Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 32. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess, as I understand it, NEBS also operates in Nunavut, and I think the Minister talked about how there was some consultation with Nunavut in preparing the bill. I don't think Nunavut has passed similar legislation and, of course, they had their election not that long ago, but is there any indications from the new government as to what they're doing with their legislation? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I don't have any new updates since the election. Let me see if perhaps there's been some discussions with the officials level. I'll ask the deputy minister to speak to that, please.

Thank you. Deputy Minister.

Thank you. Any further questions? Does the committee agree that there are no further general comments? We'll proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill.

Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please return to page 1 of the bill.

Clause one, does committee agree?

---Clauses 1 through 7 inclusive approved

Committee, to the bill as a whole, does committee agree that Bill 32, an Act to Amend the Northern Employees Benefit Service Pension Plan Act is now ready for third reading?

Thank you, committee.

Does the committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 32, an Act to Amend the Northern Employees Benefit Service Pension Plan Act. Thank you, Ministers, and thank you to your witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.

Committee, we've agreed to consider Bill 33, National Indigenous People's Day Act. I will ask the Minister of the Executive and Indigenous Affairs to introduce the bill. [Audio] oh, wait.

I'm here to present Bill 33, National Indigenous Peoples Day Act.

The National Indigenous Peoples Day Act, which is intended to repeal and replace the existing National Aboriginal Day Act which came into force in 2002.

In this bill, the term "Aboriginal" is being replaced with the term "Indigenous Peoples", which is more inclusive and is also consistent with federal and internal naming conventions.

This proposed bill is intended to honor and celebrate the culture and achievements of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people of Canada as well as the Dene, Metis, and Inuvialuit people of the Northwest Territories and recognizes June 21st each year as National Indigenous Peoples Day which is celebrated in the Northwest Territories as a statutory holiday.

June 21st was chosen as the date of this national celebration due to significance of the summer solstice when many Indigenous people have historically celebrated their culture and heritage.

As part of the legislative amendment process, notice of the proposed changes were made to Indigenous governments with an opportunity to provide feedback.

Should the proposed amendments be approved, coincidental amendments would also be made to the legislation, including the Employment Standards Act, the Public Service Act, and the Interpretation Act.

That concludes my opening remarks, and I'm prepared to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber? Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Minister, Madam Premier, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you. Madam Chair, I have Christina Duffy -- raise your hand -- director of legislation division, and Ms. Lauren Alexandra is the director of shared corporate services. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, and welcome. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 33. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I just want to say that I'm very supportive of this bill. The first time I ever thought about what the meaning of the word "aboriginal" could mean was at a Pathfinder meeting, which is a division of Girl Guides, when one of the Girl Guides or the Pathfinders turned to me and asked why the holiday was called Aboriginal Day when AB means not and therefore it meant not aboriginal. So in her mind, already at that age, she knew that the -- that the wording was wrong and she couldn't understand it. So I'm happy to sit here today and see during my term that this is changing, and I can go back to her now at 18 and tell her we've changed it legally. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I support this bill as well. I think as an Indigenous person, and you know, I've got to speak up to this, you know, to this change. It's important that, you know, Indigenous people have a day that, you know, we can celebrate, and we do have a lot to celebrate. And I know that in the last day everybody -- or the last time everybody thought we were supposed to have a holiday, and we were wondering why we didn't. But we had one anyway. So no, it's important, and, you know, there we've got culture. The other day I talked about, you know, moose hide. Like, you know, it just goes on and on, and it's the little things and it brings people together, and, yeah, lots of interaction, lots of storytelling, and, you know, if we don't do anything, we don't do that celebration, and we need -- we need to keep in the forefront as well because, you know, as claims gets settled throughout Canada and the Northwest Territories, we Indigenous people need to know that, you know, that we're taken seriously and that a good change is coming and, you know, we look forward to the time when, you know, that we are 51 percent hires in the Northwest Territories government, and when our children are educated and meet the standards that are met in the territories, so we've got lots to look for; we've got lots to celebrate, and we got a very resilient and strong past. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Any further general comments to Bill 33? Is committee agreed that there are no further general comments? Can we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?

Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill. Clause 1, does committee agree?

---Clauses 1 through 5 inclusive approved

Committee, to the bill as a whole, does committee agree that Bill 33, National Indigenous Peoples Day Act is now ready for third reading?