Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Final question for now in my information gathering mission here. I'm curious whether income assistance navigators have any tools to help identify or flag struggles that clients might be having with literacy, and then do they have any ability to link them with available supports for literacy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, this is done in kind of two different fashions. So the first is ensuring that client navigators are serving residents with the supports that they need in order to understand the paperwork that they're completing. We know that sometimes people need supports in other languages. Sometimes they need added support. Sometimes those supports come as well from Members in this House. And then the secondary kind of role with literacy supports is kind of those pathways to training or to supports for education that people might be looking for, supports for the knowledge of different programming that's happening in a community, for example, with the literacy council employability programming that's happening in some small communities in the territory right now as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
The process to mitigate radon is not complicated, but professionals who can install these systems are not extensively available throughout the territory. Mr. Speaker, I'm not asking the GNWT to find cash to set up private homes and businesses with mitigation solutions. Rather, Mr. Speaker, I'm asking if the Minister of MACA has any interest in creating a coordination function at his department so that residents could mass book specialists from other jurisdictions to realize cost savings of booking en masse. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So radon testing in private homes is not within the mandate or authority of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. And do I appreciate the Member's desire to coordinate; however, MACA does not oversee environmental health issues and this is not in the area that MACA has any funding for or staff supports for. However, I will say, though, just because of, you know, the concern that we have, you know, I'm interested in collaborating with the Member to try to get resources available for residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister; I'm happy to collaborate.
Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT is working to address radon concerns with contractors when high levels are found in public housing. Would the Minister consider discussing any kind of coordination approach -- maybe he and I can chat about it further -- with LGANT or the NWT Association of Communities in addition to discussing successful options for securing contractors with Housing NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's something we can discuss with the Housing NWT; however, I'm not going to commit to anything on behalf of Housing NWT. And radon testing and mitigation in private residential dwellings is not an area that MACA holds responsibility for. As such, MACA is not lead with coordinating work on radon testing initiatives. The federal government has a lot of information for action plans for municipalities, and also the Department of Health and Social Services has a great website on radon information in the Northwest Territories, and I've also asked the department to share resources and information with LGANT and NWTAC and get that information out to the Members, and I believe this has already been done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the Minister does not hold this function. I'm hoping to create a conversation amongst all communities as we look to address this issue. So that's what I'm speaking to today. I'm hoping he can review the jurisdictional scan I will table later today. And, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister talk to municipal leaders at the upcoming NWT Association of Communities bear pit about possible actions that we can support with the GNWT's resources? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, I appreciate the interest on radon mitigation, you know, and I will review the jurisdictional scan that is going to be tabled. However, radon mitigation in private homes, again, is not the responsibility of Municipal and Community Affairs. And as a former municipal councillor and government official myself, I -- you know, I'm always happy to hear from municipal leaders on the issues that are important to their communities. Any discussion on radon would focus on sharing information, helping direct communities to possible external resources rather than undertaking new MACA-led initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier.
What specific actions will our government take to ensure that misinformation or denialism about residential schools, such as the statement made in the BC legislature, does not take root here in the Northwest Territories, particularly in our schools and public institutions? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I understand that the bill that the Member is referencing in the BC legislature was handedly defeated. I believe it was 86 votes against and 3 votes for. So even there I think there's a clear understanding that residential school denialism is not appropriate, and it's not factual obviously. And so here in the Northwest Territories, I say we are the leaders in Canada in reconciliation, working with Indigenous peoples. Specifically, when we speak to how we are going to educate the population, one of the things we do, of course, is we have northern studies courses in schools that all students are required to take, and those speak to residential school. As a government, we've developed the Living Well Together program where new GNWT employees -- or all GNWT employees, actually, have to take this and this speaks about the history of the territory, including residential schools. And so we have a number of ways to try to educate the, you know, large swaths of the public in this area. And, of course, we have to remember that half of our population is Indigenous and very much familiar with the history of residential school as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the defeat of the motion that was introduced, but there are people out there with that kind of mindset so we need to let the public know that is wrong. So how will the GNWT reinforce its public commitment to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and support communities, survivors, and Indigenous governments, so that the day continues to serve its intended purpose of truth telling, honouring survivors, and educating the public? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, we've enshrined that day into our legislation, and so it's only this House that could actually remove that as a day that we recognize here in the Northwest Territories. We're doing -- again, as I said, everything we do, we try to do it in partnership with Indigenous governments, but we do it with the spirit of reconciliation. We're doing things like moving forward with the residential school monument here in the capital that will, you know, always highlight that part of Canada's history. We know -- this is actually -- I like these questions from the Member, and we're doing a lot in this space, so what I would like to do is come back to this House with a written response for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the harm that denialist's statements can cause to survivors and their families, what additional supports or engagement will the Government of the Northwest Territories provide to ensure that survivors in the Northwest Territories feel heard, respected, and protected when other jurisdictions undermine or challenge the realities of the residential school system? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think that's incumbent on all of us to do, to support each other. Personally, I will continue to speak about the history of the territory. One of my primary roles when I travel around Canada is to educate people on the history of the territory. I was actually just in front of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, the parliamentary standing committee in Ottawa, and they asked me what's the biggest issue we face in the territory and I said it's trauma that came from residential school and colonialism. So I'll continue to be out there speaking to Canadians about this. And in the territory, it's important that people know that the government understands, I understand this. I'm aware of the impacts that this has had, and it's always in our minds when we move forward, when we look at our healthcare system, housing, some of the social programs through employment insurance. The impacts of residential school are at the forefront of our considerations. And so I'd want the residents of the territory to know that we are always, always putting our mind towards this in support of them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, in Premier. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of health.
The Premier made opening comments on this health today, and he talked about access, respect, and reliability. And in the 19th Assembly, we signed UNDRIP, so we talked about that a little bit as well. But, Mr. Speaker, part of the priority of this government, access to health care, is one of the three top priorities of this government -- or sorry, four top priorities of this government. And the letter from the Premier, June 12th, 2024, in that mandate letter from the Premier to the Minister of health, it talks about -- I'll just read the section here. It says that can the Minister start working with Indigenous governments to advance modernization of the GNWT medical travel policy.
Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister: Can the Minister update the House on what advancements were made in the last 27 months to modernize the NWT medical travel policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are many things that are ongoing right now, but one of the things that we had to do that was really priority was the medical response. So that's our air ambulance. We had to negotiate a new contract, which is only negotiated every ten years. This is to make sure that anybody who needs emergency air ambulance out of a small community into the capital or from a regional centre to the capital or to the south for whatever care that they need, that was a priority that was done. The other piece is that we are working on right now is we are working with NIHB. As the Member has stated in his Member's statement, the medical travel pieces are to surround the patient and getting them access to care; however, for First Nation and Inuit, we administer those on behalf of the rules that the federal government give us to do their program. They are the funder of the program, and if we do not administer their program under their rules then they do not give us the money to run the program. So one of the things that we have been doing is to -- working with our counterparts in Ottawa is to ensure that they understand the logistics of the North and our small communities and how our small communities and our seniors, our elders in our communities, don't comprehend a lot of English. And this is some of the work that we were able to take them with us on the Nahendeh tour, and they went into the small communities, heard from those communities. And so the work that we did through that, the work that we are doing on modernizing the medical travel that will also aid in some of the things that -- you know, I can't speak to the upcoming budget, but it's the work that we're doing that's going to help to make those changes. However, there is still many areas that we are working on and throughout the rest of the term of this government that hopefully that we'll be able to finalize that and implement those changes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I talked about my constituents that have been medivaced here, a young mother was in an awkward position and leaving them more or less homeless because of the policies of government prohibited them getting help. We've been at this business since 1967, and I guess my question to the Minister is that is there a way that we could create a contingency account until proper due process is done in Ottawa to approve medical travel for patients here in the Northwest Territories? We should have an emergency fund. And we've been at it for 59 years, so is there something that we could do to help in that area? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the piece around air ambulance and medivacs is to get the patient to care. And sometimes, unfortunately, there is no -- patients can't take -- or the plane can't take other family members due to the amount of space and getting -- it's about getting the patient to the care that they need. What I would recommend is that anybody who -- you know, if their family members are leaving, it's reaching out to medical travel prior to, you know, jumping in your vehicle and driving because there are processes in place and sometimes, you know, it's unfortunate we're looking at the air ambulance because right now there isn't an exception or there isn't a policy around escorts when there's air ambulance. However, with NIHB -- which they will not delegate that to us -- they can, with the doctor and everybody can put in an exception request. With that exception request, sometimes there's an approval and sometimes there's not. But they don't delegate that to our administration. They hold that to them because that's up in their -- you know, for their decision-making. We are working with them right now to look at all of the things that they have approved to see if there's a way that they can delegate that to us, which we could do an approval a lot faster. And we're hoping within the next -- you know, within these next couple of months that we will have that work done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am a little concerned that our Treaties number 8 and 11, signed in 1900 and 2000 -- or sorry, 1921, and we have rights on health. And, Mr. Speaker, my concern is that the policy on government now is overriding our treaties. And so when they turn down help for our constituents, who are treaty members, and we deny them because we're hiding behind policies, in terms of moving forward in collaboration and implementation of UNDRIP, what can we do different now as we develop new policies to work with treaty communities and without impacting their treaty rights on health? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with health care, access to health care, anything that's an insured service, any -- it doesn't matter whether you're treaty or not, you will have access to those services and we will get you to those appointments if you are the patient. Where it comes into always an issue is when the patient has the approval to travel but when there's no escort and the escort is denied. Those are the pieces that we're trying to work on. Because right now, you know, we have increased the amount of escorts over the past -- every two -- last two years, since I've been in here, the amount of escorts have increased. We are approving more escorts. We are streamlining the process a little bit better; those who need them. But there is still some work to do with NIHB on those circumstances related around air ambulances because there isn't, and that is not something that's delegated to us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on some of the comments made by my colleague from Range Lake.
Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has been criticized by being a cumbersome process in the transfer of land by the city of Yellowknife. But not just them. Indigenous governments, businesses, and industry, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are directed to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
What barriers is the Minister prepared to remove or is currently removing to ensure that the GNWT does not stand in the way of the $10 billion northern investment by the national defence? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have -- the Department of Environment and Climate Change has been working very closely with the city of Yellowknife. We recently signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on bulk land transfers and moving land within the city. We currently have been meeting with the department on a very regular basis. We just had a meeting a week ago to talk about these potential requests that are going to come from the Department of National Defence. And we certainly recognize that this is a very important opportunity for the Northwest Territories, for the City of Yellowknife and the Town of Inuvik, and we are prepared to work with both of those communities as well as with our Indigenous partners in both of the regions to advance this as quickly as we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure what MOU the Minister's referring to. I believe the last one, the City of Yellowknife either, you know, theoretically or metaphorically or whatever you want to call it, tore it up. In other words, they believed it wasn't working. Mr. Speaker, to the point, $10 billion doesn't come around every day, and it's certainly worth dedicating a dedicated team for this to help Yellowknife and the Town of Inuvik, Mr. Speaker. So my question specifically is does the Minister recognize the opportunity of aligning his department in a way so it can help facilitate and accelerate this extraordinary opportunity to ensure it isn't lost? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly recognize the opportunity here. I think it's a tremendous opportunity for the Northwest Territories as a whole. One of my priorities as Minister has been to focus on land and the ability to transfer land to communities. That's through collaborative work with housing, with MACA, to ensure that we are putting forward our resources in a way that maximizes those opportunities. We've added additional resources, and we've really gone on an effort to focus. Our primary focus was on housing, but it's very clear to me that working with the communities to advance the land requirements for these mega projects, to ensure that we get the maximum benefit from the $10 billion, is certainly a priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, just a few short weeks ago, the city was telling us that the land process and transfer process continues to be bogged down. Mr. Speaker, I know a lot of numbers get confusing, but I am going to say one land's employee, using round numbers, is $150,000. I would hate to think 0.000015 would stand in the way of $10 billion. That's the percentage, Mr. Speaker. So would the Minister take action to ensure the ball isn't dropped, and can the Minister explain what type of action he's going to do and accelerate to ensure this investment opportunity isn't lost in Inuvik and in Yellowknife and Northerners at large? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my earlier response, we currently have a memorandum of understanding with the City of Yellowknife that we signed in the fall. It's a new version of the agreement. We have been working very closely with the city. There's a number of parcels that have been identified as parcels of interest from the Department of National Defence, some of which are already in the possession of the city and have the ability to work with the Department of National Defence to move those requests forward. And certainly, as a department, we have dedicated staff to this process. We realize the importance and significance of doing this, and we are totally committed to working with all of the partners involved, including our Indigenous partners in and around the City of Yellowknife, to ensure that we move this forward in a way that meets everybody's interest. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to take an opportunity to ask the Minister of Justice. A few weeks ago, the GNWT announced its position with regard to the federal government's assault-style firearms buyback program, and it was reported in the media, as the GNWT stated it would not be involved in the federal buyback program and that our territory's RCMP would be directed to not get involved. So that's left many residents, particularly those concerned about rising gun crime in our communities, confused as to whether the program applies in the territory at all.
So my first question is, can the Minister clarify whether the federal assault-style firearms buyback program will be going forward in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the program is a federal initiative, and it will go forward in the Northwest Territories. It started -- I believe the initial process started in the middle of January. It will be administered by the Department of Public Safety at the federal level. My understanding is that they are going to bring in some reserve RCMP officers from outside the territory to help administer that across the Northwest Territories. Our focus from the GNWT perspective is that we have staff challenges with the RCMP across the territory, and we need to have our folks focused on our current challenges within our borders, with the levels of gun crime and drug crime that are in our communities, and that's where we will be focusing on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, you, Mr. Speaker. So I know there was talk of sort of like a mail-in program. But can the Minister clarify, will there be federal staff or contractors physically travelling throughout the territory to collect firearms directly from NWT residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time I don't have that level of detail. Like I said, it's a program that is run by the federal government and will be entirely administered by the federal government. And what their work plan looks like across the Northwest Territories, I could not say at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
