My next question for the Premier would be: given yesterday's events around Aurora College staffing, how does this government intend to do a better job with consistent communication, public-facing communication?

Again, the mandate letters will be coming within this session. All Members will be told to engage as much as possible with stakeholders. That is important. The events that happened yesterday were a little bit unusual in that some things, you can share very openly, Mr. Speaker. If we are looking at doing programs or changing policies or legislation, all open. We should be as transparent and open as possible.

When we are talking about people's lives, individuals, Mr. Speaker, I do think we have to pull back a little bit and make sure that we are cautious, because one is being open and transparent, and the other is talking about respect for the person behind that. One of the Members talked about suicide today. A lot of times, if we are not careful in how we treat people, that is a risk that we take. I am not willing to take that risk; I would rather, as a leader, be told that I'm not open when it comes to talking about personal issues of people. I will talk generally about issues of people, though, and that is how we will try to work.

Yesterday, we heard a lot from colleagues about their concern over the way boards are staffed and managed. Does the Premier agree that the way that boards are appointed and managed could be improved to better build public trust?

Absolutely. I have already had conversations with all of our Cabinet, and we are talking about terms of boards. In fairness to all of us here, sometimes our plates are so busy that the easy answer is just to reappoint the person who has been there before, because it's easy. They're already there; we have already gone through the vetting; we know who they are. Is that the best way to appoint boards? That is what I have been challenging my Cabinet with.

I think they are all in agreement. We will actually be looking at terms of boards, because there is a benefit to having corporate knowledge, a person who has the knowledge, but there is a real benefit to having new blood. We see that here in this Assembly, a younger and new voice, and I think that we have an obligation to make sure, in all of our boards, that we have an equal balance of people who have the knowledge and people who have great new ideas coming forward. It is a discussion that we are on, and you will see a change within our policies within this term.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In March of 2019, YK1 and YCS raised the issue through a joint letter to ECE. To my knowledge, CSFTNO has not raised the issue through a formal channel like that, but I am sure that it is on their radar. ECE officials have engaged with the Yellowknife DEAs to begin to try to figure out how to solve this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that information. We have been informed by the Yellowknife education authorities that the overwhelming opinion of parents is that they want money spent on education rather than holding elections. Does the Minister agree that additional costs for separate elections by education authorities to conduct their own elections would be better spent on children's education?

The best-spent money is always on children's education, so it's hard to argue with that.

I want to thank the Minister for the straightforward response. The situation for CSFTNO is different, as I mentioned in my statement, in that its commissaires represent two communities that now have different cycles for their municipal elections. To me, it sounds like the best solution here may be to allow education authorities to set their own terms of office, with approval of the Minister, of course. I am sure that the Minister is aware of this complication, but I am wondering whether his department has contemplated a solution for the term of office issue for CSFTNO.

The department is aware and looking into this. Unfortunately, I have to report that we do not have a silver bullet for this issue. It is going to take a bit more research, but we are committed to doing that, and I will get back to the Member when we have that information.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister. Great to hear that he and his staff are working already on this issue. I am just wondering whether the Minister can commit to making the small changes that are likely necessary in the Education Act to avoid spending money on elections rather than education. Can he make those changes before 2021? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The department has looked at a number of ways of doing this. Unfortunately, there is no way of getting around the fact that the board members were elected for a fixed period of time. Any change to that period of time, to extend it, would be antidemocratic.

If you are elected to a certain period, if the voters vote you in and they think that you are going to be there for this many years because that is what the legislation says, I am not willing to extend that. What would be required would be a plebiscite, similar to what municipalities do.

I believe in democracy. I am a strong supporter of democracy. I do not believe that we should be extending term limits. We are not kings here. We are politicians who were duly elected. That being said, the department has had conversations with the education authorities. We are committed to working with them to mitigate the cost as much as we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Do we presently have a suicide prevention strategy?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services does not currently have a specific suicide prevention strategy. However, the Child and Youth Mental Wellness Action Plan contains commitment to develop a suicide prevention and crisis response network.

I would like to add, also, that part of the work includes funding to support community-based prevention activities and improve screening by implementing two standardized suicide risk assessment tools, one for adults and one for youth. These tools were rolled out this summer in 2019.

We also have the development of a coordinated approach to responding to suicide or other crises. This work currently is in process and will focus on a clear process for Health and Social Services system when a crisis occurs. A key piece of this process will be engaging with community impacted and taking our lead from them as to what supports they need.

Also, I would like to add the department also delivers a prevention program aimed at educating residents on the signs that someone may be thinking of suicide and how to connect them to resources. In addition, these programs are called Mental Health First Aid and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training. They are delivered across the Northwest Territories by the Health and Social Services authorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the Minister starting that question with a clear no, and I also appreciate that all of those programs are doing great work. I know that everyone in that department takes this issue seriously. Yet, our jobs as MLAs is to look at the larger pictures, to look at systemic issues, to make sure departments are not taking a siloed approach to an issue such as suicide. This is why the importance of government strategies are what we need to do our jobs. Will the Minister commit to developing a suicide prevention strategy in the life of this government?

Like I mentioned to the Member, we are looking at developing a suicide prevention and crisis response network.

I don't wish to get into a debate of semantics, but it is important to note that, in the GNWT, the word "strategy" has a very specific meaning. It is not the response program that the Minister is talking about.

However, I have another question for the Minister. It is important to address this, that we have all the information to do our jobs. My question for the Minister is: do we presently track suicide attempts in addition to suicide deaths?

When a Northwest Territories resident dies by suicide in another jurisdiction outside the Northwest Territories, we are notified that the person has died, passed away, but we are not notified with a formal notification as to the cause of death.

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