As I stated before, I think that people need to have a continuum of choices when they are talking about addictions. However, Mr. Speaker, I think there is a missing component here. I came into this Assembly because of working with homeless women, and I have had over 20 years listening to the horror stories of women. Some of the stories, I cannot even share in this House they are so horrific, from when they were children, Mr. Speaker. I think that, if we talk about addictions treatment, we also have to be looking at mental health, Mr. Speaker, and that does not have to be in a residential setting. I think that mental health is a huge issue and leads to addictions. Addictions is not something people pick up. It's a coping mechanism, Mr. Speaker. Again, I would like to say that you cannot talk one without the other.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. We represent the Northwest Territories, almost 40,000 people. Almost every second person you talk to, they have addiction issues or family-related matters or community members. Again, it's a real issue, and we need to start listening to the people of the North. We cannot just dictate to them that this is good for you, six southern institutions. Mr. Speaker, that leads into my next question, and that is: residential addiction treatment works best for Dene when it's integrated with elders and time on the land. Of course, this is not possible in a southern setting, southern institutions that we talked about. Dene have to wait to come home for that. Those clients would have to come home to these elders. Mr. Speaker, question to the Premier: what does her government research say about the drawbacks of decoupling of culture components from the clinical components of treatment when it comes to our Dene people of the Northwest Territories? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

I cannot just pull up the research on that at this point because I do not have it on hand. However, what I can say, Mr. Speaker, is: I totally agree. We need to consider the whole community unit when we are talking addiction support, mental health support, as well. The elders are important within that component, and I value them very much with that. That goes to the offer that we do on-the-land funding for communities to access so that they can provide that elder support and the community support that is needed.

Mr. Speaker, one thing also I thought about while the questions were coming is that I did hear that people were saying they want choices, but I also heard that after-care was an issue, as well. The on-the-land funding might not be able to be accessed as much right now, but after-care is an issue. It's: what do these people do when they get out of the treatment centres? I know lots of research that shows that, if you do not have the proper after-care in the communities, they often slide back. That is not something we want to see. It's a continuum of care that we need, starting from in schools right until people age. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, within the community of Hay River, there is some confusion among the residents around the hiring process for the secretariat. There is concern that workers are being hired without following any type of process. This is troubling, considering the cost this government will be incurring. Can the Premier confirm the hiring process and if any or all positions for the proposed secretariat have been or will be advertised internally within the government and externally for the public? What type of media is being used for advertising? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is following all our hiring processes when we are seeking to staff up the secretariat. Some of the positions will be filled by existing employees from other departments. For the most part, these employees were already doing the work prior to the creation of the secretariat. Some of the positions have been advertised internally through an expression of interest process, and about half of the positions are also being filled from individuals new to the Government of the Northwest Territories. They are, at this point, either casual hires or as a result of advertising for term positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, another issue with staffing the secretariat concerns brought to my attention are P1 candidates. Can the Premier confirm if we are following the Affirmative Action Policy in the advertising, interviewing, and hiring of COVID secretariat staff with respect to affirmative action?

The affirmative action and the necessity for making sure that Northerners get jobs for northern people has been brought up in this House not only by MLAs. Ministers have also talked about it. It's a priority for our government, and I can confirm that the secretariat is following those processes. Cabinet, as a whole, is watching all hiring as it goes forward, to ensure that we use our Affirmative Action Policy as much as possible.

I understand we have staffed over half the positions already. Of the approximately 86 staff hired to date, what process was used to hire and enter into contracts with them, and are the contracts all for the same length of time?

At this time, today, there is 110 employees with the COVID secretariat. Of these, 65 are currently new to the Government of the Northwest Territories, of which 62 are casuals and three are term employees. Forty-five of the current secretariat employees are currently on reassignment or transfer assignments from their home positions in other departments of the Government of the Northwest Territories. When it comes to the qualifications of employment, I would like to see as many people that can get good, stable jobs in the Northwest Territories. However, the secretariat, as I said before in the House, will dissolve as soon as the Chief Public Health Officer determines that we are safe and the public health emergency is released. Within that, then, we can't hire permanent. We have to look at term positions and casuals, and that's what we're doing at this point.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once we have a vaccine, rapid testing, or another process to confirm that COVID-19 is under control and can be satisfactorily treated, can the Premier explain to the people of the Northwest Territories what are the triggers, criteria, and process for making the decision to wind down the secretariat, and how long would such a wind-down take? How will this government deal with reprofiling and terminating staff?

The whole purpose of the secretariat was to be able to implement the orders of the Chief Public Health Officer. As I said in my last answer, as these orders change, our response to the pandemic will change, as well. Once the Chief Public Health Officer and the Minister of Health determine that the orders are no longer necessary and we can conclude the public state of emergency, at that point then, we'll look at winding down the secretariat. I know that we've made projections. The $87 million almost is over two and a half years. Thirty-one million dollars of that is for this year. Twenty-three million dollars of that is covered by the federal government. I don't want it to go on. No politician in the whole of Canada, in the whole world, wants this to go on. As soon as a vaccination is found or we can get this under control, we will be looking to wind it down, but we don't know how long it's going to last. I can't give a timeline. What I can say is that, as soon as the Chief Public Health Officer deems our residents safe, at that point, we will be winding down the secretariat. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I spoke about a number of the Vote Growth platforms. One in particular was allowing a more flexible business area for liquor sales. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak about one thing in particular, and that is allowing minors into Class A establishments. In the last Assembly, there was a petition with hundreds of signatures supporting this. Numerous of my constituents who own bars or restaurants have asked for this. My question for the Minister of Finance is: will she allow minors in Class A establishments? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are class A establishments and class B establishments. The class A are predominantly focused on the sale of alcohol, whereas your class B establishments are predominantly focused on the sale of food. What's interesting is that an entity or a business can apply to have both, can be a class A and a class B. For instance, a business could apply and have a class B licence on Saturdays and Sundays during brunch hours when the focus is certainly more on food. Indeed, I know there are businesses that have recently made such application and, indeed, from the point of first enquiry to the point of that being granted, took less than a month.

That is very much the response my constituents got the last time, and it was the response to the petition. The problem is: it doesn't reflect the reality of many business models. There are very few patios in this town. Our patio season is short. If you walk up to a patio at one of the few we have in town at a class A establishment and you have a minor with you, you can't sit down because there are people drinking only beer. That business has to decide whether people want lunch-hour beers only or they want minors, such that changing one or repurposing your entire business to be half class A and class B is not the reality of how business owners want to run their businesses. I will ask this Minister: this is a regulation change purely within her authority. Will she amend the regulations to find a model that works for class A business owners?

I'm not making that regulation change without more extensive consultation with the people of the Northwest Territories. At the beginning of the pandemic, when we sought to make what seemed, again, to make a fairly small change in order to help adapt the then business structure to what was going on with COVID-19, there was a tremendous outpouring of concern from all different sides, about all the different impacts. While it seems like a simple thing, I was taken aback by just how many different opinions there are across this territory and on the ways that these kinds of changes will impact them.

What I am doing is that the Department of Finance is doing a review right now of the Liquor Act and a review of liquor pricing, really looking at the entire schematic of the regime. In doing so, we'll have that opportunity to go out to consult and to determine if there's a way to adapt our system so that we can have systems and regulations that are appropriate for some parts of the territory while still ensuring that those that want different types of protections or controls can have them.

I recognize there is probably nothing more divisive in the NWT than liquor regulations and the Liquor Act. However, the comprehensive review of the Liquor Act, I believe, needs to be separated by this finite issue. Most of the small communities don't have class A establishments. Many of them have alcohol period. There are a handful of true class A establishments in the territory. Will the Minister of Finance reach out to those class A establishments and find a business model that works for them outside of a giant, comprehensive Liquor Act review that I agree we need to do?

I'm not going to make that commitment right now. Simply put, this is the only time I've actually had this specific issue raised, and I appreciate that there are quite a number of establishments, particularly in Yellowknife, for whom this might benefit their situation. I'm certainly not getting a groundswell. In fact, if anything, what I hear more is about concerns about prohibiting liquor and restraining liquor and restricting access to liquor. At the moment, we are already underway with the Liquor Review. There have already been some minor amendments made to reflect some recommendations from the Liquor Board. The department has been quite flexible in terms of ensuring that there are options and flexibility available.

Again, as I've said, for those entities, those businesses, that are seeking an exception, there is a route forward. It's not particularly cumbersome, and it can be done quite quickly. While the bigger process of consultation and review is underway, there is a mechanism by which businesses can change their situation, can change and be a hybrid. If that proves to be untenable, then, certainly, we'll look forward to hearing that.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.