Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.]

I have three broad commitments that I would like to make if elected to Cabinet this afternoon, but first, I want to give a lengthy introduction to myself, as we have all found, although we have been speaking about our priorities and our vision, we don't necessarily know a lot about one another's backgrounds.

I was born and raised in Calgary to Ed and Bev Wawzonek, who are first-generation immigrants to Canada. They both grew up north of Edmonton on farms where their parents didn't speak English. In fact, my uncle still lives on my mother's farm and only had running water when I was an adult.

I met my birth family when I was an adult living in Toronto. My birth mother found me, Shelly Kunz from the Lac La Biche area of Alberta, and then my birth father also met me, Steven Woake, and I discovered that he is a member of the Metis Nation of Alberta. He immediately sent me the paperwork, seeking for me to join the Metis Nation of Alberta. No longer living in Alberta at the time, that wasn't possible, but I had the opportunity to look at my ancestry and see the line that traced straight back to the Lagimodiere family and the founding of the Red River Settlements in Manitoba. Although I wasn't raised in the Metis culture, I am deeply proud of this heritage.

None of my parents had the opportunity to attend university. Every one of my parents made sacrifices to make sure that I would have the opportunity to dream and the opportunity to follow whatever dreams I had. When I attended my undergraduate at the University of Calgary, over 20 years ago now, it sparked in my mind, "Why is it that we don't all have the opportunity to dream, and why is it that we don't all have the opportunity to follow our dreams?" When something holds a member of our society back, it holds us all back. It holds back our wellness, individually and as a group, and it holds back our collective prosperity.

A few years later, I decided that the one way that I might help seek change would be to help change the rules, and that's when I went to law school. I decided to learn about the rules that sometimes restrict us, but also learn about a way that we can challenge inequality, challenge unfairness, and demand better from our government. If you had asked me back then whether I might eventually run for office, I would likely have laughed and told you that my plan was more to take governments to court rather than stand in one.

My husband, a geologist, back in 2007, took an opportunity here in Yellowknife. I opened my own law practice. I attended circuit courts, I believe, in every community that has a circuit court here in the Northwest Territories. My regular stomping grounds were, in fact, the Sachs Harbour/ Paulatuk/ Ulukhaktok circuit, which I had many wonderful opportunities to visit.

As a lawyer, you have to understand a person's story in order to truly be able to help them and to present their case. You stand up, and you own their story on their behalf. To do that, I met with not only my clients, but their parents, their spouses, and sometimes their children; I had tea in their homes; and I heard them tell me heartbreaking stories of childhood trauma, family breakdown, residential school experiences, poverty, mental illness, and addictions. I realized that I was now in a place that I needed to be in order to help make a positive change for people and to help seek justice and more equality.

When the eldest of my two children was born, almost eight years ago now, I realized I had to step back from mothering all of my clients, and so my practice evolved away from criminal practice. I joined a fully northern-owned and fully northern-operated law firm and expanded into more general litigation. What that meant was that I was now having the opportunity to help small- and medium-sized businesses across the Northwest Territories. I worked with government departments; ran coroner's inquests; did child protection work; worked with environmental regulatory boards; worked with professional organizations, including teachers and nurses; worked with other governments on their behalf; the City of Yellowknife; and some small community governments as well.

I very soon developed a balanced and broad practice that gave me perspective on the social envelope, as well as government practice, government foundations, and business needs. I realized that, at my core, what drives me and motivates me has never changed. It is that I want to advocate for creative and effective solutions that help people, improve communities, and improve societies. I want to help solve problems. That is true across sectors, and it's true across industries.

I will give you a couple of quick examples. I was counsel last year at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. The inquiry was mandated to examine, essentially, every system in society, from our government relationships, education, healthcare, justice, to even relationships with industry. We were being asked to help find solutions for why there was anything less than equity in our society. I also have had the pleasure of serving with now-Senator Dawn Anderson on the steering committee that designed the Domestic Violence Treatment Option court here in the Northwest Territories and, later, the Wellness Court, as well. These are courts that are seeking, again, creative solutions to help improve the situations facing victims and offenders, to actually go to the root of what causes crime, and to truly collaborate across departments because that's the only way those solutions are going to be solved.

I have appeared many times before standing committees, in fact before now, some of my colleagues, on behalf of many organizations, including the Canadian Bar Association and the Chamber of Commerce, always there advocating for new solutions.

As my career evolved, what surprised me was that, although criminal court is flashy and fun, what I truly love is administrative law, which, if you haven't heard of that, it's everything outside of the courtroom. Essentially, it's all the decisions made by a Minister, boards and tribunals, like student financial assistance, the education authorities. It really is how we make fair decisions, and so my work has evolved where I've actually had the opportunity to teach boards and tribunals and decision-makers how to structure a fair process, how to make a decision that actually meets a legal standard of being reasonable, and how to give good reasons so that the people that are being affected by your decision understand why you've made it.

I have applied that work in a lot of different areas. I've acted as the president in the Law Society of the Northwest Territories, as a secretary and director at the Northwest Territories Chamber of Commerce. I was appointed as the chair of the Legal Aid Commission and to the Income Appeals Assistance Committee as well as many other community positions. All the while, I have found that fair and effective processes to drive rational decision-making that benefit people, community, and society is true across sectors and industries. That's the approach that I want to bring to Cabinet.

The three commitments I'd like to make specifically are:

• Commitment to continue to be committed to people, to relationships, and to working and understanding the stories of others, starting right at the front lines of all government services and continuing right up to every person in this Chamber.
• I'd like to make a commitment to continue to seek creative and effective solutions. A process of solution-finding doesn't end when you think you have found the solution. You need to implement your solution. You need to make sure it actually has the results that you need to fix the problem you were trying to fix because, if it doesn't, you need to go back and be more creative. When I say "you," I actually should say "we" because it's not about solutions that I might have. My role isn't necessarily to come up with the solutions. It's to go out and help people find those solutions and bring them forward.
• My third commitment would be to fair processes and reasonable decision-making, reasonable decisions that I'm prepared to explain so that everyone who is affected by them understands why I have made them.

I thank you very much for your consideration today.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Wawzonek. Colleagues and members of the public, we'll take a 15 minute break before we get into the questions. Thank you.

--- SHORT RECESS

Members, we are now permitted to ask a maximum of one question to be directed to all Executive Council candidates. Candidates will have one-and-a-half minutes to answer each question. Again, I will be enforcing this time limit consistently today. The floor is open for questions. Mr. Norn.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. During our Northern Leaders Round Table last week, we heard several times from our Indigenous leaders that there have been constant communication breakdowns and a lack of trust with our government. In my riding, there have even been instances where invites were ignored for visits to the community. To me, this is unacceptable. My question to you as a ministerial candidate is: if elected as Minister, how will you ensure that your respective departments keep open lines of communication with our Indigenous and community governments? Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Norn. First on my list, we have Ms. Wawzonek. Members, please be mindful of the interpreters. They ask that people please slow down a bit, so just keep that in mind. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Trust has been at the core of my professional life as a lawyer for over a decade now. You can't ask someone to come to you and share with you something that they may not share with anyone else in the world if they don't trust you. You then have to take that and move it forward, but it's not just about the clients that I'm serving who are sharing their personal stories with me. In order to get anything done, I have to have trust with someone who is on the opposite side of a file with me; someone with whom I may have an adversarial relationship. We will get more done if we can actually trust each other.

Trust is built and trust is easily broken and, as I developed relationships with other lawyers, with clients, with judges, with other decision-makers, it's how you engage. It's how you do things. It's, when you make a promise that you're going to do something, you do your best to follow through. If something changes and you can't do it, you need to tell them why and you need to be straightforward and upfront, and you develop a reputation very quickly as someone who you can or cannot trust.

I think it starts at the top and so, for that reason, I'm speaking about how I would present relationships that are full of trust, but it has to go to the front lines, as well. So, to me, as a leader of a department or a ministry, I would expect to be walking the front lines of whatever ministry I'm in, developing trust with people at the front, and I would expect whatever DM or assistant DM to be alongside me along the way so we can develop trust, starting at the front lines of the department all the way up to the top. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Wawzonek. Next, we have Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. I guess, working with leadership back home, I think an open-dialogue, open-door approach and working with our different land claim groups right across the territory. I think what we have to be is transparent and open to work and make change on their behalf, and I think, if we work together, all together, we could get basically what we want all done for the people of the different land claim groups. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Next, we have Mr. Bonnetrouge.

Thank you for the question. Of course, I would like to have open lines of communications with Indigenous groups. As a Minister, I would have to confer with my department and media staff in order to get any messages received from the Indigenous groups. We have to decipher, look at it, and work with our staff in order to respond to the Indigenous groups. As Minister, I don't think that I would be allowed to just answer the question outright and communicate with the leaders myself, so I would have to confer with the departments on that. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bonnetrouge. Next, we have Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. We talked a lot about communication and the importance of it and how that built relationships. Communication with Indigenous governments is obviously a priority. Earlier I spoke about the need for perhaps formalizing this communication in certain respects. If there are complaints that calls to the department go unanswered or that certain things are ignored, we need to figure out why that is happening. Perhaps we have to put some things in place where there are policies or there are protocols that, when we are contacted by an Indigenous government, there is a timeline for follow-up, there are people who are responsible for following up on that.

Sometimes there are leader-to-leader discussions. We can speak with Indigenous governments, but if it is something that happens within the department, something in a band office or Indigenous government office, and they need to contact the department, that is where those types of protocols come in. When it comes to the leader-to-leader contact, well, that's on us. That's our job. That's our responsibility to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Next, we have Ms. Thom.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Communication is important. We heard from the leaders of the Northwest Territories last week on how we need to start mending these partnerships. You look at some of the Indigenous groups and some of the wonderful things that they are doing on their own, and with just a little bit of support from the government, it can go a long way. I think that that is really important to consider.

We heard the frustrations. We have to be considerate of the different regions. The diversity that is happening within the regions is really important, and we have to really get to know them, understand some of the history and the context of where the different Indigenous groups have come from. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Thom. Next, we have Ms. Chinna.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. If I am elected Minister, Indigenous relationships will be an absolute priority. I look at the successes in my region. My region has, for the community of Colville Lake, built a seven-kilometre road on their own, independently, which had cost them $200,000 and would have been $7 million with the GNWT. I also look at the solar panel project that is happening in Tulita and in Colville Lake as well, too, and also the housing initiative that is being brought forward by Fort Good Hope. Going forward, it is imperative that we deal with Indigenous groups and that we start dealing with them and recognizing them as partners and no longer clients. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Ms. Chinna. Next, we have Ms. Martselos.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. I feel that my job here is to carry the mandate that I put forth with the Indigenous file. Sitting in the room last week on October 17^th with all of the Indigenous leaders was incredible because I couldn't say anything. My door will always be open. They know that. I know the issues. I respect each and every one of them, and I know each and every one of their issues. It's an open-door policy for me. It's a no-brainer.

I love the Indigenous people of the North, just as I love everybody else in the Northwest Territories, because we are very unique. Okay? We are very unique in that the majority of the people of the Northwest Territories is Indigenous, and our doors should always be open to the leadership of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Martselos. Next, we have Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. My whole life has been about communication and trust. For 23 years, I worked with the municipal governments, starting out with nine in the region, up to 19. I built the trust working with them. You need to, first and foremost, listen to the people. You need to have open ears and understand what they are trying to say. I think that we need to listen to Indigenous governments, municipal governments, and the residents of the Northwest Territories, not just certain people. We need to listen to everybody.

I look at my record in employment and my MLA record. My communities have trusted me. They have given me concerns, and I have brought them forth to Ministers. I do believe that we need to be doing the same thing. We need to be working with the Indigenous governments, we need to be working with the municipal governments, and we need to be working with the residents. We need to have an open ear, and we need to also have our staff do the same thing. Our front line staff should be in the communities. They should be working with them. If we don't, this is where the trust barrier comes in.

I just look at my record. I look at my relationships with Indigenous governments and municipal governments throughout the last 34-plus years, and I honestly think that I have built the trust moving forward. I think it's just part of working together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh for the question. I think that it is really important that actions speak a lot louder than words.

We need to make some progress on the land rights negotiations and do an analysis of what the issues are at each of the tables, make sure that we have the right people, the right kinds of resources, and get that going very quickly. We also heard that co-drafting of post-devolution legislation regulations is important for people. We have to make sure that we continue that and continue it on into the regulation-making phase.

When we met with the Indigenous leaders, they said that the Memorandums of Understanding, the intergovernmental agreements that we have with them, are good, but we shouldn't be limiting our consultation to those agreements, once-a-year meetings. People want Ministers to go to assemblies and want proactive visits to communities. I am prepared to do that and try to build some of the relationships on some of the relationships that I have already developed through my years of being here.

I think that we need to make some progress on implementing UNDRIP here in this Assembly.

Those are some of the ideas that I would bring forward. Of course, I would like to work with my cabinet colleagues to make sure that everybody is on the same page and Regular MLAs, particularly from the smaller communities, as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Next, we have Ms. Nokleby.

I have been really encouraged by a lot of the discussion that we have been having lately as we set the priorities with the tone of improving the relationships with the Indigenous governments and groups in the territory.

One of the reasons that I decided to put my name forward for Cabinet was that a lot of people outside of this room, et cetera, my constituents, were urging me to go ahead and run for Cabinet, and included amongst those were former Indigenous leaders who have sat in these seats, as well as development corporations, land corporations, others that I have worked with over the years, and business owners. I won't name names, but one Indigenous business owner told me he was more excited to see the results in my riding than he was in others.

My plan going forward is just the open-door policy. I plan to listen. I plan to go for coffees. I am a fairly social person, so I just want to always be out there, reaching out and continuing to always build those bridges with the Indigenous organizations, and not only with their leadership, but also with workers on the ground and the people whom I have met over the years in my course of my work. That is really important to me.

My mother always taught me that you pay as much attention to the CEO as you do to the janitor and that every person has something to offer, so I will always be open; I will always listen; and I will continue to communicate well with the connections that I already have and foster and develop new connections with Indigenous groups. Thank you.