Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Housing explain the eviction process; is there a dollar value in arrears that triggers an eviction? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member. It's quite an important question to be asking because we are under our policy review right now, and we're looking at a submission and a technical briefing to standing committee as well.

The process for the evictions are very lengthy. We do have to work with the Residential Tenancy Act as well too for the Northwest Territories. The local housing authority, the board of directors, they do have the authority to be working with these clients. We do practice the last chance agreement providing advice and counselling to the tenants as well. And also repayment loans.

What I've gathered for the department as well is that preferably when we are exercising evictions that it's through the last chance agreement, and it's the last chance resort that we actually do have, and we try our best to counsel the tenants to try to keep them in our units. But unfortunately, we do get to a point where we have to really think about the health and safety of our tenants as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Can the Minister explain how many notices are provided to tenants before an eviction occurs and what reduced payment plan options are available to tenants? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the policy review, I've asked the department to create a step by step for the eviction process. What I've noticed in the smaller communities is that they delay the eviction process as well. It's not as easy as a 1, 2, 3, and the file is transferred over to the rental officer. The LHOs do try to work very closely with the tenants. The last thing we would like is to have anybody evicted throughout the Northwest Territories. My preference, as a Minister, is I would like to see homeownership become an opportunity. But unfortunately, not all tenants qualify for homeownership throughout the territory, but the LHO and the Housing NWT does work very closely with each of these clients and counsel them before the eviction process is initiated. What I've seen since I've had the portfolio is one of the longest eviction processes was over seven years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay. Can the Minister of Housing explain whether families with children are approached differently than families without children when being evicted? What extra supports are in place for specifically low income families with children? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member. She's quite passionate about the portfolio for her riding as well too, and I very much sympathize with her because I hear a lot of these questions being asked throughout the Northwest Territories, and Housing tries to do its best to work with families in trying to keep them housed.

Looking at the criteria that we do have, we do work with ECE, we do work with the department of health as well too to try to find programs and services to try to prevent the eviction but also to try to support the families as well too.

One of the programs that we do have throughout the territory, that's really up to the local community governments, is we do have a housing support worker pilot project that was initiated also in Behchoko, and it was very successful. It was a pilot project that kind of mirrored the urgency to have that located in each of the communities as well too.

Just with that program itself, it was an advocacy position that would work with the tenant and with Housing NWT, with the rental officer, with Health and Social Services, with ECE, with Justice. And it was kind of like a wraparound service that we were trying to pilot in the smaller community, and Behchoko was our preference to have that program and it was very successful.

Currently we are working with the Tlicho housing working group to reestablish that position. We do have funding available for the position but it's right now on the table in the talks between the Tlicho government and Housing NWT. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.

I'd like to get some more information on that as well.

Mr. Speaker, low income families at risk of evictions in public housing require a range of supports to climb out of their circumstances. It is not just a financial issue. There are many reasons why parents might find themselves at risk of evictions.

Can the Minister identify whether the GNWT, the Government of the Northwest Territories, triage any extra supports when low income families are at risk of evictions?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I just wanted to just reiterate the housing support worker pilot project and the importance of that program because we do have those supports in the larger centres, and we don't necessarily have them in the smaller communities as well. And working with the local housing authorities, we're trying to change our approach and more looking at our approach as a social programming and providing those adequate supports in the smaller communities and engaging and working more closely with the appropriate departments that are located in the smaller community as well. I just wanted to point out that the social workers, the addiction counsellors that are there, because we do have a number of issues surfacing at the smaller community level and not only one department can provide those supports for the one individual. So I really work and want to work very closely with my colleagues as well too in trying to establish and find a more clear path into keeping people in their units. I don't want to see any evictions throughout the territory but we are trying to work with the tenant. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. Last week confirmed there had been 32 secret meetings held with the mining industry on the development of the new mining regulations. To be clear, Mr. Speaker, I support the department meeting with the mining industry but that information should be available to everybody else.

So can the Minister commit to tabling before the end of this sitting a list of the dates and mining companies or organizations that attended these secret meetings and the topics discussed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't provide a list of who's attended secret meetings because there have not been secret meetings. I am happy to provide a list of the entities that have attended a variety of the engagement sessions that have been held to date by the department with relevant stakeholders, including the Chamber of Mines as various -- specific entities as well, including Alternatives North. So happy to provide that list, Mr. Speaker, and will do that. Thank you.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that commitment.

So last week, though, she said in the House, quote, "Before I go out and make any promises to publish anything that I'm working with them, I want to go back and make sure that they will not be taken by surprise and that the IGCS, of which the GNWT is only one member, are on board with what we are publishing." End of quote.

So can the Minister tell us whether the intergovernmental council secretariat was informed of these secret meetings with the mining industry and had an opportunity to review those presentations beforehand? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the intergovernmental council of which the GNWT is but one part, or one member, they are working together on a technical group. That technical group review the discussion papers, and then it's from that technical group that the presentations are prepared and then those presentations are shared with various parties depending on what their level of interest or engagement might be. And those to date, for instance, have included the Chamber of Mines, or in another case, the Alternatives North. And the presentations were tailored to the entity that was being presented to. And that, indeed, is what was -- that did go through the technical working groups. I'm happy to confirm that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I find it rather curious information is already been shared outside of government and should be made public now in the interest of transparency and fairness.

So can the Minister tell us why she finds it necessary now to ask the mining industry and the intergovernmental council secretariat whether it is okay to make this information public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, let me clarify. So, again, it's the IGCS, of which the GNWT is one member, that has a technical working group, and it's that technical working group that is approving how to distill down the complex policy papers that we haven't fully put together and to turn that into a presentation that can then be taken out to stakeholders, including industry. It's not the other way around.

And Mr. Speaker, I will, though, note there are -- right now there is a public engagement site that is open. I certainly encourage anyone that's interested to go to that website. There are two separate directions that one can go when one goes to the website. One that is a general email. So for anyone that does want more information or including especially the technical information, and another one that is -- it directs industry to the technical site. But certainly if anyone were to come forward and say look, I'm an expert in something, I want to get into the weeds of something, they can have -- you know, a presentation can certainly be arranged.

But, Mr. Speaker, there's a concern that is expressed that taking something that is very complex, I mean, I've had the opportunity to look at the technical presentations. They are complex. They are down into the weeds of what is a heavy regulatory area. And to put that out without some plain language, without some, you know, something that's a little more simplified for a nonexpert without -- for instance, for me, having the opportunity to sit and ask the experts as I go through it. That does not necessarily benefit. That does not make for better engagement. That does not make for more clarity. So there is right now work happening to get something made more plain language. And as soon as that is available, I am told in the next couple of months, we will have that out for those who might be benefit from that kind of engagement material. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Just post the presentations so everybody has the information. But regulatory capture occurs when a political entity policy maker or regulator is coopted to serve the commercial, ideological, or political interests of a constituency such as a particular geographic area, industry, profession, or ideological group. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is responsible for both promoting and regulating mining, leaving outside intergovernmental council are being held with only the party being regulated at the table to develop these mining regulations.

So can the Minister tell us how she intends to avoid the appearance of regulatory capture in developing the mining regulations? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories doesn't operate in silos. There are right now working groups between departments. So it's not simply -- this is not an ITI alone endeavor or exercise. And importantly, Mr. Speaker, this is one of the first, and indeed I think it may well be one of the -- the first opportunity where we are using the legislative protocol with the IGCS. So IGCS involves GNWT being one member, and the Indigenous governments who are part of the devolution agreement being the other members. So this is something that is being led through that framework. And, again, to which the entirety of the Government of the Northwest Territories contributes. And then it goes out to entities - Chamber of Mines, Alternatives North, specific organizations, specific industry members, who would be the ones to utilize those regulations, who might be the ones to apply the regulations. You know, the MARS system for online map staking involves the Department of Finance. It involves technical experts who understand how the website systems work.

So Mr. Speaker, I'm not concerned that we're going to wind up in the situation that the MLA is raising. I appreciate the concern; I mean, that's the point of the questions in the House. But there is a lot of systems built in here where it's not -- it's a very different type of process from one where one department in one government goes off and does a regulation. Quite the contrary, Mr. Speaker. We have a department that's working as one unit in a much bigger system with the IGCS. And so I am able with that to say that I'm confident we won't wind up in that situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't let go of dredging. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Infrastructure confirm what technical capacity in the area of dredging does she have in her department? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, when the Member came forward and approached me in talking about dredging in Hay River, you know, we had discussions. We met with some of my Infrastructure staff to be able to look at what work is required going forward in doing the planning, in doing the business case and, you know, going out to the communities and talking to people that are affected. There's not just infrastructure and MTS that's affected, Mr. Speaker. There's coast guard. There's the local shipping -- the fishing vessels. So there are a number of things that play into factor. But we do have staff. I did commit earlier into looking at this work serious. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.