Cost Of Living — 6 June 2012 (17th Assembly, 3rd Session, pp. 923–956)

2012-06-06, 17th Assembly 3rd Session, pp. 923–956

Northwest Territories — Debates (Hansard)

Debates of June 6th, 2012

This is page numbers 923 - 956 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library.

The word of the day was health .

Topics

Members Present

Prayer

Minister’s Statement 24-17(3): Deh Cho Bridge

Minister’s Statement 25-17(3): International Year Of Youth Report

Minister’s Statement 26-17(3): Modernizing Recruitment

Minister’s Statement On Grade 4 Students From J.h. Sissons School And Their Story Project

High Food Costs Throughout The NWT – Bannock And Tea

Cost Of Living And Condition Of Highway No. 7

Hydro Energy Management

Reducing The Cost Of Food

High Cost Of Living In The Sahtu Region

Effects Of The High Cost Of Living In The NWT

Alternative Energy Options To Reduce The Cost Of Living

Addressing The Root Causes Of High Power Rates

High Price Of Fuel In Northern Remote Communities

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Written Question 6-17(3): Yellowknife Office Space

Tabled Document 17-17(3): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 7, 2010-2011 Tabled Document 18-17(3): Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2010-2011 Tabled Document 19-17(3): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2012-2013 Tabled Doc

Tabled Document 21-17(3): Compendium Of Stories By Grade 4 Students In Ms. Siegbahn’s Class At J.h. Sissons School

Appointment Of Human Rights Commission Members

Appointment Of The Equal Pay Commissioner

Establishment Of An Independent Ombudsman’s Office

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Report of Committee of the Whole

Orders of the Day

The House met at 1:31 p.m.

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---Prayer

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Prayer

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Good afternoon, colleagues. Today before we start, I’d just like to say happy Inuvialuit Day. It was yesterday. They signed their land claims 28 years ago. So to all the people in the communities, happy Inuvialuit Day in the Beaufort-Delta.

Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Transportation , Mr. Ramsay .

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Minister’s Statement 24-17(3): Deh Cho Bridge

Ministers’ Statements

Kam Lake

David Ramsay

Minister of Transportation

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Deh Cho Bridge is a major piece of public infrastructure that will serve the people of the Northwest Territories for years to come. This government intends to finish the bridge and have it open to traffic this year. I rise today to update Members and the public on steps the Department of Transportation and Ruskin Construction are taking to ensure our commitment becomes a reality.

Ruskin Construction has made considerable progress in the last six months. They have erected the two pylons, strung all the supporting cables and installed a third of the deck panels. Weather-sensitive work has recently begun, including grouting of the deck panels, installation of the formwork for constructing curbs, and construction on the abutments. Work has continued safely and I am pleased with the quality of the work being undertaken. Even with this progress, though, it has become clear that we will need to do more to get the bridge opened this fall.

Mr. Speaker, an independent engineering assessment has concluded that with additional resources, the bridge can be completed this year. To this end, the department and Ruskin Construction have recently come to an agreement-in-principle that will help us meet this shared goal. The agreement identifies key milestones in the

schedule and provides additional resources to meet our timelines. The agreement also sets out how

additional costs will be shared by the two parties, with the GNWT’s share capped at just under $10 million. The agreement also resolves all outstanding claims between Ruskin and the GNWT, which greatly reduces future financial uncertainty on the project.

Major infrastructure projects are always challenging and the department and Ruskin will have to work hard to manage the project

schedule risks that still remain. Decisive action is necessary to help achieve our goal of opening the bridge to traffic this fall. We have put an arrangement in place that will provide the resources to meet this objective. I am confident that both parties are committed to the successful completion of this project and am sure that we will be able to meet the challenge together. Thank you.

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Minister’s Statement 24-17(3): Deh Cho Bridge

Ministers’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay . The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs , Mr. McLeod.

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Minister’s Statement 25-17(3): International Year Of Youth Report

Ministers’ Statements

Inuvik Twin Lakes

Robert C. McLeod

Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce the release of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs United Nations International Year of Youth Report.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution

proclaiming the year commencing on

August 12, 2010, as the International Year of

Youth.

MACA acknowledged, commemorated and supported the Year of Youth through a number of initiatives and programs that directly supported the objectives of the United Nations’ proclamation and our Assembly’s goal of building sustainable, vibrant and safe communities.

The report showcases the department’s involvement with youth across the Northwest Territories. It also provides a

summary of programs delivered directly by the department and those of other organizations MACA supports.

From culturally focused programs to experience working abroad, MACA’s programs encompass a wide variety of leadership development opportunities.

The Traditional Games Tour program preserves our culture and teaches youth about our history. These games are an integral part of our territorial identity and in the last two years, staff have visited nearly two-thirds of the communities to deliver hands-on workshops in Dene and Inuit games.

The NWT Youth Ambassador Program was established as a permanent program in 2011-2012 after being successfully piloted at events like the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse and the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. In 2010-2011, Youth Ambassadors represented the NWT at the LA Times Travel and Adventure Show in Los Angeles, 2011 Aurora Week in Tokyo, Japan, and during the royal visit last summer.

Mr. Speaker, the primary objective of this program is to give youth a structured volunteer experience at major events and develop important life and job skills that they can carry forward. The unique opportunity this program provides is a testament to the Assembly’s commitment and investment in the future of our youth.

Mr. Speaker, some of the other programs supported by MACA include: the Gwich’in Elders and Youth Forum, the Nahanni River Trip, Camp Connections, Northern Youth Abroad, and the Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research and Learning.

I would like to thank the many community organizations and partners that continue to work with MACA to provide these programs and help shape successful futures for the leaders of tomorrow. I am confident that united with our ongoing support and commitment to our youth, we will continue to build strong leaders and a strong and sustainable future for our territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Minister’s Statement 25-17(3): International Year Of Youth Report

Ministers’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Human Resources , Mr. Abernethy .

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Minister’s Statement 26-17(3): Modernizing Recruitment

Ministers’ Statements

Great Slave

Glen Abernethy

Minister of Human Resources

Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to highlight some of the new tools and resources that the Government of the Northwest Territories is using to modernize and update our recruitment practices and better communicate with job seekers in the Northwest Territories.

Rapidly changing technology gives us faster and more cost-effective ways to provide information about our programs and services, to promote the benefits of working with the territorial public service and to recruit new employees.

As part of 20/20: A Brilliant North, the Public Service Strategic Plan, the Department of Human Resources is creating a new careers website to

The Department of Human Resources also recently launched a Facebook page. It has news releases, a link to the eRecruit site, promotional information, instructional videos, and the “Meet Our People” segments that showcase our employees. As this page becomes more popular, it will promote all of the department’s job-related activities.

Using tools and technology that enhance existing strategies to communicate about our opportunities is important for all residents of the Northwest Territories. Our work to strengthen and maintain a representative workforce supports this Assembly’s priority of building a strong, sustainable future for our territory. Providing people in all communities with opportunities to join the public service strengthens our programs and positions us to do

even better work for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Minister’s Statement 26-17(3): Modernizing Recruitment

Ministers’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy . Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre , Mr. Hawkins .

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Minister’s Statement On Grade 4 Students From J.h. Sissons School And Their Story Project

Members’ Statements

Robert Hawkins

Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to use my Member’s statement to talk about the Grade 4 J.H. Sissons class who have been invited here today, and as Members will note, they are in the gallery right now.

I was invited some time ago to be a listener for their Authentic Audience Project as they wrote stories. Mr. Speaker, I’ll use my Member’s statement today to acknowledge each student and as I read their name and the name of their story, of course, I’d like them to rise so Members can see who they are.

Their teacher is Ms. Catherine Siegbahn, followed by the students: Cameron Bond, Fred the Pirana!; Ivan Ceria, New Super Carl Brothers; Joshua Donison, Bob’s Adventure; Kea Furniss, The Water Mystery; Safiya Hashi, The Black Hole; Dylan Heaton-Vecsei, The Video Game Wish; Ethan Kirizopoulos, Sheep Wars; Emmanuel Lamvu, The Magic Recorder; A.J.

Lawrance, The Gibson Family; Riley Menard, The Mystery Locket; Rae Panayi, Mars Bar; Ruby Pigott, Lou and Spartan Journey in the Haunted Bar; Justin Powder, The Sheep Invasion; Paxton Ramm, It’s So Scary!; Samuel Schofield, Wizards; Zachary Sheck, Star Fox; Nathan Shereni, Mister Awesome; Tristan Sorensen, Purple People Versus Red People; Liam Stushnoff, Liam’s Story; Ronnie White, Dark; and Matthew Wiebe, Life in Roblox.

The last part of my Member’s statement today, I’d like to mention the fact that I will be tabling the stories at the request of the students and I’ll be officially tabling them during that part of our agenda today. As I mentioned to the students, I will return to class and show them that they will be on the record forever. They are fine pieces of work which I’ve had a chance to read. I was very impressed. Thank you for your time today. Thank you.

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Minister’s Statement On Grade 4 Students From J.h. Sissons School And Their Story Project

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins . I, too, would like to welcome all Grade 4 students. One of our staff here, Cheryl Menard’s daughter Riley Menard, welcome back to the Legislative Assembly, Riley.

The honourable Member for Deh Cho , Mr. Nadli .

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High Food Costs Throughout The NWT – Bannock And Tea

Members’ Statements

Michael Nadli

Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A few years ago the Department of Executive put together some pricing samples for basic goods across the Northwest Territories. A bag of flour, 2.5 kilograms, costs $4.15 in Yellowknife, $7.17 in Fort Simpson, $7.79 in Fort Good Hope, $8.25 in Inuvik and $8.94 in Tuk. I don’t know exactly how much flour costs in Fort Providence, but the good folks at the Bureau of Statistics tell us that our prices are at least 21 percent higher than Yellowknife’s.

If we’re going to make bannock, we need to mix the flour with lard and water, maybe some sugar. If lard costs $4 or $5 in Yellowknife, it will probably cost at least $10 in our most remote communities and no less than $7 elsewhere. If you want to get fancy and make your bannock with milk, you had better be rich, because a four-litre jug of fresh milk costs as much as $13.29 in some communities. At that rate, you won’t have any money left over for Klik. I hope you can cook your bannock over a campfire or woodstove, because by now you’ve already spent up to $18 to $20 in some places just for some bannock and you still haven’t made tea.

We all know that power bills are going up and up in all our communities. In Inuvik and Norman Wells natural gas has been shut off, so you better not switch your stove on at all. With the cost of living this high, if it costs a person most of their paycheque just to make bannock, we may have to change the way we live in the Northwest Territories.

Deh Cho communities are fortunate in some ways because we have a viable source of biomass surrounding our communities, we can grow our own food and we know how to hunt. When it comes to other basics like flour, sugar and Red Rose tea, they are difficult to produce locally and we are running out of options.

People in our communities are asking the GNWT to do all they can to reduce the cost of living and find creative solutions to make prices for our basic goods more reasonable for Northerners.

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High Food Costs Throughout The NWT – Bannock And Tea

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Nadli . The honourable Member for Nahendeh , Mr. Menicoche .

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Cost Of Living And Condition Of Highway No. 7

Members’ Statements

Kevin A. Menicoche

Nahendeh

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It is well known that one of the greatest factors contributing to the high cost of living in the NWT is transportation. This is true even for communities that are on the highway system. Although for most cases, having a road does help. What is a real shame is that we have not kept up all the highway investments made in the past and as a result we

are not getting the benefits and lower costs of living as we should be seeing from our existing infrastructure. I am, of course, thinking of Highway No. 7.

The poor condition of Highway No. 7 is not just an operations, maintenance and safety issue, it is also a cost of living issue. For example, the suppliers for the general store in Fort Liard now refuse to ship freight using the shorter route via Fort Simpson and instead insist on taking the long way around through Grande Prairie and up the Mackenzie Highway to Fort Liard because of the bad experiences they have had in the past on the No. 7 mudway. Imagine now how much extra fuel is being wasted to ship each load of goods hundreds of unnecessary kilometres. The financial cost is, of course, being passed on to the Fort Liard residents.

The poor state of the highway is also affecting a number of businesses that need to access it for their operations, such as Beaver Enterprises and the contractors who provide postal and medical travel services between Fort Liard and Fort Simpson. The costs increase because of travel delays and extraordinary wear and tear on vehicles and equipment. Community residents also bear the cost of extra damage to their vehicles and they need to fly instead of drive when the road is impassable.

Just a few days ago, a long-held dream of mine came true: to ride the washboard of Highway No. 7 with the Minister of Transportation . I was very pleased, as were my constituents. The Minister heard from a constituent who was very happy to see him take the initiative to come out and see and feel what the residents have been experiencing. Even though the conditions had been driven for several days, the road was still very rough and as soon as it rains, we know from experience, it will only go from bad to worse.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

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Cost Of Living And Condition Of Highway No. 7

Members’ Statements

Kevin A. Menicoche

Nahendeh

I want to thank the Minister for making the trip and I hope now that he has himself dodged the potholes and rattled over the washboard, that he too will champion our cause.

To invest in a highway is to invest in a lower cost of living for the future. I look forward to the day when I see Highway No. 7 on the government’s books. Mahsi cho.

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Cost Of Living And Condition Of Highway No. 7

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche . The Member for Range Lake , Mr. Dolynny .

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Hydro Energy Management

Members’ Statements

Daryl Dolynny

Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in July 2008, oil peaked to an alarming $147.30 a

barrel. The world stood still, not knowing how high oil prices would go. Luckily, and I say luckily, oil has somewhat normalized to under $100 a barrel, but many believe that we’ll once again see the rise of this commodity to levels of $200-plus, and if so, one only needs to ask are we really ready for what would happen.

The North is very different from the rest of Canada in many ways. With our sparse population dispersed over many millions of square kilometres, the cost of logistics of energy distribution is a major issue to our high cost of living. Interestingly, our per capita energy use is almost two to three times the Canadian average, with electricity costs in some cases over 10 times higher than average per kilowatt hour.

Our overreliance on fossil fuels for diesel electricity generation will no doubt be our ultimate demise if we do not foster a different mindset of change. Although energy efficiency and energy conservation are recommended priorities by many agencies, our true saviour of our energy solution for the North lies with our hydro and transmission line initiatives. As our very Hydro Strategy shows, over 11,000 megawatts of hydro potential is for this region, yet we have only been developing less than 0.5 percent.

Now, I don’t want to discredit the other energy options such as wind, biomass, geothermal, solar and fuel cell technology, and although many reports may indicate mixed results with these alternative energy forms, small community populations could benefit and must be evaluated on a site-by-site basis, as some of these emerging technologies of energy could have potential use. However, I want to be clear: Our future for making real and positive changes in our northern cost of living lies in our hydro capacity build, our mini-hydro run-of-river potential and, more importantly, our transmission line strategy.

In the end, we need to act swiftly and surely on a hydro and transmission line strategy, as it’s through this technology that Northerners will try to see the energy costs lowered to levels of acceptable affordability. Oil prices are a daily ticking time bomb for many of us and we cannot wait for oil to double in price, for our electricity to double in price and for our heating oil to double in price, as living in the North would be impossible.

Let’s ensure our future. Let’s find the resources to build hydro and transmission line capacity now before it’s too late. Thank you.

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Hydro Energy Management

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny . The Member for Weledeh , Mr. Bromley .

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Reducing The Cost Of Food

Members’ Statements

Bob Bromley

Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As people struggle with the high cost of living, providing adequate, affordable and nutritious food to our families can be a challenge. We are dependent on costly southern food, so the affordability of eating right is an issue. When we rely on food from the South, we export our purchasing dollars to the South, and instead of local jobs and businesses, we support jobs and investment afar. Greenhouse gas production increases from transporting food long distances.

The affect some communities have experienced from changes to federal air mail demonstrates the problem we all face. We aren’t meeting local food needs with local supplies. Some progress is being made towards developing our NWT food supply industry. We now have a start on community gardens in most NWT communities, the beginnings of fresh local produce and demonstrating the enormous potential remaining to be tapped.

Kids at schools such as the Kay Tay Whee School in Detah, and perhaps these children here today, provide a good example. They are learning that gardening is not only possible, but fun and tasty.

Fresh NWT-laid commercial eggs will be available inside our borders this fall. The Growing Forward Program supports small-scale food production, commercial development of northern agri-foods, support for the harvesting, processing and marketing of fish and meat, and for traditional harvesting. Exotic mushrooms, birch syrup and studies to expand berry harvesting are happening right here in Yellowknife. Great Slave Fisheries could, and should, meet both regional needs and a top-scale international fish market.

I doff my cap to the intrepid core of food production enthusiasts and the food hunting and fishing public across all of our communities, but great challenges remain, some at a very basic level.

The NWT soil survey of 2008 indicates there are 1.3 million hectares of arable land in the South Slave and Deh Cho regions alone, yet only eight agricultural leases exist today, a total area of 170 hectares or one 7,000

th of the total potential. Most

basically, we lack a long-term plan for agriculture including an NWT food production policy that includes support for infrastructure development and access to land.

When we talk about reducing the cost of living, local food production is essential. By growing our capacity, we will improve the quality and price of healthy food, and opportunities for employment and investment, while building the resilience and self-reliance of our communities. Let’s develop a reliable food policy with the necessary supports and guide this opportunity to full success. Mahsi.

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Reducing The Cost Of Food

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley . The honourable Member for Sahtu , Mr. Yakeleya .

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High Cost Of Living In The Sahtu Region

Members’ Statements

Norman Yakeleya

Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To live in the North it is very costly. We all know how much it is costing us to live in our small communities, even in Yellowknife. When we come to Yellowknife or when we travel to Edmonton, we do the necessary things. We have to shop. We do this to seize the opportunity to bring back cheap groceries, clothing or material. A lot of our people are shocked to see how much things cost in Yellowknife. I am definitely in awe to see the prices in Edmonton. It has been reported by our government that to live reasonably well in Sachs Harbour, you would have to make about $95,000 a year. Do we have those jobs in Sachs Harbour that pay $95,000 a year? Maybe a few.

In the Sahtu our dollar is not the same as the Yellowknife dollar or even the Edmonton dollar. You may be wondering why I am saying this. According to the consumer price index of April 2012, we in Yellowknife pay a bit more than the Edmonton prices, and in the Sahtu we pay double the price, so our dollar is definitely less.

Last weekend, during my stopover in Norman Wells, I was approached by a lady. I asked her about the shopping in Norman Wells. She said, my God, you should look at the bag of flour I had to buy. Twenty pounds is $43. I went to Yellowknife. I just about fainted in the Extra Foods store because of the price they pay there. She said, good thing the hospital was close by. I had to get some medical attention, she said. She was making a joke out of it, but she said the price we pay. In Yellowknife for 20 pounds of flour it’s $12.98.

My colleagues know, for the North and the Sahtu, how high costs are in our small communities. We need to continue to let Ottawa know that we are no different than the people in the South. Quality means our dollar should be of equal value to the southern dollar. As I said, a bag of flour should be the same price as a bag of flour in Edmonton, Sahtu or in Yellowknife. It can be done, Mr. Speaker, just like our bottle of whiskey is the same price in Norman Wells and Edmonton. They pay the same price.

The federal government will be hosting a public meeting in Norman Wells on the Nutritious North Program on June 11

th . I hope my people speak

their mind then. It is my hope…

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High Cost Of Living In The Sahtu Region

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Your time for Member’s statement has expired.

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High Cost Of Living In The Sahtu Region

Members’ Statements

Norman Yakeleya

Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

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High Cost Of Living In The Sahtu Region

Members’ Statements

Norman Yakeleya

Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. It is my hope that our region and other regions will be treated fairly and acknowledged once and for all that our currency has been stretched to the limit in all of our communities. Please, we need help from this government.

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High Cost Of Living In The Sahtu Region

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya . The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake , Mr. Moses .

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Effects Of The High Cost Of Living In The NWT

Members’ Statements

Alfred Moses

Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you can tell, we are going on a theme here. We are talking about the high cost of living in the Northwest Territories. For anybody that doesn’t see it, it would be a good opportunity to go into the communities and see how hard our people have to struggle in the smaller communities.

This is something that affects us all. We talk about the high cost of food, but it does affect our communities, where we’re actually putting people into poverty throughout the Northwest Territories.

We had a good discussion today on mental health and addictions and how people who go into poverty get stressed out, they get depressed, they get a sense of hopelessness; hopelessness within the system, within our government, within our community and with our community leaders and territorial leaders. We need to take action where we can help our people out and get a comfortable type of living just so they can live.

The cost of living is so high in the Northwest Territories that the Minister of Housing and the department of Housing put in a Rent Supplement Program, and I applaud him for that to help the working poor, the people who do have jobs and live in good living conditions, but they have a hard time making it in their communities. So I applaud the Minister and his department for that, for helping us and assisting us that way. However, with the increase in our electricity and our energy bills and the money taken away from our energy initiatives, we’re putting more money away in this government.

That’s affecting our people. I always talk about if we invest now, we don’t have to pay later and our people will have a better, healthier lifestyle.

The Minister of Human Resources mentioned today he has to modernize the Recruitment Strategy, which is great because he needs to find innovative ways because we’re having a hard time getting professionals in the North within certain jobs because of the high cost of living. It’s hard to get people who want to come up here and try to make a living when all of their money is going to pay bills, pay for groceries, pay fuel costs, market rent or the

high cost of living with the houses. It’s a reality. We see it here in Yellowknife, we see it in Inuvik, we see it in the smaller communities.

It’s time that we help our small communities and start making some really good decisions in here that will help our people in the Northwest Territories.

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Effects Of The High Cost Of Living In The NWT

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Your time for Member’s statement… Okay. Thank you, Mr. Moses . The Member for Hay River North , Mr. Bouchard .

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Alternative Energy Options To Reduce The Cost Of Living

Members’ Statements

Robert Bouchard

Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along with my 12 colleagues, I’m concerned with the growing cost of living in the North. Many people are finding it difficult to pay their monthly bills. Every time you turn around, the cost of food, water, taxes, fuel and, more recently, the price of power is going up. These people are the majority of the Northwest Territories, the general public, and the high cost of living especially affects the middleclass and lower-income people throughout the North.

The public is looking to this government to find ways to reduce the high cost of living. Many people are finding ways to reduce their costs and reduce their dependence on power and fuels.

My experienced colleagues have demanded that this government look at ways to reduce the cost of living. I would like to discuss two ways I feel that can be effective and it’s attainable during the life of this Assembly.

I believe that biomass is a great return on investment. It is a renewable resource; it is a product of a valuable commodity: lumber. Biomass also has great potential for heat and for power as well.

The second tool that I believe this government can use to reduce the costs is through the hydropower system and the expansion of our power system. The expansion of the hydro system must link to the southern grid to both NWT hydro systems. The system then can expand north up the Mackenzie Valley.

The high cost of living is a growing monster. Because these high costs are spreading to business as well, all residents are affected and they are affected in the cost of fuel, food, rent and all aspects of people’s lives. We need to come up with a plan to stop and reduce the escalating cost of living in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Alternative Energy Options To Reduce The Cost Of Living

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard . The Member for Frame Lake , Ms. Bisaro .

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Addressing The Root Causes Of High Power Rates

Members’ Statements

Wendy Bisaro

Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Electricity, we can’t live without it. We grumble every time the power bill comes in. It drives up the costs of living in our communities. Next to food and rent or housing costs, our power bill is the one element that most contributes to our high cost of living in the North.

Two and a half years ago the government reviewed electricity rates in the NWT. As a result, power rates across most of the NWT were changed, for the better, mind you. Those rates were frozen for two years. Those two years are up right now and we’re about to feel the result of that freeze as our power bills are set to increase 25 percent in the next three and a half years. To soften the blow, the government now chooses to subsidize that rate increase instead of addressing the root causes of our high power bills.

We need to reduce our reliance on diesel generation and look to green, renewable sources of power. We had the opportunity to start down that road three years ago. Instead of pouring money into subsidies we should have applied that money to energy initiatives. Initiatives like determining alternative sources for power generation, greener sources, cheaper sources. We did not.

In 2009 the general view of those consulted on electricity rates was that it was time for the creation of a long-term vision for electricity and almost all believed that the GNWT should develop, direct and lead such a vision. The GNWT chose the easy road and left any thought of a vision behind.

It will take a long time to transform any vision into real projects to achieve cheap power sources for each and every one of our communities. That’s not a reason not to start. The 16

th Assembly showed

some recognition of the urgency of the issue and committed $60 million to energy projects over the life of the Assembly. In the 17

th Assembly that

funding has come to a screeching halt, nowhere to be found.

We can’t keep throwing money at our high power rates and taking such short-term actions. We have to take a longer-term view of the problem and that means putting money into the 2012-2013 budget to attack the root causes of our high power bills. If we don’t, we’re doomed to ever-increasing power bills, an ever-increasing cost of living, and an exodus of people leaving the NWT because of it.

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Addressing The Root Causes Of High Power Rates

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro . Colleagues, before we go on I would like to remind you that when a Member is speaking, the mics can really pick up sidebar conversations. Please give the Member the attention they are due for their statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta , Mr. Blake .

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High Price Of Fuel In Northern Remote Communities

Members’ Statements

Frederick Blake Jr.

Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement will be on the price of fuel. Before I get into that, many people in the Mackenzie Delta right now are out on the land boating, hunting muskrats, ducks, enjoying life up there. One of their biggest challenges is the price of fuel.

In Aklavik many residents pay $1.88 for one litre of gas. In Tsiigehtchic it’s $1.77. In Fort McPherson, which was the least expensive in the Mackenzie Delta, it’s $1.65.

Many people in Aklavik would like to see some type of subsidy for their gas. The gasoline in Tsiigehtchic is subsidized but, as you can tell, it doesn’t make much of a difference compared to the community of Fort McPherson, which is 57 kilometres away.

I believe that this government needs to do something to tackle this problem and give everybody the same type of fuel prices throughout the Northwest Territories.

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High Price Of Fuel In Northern Remote Communities

Members’ Statements

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake . Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre , Mr. Hawkins .

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Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Robert Hawkins

Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again I’d like to recognize the J.H. Sissons Grade 4 class led by their teacher Catherine Siegbahn. I want to thank them for attending today’s session. As promised, I will see them later next week and show them where their stories are tabled on the official Hansard forever. Thank you again and thank you for listening attentively.

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Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins . The honourable Member for Weledeh , Mr. Bromley .

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Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Bob Bromley

Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to welcome the Grade 4 class and especially recognize an extraordinary young lady, Ms. Rae Panayi. I would as well like to recognize a fiddler extraordinaire, Mr. Cameron Bond.

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Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley . I’d like to welcome all visitors to the public gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings. Thank you and welcome.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Item 8, written questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake , Mr. Dolynny .

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Written Question 6-17(3): Yellowknife Office Space

Written Questions

Daryl Dolynny

Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT has recently concluded an assessment of the relative costs of owning and renting office space in Yellowknife and the impact the GNWT has on local market. My questions are for the Minister of Public Works and Services and relate to the Yellowknife office space market.

1. As of February 2012, what were the

percentages for inventory use and vacancy rates for the Yellowknife office market for both Class A and Class B rents? What was the square footage, in both feet and metres, of these spaces?

2. Currently, what are the percentages for

inventory use and vacancy rates for the Yellowknife office market for both Class A and Class B rents? What is the square footage, in both feet and metres, of these spaces?

3. Once the new GNWT 60,000 square foot office

building is operational, what will be the predicted percentages for inventory use and vacancy rates for the Yellowknife office market for both Class A and Class B rents? What will be the square footage, in both feet and metres, of these spaces?

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Written Question 6-17(3): Yellowknife Office Space

Written Questions

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny . Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance , Mr. Miltenberger .

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Tabling of Documents

Thebacha

Michael Miltenberger

Minister of Finance

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following three documents, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 7, 2010-2011;” “Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures, No. 4, 2010-2011;” and “Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2012-2013.”

As well, I wish to table the following document, entitled “A Review of Cost Pressures Facing the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, March 2012.”

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Tabling of Documents

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger . The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre , Mr. Hawkins .

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Tabled Document 21-17(3): Compendium Of Stories By Grade 4 Students In Ms. Siegbahn’s Class At J.h. Sissons School

Tabling of Documents

Robert Hawkins

Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure that I table the Compendium of Stories from the J.H. Sissons Grade 4 Class by their teacher Catherine Siegbahn.

Lastly I’ll say I’ll encourage all Members to take the opportunity and such to encourage their students in their communities to try something similar. The kids are quite proud of the opportunity.

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Tabled Document 21-17(3): Compendium Of Stories By Grade 4 Students In Ms. Siegbahn’s Class At J.h. Sissons School

Tabling of Documents

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins . Item 15, notices of motion. The honourable Member for Hay River North , Mr. Bouchard .

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Motion 7-17(3): Appointment Of Human Rights Commission Members

Notices of Motion

Robert Bouchard

Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, June 8, 2012, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi , that the Legislative Assembly recommend the appointment of the following individuals to the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission:

Mrs. Marion Berls of the town of Fort Smith, for a term of four years;

Mr. Charles Dent of the city of Yellowknife, for a term of four years;

Mrs. Bronwyn Watters of the city of Yellowknife, for a term of four years;

And further, that pursuant to

Section 17(2) of the Human Rights Act, Mr. Yacub Adam of the city of Yellowknife, be reappointed for an additional term to expire on October 30, 2014;

And furthermore, that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of these appointments to the Commissioner.

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Motion 7-17(3): Appointment Of Human Rights Commission Members

Notices of Motion

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard . The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta , Mr. Blake .

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Motion 8-17(3): Appointment Of The Equal Pay Commissioner

Notices of Motion

Frederick Blake Jr.

Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, June 8, 2012, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake , that Ms. Nitya Iyer be appointed as the Equal Pay Commissioner in accordance with the Public Service Act by the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories as recommended the Legislative Assembly;

And further, that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of the appointment to the Commissioner.

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Motion 8-17(3): Appointment Of The Equal Pay Commissioner

Notices of Motion

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake . The honourable Member for Frame Lake , Ms. Bisaro .

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Motion 9-17(3): Establishment Of An Independent Ombudsman’s Office

Notices of Motion

Wendy Bisaro

Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, June 8, 2012, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu , that this Legislative Assembly recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories bring

forward legislation to establish an independent parliamentary ombudsman office with the mandate to investigate complaints about the practices and services of public agencies and to promote fair, reasonable, appropriate and equitable administrative practices and services;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days. Thank you.

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Motion 9-17(3): Establishment Of An Independent Ombudsman’s Office

Notices of Motion

The Speaker

Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro . Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 2-17(3), Commissioner’s Opening Address: Creating the Conditions for Success; Tabled Document 3-17(3), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2012-2013; Bill 1,

An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act ; Committee Report 1-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories; Committee Report 2-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report, with Mr. Dolynny in the chair.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Good afternoon, committee. I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. Today on our agenda we have a number of tabled documents: Tabled Document 2-17(3), Commissioner’s Opening Address: Creating the Conditions for Success; Tabled Document 3-17(3), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2012-2013; Bill 1,

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Kevin A. Menicoche

Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The committee would like to consider Tabled Document 3-17(3), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2012-2013. We will continue on with Health and Social Services and also consideration of the Department of the Executive, should we have time today.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche . With that, we’ll ask the Minister of

Health and Social Services if he has witnesses he’d like to bring into the House.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tu Nedhe

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Minister Beaulieu . Does the committee agree?

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you. If I can get the Sergeant-at-Arms to bring the witnesses into the House, please.

Minister Beaulieu , would you like to introduce your witnesses to the Members here, please?

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tu Nedhe

Yes, Mr. Chairman. To my right I have the deputy minister, Debbie DeLancey, Health and Social Services. To my left I have the assistant deputy minister, Mr. Derek Elkin, Health and Social Services.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Minister Beaulieu . Ms. DeLancey, Mr. Elkin, welcome back to the House. Glad to see you here today.

Committee, we last left with the opening address and we were going to go into general comments to the opening address for the Department of Health and Social Services. With that, we’ll be asking Members to go consecutively and the Minister will, hopefully, reply as an aggregate response. With opening general comments, I look to the committee. Ms. Bisaro .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Wendy Bisaro

Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a number of comments in no particular order. Some of them are related to the Minister’s opening comments, some of them are not, so I might jump around a little bit. Bear with me.

In the Minister’s remarks yesterday he mentioned that the department is continuing to take advantage of eHealth, and I think that that’s absolutely the way to go. I’m really glad that we are embarked on that path and that we are continuing to go down that path, but I wonder how many communities we are in at this point, in terms of eHealth. How many are up and fully running and whether or not we are going to achieve full, efficient use of our telehealth and our eHealth capabilities in the near future.

The Minister then mentioned the Child and Family Services Act review that was done by the 16

th Assembly Standing Committee on Social Programs. A major recommendation from that review was the establishment of child and family services committees in communities. I know the department has been struggling to try and get communities to take advantage of the funding that’s available to establish these communities, and I would like to know from the Minister where things are at, whether or not there’s been any progress. I think there were a few stumbling blocks.

I’d also like to use this opportunity to highlight to communities that establishing your own child and

family services committee enables you to do your own assistance with interventions at a community level as opposed to having it done from Yellowknife, so to speak, by social workers who are coming in from afar. It’s a valuable tool, I think, and gives the power to the communities to deal with children at risk and children who might, perhaps, be apprehended if some intervention is not made.

The Minister mentioned a planning study for Stanton Territorial Hospital. I think it’s recognized and well known that Stanton is aging, is an aged building at this point. It definitely needs to be expanded and revamped and brought up into the 21

st Century. I need to know from the department,

and it goes a bit beyond the department, I think – and involves the whole of the government – how we are going to manage the huge cost that Stanton is going to be on this government. The Finance Minister has said an upward limit of perhaps $400 million. It’s a huge amount of money and I need to know from the Minister, apart from the planning study, how are we going to get this done.

I will have some questions when we get to discussion of health and social services authorities. The Minister’s statement is that current funding levels are insufficient to continue providing programs and services at current levels. I agree with that. We can’t just make that statement and not have a plan to deal with it, so I will have some questions when we come to that

section of the budget.

The Minister mentioned, as well, the department intends to streamline governance of the system. I am in support of that philosophy. I think there are many ways that we can increase the efficiency in our health and social services system. I think, dealing with boards and agencies, making them somewhat smaller, and one of the things that’s mentioned is shared services, I totally agree with that approach. I think it is the right way to go. But I am concerned about the lack of input that residents have into their local hospital boards.

Stanton Hospital has not had a board for many years now, over 10 years, I think. The Beau-Del recently lost their board. I don’t know if we have any authority that now… Well, Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority has a board. But where’s the opportunity for me, as a resident in my community, to have input into my hospital? Yes, it’s a territorial hospital, but I live in this community and it’s my hospital. I’m concerned about some of the governance intentions. I would like to get some explanations when we come to that

section as well.

The Minister talked about modernizing our Medical Travel Policy and absolutely I agree. It is a very old document. That policy was written I don’t know how many years ago, but it does need to be updated, for sure. There hasn’t been an opportunity for Members to have any input into sort of how this

policy is going to be revised. I gather it is in the works, but I will have some questions in terms of what the intent is when we come to that section.

I am really pleased to see the

section on services available to elders to help them remain in their homes as long as possible. That is a valid goal, in my mind. I think we want to keep people in their homes. If we can provide home care or if we can provide other services to our elders that allow them to stay out of our institutions, everybody is happier. It costs us less money in the long run. I think the people are happier to be in their home than they are to be in an institution. I totally support that avenue. I would hope that we are looking at taking the money we might have put into institutions, not building those institutions, but putting them into programs that are going to assist people to stay in their homes.

Part of that, similar to that but a little bit different, in my mind, is the supports that are needed for people who require assisted living, people who need to be living independently but are challenged in a number of different ways.

We do not have adequate infrastructure, whether it be homes or whether it be institutions, but we are well below the level of infrastructure that we need in order to accommodate all of our residents who need to have assisted independent living. I see nothing in the budget which looks at that and says we have to do something about it. I have a major concern in that area.

The Mental Health and Additions Action Plan, I am really pleased to hear the Minister say that it is going to be tabled soon. I look forward to it. Members have seen a bit of an advance copy. We will have questions for the Minister on it at the appropriate time. The Minister says that it’s going to define steps that they can take as a government over the next three years. My initial concern, when I read that, is that three years is not long enough. I think in terms of the Mental Health and Addictions Plan, we need to be looking 10 years down the road, even 20 years down the road. This is a fairly short-term plan.

I would hope that we would also be looking at this as immediate, but where is our medium and where is our long-term plan for mental health and addictions? I don’t think that’s there.

I did note in the budget on this, on the department

summary, that there is an increase in the budget from the main estimates of 2011-12 budget year, but there is a decrease in this year’s mains from the revised estimates in the 2011-12 year. I wonder whether or not that $10 million less that we are starting with this year is going to mean that we have to drop programs and services, and if there is an explanation for that, I would love to hear it.

I do have concerns about our health and social services authorities that some of them are constantly operating in a deficit position. I will have

some questions when we come to that

section of the budget.

Part of the funding for this budget is federal funding, THSSI money and that will expire in another year and a half to two years, from my understanding. I guess I want to know from the Minister what the plan is to… How are we going to replace that money so that we can continue to provide the programs and services that THSSI funding is currently providing?

I’m disappointed that there doesn’t seem to be any money in this budget for Family Violence Action Plan phase 3. There are a number of recommendations that have been made. Nineteen recommendations have been made by the Coalition Against Family Violence. I don’t see any direct reference to that in this budget.

Lastly, I just need to comment on supplementary health benefits, Metis health benefits, after the very large kafuffle in the 16

th Assembly when changes

were proposed and then withdrawn. There were some recommendations to the department to put in place some sort of administrative changes that were going to create efficiencies and hopefully reduce the cost of supplementary health and Metis health benefits to the department. I don’t know whether or not some of those have been done, so I will have some questions when we get to that

section as well.

I do have other questions, but that is kind of an overview. I am done. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro . We have the honourable Member for Hay River North , Mr. Bouchard .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Robert Bouchard

Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is one of the bigger departments and one of the ones that has been a very big interest to myself and the community of Hay River. I think one of the things that we would like to see is a little more in the community as far as providing health services. It’s one of the larger centres. We would like to see some of the services that are provided in other communities provided for Hay River.

Obviously on the forefront are doctors. We are still looking to locate permanent doctors in Hay River. The department is continuing to work with their authority, but it still should be a priority to get a group or a team of doctors into Hay River. I think there is great cost-savings to the Government of the Northwest Territories to work on this and to establish this team so that medical travel back and forth from Hay River to Yellowknife doesn’t have to be a continual issue.

One of the biggest areas of concern is the current funding that the Hay River authority receives and some of the flexibility and the lack of a team of permanent doctors there. The community is looking to see if we can implement more nurse

practitioners. Now that the review for midwifery is completed, implement that and maybe offer that type of service to the community of Hay River so that, again, people don’t have to travel to communities such as Hay River or travel to Yellowknife and southern destinations to have their children. There is also, along with that, the cost to the families and friends that only have to wait until the child is born to come back to the community to greet them. I think it is a very big part of the essential services that Hay River is looking to get.

Also in the Department of Health is the addictions treatment. I think this is a big factor in the Northwest Territories. It affects a lot of departments. It affects the economy. It affects justice. The number of addictions affecting the economy and the general public as a whole is great. I think we need to invest money in there to reduce as many addictions as we can, because it is tearing our communities apart.

As one of my colleagues indicated, I think the community of Hay River is also looking to get some sort of input into the health system. We don’t have a health board. The community has no direct input into how the community’s health care system is being operated. There are some small issues that have been there for awhile and continue to raise their heads and continue not to be dealt with, I guess. I think if we had a board or a sounding board for the community to express those concerns, they may be dealt with a little quicker.

One of the other areas of concern is obviously the new health care centre. It is something we are looking forward to. However, the long-term beds that are not in the current health care facility are a big concern to the community. Obviously, it is a big issue to a lot of people there and to a lot of seniors. Not only do we have a high demand in those long-term beds, but in our other facilities for the long-term seniors’ care is in high demand. We have wait lists there. We have people that are beyond the capability of staying at home that are looking to get into these facilities, but there are wait lists.

We don’t know when those wait lists are going to be filled. It could be six months. It could be two years. We don’t know.

Those are a few of the major issues that I know the community of Hay River is having with health and some of the health issues. Those are my opening comments. Thank you.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard . We have the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake , Mr. Moses .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Alfred Moses

Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First off I just want to welcome the Minister and his staff here and just let him know that I do appreciate the hard work and the dedication that this department has to the health and well-being in providing the services and programs to the people of the Northwest Territories.

I do know it’s a challenge. With all the challenges that we face in the remote communities and the high cost of living that we have in the Northwest Territories as well, you try to do the best with what you have.

That said, there are challenges and there are concerns that I bring from my constituents of the community of Inuvik, but also from the territory as a whole. In one of my previous jobs, I had the opportunity to travel to every community in the Northwest Territories and regardless of what the job was, I’d always make it a thing to do and go visit the health care centres and just do a little quick tour, introduce myself to the nurses and see what challenges they were facing. Now that I’m in this position, we can start addressing some of those issues and offering our support to the Minister and his department.

Some of the comments that the Minister had made yesterday, I just wanted to highlight a couple of things. Doing some good work. One of the things that was mentioned was providing speech and language therapy to children in the community schools. I know it’s very high, I’m not sure what the stats are, but they are exceeding what is probably expected. So there’s a lot of work going in there.

That said, it allows us to look at other departments on how we can start putting efforts and money and resources into early childhood development, and I’m not talking kindergarten, Grade 1; we’re looking at zero to three, zero to four, right up to the ages of six, seven, eight. When they get to kindergarten, we can’t forget that those are critical years in their lives and the sooner we start, the better results we will continue to see.

I’m glad to see that there’s the Mental Health and Addictions Plan. What I hope to see in that is the long-term plans and also immediate action on what has been said in previous reports, reports that go back however long. We’re going to consult and continue discussions when we already know some of the main obstacles, main challenges that are right in our face, right on our front doorstep. Yet we’re going to continue to consult. We need action on those, immediate action for critical problems that we face right now in the Northwest Territories.

Then, as we continue, we can develop a longer strategy looking at somewhere like a 10-year-plan. I know we’ve had a couple discussions here with some of the other departments where they develop a 10-year plan. It would be nice to have this department follow suit with such a critical area. As we know, mental health and addictions are our biggest cost-driver in the Department of Health and Social Services.

Prevention and promotion. We could deal with a lot of problems. It is a priority of this government. However, when I look through the budget plan, I do see a decrease in prevention and promotion and I

think that needs to be addressed. We need to find better dollars where we can educate the people of the Northwest Territories and create awareness on some of the issues that impact us. This is where it starts, right here at our budget planning and our business planning.

As our seniors population increases and gets older, I do see status quo in the budget where no monies have changed, but each year we’re getting a higher increase of population. To make it worse, there was that two-year period, maybe even more, where a lot of our seniors had to wait for hip replacement therapy, joint replacement therapy. So in those two years their health declined and now there’s going to be increased costs of rehabilitation services to get our seniors back into living an independent lifestyle.

For those that we fail to do that for, we’re going to need more funding into long-term care centres as these injuries which might have a longer lasting effect where they can’t live independently at home. This just continues spiraling downward. It has an impact on the family, an impact on the homes, on the communities as well.

I see that there’s also a decrease in the population health budget, which I wasn’t very pleased to see, as they do a lot of the community work in terms of evaluating programs, getting out to the communities and some of our programs that we see at the regional community level. Once we get into detail, I’ll get into more questions regarding that and maybe ask why decisions were made to take money out of such critical programs that allow our people to live healthy lifestyles.

There’s also the concern of the deficits that we have in two of our regional health authorities, how we impact that when we have good authorities who are doing good work, but making a policy where because they’re doing a good job, we’re taking monies from them and putting it into the regional centres. Obviously, the regional health authority that I’m from in Inuvik, it does get affected and we do have a deficit, and I appreciate that we get the money from other regional health authorities, but it doesn’t allow those regional health authorities to flourish, to continue to do better programs for their regions. There’s got to be a better way to manage those.

I’ll just make a comment that I know we did have discussions earlier in this government with the Minister and his staff to create a Beaufort-Delta regional advisory committee for our health authority. It wouldn’t be a board, but it would be an advisory committee where they’d give some direction or discuss our major issues and that would get representation from the community levels. As much as I represent our region, I’m also here representing the territory as a whole, and that needs to be reflected in Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, the Sahtu, North Slave and here in Yellowknife, as

well, and it can’t be just directed to one community. How we find that out, how we do that, that’s something we have to discuss. It’s a territorial initiative that we’ve got to continue to move on.

The Family Violence Act, Ms. Bisaro discussed that earlier, but it is a growing concern in our communities and there needs to be something done to address that. We can go through phase 1, phase 2, make some good momentum, but we cannot shelve phase 3. We’ve got to make sure that all the work that’s been done by previous governments, previous leaders, previous staff does not fall on the wayside and that we continue to take their work and move forward.

I’d like to say I was glad to see that there was also the funding for $36 million to fund facilities in their replacements and their renovations. As we go forward with the building planning, that the buildings and the way they’re planned accommodates what we need: detox centre, detox rooms, psychiatric spaces, long-term care facilities and it’s not just for patients.

Another one that’s addressed, and where we’ve had the report and have had discussions with constituents as well as very interested and concerned members in the Northwest Territories, is the Midwifery Program. The sooner the better that we could get that on, we would take some pressure off of our physicians, but it also gives families, expectant mothers a great opportunity to have a healthy birth from conception to birth and show them the support that they need, especially in our small communities. That’s where they don’t always get a chance to see physicians or be able to attend certain programs.

Like I said, I do appreciate the hard work that this department does, based on the challenges, the high cost of living, the facilities, the lack of physicians in some of the communities. I appreciate the hard work that they’re doing and the dedication that they have. The reality is we do have challenges and we’ve got to work on addressing those.

I appreciate that the Minister and his staff for coming and listening to what we’re going to have to say today. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Moses . Moving on with general comments, we’ve got the Member for Weledeh , Mr. Bromley .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Bob Bromley

Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to present to the Minister and his staff here today. I have to say that expanding the eHealth is one thing that caught my attention. We had talked about that, we have made some progress, but I’m wondering what are the limitations here and how are we addressing them. We have been talking about this for years now. In discussions earlier today with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, it was also raised as an

important element in addressing mental health issues across the North. I know the Minister is aware of that and I will be interested in how that’s being incorporated into the expansion in our effective use of eHealth.

The funding to support the budget includes funding to support the establishment of child and family services committees. I’m very happy to see that. Obviously, last year we also included funding and I don’t believe there were any committees established. My question on that is: Is the new funding additional? Will we now establish the committees we meant to last year and didn’t, plus the new ones we had hoped we would be doing annually to do the catch-up that’s required here? We’ve invested a lot of money into that work, made recommendations, and I was glad to see the House support that work last year but disappointed in what was achieved.

The capital planning study for the Stanton Territorial Hospital is obviously very critical for this territorial facility. I know this is a multi-stage process, but my question there is: Will we see recommendations for actual work to begin, recognizing that it likely won’t be the full plan or anything and that this is a highly complex undertaking? We are fortunate in having a very solid, long-lived building as a base to work on, but it does have serious limitations in its organization relative to the effective delivery of services. We want to get going on that. We recognize that costs will only go up.

I think we’ve been waiting over a decade now for this. It’s been pushed back and pushed back. I’m glad to see that work is happening. Will it result in something recognizing that planning will go on? Can we get started on some improvements that are desperately needed in that facility?

There are many needs in this department for the improvement of efficiency and sustainability. One of these, one amongst many, is the drug cost issue. I know that provinces across Canada are getting together. I’d like to know that we are part of that and we will be enjoying some of the benefits with what that process has to offer.

Connecting patients through services in the timeliest manner. One of our serious costs, I think about 12 percent of our appointments made for outpatients are missed, and for operations and so on. That’s a serious hit to the system, it’s well known. The Minister talks about modernizing our Medical Travel Policy and the full potential of electronic communications. I’ve made suggestions on that. There are mechanisms used by the provinces for just such things. The latest example I sent was the example from New Brunswick of registering vehicles. It’s just a digital communication that goes out there automatically and we need to come up with that and start plugging that cost.

The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan. I certainly look forward to having a good look at that. Again, I will be looking for a commitment to prevention, as well as addressing the current situations with strong community involvement. I also want to see us meeting our responsibilities rather than shuffling our responsibilities off onto communities. I will be looking forward to reviewing that document.

The Mental Health and Addictions Forum. I appreciate the opportunity to nominate individuals to that. I hope, and I’m sure, there will be a good group of people in that forum to provide advice. There is sort of a happy coincidence right now with the national strategy that’s coming out from the Mental Health Commission. I think we want to follow up on any opportunities for collaboration there. I also have to say that I hope the Minister will also, besides the forum, listen a little bit to committee members who make a real effort to be in touch with our constituents on these issues, and they have brought many of those issues to the table along with recommendations to address them.

Lastly, I’ll leave the rest to detail here. Maybe second last here. Prevention is mentioned a few times throughout the Minister’s introductory remarks, which I really appreciate. To quote, “prevention is the most effective way.” I can’t agree more. I’m saying to the Minister: Where is the Mental Health Court? Where are the new early childhood development programs for the early years? Clearly a health responsibility. Where is the integrated case management promised now for several years?

Now, actually my final comment is, I appreciate the ongoing effort and challenge of medical travel, but we need to get that working. The most basic administrative process is in Blue Cross coverage and reimbursements. It simply revolves on a wheel. The shepherding of patients through the medical travel process in an effective way so that they’re not missing appointments and so that efficient travel appointments are lined up and they see their doctors. It’s not happening. Providing timely results to travelling patients, these things are all what I call yo-yo issues. They keep coming back.

We take them to the Minister, the department works to get them resolved, and on a case-by-case basis they might, but back they come again, identical. I really am looking for some work at a fundamental level. I know the Minister is aware of this and has expressed – and actually past Ministers have too. I really hope solutions can be found, again recognizing the complexity and the huge amount of medical travel that we deal with to provide the good services that we do to our people.

I do hear, when it comes right down to treatment, I hear very few complaints amongst our population. There might be complaints getting there, but when

they do get treatment, it’s very good treatment and I wanted to pass that on to the Minister. I’ll leave it at that.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Bromley . Moving on to the Member for Deh Cho , Mr. Nadli .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Michael Nadli

Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think, generally speaking, my concerns are more weighted on health issues. For the most

part I can recall very distinctly that we made it very clear in terms of trying to promote through the Department of Health and Social Services, a very strong emphasis on preventative steps so that we promote the idea to the public that we need to try and encourage our people to live healthy and wellness lifestyles so that at least down the road we don’t have to bear the consequences of some things that we have undertaken as habits. I think the general understanding was that yes, indeed, we will try to undertake some preventative steps so that we do encourage the people to live healthier lifestyles and lesson the burden on the health care system down the road.

If there’s anything that stands out for me, it’s just over the course of the last summer I think we all came to realize just how volatile sometimes the drug industry is and our reliance on it, especially for people who are really in a circumstance where they’re relying on it for their life. We’ve gone through that experience where there were some place restrictions on certain kinds of medications that affected patients. Sometimes going through the experience, more likely patients are very weird.

They want to be assured that measures and systems are in place to ensure that there is a contingency plan out there so that people are encouraged and they are reassured that yes, indeed, those services will not be interrupted.

If there’s anything I should also mention, it’s just, here in the North, we’re very dependent on the natural resource industry. Especially mining. More likely down the road we’ll have more activity related to oil and gas development. That’s almost industrial activities that will more likely determine that we’ll have an increase in the industrial workforce. We all try to promote safety and awareness, but at the same time, there’s always the likelihood of people sustaining injuries that are very serious in nature.

Sometimes they have people that, unfortunately, result in serious brain injuries and they have some irreversible damages to their motor abilities. Unfortunately, it could be that we’re not in a position to provide special care, but I feel strongly that at some point in our future, we need to seriously give it some thought and consideration to ensure that we do have a plan of some kind to provide services to people that would need them in those circumstances.

Another area that I think everybody is more likely affected by in one way or another is the cancer rates. It again goes down to preventative steps, but I feel that more likely the system is in place to ensure that we do everything that we can to detect cancer at the earliest stage. It’s so sad and so often that people are in a predicament where cancer is caught at the late or fatal stages, and I think we need to do more so, detection, more practices, so that at least we provide the service that’s really needed in communities. Especially in small communities.

If the department, at some point, would be in the position to consider assisting communities that are closely situated to the highway, especially in my home community of Fort Providence, more likely we will see the eventual completion of the Deh Cho Bridge and we’ll more likely have an elevated increase of traffic. I know we do have first responders in the local community. We have a volunteer firefighter brigade, and we’re almost equivalent to an ambulance, but we’re short of having the qualified people there.

My thinking is that maybe the department has to, at some point, maybe work with the community to look at maybe providing first responders, whether it’s ambulance or medic people who can be ready to provide that service. For that matter, I think efforts need to be made again to maybe, as a discussion piece at least, analyze whether it’s doable to look at having a system in place so that we have real-time responses and we can communicate on a real-time basis. That’s cellular service.

Whether the department would encourage an establishment of cellular service in Fort Providence, because we have an increased amount of traffic not only of vehicles but of people who boat and hunt. It would be encouraging or reassuring that there’s a system out there like that.

In terms of social services, I think there’s been discussion towards the development of a mental health strategy. I think it’s something that we need to push forward on. We need to ensure that all levels, including community levels, are heavily engaged in terms of trying to bring people together to look at creating some best ideas and best practices. Just building up on the strengths for some communities that have gone down the path before, to the point of almost developing community wellness strategies in terms of how it is they want to undertake to address the alcohol and drug issues.

Mainly that’s one of the most prominent problems that we have. To see whether there can be an entry program in terms of how to ready people to go into treatment. After they come out, how do we support them? It’s so critical at that stage that people come out of treatment and they need that support. We need to ensure that we have a system in place that is workable and successful.

The other point too is, on that same nature, we had a very strong effort, an ongoing effort, I would like to think, in terms of acknowledging the residential school experiences that we’ve all, in one way or another, been affected by. We need to see if there could be some cooperative efforts in terms of at least providing the ongoing services for people that still feel the effects of those experiences. We need to ensure that we have a helping hand, that we are there to help them, to acknowledge and put into perspective their experiences that sometimes were good and sometimes were bad.

I think, for the most part, those were my general comments. I think those were some of the key things that I felt the constituents that I serve most feel strongly about, and those are just points that I wanted to raise at this time.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Nadli . We’ll move on with the Member for Nahendeh , Mr. Menicoche .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Kevin A. Menicoche

Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Just a chance at some opening comments on a couple of key issues for the community of Fort Simpson right now. The Minister talks about investing health care facilities. I know that Stanton requires huge investments, but also planning studies have been scheduled for the community of Fort Simpson Health Centre. It is on their list of critical infrastructure and I’d like to see it progress forward as well. I know it will be challenging to meet the fiscal constraints, but at the same time, government knows that that infrastructure has to be replaced and reconstructed.

I just want to say that, certainly, it’s a concern to the community of Fort Simpson and the residents, that their health centre maintains a level of service, so it needs these capital investments and I look to the department’s plan in moving forward the replacement of the Fort Simpson Health Centre.

As well, I spoke in the House the other day during question period about the return of nursing services staff to Wrigley. I wasn’t really satisfied with the Minister’s answers and the department’s strategy for the community of Wrigley in returning nursing services there. I went on at length about how I will be moving this forward and how having the RCMP was part and parcel of the package, so I went and got the RCMP, the dedicated resources for the community of Wrigley. We’re just working towards somehow finding the detachment building for the community of Wrigley so the RCMP can be housed in Wrigley.

But at the same time, I never did get the same level of commitment from the Department of Health to return nursing services to Wrigley. I would say that, of course, I think they have one dedicated nurse. Perhaps the Minister can correct me on that, but I think there’s one dedicated nurse to provide for the needs of the community of Wrigley.

All those make a little bit of a difference, but at the same time, restoring the services to the community of Wrigley is their priority. They often feel that they’re left out and neglected by a government that never hears them, and it’s no wonder why. We do the best that we can to, or I do the best I can to represent my constituents, and at the same time, every time the Ministers and government says no, that no is coming from me as well. We all have to work together to meet the needs of our small and remote communities. I know Mr.

Minister has been giving me some fangled formula population ratio kind of thing, but that’s not what I’m interested in. What I’m interested in is serving the needs of our people in our small and remote communities. Thank you.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche . Moving on to the Member for Mackenzie Delta , Mr. Blake .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Frederick Blake Jr.

Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to raise a few concerns that I have with what’s before us. Many a time we’ve brought up the need for a nurse in the community of Tsiigehtchic and all the small communities. It’s something that we struggle with. Many a time the residents in the smaller communities are put in situations where they have to respond to these situations and I don’t think it’s fair to our residents. I think it’s very important that this government put in place, in all the communities, a nurse.

As an interim, one thing, we don’t have a long-term care facility in the Mackenzie Delta, which is Fort McPherson, Aklavik and Tsiigehtchic. I do realize they have one in Inuvik, but it’s just not adequate for the residents of the Mackenzie Delta. One thing that we can do in the interim is increase the amount of home care workers in Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic. Right now there’s just a part-time position in Tsiigehtchic, and Fort McPherson only has one person who deals with a large amount of elders in the community.

Just to get back to the nurse, I want to give an example. I think it was about a year and a half ago now, we had a situation in the community where someone broke their leg. We were fortunate we had two nurses on hand who were actually just in the community at the time, but because we don’t have a nurse in the community of Tsiigehtchic, you can’t have things like morphine on hand, and this person had to deal with the pain for at least two hours before we got him medevaced out of the community. I think we really need to address these major concerns, and hopefully within the next year we can focus on those. Thank you.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Blake . Moving on to the Member for the Sahtu , Mr. Yakeleya .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Norman Yakeleya

Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister is challenged with many, many challenges.

Of course, our system is bulging at the seams with all the needs that we want in the communities that we face. As my colleague talked about Tsiigehtchic, it’s no different than talking about Colville Lake. It’s the same situation. It’s a different town, different time, and situations like that. The Health department is doing its best to get into the community from time to time and be there longer than a couple hours or a couple days.

Thank God we have some pretty dedicated people that just need to deal with the situation at hand, and those are our community health representatives that, with the limited amount of training they have, they do the best they can until a nurse or a doctor gets into that community.

I want to say to the Minister that our system is highly diversified by a number of communities, the population and the cost of delivering health care into our communities. It’s quite complex in some manner and sometimes that puts a lot of stress onto our nurses in the community, our doctors, even to our people here.

When the Minister made a presentation to us in April, our residents are not doing too well, like in other jurisdictions. The Minister provided us with some key indicators of our population, such as the smoking rates. They’re pretty high in the Northwest Territories. Addiction rates are pretty high, obesity and healthy eating. When we look at that picture, we’re not doing too good compared to other provinces or even Canada as a whole. That means that when we’re not doing too good health-wise, it costs us more to look after our health.

The Minister is challenged with that with the budget that they have and the cost of the aging population going up. It costs more now to look after the aging, because we want our elders and seniors back in our communities, or we have to send them out to Yellowknife here where sometimes they come to the Dementia Centre. It takes money out of the system to look after them. We have some opportunities to see where we could improve on our efficiencies and our sustainability and to look at how we do cost management of this issue here.

One of the things that the Minister has talked about is the government system. He is meeting with the leaders to look at this issue. I applaud the Minister, because he did say that this will not take away from the Sahtu authority or some control on our health issue. We’re looking at some things where we could do things together and put some money where it’s needed. The money where it is needed, the Minister has acknowledged that the top priority throughout the North is addictions and mental health issues. That’s what he said to us in April. That is the top priority. I want to ask about this business plan.

What are we doing about the addictions and the mental health issues in the Northwest Territories?

The Minister had taken a trip with me in the Sahtu. We looked at the cancer issues in Fort Good Hope, and the Minister had talked about this work here and not only in Good Hope but in other communities that also have a high rate of cancer. We want to look at the early screening program of cancer. Right now we are catching them at the latest stage where it is too late. There are people already, as I speak, that are impacted and affected with cancer in the Sahtu. We need to have some support for the survivors of cancer for the families. Good Hope talked about this.

When they come back to their communities, we need to work with the families with the grieving issue. There’s a lot of sorrow in our communities. Kids especially carry the sorrow for a long time, even adults. We are not properly processing our grief. It stays within us. Even that causes other medical health problems for us, but especially for children. I’m looking for support for that.

The Minister is also tackling the issue of electronic telehealth. That policy could be one factor that could cut down some costs in our health care system. We want to see where that is strengthened and improved.

The Minister and I, when we went to Deline, they talked about palliative care service in that community. They want the elders back in that community. We have nine elders right now that have come out of the Sahtu that are in Yellowknife. The same thing with Inuvik, places that we need to bring them back and let the Minister, working with his colleagues, look at getting the long-term care facility in the Sahtu underway. The Minister answered some questions of mine last week here. We are looking forward to having that facility up and running and bringing our elders back.

Too many of our elders have died outside the community. That’s not good for our people. Deline I know has asked if they will look at the potential of some of those units opening so they can have some of the elders being brought back to the community so they can die among their people. That’s what they want.

I know in Norman Wells and Tulita there is going to be possibly an impact of resource development. We need some help in many areas to see where the department can come and work with the communities and with the Sahtu Health Board. I already talked about the dental services. That’s something that I really look forward to the Minister to see how we can get a proper dental program going in the Sahtu. Too many people are leaving with an abscessed tooth, fly here and Inuvik and getting their teeth pulled and getting fixed. It’s too dangerous. We need to get some proper dental service in the Sahtu.

This is the last of my comments here. The Minister has also talked about the doctors and the nurses and how we work with those. We have a solution

made in the North. It’s called a Nurse Practitioners Program. I want to see if we can continue to support this program. These nurse practitioners are graduating. I’m not too sure if there are jobs waiting for them. If not, we should be having jobs waiting for them. We just had a class graduate. I want to know how many nurse practitioners have a job, and how many left the Northwest Territories or are they staying around here waiting for a job. Is this program going to be on again next year? This is one of our solutions that we have here. These nurse practitioners work in the North. They help us and are a valuable service to our health system.

I want to close off by asking the Minister, through some of this business plan, where do we look at the community health centre. I know they had some funding in the community to do some planning for a new health centre, amongst other projects that the Northwest Territories is going to be dealing with. The community health planning centre money was somewhere in there. I want to see where it’s at. It will have to line up with the other projects that we have already for the North here. We have to come to that decision when we deal with it.

All in all, I do want to say to the Minister I really appreciate himself and his staff coming to the Sahtu, and listening to the people and making some commitments to our people in the community. I look forward to going through the business plans with him this afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya . Concluding general comments we have the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre , Mr. Hawkins .

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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Robert Hawkins

Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are just a couple of areas that I would like to highlight. It will be no surprise to the Minister.

The budget itself I’ve had a chance to go through. It’s pretty much the same as it usually is. I have no general concerns about that, but what I will use the chance to do is highlight that, first off, I appreciate the help that the Minister’s office provides my office. I am very grateful for it. The Department of Health, in my experience, is probably one of the most challenging departments to run, so I’m glad we have Deputy Minister DeLancey there as the pilot to the captain of the SS Beaulieu ship running that while it is certainly an overwhelming one.

The reason I want to make sure that they get the accolades on the record is because quite often it is an unsung job that happens that the Department of Health and the folks don’t get the recognition they should. It is often coined or joked about as that the department of pain and suffering, because it is just so difficult and challenging. They don’t get the recognition.

The issue I want to highlight today is the addictions and the downtown day shelter, which certainly I am

sure is no surprise to anyone at the table as they all bow their head. Quite frankly, I still don’t believe we are doing enough in the way of addiction. I look forward to some actual results being committed in this term.

It wasn’t just an election issue last fall. This is an issue in this town that is deeply rooted in the desire for success. People want addiction challenged. They want it uprooted. They want it gone. Are they fooled by a treatment centre being the be-all and end-all? No one is fooled in thinking that, but the fact is there is a strong belief in Yellowknife, as well as in the communities, that we need to take a harder stance and certainly come up with more new and innovative ways.

I support my colleagues who want things such as on-the-land programs. I don’t disagree with that. But when you come to hard drugs, those programs on the land just don’t seem to address those needs of hard drugs.

I don’t have the time today to go on at length about that, but it is well recognized and understood that someone who has a crystal meth problem, or a crack problem or whatnot, needs the treatment and medical support to be provided in a region that is able to do that. An on-line program is inappropriate for that. I have often said that I believe we have room for both types of philosophies. It makes sense. It’s just a matter of how we balance out the philosophy and which one we implement.

The downtown day shelter I think, by and large, has not been the success I had hoped for. At the time I was advocating for opportunities for folks who needed somewhere to go during the day, it was seen and perceived as such a great idea that we could help people help themselves. First off it started with the issue of there’s no public washroom or nowhere to go during the day, and the emergence of the shelter itself was sort of, I’ll call it a solution to that problem but, unfortunately, all it’s done is it’s brought the problem together and it’s actually made it worse in that community area in the downtown.

The neighbours are, not directly but in a metaphor type of way, constantly being attacked by a barrage of problems and it’s a challenge.

I spoke to a person, who works right across from the day shelter last week, and although I’d known about this problem for some time, he talked about being attacked by a swarm of folks that just came out of the shelter right after it closed at 7:00. I’ve talked to some parents, one particularly who had mentioned how they saw someone flashing folks at the shelter and yet this continues with a blind eye.

I’ve talked about the fact that people are openly using, whether its drugs or alcohol, that it just seems to have the appearance that no one seems to want to step in and say this is not the right

behavior. I mean, fundamentally this not behavior that we should be pulling a blind eye to.

Mr. Chairman, the idealism of the downtown shelter I saw was all built around the components of, okay, let’s give them somewhere to go, but let’s not waste this opportunity before us. Now that we have them here, what are we going to do? Quite frankly, I don’t think we’ve done anything with them other than open up the door. What it’s done is allow bad behavior to continue to grow and it’s grown exponentially.

I’ve had constituents who live in that area, right next to it, have talked about the fact that they shouldn’t, nor should anyone, but they shouldn’t be able to open up their window, look out their window and see people fornicating just across the street. Quite frankly, they’re upset by that behavior. I’m uncomfortable using that phrase in this Assembly. I’m not uncomfortable saying it out loud and the fact is, it’s not really an appropriate context to be talking about in the House, and I challenge myself by putting it out there and saying that, but we have to lay the facts on the table.

I think part of the problem – and I haven’t shied away from this difficult challenge – is the management of this downtown day shelter and I worry that there has been no effort, re

Document details

Collection	Northwest Territories — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	2012-06-06, 17th Assembly 3rd Session, pp. 923–956
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	06
Language	en
Format	html
Source	TERRITORIAL
Identifier	a02a34788bcdf2af5a28170a7da2c1ddd0b9cf67

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