Evidence of meeting #175 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
That's significant. Great.
Have you approached the Canada Infrastructure Bank in the past? Have you heard anything...?
9:45 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Nunavut Resources Corporation
They're not ready for these kinds of projects. They're looking more for capacity-relieving projects, congestion-relieving projects in the south. They want a big bang to start with. They're looking for projects with at least a marginal positive return that they think they can boost to make a much more market-based return. We're not even close to a positive return over a 20-year horizon. We could probably get there in 50 years, because it's a nation-building project, but I think they're a couple of years away from being in a position to do something like this.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
I think there was $15 billion put aside for the total infrastructure under the five pillars, but only three of the pillars were included, with $5 billion each. The north wasn't one of the pillars included, as I'm sure people around the room here know.
I'm curious. Samson, from the Yukon Chamber of Mines, do you and Scott and Patrick talk? Are you guys friendly?
9:45 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Nunavut Resources Corporation
The short answer is no, but we will.... There is another, separate chamber for Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, and we talk to those guys extensively. We speak to MAC and to PDAC, so....
9:45 a.m.
Executive Director, Yukon Chamber of Mines
You can tell we talk to the same people. You'd think we worked on our notes together this morning.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Good. I was just curious, as they sound very similar.
9:45 a.m.
Executive Director, Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce
Just to restate, the Canadian Chamber did have a policy put forward at our regional AGM and convention. It was on behalf of the Grays Bay project, and it was passed. You have the support of the entire Canadian Chamber of Commerce, including our Whitehorse chamber.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Wonderful.
I would like, quickly, to ask Kelsey and Catherine about the tie-in relationship with the University of Alberta. You touched on it, but would you mind expanding on what that is?
9:45 a.m.
Director, Policy and Programs, Dechinta Centre Research & Learning
Yes. We've been working with the University of Alberta since the beginning. For the last 10 years, we've been working with the Faculty of Native Studies. All of the courses we deliver are accredited through that faculty, and we can deliver any of the courses on those books.
The relationship with UBC is a little different, because we created our own certificate that was specifically to be delivered at Dechinta, in the north, with UBC.
9:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thanks to everybody for their very interesting statements.
I have a quick question for Mr. Northey and Mr. Duxbury. It's a very interesting project, but the position of the Government of Nunavut is a little unclear to me. I wanted to get some clarification there.
9:50 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Nunavut Resources Corporation
The previous Government of Nunavut was a co-proponent with us. The premier was a staunch advocate of what we were trying to do. He had the support of cabinet, and we worked very well with the senior bureaucrats who were put in charge of executing their role.
The new government came in last November. We are now, for the first time, at the end of this month, being given the opportunity to speak to the full caucus about what this project is and what the business case is. We were not given an opportunity to speak to them about what the plans were, and I think there was a lot of misinformation flying around that we were not in a position to address properly. As a consequence, they pulled out as co-proponent. They misunderstood the nature of their financial obligations. I'm not sure if you know, but Nunavut is tremendously challenged from a fiscal perspective. They are governed by a ceiling on the amount of money they can borrow. They have no debt capacity, so they're very concerned about what the potential liability would be.
We're optimistic that at the end of this month we'll probably be able to find the necessary clarification for them to come back and say, “Yes, we'd like to support this project more explicitly.”
9:50 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
It would be good for the committee if you could keep us up to date with that, as well.
9:50 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you very much.
I'd like to go to Ms. Barnes, Grand Chief Johnston, Ms. Lafferty and Ms. Wrightson.
You've made a very eloquent case for funding northern education. I'd like to get some idea of the cost of the current situation. Some people would choose to leave the north to go to the south, but in this case we're actually forcing all students to go to the south for advanced education. What this means is that any support or subsidies they receive go to the south, so that those families, if they're supporting these students, have to send money out of their community to the south. Do you have any idea what the overall economic impact has been of this drain of resources from northern Canada into southern Canada?
9:50 a.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, Yukon College
Perhaps I can speak a bit about the Yukon. I don't have exact figures, but I do know that the Yukon government spends about $4 million a year on what's called the Yukon grant, much of which goes to students who are studying in the south. There is no return requirement for them to come back north, so many of those students stay in the south after finishing their degrees.
I think the most significant impact is the inability for students to stay in the community while going to school. One of the central mandates of the new university in the Yukon will be distance delivery. We're developing two degrees that will be entirely delivered by distance. The first one has just begun. We have 18 students enrolled in the indigenous governance degree. All of them are employed with their governments in their communities and are able to stay in the community while going to school. We also have an education degree, which we have just started delivering. We have students in rural communities in the Yukon—in Mayo, for example—studying to obtain a four-year Bachelor of Education degree. I think there's a real advantage to ensure that these opportunities exist everywhere.
9:50 a.m.
NDP
October 15th, 2018 / 9:50 a.m.
Grand Chief Peter Johnston Council of Yukon First Nations
As important as the economic impact is, the social impact to these folks is probably greater, in the sense of the impact to the community. We find better success not only when we are supported by our families, but also when we are living and breathing within our own environment, if you will. For us as a people, the traditional aspects are very important when it comes to such things as harvesting and other things that are greatly affected during that time. I think the social impact is just as important as the economic impact and has to be taken into consideration.
Thank you.
9:50 a.m.
Director, Community Development and Indigenous Education, Dechinta Centre Research & Learning
I think that student financial assistance in the NWT provides a maximum of $1,100 per student for living allowance per month. That's not including a fully paid tuition for northern residents. With student financial assistance, in order to get that funding, you have to be a resident of the north for at least one year. Therefore, we also see a lot of people who move to the north and live there for a year in order to get access to funded education, and then leave again.
There are also the ASETS, which are now turning into ISETS, through the federal government. Those funds are getting transferred to indigenous governments, but once again, the indigenous governments don't have training facilities in the Northwest Territories, so that money is also leaving.
Also, with Dechinta, I want to mention that we are complementary to the Yukon College. We are complementary to all the universities across Canada because we can partner with them and provide student exchanges. I just want to add that.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
9:55 a.m.
Director, Policy and Programs, Dechinta Centre Research & Learning
No. I think that's good.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you very much. I'm certainly supportive of both of your proposals.
Mr. Schultz and Ms. Tasane, thank you for coming forward. You've been very eloquent, in terms of the increase in funding required for mental health supports.
I come from a province that has now put into place, for the first time, a ministry of mental health and addictions. Judy Darcy, who shares my riding as the provincial member, is the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions in Canada. The idea is to really focus the supports and have the resources actually channelled to enhance addiction programs so that people have alternatives, and to provide full mental health supports.
You didn't really reference that in your brief, though your brief was excellent. Isn't that where we should be going, as a country, so that we have full supports in place and have a ministry that actually coordinates mental health and addictions?
