never forgot that, Mr. Speaker. I think that was very commendable from Lawrence Manuel.
So I see a lot of value in the demand, the need, adjustments, reflections, on efficiencies to manage our territory. And on those bases and the recommendations, and the people that developed those recommendations. It's not somebody, as the previous Speaker mentioned, where didn't just hire somebody off the street that needed some consulting employment. So that by itself gives me faith that we hired and did the review and accreditation on hiring somebody, a firm, that would produce quality recommendations in the report. So in closing, I'll be supporting the motion, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. To the motion. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, Mr. Speaker, we all come to the House, we all try to work together, look for solutions and, you know, we talk about consensus government and we're trying to make it work. And I was here when we voted on a motion not long after the fire season ended three years ago, and a couple years ago we put a motion in the House here to ask for a public inquiry, and it was defeated in this House. So I was a little taken aback for the fact that the people in our riding had some serious concerns about what happened. To this day, you know, we're really -- I guess the angels must be watching over us because this could have been really worse. There could have been a lot of fatalities.
So when I came here to vote and try to make consensus government work, the motion passed, but not long after that it was brought out that we're going to do our own internal investigation, totally dismissing the motion that we brought forward that was brought to our attention by our constituents. And so now here we are today talking about this motion, and for me, I'm trying to make this thing work, and to make sure that our people have a voice, and if we couldn't get a public inquiry and we now here we got an independent report and what's missing, though, is the human side of it. What I hear is that we got a report here, we got a motion here, but whenever I go back to my constituency, there are people saying, jeez, you know, I really would have wished they had a committee that kind of went around the communities and to listen to their issues and concerns.
I was there in Fort Resolution when Yellowknife was evacuated, Behchoko, they're all heading south, there was a fire in Hay River, Fort Smith, the community of Fort Resolution was on the verge of evacuation but good thing the leadership got together and said, no, where we going to go. There's still a lot of trauma that people have concerns with. And the human factor that is missing here. And I'm a little disappointed that we're totally just regarding the whole thing, and we're going to say this is the way it's going to be. So we got to figure a way where we could build trust again with the people in the communities. And I'm telling you this time the fatalities, we're really fortunate we didn't have any major fatalities. But going forward, the voices of people in the community need to be heard through a process, and right now, I don't -- right now, we're only doing an internal investigation, process here and recommendations were brought forward. Again, why do we make motions in the House if the other side of the House are going to totally dismiss it? Then why am I here?
When we pass that motion to ask for a public inquiry, that's when this government should have stood up and did that work. But that didn't happen. So, Mr. Speaker, it hits home that the trauma that's hitting our communities is still alive and well, and we got to restore that trust. And this motion that's been brought forward here today is a start. So, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Colleagues, I must remind you we shouldn't be talking about previous Assemblies and their motions. So, please, focus on what we are talking about here.
To the motion. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke to some of my main concerns in the government response to the after-action review on our first day of this sitting, which is whether we're doing enough as a government to adequately ensure the safety of elders and folks with disabilities. The Minister of MACA said that he's hopeful and pretty certain a lot of my concerns will be addressed.
I will support this motion as a vote for the GNWT to adequately resource behind-the-scenes work, the important policy work, the demos and tabletop exercises, the communities, and all levels of civil society that need support to ensure the safety of residents who have the least capacity to grab a go-bag and evacuate.
We were not fully prepared to appropriately support these folks with the evacuation of Fort Providence this past summer as evidenced by their stories and mutual aid requests. The Minister has said that the staff of MACA will deal with this work. But I know as a past policy analyst that dedicated resources for a high priority topical issue, any issue, are thin. Topics such as emergency response planning and business continuity planning require year-round emphasis and dedicated staff. We all have different lenses on this topic, and I appreciate that the Minister may have more insights than we have fully discussed today or during this sitting, and I would encourage residents to attend or tune in to a public briefing we will have on this matter on Monday night. I know we're not as awesome as the Blue Jays, Mr. Speaker, but I'm very pleased we will dig into this issue deeper and examine complexities together. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. To the motion. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand that there's a desire among certain Members to respond swiftly to things like a report like this, and certainly there can be merit in doing that, but I also want to note that it's important to me to take the time to understand an issue fully, give appropriate weight to a decision as impactful as departmental restructuring or establishment of a new agency altogether. We have limited resources, and we need to take the time necessary to be responsible stewards of those resources. For these reasons, I have advocated for and I'm looking forward to a hearing with the department we can dig further into this, develop a better understanding of the department's rationale for rejecting this recommendation, and ensure that the response which is put in place is an appropriate and effective response to the findings of the after-action review.
I want to be clear that at this time, similar to a few of my colleagues who have spoken, I don't think the government's response to this recommendation is comprehensive enough or gives me confidence that the government have fully accepted the gravity of the report's findings in this area. That said, similar to a few of the colleagues that have spoken already, I'm not necessarily convinced that the best course of action at this time is necessarily to establish a standalone organization. I'm not going to pretend to know more about structuring an emergency management organization than our departmental experts, but that is exactly why we commissioned an outside entity to conduct an after-action review. So when the government rejects recommendations such as this, it certainly gives me pause, and so I can understand the sentiment behind this motion coming forward.
Mr. Speaker, the motion is not binding. If it were, I think I'd have to speak a bit differently on it, but I am going to lend my support insofar as it provides weight behind the point that I'd like to see the government fully acknowledge the various issues raised in the after-action review which led to the recommendation to establish a standalone agency.
I want to read a bit from the after-action review itself to highlight some of the concerns that were raised. The review noted that our current emergency response structures often lead to confusion, blurred lines of authority, and fragmented communication. The lack of a cohesive and coordinated system appeared to hamper the effectiveness of the emergency management during the 2023 wildfires. Structural weaknesses within the governance framework became apparent as wildfire events began compounding. The local EMO, regional EMO, and territorial EMO system, while designed to provide accountability and oversight, proved ineffective during a large scale disaster. Competing layers of authority created delays in decision-making and confusion about jurisdictional boundaries and roles throughout the 2023 wildfire season. There was confusion from communities and GNWT staff in understanding how the territorial EMO operates internally and its interoperability with local EMOs. This fragmentation highlighted the need for a more unified command structure and an emergency governance model that prioritizes speed, clarity, and collaboration during crises. A lack of cohesion and preparedness planning left smaller, remote communities particularly vulnerable.
Mr. Speaker, these findings of the after-action review accurately capture the issues with our current structures, and I am not confident right now that if we end up in a situation as serious as 2023 again, the outcome will be significantly different.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the improvements MACA has already made, and the city of Yellowknife did their own after-action review, which they're implementing. So we have made some progress towards necessary change, and I applaud that. But when I think of all the different pieces that were in play during the evacuation, all the various departments, agencies, NGOs, and governments involved, I think we still have a long way to go in getting ourselves to a position of being fully prepared. That's a real problem, and we have to address it in a timely manner. To that point, I also note that the government has noted in response to a number of other recommendations in the report the timeline of five years to get legislative changes in place. I think we need to take another look at that and see if we can respond within the timeframe recommended in the report, which I think is reasonable.
Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues, I'm looking forward to discussing this further in the briefing and the hearing that we've organized. Mr. Speaker, I want to note that if the model that we land on, as the Minister is advocating for is to draw on resources from other organizations versus the suggested recommendation of the after-action review of having excess capacity waiting in the wings, then the coordination between organizations and understanding the triggers and who does what are the areas that we can improve on most from a practical response and a structural legislative policy standpoint. This needs to include details like what staff are essential, what role they shift to in an emergency, and an agreement that their responsibilities go on hold during an emergency. Some of this exists, but I think everyone needs to have a better shared understanding of how it all works and recognize that government capacity is limited.
So, Mr. Speaker, those are all the comments I had written down. I think that I've captured my thoughts well here. I really do want to emphasize I'm looking forward to the briefing that we have scheduled with the Minister. What's important to me is that we take the time to fully unpack this, to understand why the rejection of the recommendation, but most importantly understand that whatever solution is put in place, it responds to all the issues raised in the after-action review appropriately. So, regardless of whether we have a standalone agency, whether we have functions within the department act like a standalone agency, we just need to ensure that everybody understands fully exactly what happens when an emergency strikes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the motion. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are living in a totally different world with uncertainty today. Low water levels, forest fires, erosions, permafrost melting that's impacting our buildings, roads, and highways. You know, this bill will benefit all the communities throughout the NWT. They need to contact somebody during the day or during the night, they'll have a number and an answer for their inquiries.
The government is dismissing yet another motion that will give the residents of the NWT some much needed assurance. With so much emergencies going on throughout the NWT, the general public will be assured that there is someone looking out for them. So it's sad to see that this government is dismissing yet another motion for security of the residents of the Northwest Territories. For this reason, I will be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Mackenzie Delta. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The mover, do you wish to conclude debate? Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I do, and I shall.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much to the Members who spoke in support of the bill. You know, I do want to reflect as Members -- the bill, the motion. The motion; it's not a bill. Thank you for the correction. Not a full Point of Order but technically important.
So this all started -- Members have alluded to this, but one of the first substantive motions that we debated in this chamber of this Assembly was for a public inquiry, and the reason it is related to the motion is this report emerged from that. So we wouldn't have this report without that motion. And Members did speak to this directly.
Now, Mr. Speaker, if this was to replace a public process, I don't think it's done a good job. And we hear the concerns from Members, in particular Members from outside of regional centres. Mr. Speaker, I won't quote from the report again. Members have done that. It's very clear that the findings were significant.
And another concern I suppose I have over the course of this conversation in this chamber is publicly reported rationale for not accepting the recommendation was largely around fiscal capacity, the fact that it would be an offseason agency, that it's not really necessary because of those reasons. Today we're hearing a different story where it is we're doing it all already from the sounds of it. We have an EMO office. It does all the things that the recommendation made. But it does beg the question, as raised by the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, if TSI knew this coming in, the structure hasn't drastically changed in two years. So the structure is not novel. The structure has not undergone major reform. There's been improvements. Absolutely, the Minister spoke to those improvements. But it's the underlying structure that was recommended for change. And that's what we're talking about here. You know, we're not saying progress hasn't been made. But we're saying progress on this fundamental recommendation, the skeleton of our entire system of how we manage emergencies, that's unaffected. And until that changes, until we deal with what you could call root causes of a lack of emergency preparedness, we will continue to experience them.
Mr. Speaker, governments in Canada are all moving towards dedicated public safety ministries and agencies. The Minister's list of where agencies work similarly to ours apparently, even though some of the best practiced standards are similar models, you know, there are departments of public safety, there are departments of justice in public safety. And emergency -- EMO management is part of those operations. So, again, if a ministry -- a ministry can do this work as well, and it's something that Northerners need, you know. It's something Northerners need. Not just wildfire management but public safety generally, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, one of the things I'm also concerned about, the report at large, is it speaks frequently to the need for a culture of safety throughout the government, not just in one office, but throughout the government, and numerous recommendations made, including recommendations around incident command management system training and usage are -- only speak to what's happening in the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and not across the whole government. We'd like to have whole of government approaches, at least we like to talk about it. So if we're going to have a culture of safety and we need to do -- we need to have structural institutions of safety. That is what they're getting at when they're making these recommendations. It's not that we're not doing stuff; it's that we're not doing -- again, we're not changing the underlying culture of the GNWT as it relates to this important priority.
Mr. Speaker, okay, I think we've -- I sense that we should move on. We have other business to attend to. But, Mr. Speaker, I do also agree that I don't want to see a recommendation 120 days that says we already told you we weren't going to do it, we're not going to do it now. So this is very unusual. I've never done this before, but I'm going to urge the Members opposite who seek to abstain to vote against this because I'd rather have a vote against on the record if they're not going to respond to this in a meaningful way. Because that's the antithesis of what this motion is supposed to do. It's supposed to consider the clauses, evaluate them, and respond with an open mind, not a mind already made up. So if they're going to vote against, I encourage them to vote against it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Frame Lake. The Member for Great Slave. The Member for Mackenzie Delta. The Member for Yellowknife North. The Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. The Member for Sahtu. The Member for Yellowknife Centre.
All those opposed, please stand. All those abstaining, please stand.
The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Nunakput.
Colleagues, 9 in favour. Zero opposed. 6 abstaining. The motion has been carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome Ms. Christina Gaudet to the House here. Christina has been a friend to the family here for many decades, and she's the regional superintendent of MACA for the Sahtu region. Welcome.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from the Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to try to recognize each session -- or, you know, to the best of my ability, one of the interpreters, one of my friends, Ms. Sarah Cleary. She puts in an enormous amount of work keeping up with us. Sometimes when we get going too fast, I do worry about the hard work she has to do, but I'm very grateful that Sarah here is representing her language and the spirit of her community, and she's a Sahtu constituent in Yellowknife. So anyway, I'm always grateful to see her. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize two pages from the Nunakput riding. Nita Lucas and Emery Keogak are from the Inualthuyak School in Sachs Harbour. And just to add, I just want to recognize Nita because she's harvested two polar bears. So that's a pretty amazing individual. Powerful woman in the territory, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To add to the Members, her first polar bear was when she was 11 years old.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a resident of Hay River, Ms. Bette Lyons, who somehow has managed to sit through much of this week's proceedings, so I commend her for that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Hay River North. I kind of asked the question if you were going to recognize anybody this session there.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would also like to recognize Christine Gaudet in the gallery. She's a dedicated MACA employee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Hay River South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chamber. I'd like to thank you very much for allowing us 19 to represent the people of the Northwest Territories. I hope you're enjoying the proceedings. It's always nice to have people in the gallery.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Colleagues, being respectful of the time, and I know how long we're going to be going, we're going to have to call a break for our translators. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I can request on returning to the number 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mahsi.
Thank you. Member from the Sahtu is asking unanimous consent to return to recognition of visitors in the gallery. Seeing no nays, you may return. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues there. We can't forget about our youth. I'd like to recognize two pages there, Alex Aviugana from the community of Colville Lake. And Nevaeh Jackson from Fort Good Hope. Welcome to the House there, young people. Mahsi.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to recognize a young page from my riding, Matthew Unka. Mahsi.
Thank you. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I'm going to jump on the boat from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh and recognize Matthew Unka who used to be from Fort Simpson and was taught by my daughter who had to say make sure I send her a picture of him. So welcome here. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my communities urgently need more RCMP members. Up to 40 percent of positions in the North are unfilled, and a higher turnover disrupts relationships with the local law enforcement partners. With the federal government recently announcing 1,000 new RCMP hires nationwide, my question is to the justice Minister what are you doing with the federal colleagues to bring more RCMP north to the Northwest Territories and to the small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member stated, you know, vacancy rate in the Northwest Territories in the RCMP, we are unfortunately number one in the country with the 22.9 percent unfilled position rate currently. And, you know, this has certainly posed a huge challenge for many of our detachments across the NWT. Fortunately, we have been able to address this challenge through the -- we've managed to get 18 relief members from across Canada have been brought in to provide temporary support to our communities, which has been very much appreciated, and we are working on the recruitment and retention as one of our key priorities, and the department continues to work closely with the RCMP to support solutions for sustainability and service delivery. And we have dedicated $200,000 in funding toward recruitment in the upcoming budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our communities are in the best position to identify how to enhance public safety with the RCMP. Will the Minister work with the RCMP and federal Government of Canada to ensure consultation with Indigenous leadership before renewing or modifying any RCMP contracts? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, we currently -- G-division and the commander currently has an Indigenous advisory committee that he meets with twice annually and part of that meeting and consultation process is to receive advice from those Indigenous leaders and participants from across the territory which are recommended and appointed by regional Indigenous governments and organizations across the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The TRC and MMIWG Calls for Justice call for Indigenous people to have greater authority over policing in their communities, and these principles are reinforced by UNDRIP. Can the Minister update this House on what steps the GNWT's taking to integrate these rights and Calls to Action into policing, especially when Indigenous governments pointed out gaps in the public safety? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this question is a little bit more involved and detailed and will require some additional work. So what I am prepared to do today is commit to the Member that I will reach out to the other departments, EIA and other departments, etcetera, have my department do that, and provide a response back to the Member on this question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
