Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I want to talk about the cost of the speed of home Internet and home Internet rates in the NWT, and how we're all connected during this pandemic. One thing I've noticed during this crisis, and I've mentioned this before, is that many of our territory's long-standing issues, such as lack of housing, lack of access to healthcare, and also lack of access to high-speed Internet, have all been amplified issues for people across the NWT.

Internet need in particular has been more pronounced than usual, especially because everyone has been required to stay home for a couple of months on end. There are some positives. I was really happy to see, from our government, there was a mover from this side of the House to assist some of our students, so I was really happy to see that. Last night, when we were sitting in Committee of the Whole, and it really made me think about this today, we talked about meeting via teleconference for session or committee meetings, that I couldn't do that if I was sitting in a place like Lutselk'e. We need to work on this and ensure that we do see that all our small communities are connected and up to par from what we see in other parts of the world. For that work, to get to that point, we're going to need some will from industry and our government to see that happen.

I want to bring to people's attention in this House, Mr. Speaker, that there was a capital plan that will see a fibre optic link go from Taltson through Simpson Islands up north. Through that plan, Lutselk'e was bypassed, so that's an issue. Right now, I'll state that, arguably, Lutselk'e has the worst cell phone and Internet connectivity in the North. If you are working for, say, a business or the band in Lutselk'e, you'd have so much trouble downloading a document. If you're trying to communicate with one of us, even myself, it's really, really, hard, so we need to work on that.

With that, I will talk a little bit about some Internet packages that we have around the world. I'll ask the House here, Mr. Speaker, for unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted