Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're not able to divulge proprietary information specific to a single landlord. Infrastructure continues to follow leasing of approved real estate policy which includes obtaining leases through the public procurement unless directed by the Executive Council, which is made up of the Premier and the Ministers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure that is proprietary information. I can go to the contracts reports and filter out who wins leases and who we're paying money to. It's not all there because I said many of these leases are well over 20 years old. And I think that lines up with what the Minister said, that our current leases of approved real property policy is well over 20 years old. I'm not remotely convinced that we are in compliance with it. It does require us to be doing continuous value for money analysis, and it does require us to continue to analyze whether it is cheaper to own buildings versus leasing them. But all that being said, it's a 20-year-old policy that has not been updated. Is the Minister willing to update our current leasing of approved real property policy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm sure the Member is aware that the GNWT is currently going through a procurement review. Once the procurement review has concluded, the Department of Infrastructure has committed to work with the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and other stakeholder departments, to bring forward proposed amendments to the leasing of real property policy. It's important that any amendments to this policy are aligned with the outcomes of this procurement review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that, and maybe I'll have some questions about when we can finally wrap up this procurement review.

My next question is, you know, we're talking about multiple office towers here. I recognize we're not going to empty a 10-storey commercial office building overnight. I think it's going to take probably a decade or two of concerted of effort to actually adjust this percentage that grows every single year to one company. But I think a first step would be reviewing when we put leases out whether they could be in smaller chunks, whether we could work with departments that, you know, perhaps they don't all need to be on eight floors of one building and we could break that up into some smaller more feasible things to get local ownership, especially here in Yellowknife where it is such a monopoly. I'm wondering if the Minister will apply that lens to when we go out on further leases. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, reviewing space needs in that way is an approach we use regularly when developing RFPs. It is a consideration when we are approached by departments to obtain/renew space for a program. How much of this space needs to be grouped together and what can be split into smaller spaces, recognizing that this may create opportunities for smaller local landlords. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the Minister -- that the department is already doing that, but I think it needs a little bit of a review because, clearly, it's not working if the end goal is local ownership. It's clear, if you look at the city of Yellowknife skyline, we don't have local ownership. Almost every single building is owned by some multi-billion-dollar REIT. So my question is, you know, I think actually a number of companies, perhaps Indigenous development corps, if you gave them enough notice - three, five years out - that you were looking to renew a very large lease and you were perhaps willing to make it a little longer term, they would actually build us a building, Mr. Speaker. I think a lot of different groups have been looking at this as a possibility, including some of our housing leases. So I'm just wondering if the Minister is willing to look and work with some local potential development corporations or landlords, give them some notice, and see if we can enter into a negotiated contract if someone will actually build us some leasing space. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member spoke about an approach that we can do to involve local owners. It is an approach that we use sometimes but mostly through a public procurement process.

So in the terms of the RFP, it would allow sufficient time to schedule, to allow landlords to propose new building and long-term lease. This approach was used in several places, Mr. Speaker, including Hay River at the Hay River health and social service accommodation office building. It was used at the new Fort McPherson office building. And procurement is currently underway for the territorial fire centre in Fort Smith. All of these leases, Mr. Speaker, allow for local landlords to build new buildings and lease it back to the GNWT. So we're getting there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is further to my Member's statement on treatment program that I did on October 20th. So it's for Minister of Health and Social Services.

Mr. Speaker, in the House on October 19th, 2022, the Premier noted that the Council of Leaders identified mental health and addiction and community-based treatment as some of the primary issues for NWT residents. With that in mind, the Minister of Health committed to provide me with the number of NWT residents who have accessed treatment services since 2013. Have these statistics been provided? When does the Minister anticipate providing these statistics back to me? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. I do not have those responses here today, and I haven't been given a date they're available. But I will commit now to making sure she has them before the session is over. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, what initiative does NTHSSA currently have to ensure they provide residents with culturally safe addiction services following the Auditor General's report? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in response to the Office of the Auditor General's report, we created a work plan which details our response to each of the recommendations, and we accepted all the recommendations.

We have, as the Member may know, a whole division within the department called community culture and innovation that looks at culturally appropriate services. And to that end, they've done extensive training with staff. They ensure that there is -- when people do go south for facility-based treatment that there is appropriate cultural safety provisions in place. So that's just a very scatter gun approach to the answer but I do want to assure the Member that it's top of mind. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. During oral questions on October 20th, I asked if the Minister Green would commit to reopening an addiction-based facility and treatment wellness centre in the Northwest Territories. And the Minister responded no. She said that this -- she said, "the simple reason that we don't have a treatment centre is because they don't work. We tried four times. The effort to provide one treatment centre for all the regions, languages, and culture has not been successful. People do not attend."

So can the Minister provide the number of residents who attended the previous treatment centre in the NWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have with me information about how many people attended the four previous treatment centres that were offered in the NWT, but I will ask the department if they can produce that information.

I also want to say that we have had a preliminary conversation at the Council of Leaders about alternatives to one single facility for healing and treatment, which is what the Member asked for, to see if there's something that could be developed on a regional basis that would better meet the needs of both treatment closer to home and the particular languages and cultures of the NWT, each in a regional setting. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, before we continue, could you please check your phones. I could hear it vibrating on silence. So if we could just put it to silent, it would be most helpful. Thank you.

Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

That all the questions I was going to ask. But can the Minister provide data to support the statement that "treatment centres do not work." Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the one facility that I am more familiar with is Nats'ejee K'eh.

Nats'ejee K'eh was never more than one-third full during the time that it was open, and the program cycled through 30 days for men and 30 for women. And so if you wanted to seek treatment and they were early into the opposite cycle, then you would have to wait potentially seven to eight weeks for intake. There was a problem attracting and keeping qualified staff. So what we found is that since we started contracting the southern facility-based treatment, the number of people who are accepted into that and who are able to access it in a speedier way and a wider variety of options, including co-ed options as well specific to men and women, the number of people who are accessing the services more than doubled. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to the extended care facilities and questions for the Minister of Health.

Mr. Speaker, construction costs for the extended care facility will likely move upwards with a six-year delay. Will the Minister confirm if her department has considered this in their decision when delaying the project and any idea of what that cost may be? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.