Final day of sitting sees two public servants under intense scrutiny

With the proposed budget lurking in the background, the only consistent element in the short sitting of this winter session of our consensus government was acrimony.

And also repeated complaints over the NWT’s ailing health-care system.

Two MLAs on Tuesday launched blistering attacks over perceived performance failures of two new positions created during the 20th Assembly.

Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan has apparently had it with Public Administrator Dan Florizone, appointed in December 2024 for the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA).

At the time, the Dene Nation expressed grave concerns over the dissolution of the NTHSSA Leadership Council, with its Indigenous input, in favour of a single public administrator, as it could hurt overall effectiveness of health service delivery.

Morgan said the public administrator model was sold as making the NTHSSA more efficient, streamlined, nimble, with more consistent oversight.

“We have blown past nearly every deadline for concrete results that were laid out in the work plan with no deliverables in sight,” said Morgan. “The main action in the work plan towards health care workforce stabilization was to develop and release a people strategy by June 2025.

“Last September, we were told it was almost ready and would be released in October. It still hasn’t been released.”

She listed a few other missed timelines and said the public administrator was supposed to produce a balanced budget for the NTHSSA by last December, so the Assembly could see savings in these main budget estimates.

“I see no evidence of that work,” said Morgan, adding a commitment was made to boost morale, improve workplace culture and communication, and make practitioners feel heard.

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“But the practitioners I’ve talked to say they’ve never even seen the PA step foot into their workplaces. I am not interested in giving any more time or any more space to the PA. It’s time for results.”

Later, under questioning from the MLA about the deficit, Minister Semmler said:

“The public administrator has been working hard with the CEO and the NTHSSA executive to bring forward, over the last couple of years, a lot of the areas they were targeting in forced growth and enhancements that they previously have done. So if people don’t — like, most people don’t understand that the authority was continuing to just put in areas where there was high pressure, high needs, and that’s what was driving up the deficit; however, within this government we, you know, as Cabinet and as myself as Minister, once we got the public administrator in, that piece was directed on ensuring that any forced growth submissions and all those things were targeting areas that were drivers of the deficit. So this past year, the budget that was — was less than the previous year, and so I think before the end of this government, this is where we are expecting — and, you know, throughout the situation, we didn’t want it to impact patients’ care. And so by just cutting the budget was not effective. It was working within, finding from within, tightening up areas where, you know, spending might — you know, where we could — if it didn’t impact patient care.”

Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins again went after the need for the NWT to have a senior envoy in Ottawa — especially since former Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty has a senior cabinet position in the Carney government.

“Our government is paying someone to do our MP’s job,” said Hawkins. “This government is paying the Premier’s buddy a $440,000 concierge service to do what? To drive people to the hockey games? To pick them up at the airport? Carry their luggage? Take them to the casinos? Take them shopping?

“I don’t know. Nobody knows. There’s no transparency. The hubris of this government is beyond unaccountable, Over the period of this government, over the whole continuum, we will pay $1.8 million approximately for this guy who has delivered what? Nothing.

“The bottom line is that I say fire the senior envoy … put that money into health care, put that money into child care, put that money into literacy, give it to seniors, Let’s spend it in a real result that gives real meaning to Northerners.”

Last week, Mackenzie Delta MLA George Nerysoo said Tsiigehtchic and its residents have been requesting police services to be provided to their communities for decades.

Tsiigehtchic is a Gwichʼin community with fewer than 200 residents located at the confluence of the Mackenzie and Arctic Red Rivers. The closest RCMP detachment to Tsiigehtchic is the Fort McPherson detachment, located roughly 60 kilometres away.

“The community of Tsiigehtchic and its residents should not be treated any differently from those who live in regional centres or the city of Yellowknife because of the population,” said Nerysoo. “The residents from Tsiigehtchic pay taxes and therefore should be provided the essential services like those who live in large communities.

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“The status quo from this government and past government is no longer acceptable. With the high rate of crime throughout the NWT, especially in communities where the police presence is nowhere to be seen, the ongoing high rate of hard drugs entering our communities, police presence is more prevalent now than ever before.

Nerysoo said the First Nations and Inuit policing Program (FNIPP) initiated in other parts of the NWT “would be a great starting point and bring security” to the concerned residents of Tsiigehtchic.

Justice Minister Jay Macdonald said currently, there are 22 FNIPP members across the territory, with five of those stationed within the Beaufort Delta. One does support the community of Tsiigehtchic.

Macdonald said between January and October of 2025, there were 39 visits to Tsiigehtchic.

He said across the NWT there were 3,000 “positive proactive patrols” by RCMP to communities that currently do not have detachments.

On an other matter, Nerysoo also had some words for the Fort Smith RCMP detachment after he said the mother of missing person Frank Gruben was rudely treated over the phone.

“The collaboration between the authorities and the families of the missing person, (that) communication is very important to keep the dialogue open,” he said. “This was not the case when Ms. Laura Kalinek, Frank Gruben’s mom, called the Fort Smith detachment and attempted to ask questions about the investigation and where it’s going since the Missing Persons Act was passed.

“A member from the Fort Smith detachment did not answer Ms. Kalinek’s concern very politely. In fact, she was very rude and her tone of voice scared Ms. Kalinek where she had to end her call because of the state of her mind.”

Nerysoo said he has heard of other similar cases of RCMP being callous to Indigenous people, who “are often put at a disadvantage when dealing with different agencies to improve their lifestyle and status.

“But when the authorities place the blame back on the victim this is totally uncalled for. We are living in a new millennium. These types of behaviours from professionals should not be tolerated and will not be tolerated. Where the authorities are treating our Indigenous population with little to no respect, it is time for change and that change will happen today.”

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The Missing Persons Act and supporting regulations came into force in January, after being first promised by the GNWT in 2020.

The new legislation will provide additional tools to assist police in investigating reports of missing persons in the NWT.

The coming into force of this legislation brings the Northwest Territories in line with other jurisdictions across Canada.

The new law is something the NWT’s 2SLGBTQQIA community has been calling for since Frank Gruben, a Gwich’in and Inuvialuk man, went missing from the town of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories on May 6, 2023.

He has still not been located.