Thanks, Mr. Speaker. So in short, two questions, two nos.
Will the Minister direct his staff to allocate additional resources for climate monitoring and especially more community-based monitoring while also incorporating traditional knowledge when it's appropriate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, there are over a hundred climate stations operated by the GNWT and the federal government, so environment and climate change across the NWT. The GNWT has climate stations in every NWT community. And building from the landscape carbon workshop, the GNWT is coordinating efforts with partners, including Indigenous governments and researchers to develop landscape carbon roadmap for the Northwest Territories, and this roadmap will identify the next steps in research, monitoring, including western science, traditional knowledge, and local knowledge and the potential management related to this landscape carbon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of ECC. Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are going to be directed to the Minister of Justice.
Can the Minister explain what steps the GNWT is taking to prioritize and support safer communities in the Deh Cho where crime and social issues are reaching crisis levels? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly feel for the Member and the impacts that her community and many communities are facing across the Northwest Territories. You know, our government has taken many steps to date, and we have many steps coming forward as we progress with different pieces of legislation, the Trespass Act, the Civil Forfeiture Act, the SCAN legislation, are tools that are on the landscape that will help support communities. I have been engaging with small communities, getting feedback and response from those communities, to address what their immediate needs are and how we can work together. And I think a lot of the tools that we've put into place through the RCMP, additional staff and, you know, our crime reduction unit, our other key components that we put in place to focus on the drugs and crime-related areas in the territory, are certainly ways we can work together with the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to working directly with Deh Cho community governments and local leadership to develop community-led safety and wellness strategies tailored to their unique needs and cultural strengths? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, crime reduction and prevention is a key priority of the GNWT and a complex issue requiring community support and involvement. And I really want to emphasize that this is not anything that we can do alone. The GNWT can't solve this problem without working very closely with all of the other agencies across the NWT as well as with the communities, the Indigenous governments, the Indigenous organizations. It needs to be an all- hands-on-deck approach, Mr. Speaker. As Minister of Justice, you know, I'm responsible for setting the policy and priorities for 2024 to 2027, including building and strengthening those relationships with Indigenous governments and communities and certainly want to continue those conversations that we're all working together to address this severe challenge that is really impacting our communities in a very negative way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister outline what resources or flexible funding options are available or will be made available to help Deh Cho communities design and implement their own local safety and healing initiatives? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again, I think this is really an all of government approach required here. Like I said earlier, you know, I've gone to many of the small communities, met with many of the leaders across the Northwest Territories on this exact issue, and I've heard many of the concerns that the Member has also raised around communities, you know, having specific needs. And I think as we look at this holistically and from the big picture, we need to continue that conversation with the communities to help them to identify potential funding sources and certainly optimistic with the new federal budget coming out in early November that there may be some potential pots that we could work together on trying to identify those needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Justice recently announced a new program to support mental health of jurors who often go through very difficult circumstances in the course of executing their responsibilities through juries. This is relevant to a report put out by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in May of 2018 called Improving Support for Jurors in Canada. That's a House of Commons committee. That committee made 11 recommendations, and one of these was to recommend that provinces and territories offer psychological support and counselling programs without predetermined time limits and the number of sessions left to the discretion of a mental health professional.
So I'd like to ask the Minister of Justice today if this new program that's being rolled out to support jurors will conform to those recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently we are using the Employee Assistance Program as a support for jurors that are currently serving. And I certainly appreciate that jury duty is a -- you know, is an honour but also can be a very traumatic and challenging experience.
We are currently working on a new program that will come out hopefully in 2026. And I don't have the specific answer to that but I'm happy to get that information and provide it to the Member to focus in on the detail of that request. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. As the former jury administrator for the Northwest Territories, this is a deeply-held issue for me because I dealt with so many people in the system who were doing juries. We actually compensate jurors around $80 a day. The same committee report recommends increasing it to $120 a day. Ontario has already done this. Nunavut pays between $100 to $150 a day. This eases with the time commitments required for a jury. Will the Minister increase fees for jurors to $120 a day? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Certainly, yeah, I can feel the sentiment that, you know, $80 a day does not seem like an adequate level of compensation for a person to give up their time and, you know, it's a tremendous sacrifice not only from a financial perspective, depending on sort of what your employment opportunities are like. Certainly willing to take that back and have a conversation with the department about what that could potentially look like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. That's less than minimum wage so I hope that we see some progress on that.
Finally, the committee has also recommended that interactions between jurors and other participants in the proceedings be minimized outside the courtroom with special parking spaces, access routes, and including secure areas where jurors can be alone to recharge after hearing, you know, difficult evidence and testimony in the courts. Will the Minister make the necessary changes to the Yellowknife Courthouse, and on community circuit as well, to ensure that those kinds of provisions are in place to ensure that jurors are so minimized from any kind of conflicts with individuals in the proceedings? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll speak first primarily to the Yellowknife Courthouse, and we do have plans in the capital plan coming forward that part of that plan is to address a secure -- more secure parking area. I don't know specifically, as I sit here today, if that will include juror parking but certainly happy to take that away as well and look at what that could potentially look like, as well as -- you know, I'm familiar with very few courthouses across the Northwest Territories and what those facilities look like, but, again, I think in -- you know, our rapidly changing world and our increased level of violence that we see on many, many fronts, I'm happy to, again, take that away and have that conversation with the department and see what potential solutions could be looked at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. So every year, the NWT Rental Office makes many of the same recommendations over and over on ways that the Residential Tenancies Act should be changed to better protect both tenants and landlords. Has the government formally responded to any of these recommendations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although no formal response has been issued for these recommendations from the NWT Rental Office, the Department of Justice has committed to undertake a review of the Residential Tenancies Act during the 20th Assembly in response to the annual report of the rental officer, and the recurring issue of illegal activities in public housing raised through various channels are certainly one of the key reasons that we're undertaking this work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister. So I'm interested if the Minister can tell us some more details about the timeline for reviewing the Residential Tenancies Act and how the scope of the changes to the Act will be determined. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department was hoping to have the Act reviewed by the end of the summer of 2025, but this review has been delayed primarily due to capacity challenges, and really those key changes that we've made is we've really focused our resources on the three key pieces of community safety legislation - the Trespass Act, the SCAN legislation, and the Civil Forfeiture Act. And this has slowed the timeline for the review, conducting the review of the Residential Tenancies Act. We have started that work however, and there's plans to do engagement with stakeholders on the Act before the end of the fall of 2025, and I realize that that's coming up fairly quickly. And this review will form the amendments to the Act in the 21st Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I realize we define our seasons in pretty broad terms here, and there are a few leaves still on the trees, but we do have snow on the ground, so I would say fall could be officially deemed over.
Finally, what is the government doing to ensure that tenants are aware of their existing legal rights, including providing enhanced access to legal aid supports? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so it's important to recognize that the rental office is a judicial body that adjudicates the Residential Tenancies Act to both landlords and tenants. You know, we've recently made some changes to have friendlier applications to the rental office for landlords and tenants, which are now available online. We've updated policies and posted them online for greater transparency. We have a handbook posted that explains the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. And upon request, the Literacy Council and the Francophone Association has provided information sessions. We also -- in regards to legal aid support, the Outreach Clinic provides residents within NWT an hour of free legal advice and referrals with walk-in sessions two days a week in community clinics where an outreach lawyer travels to different NWT communities to provide legal advice and public legal education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement regarding the Inuvik airport runway extension project, again the great work that's been done so far, I'd like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure if he can give an explanation of the -- or a breakdown I guess, I shouldn't say explanation -- of the commitment going forward and timelines to get this project finished, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, so the Department of Infrastructure has been working closely with their partners to complete this project at the Inuvik airport. This is a strategic airport, as the Member stated, for the Northwest Territories for numerous reasons, and also the interest of DND. So, yeah, we continue to work on the runway extension and work with our partners to the interests of the area, and we'll continue to work with them to complete this project as it is an important project for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand originally in the original plan that the paving of the runway, which has now been complete -- the runway itself is constructed. I know there's some ditching required to be done still. Paving was originally scheduled for 2026. I understand that that paving now has been delayed to 2027, possibly later. Can the Minister speak to why there's delay in the paving project? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, so there is some delay to the previous commitment of paving. However, as the Member's probably aware, the ground in the area is built on permafrost and so is that runway. So what the department is actually waiting for is an opportunity for that ground to settle as much as it can before they start doing a lot of the paving. The problem is, is right now it's moved actually quite a bit in certain areas. In the last -- from last fall until now, there's been some area of movement of up to a foot. So in order to bring that up to grade, they would have to fill that in and, you know, with the pavement and everything like that, there is a considerable amount of weight with pavement that's going to be placed on this. So if we don't allow this to settle and pack down first before we put the asphalt down, it could cause a lot more issues. So the biggest issue is waiting for the ground to settle before we start doing the final phase of putting the asphalt on the ground there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Certainly, yes, we are aware of everchanging times with settling, and likely that runway will be settling for many years to come as many of the roads and infrastructure are in my region.
Given that, Mr. Speaker, and these delays, can the Minister speak to the communication between both the contractor, the Indigenous governments, and all the proponents, including the town of Inuvik for information purposes on these delays and having that communication open with them as well so they're aware what's happening as the project moves forward. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. We continually work with partners, including DND in communicating the status of the project. I'm quite certain they're aware of the issues with the ground and the problems that we're having with that, just to settle it. So, yeah, the department works with the Department of National Defence and communicates with them the status of this project and, you know, the path forward. With regards to the town of Inuvik, I'll have to find out from the department of what communication has been sent to the town of Inuvik in regards to that. I'm not 100 percent sure on that form of communication. But, yeah, we have a good working relationship with the contractors. The contractors have done some great work there, and we continue working with them to improve the Inuvik airport for the area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Premier. In the recent months, there has been a lot of lobbying with Ottawa to protect Jordan's Principle funding along with Council of Leaders. Can the Premier update the House on what he and his Ministers heard and achieved at these meetings protecting Indigenous children's education here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll do my best to answer it. I might hand it to the education Minister at some point. But I will say that Jordan's Principle has been at the forefront of our discussions with the federal government since this announcement was made to change the program. I've spoken about it to the Prime Minister. I was very direct with him about the impacts on the territory.
When we went to Ottawa as the Council of Leaders, we collectively spoke to the federal Ministers - Minister Chartrand, Minister Gull-Masty, Minister Alty - about Jordan's Principle. Indigenous leaders and GNWT Ministers all spoke with one voice and really let the federal government know exactly how this change has impacted the territory, how we're different from southern Canada. And so we did not get a commitment that they're going to reinstate the program in the territory as it was before, but I think it was an important conversation to have in light of the upcoming budget. And I will say that in our conversations, a number of the Ministers have acknowledged that we have unique circumstances, and they are looking into the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Education is a territorial responsibility, and under the first principle of Jordan's Principle the government approach first must provide these services without delay. Can the Premier explain why ECE continues to dispute who funds Indigenous education with or without Jordan's Principle? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT is a public government, so we fund public education. Most of the people in the territory are Indigenous, so we provide education to Indigenous students with the general public government funding. So I'm not quite sure what dispute the Member is referencing, but we understand that we are a public government and that we provide education to all members of the public. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
