Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, across Canada, governments are grappling with the impacts of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental disorders on this country's Canadian rangers, search and rescue technicians, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, and other first responders. Last summer, a national survey revealed that first responders were 10 per cent more likely to face these kinds of illnesses than the general population. Whether women or men, rookies or lifelong veterans, serving your community as a first responder comes with an added workplace risk.

These risks don't disappear when they are off the clock. The same survey that I just mentioned showed that the symptoms of what they call "operational stress injuries" increase over time, with more time at work and more traumatic experiences. Although family bonds can help first responders deal with the mental and emotional demands of their work, traumatic experience can also strain those bonds, sometimes to the breaking point.

Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions have found new ways to confront the reality of first responders' work. Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario recognize PTSD as a "presumptive condition" in their workers' compensation legislation. That means that those governments recognize that PTSD arises out of a worker's employment conditions, if the condition develops during their employment. This opens a door to quicker recognition and improved access to appropriate treatment and resources, from debriefing and stress counselling to clinical treatment.

Mr. Speaker, with this precedent set across the country, this is something that I would like to see our workers' compensation legislation address. Many Northwest Territories firefighters are volunteers, but we need to make sure that both volunteers and career firefighters have access to the best possible supports, training, and care. Also, with the introduction of 911, many new dispatchers will join the ranks of our first responders. Mr. Speaker, we have got to be ready to ensure the safety and care of all of our first responders, on the job and at home. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome the two grade 6 classes that we have here visiting today from Weledeh Catholic School, and I also want to welcome their teachers, Trent Hamm and Tyrrell Hughes. Welcome, and I hope you enjoy the proceedings today. Thank you.

Thank you. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize my constituency assistant, Ms. Ray Solotki. She is here with us this week. She is chaperoning a couple of our Pages, Mataya Gillis and Tyanna Bain, who are very strong ambassadors in the sport of curling for the Northwest Territories and put the NWT on the map with their junior curling.

As always, to the youth, welcome to the two grade 6 classes from Weledeh, and, to your educators, thank you for all of the work that you do for our students. Mahsi.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, I spoke about post-traumatic stress disorder. My questions are for the Minister of WSCC. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister how our workers' compensation legislation currently deals with PTSD and other mental disorders that develop as a result of an individual's work, as for firefighters and other first responders? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission does recognize post-traumatic stress disorder as a psychological disorder if it is diagnosed by a medical professional. Both are covered within the act, and, if it is diagnosed, they will be provided the support that's provided to anyone, similar to as if it was a physical accident.

I appreciate the response. Mr. Speaker, my second question is: can the Minister commit to exploring the Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario models for recognizing PTSD and other disorders as presumptive conditions for firefighters and other first responders, as in the Firefighters' Presumption Regulations?

Certainly, we can. The Workers' Safety and Compensation Board, just like other departments of the Government of the Northwest Territories, tries to work in partnership with all of the provinces and territories across Canada. We are always looking for best practices. We are always taking from each other, sharing workshops and sharing information. We will continue doing that process. It doesn't make sense to work in isolation. The best practice is working cross-jurisdictionally, looking at what is working and what is not working, and adapting our services based on that; so, yes, we will.

I appreciate the response. Mr. Speaker, how does the Minister plan for 911 rollout, including planning for workers' from across the territory, including paramedics and dispatchers, exposure to traumatic situations?

It is actually one of the benefits that we're going to be co-sharing the space with the Medicalert. We will be looking at sharing some of the training that they receive as well. That will give us a little bit of a heads up on some of the situations that we may be encountering when people accept 911 calls.

Of course, everyone that does work in that station will be Government of the Northwest Territories employees, and so they do qualify for the employee assistance program, where people can access services, counselling services, as needed, and then, of course, we will be looking at specialized training to assist them. We are doing as best as we can to make sure that we support our workers when they implement 911, because we recognize that some of those calls are going to be heartbreaking, and we need to take care of our employees.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, monsieur le President. In October 2016, the then-Minister of Transportation said in this House that environmental considerations, more specifically, potential impacts on the Bathurst caribou herd, played no part in the current alignment of the proposed Slave Geological Province Road.

Can the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources tell us whether his staff have had any discussions with the Department of Infrastructure about the routing of the proposed Slave Geological Province all-weather road and what the outcome of those discussions has been? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ENR staff have provided the Department of Infrastructure with wildlife data to support the development of road-routing options, and, based on preliminary discussions, I understand that the focus at this stage is in obtaining funding to advance the Slave Geological Province. Once we do that, there is still a very lengthy environmental assessment process that we would have to go through, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that, and I just sort of wonder when environmental considerations will go into the planning of the road. In December 2016, there was an interim discussion document for the Bathurst caribou range plan, and it recommended winter road access over all-weather roads wherever possible, to reduce impacts. The draft range plan that is now out for public engagement is a lot weaker. It says the following: "New roads in the Bathurst caribou range take into consideration the needs of multiple purposes and users, seasonality of construction and use, routing, and design to minimize impacts to caribou." That is the end of the quote, Mr. Speaker. It is a lot weaker. Can the Minister explain why the draft range plan was significantly weakened with regard to how all-weather roads would be acceptable?

The wording on the draft range plan was modified to reflect recent input received during the last round of engagement, and I think the Member pointed out before that we do have a second phase of public decision-making engagement going on from January to the end of March, as well.

I would like to thank the Minister for that. I looked at the "what we heard" report, and there were no comments from any government agencies about this particular weakening of the report around roads, so I'm not sure where that came from. Can the Minister tell us whether any resources have been dedicated in the 2018-2019 Environment and Natural Resources budget towards concrete actions and implementation of the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan?

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is currently conducting a certain engagement on the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan which had been funded internally in our budget and funding received from Polar Knowledge Canada. ENR plans on returning to Cabinet in the summer of 2018 for approval on a final range plan and funding needs for the implementation of the range planning dependent on the final content of the plan. ENR and GNWT will need to identify funding for implementation of the plan at that time, which will likely involve existing program funding and request for new internal and external, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'd like to thank the Minister again for that. I look forward to the supplementary appropriation for the plan. As I said in my statement earlier today, if our government will not sign off on the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan and claims that it is advisory, not binding and not government policy, just what is the status of this plan and what confidence can the public have that our government is ever going to do anything to protect the Bathurst Caribou herd? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I mean I can inform the public that this government will do all we can to protect the Bathurst Caribou. We know that the numbers have been down drastically over the last number of years. Hence, the reason for trying to put a good range plan together. It will be a Cabinet-approved document and, as such, the GNWT will be responsible for implementing those recommendations following under its authority again. Once we have all the information compiled and we're ready to go out and go get a final approval of the range plan, we will obviously sit down with committee and seek some input from committee, if that's the wish of committee, and we will come up with a good range plan that will work for the preservation of the Bathurst Caribou herd. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.