Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE.
The Minister from ECC confirmed that the GNWT income support assistance program is provided to all residents in the NWT. My question here is, but here in NWT we have 51 percent of residents, that all Indigenous Metis and Inuit combined. Mr. Speaker, on September 27th, 2023, the 19th Assembly passed Bill 85 legislation. My question is to the Minister of ECE. What has ECE done to date to modernize their policy to respect the 51 percent of the Indigenous, Metis, and Inuit human rights of Indigenous people? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in the life of the last Assembly, there was an extensive review done of the entire income assistance program. That program included adjustments, for example, like adding another branch of the program, if you will, that is income assistance dedicated to elders, seniors, persons with disabilities. We also updated the amounts that people receive on a monthly basis and tied them more closely to the northern basket measure. In addition, there were changes made to the program that allowed for more earned income to be kept and also exempted other things from someone's unearned income, and some of those items I listed off in my previous responses to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question back to the Minister of ECE is when can her department give me -- or Minister give me an answer in regards to when they're going to modernize their policies in line to Bill 85, the legislation? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, as the Member knows, based on the responses from the Premier last week in regards to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Implementation Plan, we have a committee that is prioritizing what pieces of legislation they will be reviewing first, and that committee has the authority to determine what pieces of existing Government of the Northwest Territories legislation will be reviewed and in what order. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is that what is the timeline, and do you expect that work to be done in this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to defer that question to the Premier as that piece of legislation, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Implementation Act, falls under his authority. Thank you.
Thank you, Education, Culture and Employment. Colleagues, our time for oral questions is up. Oral questions. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to the Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. Motions. Notices of motion for the first reading of bills. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, with the Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh in the chair.
I will now call the Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? I will go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates, with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We'll take our 15-minute break.
---SHORT RECESS
Okay, order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates. We will now resume our consideration of the Department of Industry and Tourism and Investment. I want to go to the Minister of Industry and Tourism and Investment.
Yes, please, Mr. Chair. I would like to bring witnesses into the House.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chamber.
Okay, would the Minister please introduce her witnesses?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have Pamela Strand, the deputy minister of industry, tourism and investment. And on my right, I have Nina Salvador who is the director of finance and corporate services for industry, tourism and investment.
Thank you. Committee, we will resume by beginning consideration of the tourism and parks key activity, beginning on page 244 with information items on page 246. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, something that I've been hearing recently, and I know the Minister is aware because we've chatted about it, is that within the tourism envelope in the NWT, there is a desire from international tourists, specifically, for luxury experiences. There's a high demand for it but little market for it. Is this a conversation that the Minister is having with the hospitality industry? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
So, Mr. Chair, this is a conversation that is happening within the tourism sector, with Indigenous governments as well, with investors both nationally and internationally as well. This is a conversation that has come up on multiple occasions as well when we have had conversation with ambassadors who are looking for different partnerships and relationships that can be formed and tourism is a natural one in that. And so certainly these conversations are happening and there is a mass of people out there that are looking for unique experiences in the Northwest Territories and all budget ranges of those experiences. So, this is certainly an instance of if you build it, they will come. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Minister of Great Slave -- Member.
Thanks for the promotion, Mr. Chair.
I guess on top, to respond then back to the Minister's remarks, Mr. Chair, I suppose what supports and/or guidance is she giving to Indigenous governments that might be interested in this space? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
So, Mr. Chair, if we are making contacts with people who are looking for opportunities to invest, certainly making sure that we're sharing that information and making connections when I am having conversations with Indigenous governments or their development corporations. In addition to that, Mr. Chair, the NWT Tourism also has an Indigenous government caucus that they are forming and putting together programs for as well.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister. That sounds intriguing. What are the terms of reference for this Indigenous caucus? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, for that level of detail, I'd like to pass to the deputy minister.
Okay, I will go to the deputy minister.
Yes, so this is all in regards to NWT Tourism that are our destination marketing organization. What we've seen is a trend across Canada with funding coming through Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, also called ITAC, to fund Indigenous tourism associations across the country. That is embedded in NWT Tourism's makeup with representatives from all regions and Indigenous groups. And so they're working at how they can bolster that to access other pots of money like ITACs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry for the delay.
I believe that's all I have for this item. Thank you.
Are there any other questions from Members? Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, my first question, in the business plan on page 36, it talks about one of the actions is to work with partners to identify barriers for remote lodge operations. And there's like a little paragraph there under progress that talks about how an economic analysis that was done across departments identified a number of regulatory barriers. And one of the case studies was remote lodges, and there were these four barriers identified:
Fire inspections,
Liquor licensing,
Environmental health and water; and
Immigration hospitality.
But it doesn't say anything about what's actually being done about those barriers. So yay, we did a study and identified barriers. So what is the next step? How is this being prioritized? How are these barriers being addressed and removed? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, within economic barriers space, some of the work that ITI does is working with their stakeholders, so different industry leaders in order to basically unroot those. And then I have the opportunity and officials as well, and deputy minister as well, at her tables to share this, both with my colleagues at the Cabinet table, this work, as well as other deputies, so that we're all essentially working together. Whether or not and how this work is then prioritized really relies on the other work that is being done within that department.
So, for example, within this example, so fire inspections are done with MACA, liquor licensing with finance, environmental health and water with health and social services. So it's really about an all-of-government approach, but we also have to take into account that there are a multitude of priorities, especially related to legislation within each of these departments, and ultimately, at the end of the day, determine what has the greatest impact for northern residents across the board. And so it's largely a prioritization exercise but work is still being done, and first and foremost is identifying what those barriers are. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, and so is this analysis at least publicly available? So other, I mean, I am sure this might apply to many other business owners, entrepreneurs, tourism operators, so they might be able to see the work that's been done, and then is there some public, like a tracker or something that would allow them to see what is in progress, what's being done to address these things, even if they're not top priorities? It's like okay, well, next year, we're going to look at this, or in the next Assembly, just so that there's a loop back to people who are certainly interested in seeing these barriers removed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the work has not progressed to this stage at this point. It's work that we continue to essentially identify, uproot, and then prioritize first and foremost at the Cabinet table in relationship to the other priorities that have been identified by this Assembly. It, at this point, really is about determining what makes the most sense. There are some items that have been identified that may have a minimal economic impact for the Northwest Territories but might be very important to one person, and it doesn't mean that we, as a government, want to discount items that are important but figuring out first and foremost what may be some out-of-the-box options as to how to address them. And it doesn't mean that we're not addressing any of them to begin with.
For example, when it comes to the issue of remote lodges, we've already been able to work closely with some of these operators to identify different funding mechanisms that they can tap into to address some of the needs and some of the issues that they're identifying within their specific lodge. But that doesn't kind of go upstream, which is what some of this work is intending to do. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to a Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that. I mean, I understand that not everything that's identified is going to be the top priority for the whole of government, but I do think this links well, and it doesn't say explicitly but, you know, with the red tape reduction working group and the overall efforts within government to try to respond and -- yeah, be more responsive to small businesses, entrepreneurs in terms of removing barriers. So I hope that that work as a whole can be made more front and center, public, in terms of what is being done, what can be done, what concerns are being heard.
Anyway, I will leave that for a second. But I also wanted to ask -- and I apologize, I can't seem to find a page number in the business plan anymore but I did write it down -- there are tourism business mentorships, and it was noted that there were four mentees for 2025-2026. And in terms of youth mentors for tourism, there were five mentees in 2025-2026. This seems like a good program.
Can you clarify, first, is this through the SEED program; and secondly, are we meeting all the demands or applications for mentors and mentees or, you know, are there even more requests out there that we couldn't meet because of limited funding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
So, Mr. Chair, it is a program through the tourism mentorship fund, so not through SEED, so it is separate. And in addition to that, it's a program that was captured as part of Tourism 2025.
As far as I know, we are not receiving or not being inundated with requests for mentorship, and it is always the goal of industry, tourism and investment, if somebody is wanting to pursue some type of mentorship that has to do with business that we're going to find somebody to pair them up with and at least always make that connection. It's a department that is very much based in relationship building because that's where we see the greatest amount of success when we're talking about supporting young entrepreneurs or new entrepreneurs. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
