Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier in this Assembly, we put $2.5 million more into homecare support here in the Northwest Territories, creating a number of positions throughout the Northwest Territories. As the Member knows, we are also intending and planning to move forward with home and/or family community caregiver program that will help elders and persons with disabilities stay in their homes for as long as possible. We are getting close to being able to roll that out. We are hiring someone to help us with the final steps before we start reaching out to residents across the Northwest Territories on how to pilot that. Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are making investments in this area.

[Translation] Thank you. I have two questions there. There's the aging in place program. Is the Minister willing to put more money into the aging in place program? [Translation ends]

We are committed to moving forward with our Aging in Place Action Plan to find ways to help support our residents stay in their homes as long as possible. We are making an investment in this program now. We are getting individuals in place to help facilitate that piloting. Once the piloting is done, we will be in a better position to determine how much financial resources we need to support the program, but this is a model that we believe is going to be effective. This is a model that we believe is going to be helpful to our residents, and we are committed to rolling it out.

[Translation] My fourth question is: we ask for money at the Assemblies like that. Is the Minister prepared to request supplementary funding to run a couple of programs as soon as possible? [Translation ends]

If I understand correctly, the Member is asking whether I'm prepared to move a supplemental to fund more in this area this fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, we do have some dollars available in this fiscal year to help us with design. Until we actually have a design, it would be difficult to run it with a program. It would really be ad hoc, and I think what we want to do is learn from these opportunities, learn from these experiences, so we can develop the program that really meets the residents' needs.

We do have money in. We are rolling out. We will be seeking participants towards the end of this fiscal year so that we can do our testing next year, and then we will be in a really good position to determine what allocation of resources we are actually going to need to make this a reality in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On October 24^th, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Coast Guard announced that they would create a new administrative and operational region focused solely on the Arctic. According to the Minister of DFO, Minister Wilkinson, decisions about policy, resource management, and conservation should be made in the North in collaboration with territorial and Indigenous governments, but one of the first decisions was to hire a new assistant commissioner of the Coast Guard and place that position in Yellowknife.

Why the position will be based in Yellowknife when operations are based in Hay River, and DFO has a big building with a lot of office space, is a little confusing to me and a little concerning to the residents of Hay River. I would like to get to the bottom of it. I have some questions for our territorial counterpart to the federal Minister of DFO, the Minister of Infrastructure.

My first question is: because the federal Minister cited collaboration with territorial governments as a key element in the creation of this new region, what consultation occurred between the territorial government and DFO regarding the location of the new assistant commissioner position? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as I am aware of, there was no consultation done with my department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's like the old days all over again when Ottawa was calling the shots up here. Since this decision was announced just last week, has the Minister inquired about DFO's plans and if they plan to move operations to Yellowknife?

As this announcement just came out lately, and we have been in session and I have been travelling, I have not had a direction conversation with the federal Minister about moving any of their operations or any discussion about this new position.

Can I get the Minister to commit to having those conversations so that he can share that information with the House?

Yes, when this announcement came out, I am looking forward to having a discussion with the Minister of DFO and see what their long-term plans are around moving any types of operations around and this new position as well, and having a discussion about this new Arctic region.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is always a challenge to stop the flow of centralization to Yellowknife. We need jobs in our other communities as well. In addition to chatting about the future of this, can the Minister also commit to supporting keeping those positions in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, we are committed to keeping what we have in Hay River around the marine facilities as well. There has been much debate in this House lately about how we operate MTS and what our long-term plan should be around that. It makes sense to keep MTS and the Coast Guard located in Hay River. That is both of their headquarters, and we will continue to work collaboratively with the federal government. If there are any plans of changing anything and updating the committee, I will do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week you heard me ask about rights-based cabins to the Minister of Lands. I am going to actually move my questioning to the Premier. Can the Premier advise what consultation has been done by the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs with Indigenous governments about the process of determining what cabins in their area are rights-based cabins? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Lands is leading the Government of the Northwest Territories' efforts to identify legal rights-based cabins on public land in the Northwest Territories. Lands is currently engaging, on a government-to-government basis and at the working level with Indigenous governments, to discuss how rights-based cabins can be identified and managed in a way that is respectful of Aboriginal and treaty rights.

The Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs is not directly conducting the consultation or engagement on this initiative but has provided advice on the approach used by Lands to ensure that it is consistent with the Government of the Northwest Territories' engagement principles, negotiations, efforts, and our processes for consultation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the answer from the Premier. Can the Premier advise this House if there has been any feedback from the Indigenous governments that is affecting the government's now proposed identifying of rights-based cabins?

The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes and respects Aboriginal and treaty rights, including the rights of Indigenous peoples to build and use a cabin on public land that supports their rights to hunt, fish, and trap.

The Department of Lands is out engaging with Indigenous governments to discuss how best to identify and manage rights-based cabins. It is premature to say specifically how the feedback will affect any future process. The Department of Lands will use the feedback from the current engagement process to ensure that any future actions related to unauthorized occupancy will respect Aboriginal treaty rights and will not adversely impact rights-based cabins.

I appreciate the response from the Premier. Mr. Speaker, how, if at all, has the approach for identifying and registering rights-based cabins differ in regions with settled claims and unsettled claims?