Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm glad to see you in that seat today. I'd just like to speak in support of this motion. The GNWT Department of Infrastructure on our good building practices has done a lot of great work in including disability and accessibility standards. However, that work we're very much leaders on has not made it into the private sector. Presently, there is a gap in this area. There is the national building code. Builders go out, they build something, and they think it's compliant with human rights law, and it's not. That can cause a lot of frustration for people who are building buildings to find out they followed a code, and it can actually end them up in human rights court.

The GNWT has done this work in the Department of Infrastructure, but we have not really translated it into the private sector. Some of that work is beginning. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has the fire prevention sections of the building code but not the rest of it. I really do believe we need a northern building code and a building standards act, and part of that work needs to make sure that contractors know that following the national building code doesn't always mean your building is accessible. There is work being done at the national level; there is work being done by GNWT. We have to put it all together and make sure that contractors know where those line up. Thank you, Mr. Chair.