Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We continue to see violence against our Indigenous women and girls, not just here in the North, Mr. Speaker, but across Canada. We have all seen recently over this time, during this pandemic, the loss of a young Indigenous woman from Yellowknife as well as another young woman murdered in Hay River. Outside the NWT, an Indigenous woman and a mother of seven, Joyce Echaquan, who went to the hospital to seek medical treatment, instead died while being treated like no person should be treated in a facility like that.
Mr. Speaker, in June, we were informed that an action plan to deal with the calls for justice had been delayed by the federal government, and in fact, it is my opinion that no substantial work has been done to the national action plan to this date. We also heard that, due to COVID restrictions in place, domestic and sexual violence has surged during the pandemic. The NWT has even received increased federal funding for its shelters to assist with this recently. During our last session, I asked this government to take the lead and develop an action plan, not wait any longer to give action to the calls for justice outlined in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls final report. We need to do this now and not wait any longer. We cannot have any more stolen sisters.
Today, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister responsible for the Status of Women questions on what progress has been made on developing our own NWT action plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.