Thank you, Dehcho. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel like Minister Semmler today. I am going to have some water.
So related to the question -- thank you to the Member for the question -- solutions to educate people, which was the STEP program, was discontinued in 2023. It was a requirement to complete prior to accessing homeownership programs. STEP was discontinued because some of the modules were outdated and resources are now available online, such as budgeting and home purchase information. The home maintenance module was also part of the program but was determined to be a barrier to access programs as there are many capacity constraints and delivery challenges in remote communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. And thank you to the Minister for that. What were the barriers to the program that the Minister mentioned? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think with the STEP program that what we're doing now is we're offering this online, so it's available throughout the Northwest Territories online.
In terms of capacity constraints though, with our program officers they're finding overwhelming need, especially with the applications in our different various home repair/homeownership programs, that there's a number of applications coming in because the need for housing is so great in the Northwest Territories that that's one of the barriers, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And if the Minister is considering options to improve homeownership, education, and counselling, will she commit to working with Indigenous governments, local housing offices, and community educators, to ensure any future programming is accessible, culturally grounded, and reflective of northern realities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, Housing NWT is focused on reviewing its homeownership programs to ensure its effectiveness. Once these programs have been reviewed, Housing NWT will evaluate what education tools may be needed to support the program's and clients' success. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
I already asked my electronic questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Good use of that electronic system.
Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure why ECC is responsible for lands when they are not responsible for property tax. Land lease in small communities are MACA responsibility. So does this mean I go to ECC office in Behchoko to pay for my land lease? Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So within municipal boundaries, that falls under the general tax assessment and the municipal tax area. That is related to municipal services, and the Member is right, the municipal government would -- you know, the taxes for the owner of the lands. But when it comes down to leases, it all depends on what type of lease and the area it's in within the -- or around the municipal boundaries or in the municipal boundaries. So, again, it all depends on the type of lease in the area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is what happens when there is too many duplication of program and services between departments.
So to Minister of MACA, will the Minister take steps to ensure seniors who pay land lease fees receive the same relief as seniors who receive property tax relief across the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, the related municipal tax area is related to essentially six communities in the Northwest Territories: Yellowknife, Hay River, Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Inuvik, and Norman Wells, and our program applies to those six communities. However, we are going to be reviewing the program and try to get updated before the end of this Assembly. So I look forward to the Member, you know, giving me her comments or, when we advertise them, to submit her comments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from the Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to return to the Minister of Human Resources, and I want to talk about remote working this time. Can the Minister help the Assembly understand their definition of remote working through sort of a policy example, and can she also explain what she highlights or, say, clarifies for the House how that policy is monitored when people request it? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Finance.
Okay, Mr. Speaker, well, I will try and get through all three of those as succinctly as I can. With respect first to what is remote work, that is defined for us within the remote work policy and guidelines. I don't have the remote work policy and guidelines in front of me, Mr. Speaker, but I certainly can say that it is online and can certainly be referenced. What was next? I've already forgotten, Mr. Speaker; I am sorry. Yeah, I should have written it down. I am sorry, Mr. Speaker. I -- yeah, I didn't write it down.
Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will accept the kind effort of -- so I am not going to give a -- to answer the question so I am not going to try to dig or quip on that process. My question was built around could she explain the policy, how it works and how it's monitored in the sense of transparency. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so I can say right now -- so the remote work policy and guidelines, it really was designed -- it came out during COVID, was an opportunity for folks to go on a formalized arrangement with their supervisor so that people could make a decision or a choice or apply to make the choice to work not necessarily in their office. It was at the time really conceived as an opportunity for people who might live in a community outside of headquarters or regional office to stay outside of the headquarters or regional offices and be able to then still apply for and receive a position. We only have a small number of public servants who are on the working remote work. I should also note one last comment, Mr. Speaker -- mindful of time -- that it is also -- it limits the ability to work outside of the territory. It really is an opportunity to focus on having remote work within the territory and to limit people working from outside of the territory as public servants. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. She got to my next question about the -- the question about how do we put controls on it and manage it.
Mr. Speaker, just clearly in short, the public service annual reports I pulled, both 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, it makes no particular mention of that process. My concern is, of course, it's not mentioned; and, second of all, can we get some better transparency on people working remotely but within the NWT and remotely outside of the NWT, because I've been informed that people are and there is no checks or balances. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, firstly, happy to say that this can go in the public service annual report. So this is one of those times where I can give a bit of a yes to that. We can certainly find -- find certain reporting into that -- into the annual report that we do. And, Mr. Speaker, with respect to out of territory work, that actually has to go -- those applications are scrutinized much more carefully. They do go through the Department of Finance so that there is consistency in the application of that, and we've actually cut down -- initially when the policy came out, I know we cut down on the number of out of territory remote work arrangements that there were and have continued to do so, which is this is why it is going through one department, to ensure that -- that is an area that we get some concerns raised, and so we want to make sure that it is absolutely consistent. But, yeah, we will, again, be able to report more on that in the annual report. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2014 the GNWT signed on the devolution agreement and as a result of that, they created the Council of Leaders. And part of that, they created the housing forum. Right now the housing forum is making an application to Build Canada Homes funds, and the Housing NWT is funding that initiative. But, Mr. Speaker, not everybody signed on to the devolution agreement - the Dehcho and Akaitcho, three of the four communities. So there is a need for an organization like Dene Nation to find a vehicle to make applications for the same funding.
So my question is to the Minister of Housing NWT that to eliminate this duplication, we also would like to see a commitment from her to fund the Dene Nation of $700,000 for this housing initiative. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for the question. I think I answered the question earlier. But with the NWT Housing Forum, I just want to clarify that many communities in the Akaitcho and the Dehcho region participate in the NWT Housing Forum and have ongoing discussions and work in collaboration with Housing NWT. So these conversations and these partnerships continue even if they're not part of the devolution agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the Dene Nation Assembly in Fort Good Hope, they passed a resolution calling for -- to start up, to Build Canada Homes funding to build homes in the Northwest Territories. And there are also people from -- that are part of the housing forum that signed on to the motion.
So my question to the Minister, is she able to sit down with the Dene Nation, Dene National Chief George Mackenzie, to work with him in trying to figure out as to how we're all going to work together since housing is a top priority of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, of course I am willing to sit down with the Dene National Chief to talk about their vision around housing in the Northwest Territories, have a conversation. But one thing I will say is I am working with Indigenous rights organizations in this Northwest Territories, and we work one-on-one or through the NWT Housing Forum. But of course willing to sit down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, it's good that she's willing to sit down with the Dene Nation to talk about housing. But the thing is that we're talking about rights-based communities. The Dehcho, Akaitcho are not part of the devolution agreement. So there's a need to sit down to sort that out because you can't sort of just take care of the people that signed on to devolution and then not deal with the ones that didn't sign on to it. So we need to address this issue in trying to help find the monies needed to get this thing off the ground on housing. Thank you.
So I will just stand, Mr. Speaker, now. Just kidding.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Council of Leaders has nothing to do with devolution. What is part of devolution is the Intergovernmental Council. Just to clarify that. But, again, we do work in partnership with the Akaitcho and the Dehcho communities that are interested in delivering housing in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing -- You've already got me thinking health and social services. Minister responsible for housing.
Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we face the imminent closure of diamond mines, critical minerals becomes all the more critical for our economy. We have 25 out of 34 critical minerals in the Northwest Territories.
On March 3rd at PDAC, the federal government announced up to $165 million for 22 Canadian projects to unlock upwards of $434 million in critical mineral projects. These were all over the place: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. But the Northwest Territories is not on the list.
So I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, why aren't NWT projects, who are leaders in critical minerals, getting access to these and other federal funds as the federal government continues its aggressive push to develop critical minerals in Canada and we keep missing the list? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Range Lake. Minister of ITI.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't speak for the companies involved, the countries involved, or our federal government and the choices that were made. All of the proponents that were highlighted at the announcement at PDAC were also tied to investment from foreign countries as well, and so I can't speak to the Member's question. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to correct the information, some of these projects are the Saskatchewan energy/power corporation, SaskPower, developing linkages between northern and southern Saskatchewan; the B2Gold project in Nunavut; the clean energy design which is doing a pilot in the Northwest Territories is also doing a pilot there. So I don't -- those don't sound like foreign companies to me. So can the Minister take a look at this fund and see how it and other critical mineral funds are working and ensure that some of that investment is flowing here and support our local projects to make sure that they can receive this necessary funding. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I sat in the room with Minister Hodgson when he made the announcements, listened to all of them. All the announcements that were made in that room were tied to foreign investments. Absolutely, we are looking into all of these funds, tapping them, making sure that we're connecting as well our local Indigenous governments, local Indigenous development corporations, and our proponents that are operating here in the territory, making sure that they are aware of different funding opportunities. We hosted an entire panel when we were at PDAC, Mr. Speaker. I moderated it, our Premier spoke at it, where we actually had people from the federal government come and speak to Indigenous governments and Indigenous development corporations about different funding opportunities that are available. We also had different successful proponents that have seen success in some of these funding programs come and speak to the audience and also be able to talk about their success stories. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will stress that these are 22 Canadian projects regardless of their investment sources. And if it's foreign investment we're looking for, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment should be talking to those foreign sources. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister outline how much money the territorial projects have received since Prime Minister Carney started shifting towards a new critical mineral strategy? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have those tallied up in front of me but certainly happy to sit down with the Member whenever he'd like. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, continuing on the human resource theme, and I can't stress I've had the pleasure of going through, at least on a cursory review, of the public service annual report. So I am going to draw to the attention both the two years of 2023-2024 and the following report 2024-2025 as the simple examples.
Mr. Speaker, on page 50, ironically in both reports, it is the only when phrase direct appointments is used. It's not used in any other phrasing or calculation. And it embeds the issue that I am trying to raise. It says internal mobility includes all transfers, and in brackets, (including direct appointments). So, Mr. Speaker, given the fact that the two years -- and I will just make it very easy. There's just over 2,100 internal mobility changes in jobs, and the second one there's almost 1,900 mobility jobs, is there a reason why the government doesn't specifically point out how many direct appointments are made in a public service annual report? Thank you.
