Thank you, Member from Nunakput. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Julie Thrasher who is a friend and a supporter from the people of the Mackenzie Delta region. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to acknowledge and recognize Ms. Julie Thrasher. Sorry, I'm tongue-tied today. I'll say it again, Ms. Julie Thrasher. She lives downtown in Yellowknife, and I know she's certainly the eyes and ears of a lot of things that go on, and I appreciate her support and friendship. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone -- oh, man oh man, I'm having a hard time with Kam Lake. Member from Kam Lake.
I had my arm way up high, but I need to hold it higher, Mr. Speaker. Thank you so much.
In addition, we have a great number of wonderful pages in the room today, including some from Kam Lake. We've got Mika Kotchilia, Avyannah Nataway as well Mia Dyson joining us from Kam Lake. Thank you.
Thank you. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.
If we've missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chambers. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. We thank you very much for the honour of representing everybody from the Northwest Territories and getting us the privilege, short privilege, of representing you here. It is always nice to see people in the gallery.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recent news reporting has led to some good news for the Northwest Territories. As much as $10 billion is hanging over our territory as part of the NORAD northern basing infrastructure program with development and design construction to continue to 2039 with some of those contracts out for tender now. I know our Premier has been doing the circuit on television, at FTP meetings, at standing committee. So can he tell us if we are on track to receive this money, to get this money invested in our communities? Are we ready and able to spend it and start to see that economic growth today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the money the Member is referencing was made public through a -- I guess a pre-procurement announcement that was intended to allow potential contractors to prepare to bid on the contracts. So it's still a lot of details left to be hashed out on this but the whole purpose of this pre-procurement announcement is to ensure that people can get prepared to do the work that needs to be done. And so people are already talking about ensuring that employees in the territory have the appropriate security clearances, that we have, you know, appropriate trades people ready to go. But it's unclear yet what those procurement notices mean, so we have to wait until likely a budget is passed, and then the Department of National Defence will provide more information. So it is a federal procurement, and I don't have many more details than what has been made public already. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, there's a lot of attention on this obviously because our economy is in poor shape. Mr. Speaker, it's good that this procurement process is going to let other private sector make themselves prepared for this money, but is the government prepared? So a lot of this is about developing new infrastructure, airport hangars, all that kind of stuff. We need land, we need permitting, we need all these things done. Is this government prepared with those steps to support the private sector, support DND, and make sure this money arrives on time and revitalizes this economy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we are well aware of the opportunities that exist, and we are treating this as essentially another major project that could be advanced. And so there's great efforts being made to ensure there's coordination, coordination across government. We're working hard to coordinate with the federal government although they have their own processes, and the Department of National Defence, I believe, kind of does things their own way regardless. But I know that there's efforts to change that culture because from my discussions with the Prime Minister, with the Minister of National Defence, there was a big focus on ensuring that the infrastructure is infrastructure that is useful to the community as well. They talk a lot about dual use infrastructure. They want to ensure if there is military facilities in the territory, that the people of the territory see those benefits. So I have been working to get that message out, that when this procurement happens, we need to ensure local employment, local benefits. And on our end, we are working with, like I said, the government departments, development corporations, and now with this procurement announcement out, it's time for the local businesses to ready themselves as well. And we want to approach this in a coordinated fashion. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I will ask one direct area of public policy. This requires an all of government approach. We need land. We need land available for the development in Yellowknife and Inuvik. My colleague from Inuvik Boot Lake mentioned this as well. Will the Premier eliminate all barriers within the GNWT policy realm to transfer the lands that the City of Yellowknife and the Town of Inuvik have been asking for, yes or no? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So eliminating all policies is a pretty broad request. There are probably some policies that are required to be there, and there's probably other policies that we could do without or that require modification. And I know that the Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change is focused on this. And as a government, we want to address this longstanding issue, and we will address it before the end of this government. And with this procurement now looming, it's more urgent than ever. So yes, we're going to move forward with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With 600 -- approximately 607 days left in this Assembly, we often ask for things and the government says well, we're too busy and can't get legislative drafters.
Mr. Speaker, I spoke about a Securities Act today that was developed, went through committee in the Assembly in the 90s, Mr. Speaker. It hasn't received ascent. So my question for the Minister of Justice is is the Minister aware that the NWT has a Locksmith, Security Guards, and Other Security Occupations Act sitting out there not enacted? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not familiar with the act to which the Member references, but I will certainly have my staff pull that document out and give it a good look over. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the benefits of Ministers having dual roles, I get to ask the same Minister sort of the same problem. Will the Minister of Justice work with the House Leader to bring forward this particular act so we can either review it or just simply enact it? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to sit down with the Government House Leader and review the act together, and once we've had that opportunity we will see what direction it goes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the urgency that the Minister will take communicating to the other ministerial duties. Mr. Speaker, in all seriousness would the Minister commit to have an update before the mid-session break on what they can or will be willing to do on this particular legislation that's been sitting out there for 35 years doing nothing, since 1991? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to take a look at the act and see what's involved in bringing it to the floor or to review of committee, etcetera. But having no direct knowledge of it at this specific time, I will have to have an opportunity to review it first. 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, and my friend and colleague from Range Lake as well kind of mentioned the infrastructure investment. $10 billion is a lot of money. My question is for the Premier. And I know -- I mean, information or details right now around the investment are pretty sparse. I get that. But through his dialogue with Ottawa, with his federal counterparts, has there been any indication that some of this enormous amount of funding would be used for major projects, namely, the Mackenzie Valley Highway? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I can speak to what I saw in that sort of pre-procurement notice, and that is that it is for things within those forward operating locations, so runways, hangars, etcetera. It does not speak to major projects. That does not -- that's not to say that the federal government's totality of their expenditures related to defense in the territory will be limited to those two communities. So I'm still very, very hopeful and optimistic that there's other sources of funding from the federal government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that little bit of a tease in there. I like that, that potentially we could have some funding for our highway.
You know, we have three major infrastructure projects that we know we have listed, we've discussed in this House many times. And, again, not to put anyone on the spot but would the Premier say that the Mackenzie Valley Highway, given that it is shovel ready and it is further along than the other -- than all three projects, would be the number one project that we would be certainly expressing to Ottawa that could be done and done now when it comes to Arctic sovereignty? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mackenzie Valley Highway's getting a lot of attention from Ottawa right now, and I'm continuing to promote that highway. And when I meet with the Prime Minister, he talks about the highway before I get a chance to. So this is definitely something that the federal government is well aware of and they see the value, not just to the people of the Northwest Territories but to national security. The Mackenzie Valley Highway, it is -- it's coming out of environmental assessment and there's already portions of it that are permitted for construction. So there's some bridges that we can begin working on. There's community engagement that can be done. So this is a project that's ready to go very, very soon. In some instances, it's ready to go today. And so it's not a great comparison to say we have a project that's ready to go today, and we have one that's going to be ready to go in a number of years, maybe by the time this one's done. It's hard to rank those as one and two because sequentially there's a sequence. The first one will come first and the second one will come second, but it doesn't mean that we have to attribute a priority to them. If they were both being advanced, if they were both at the same place right now and they could both start construction tomorrow, then that would be a different story. But the fact is that we have a sequence, and I think that sequence is going to work well for us. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to my previous colleague on highlighting the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
Further to my Member's statement, it's got to be recognized that I sent out a briefing here earlier to this question. My first question to the Minister of strategic infrastructure: Will the Minister support and endorse the Gwich'in Tribal Council and the Sahtu Secretariat Land Claims chapter 20 and 21 with the federal government which addresses access for Armed Forces division providing the capacity is there. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do want to acknowledge very briefly that the MLA is forever here working and finding ways to advance this project in every possible angle, including looking at land claims chapters. Mr. Speaker, that said it's not the position of me as a Minister to endorse specifically any particular chapter. I certainly can say that we do continue to be mindful of the land claim chapters to ensure that the Indigenous governments themselves are, you know, at the forefront of the considerations of planning and to the extent that they can make use of those chapters as partners as we go forward to [indiscernible]*, that is certainly -- we look forward to that. And, meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT will continue to ensure that we rely upon and use the established processes that -- to which Members may be signatories and Indigenous governments may be signatories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that reply. And I encourage others to familiarize themselves with more specifically the Sahtu chapter 21.3.2, which really addresses a procurement process to secure that capital project. Mahsi.
My next question to the Minister is when will the Minister of strategic infrastructure submit the completed Ernst & Young business case for phase one of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are right now completing the work plan that was signed with the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation, and one of the deliverables there is that we will be submitting the (DAR) addendum report in July, and alongside that will go in the business case. So that is -- July would be the deadline on that but in the meantime, Mr. Speaker, that is not stopping anyone, any Minister here from advancing and advocating for this project using already the very well-known principles of what will make this project such an important asset for the Government of the Northwest Territories, for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're making progress. We have targets and deadlines so we can achieve our accomplishment.
My third question there, Mr. Speaker, is when will the Minister arrange for a joint Indigenous governments group to engage in campaign engagement meetings with our federal counterparts on that specific project? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we certainly already, in October, had the opportunity to be in Ottawa alongside Indigenous governments, the Sahtu Secretariat as well as the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation, and the Member for the Sahtu all conducted a -- co-hosted and presented the Mackenzie Valley Highway engagement attended by federal Ministers, a number of businesses, foreign dignitaries. It was very well received. I would certainly look forward to doing something similar again. I can say, Mr. Speaker, there's an intention amongst the Indigenous governments who line the entire route, both phase one and phase two, all the way up to the Gwich'in Tribal Council lands, to return to Ottawa. I would hope that that would be this spring. I don't have a date set, but I'll certainly want to get word out as soon as we do. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. As I said in my Member's statement, a study from 2003 found that almost half of our youth aged 16 to 25 could not read or write well enough to fully participate in society. 70 percent of Indigenous adults, 30 percent of non-Indigenous adults were not functionally literate.
The first question is, does the Minister have any data or even anecdotal evidence to tell us whether our functional literacy rates amongst youth or adults have been getting better or been getting worse since 2003? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the survey that was done in 2003 that the Member is referring to was done by Statistics Canada, and the most recent version of a Statistics Canada study that was done was done in 2022-2023 and, unfortunately, the most recent study did not include the Northwest Territories. So we do not have updated trend analysis information that would allow us to compare to that study that was done in a similar fashion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So does ECE or do the school boards even keep data on literacy levels amongst students at any grade in the school system, whether that's early learners or high school students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the answer is yes, but it's certainly the type of information that's gathered varies by both age and purpose and we don't have a single territory-wide number. It's worth noting that the territory's currently in the process of transitioning to the BC curriculum, and there will be consistent literacy and numeracy testing and assessment -- graduation assessments that are done as part of that. So those will be done in grade 4, grade 7, grade 10, and grade 12. And because of the change in regulations that affords for more information sharing to the department, we'll be in a much better position to track that data. Thank you.
