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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm not familiar with this report so I'll have to come back with that information. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That's concerning, but I'll move on. Besides telephone Help Lines, what specific supports are provided to families and guardians to help them recognize the signs or symptoms of a mental health emergency in their children long before it gets to the point of suicide? Where do parents go for help when they find themselves in this situation? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. I appreciate the Member shining a light on this area. It's obviously every parent's worst nightmare is to fear that their child has suicidal thoughts or has attempted or completed a suicide. I appreciate her shining a light on that. I think that it's very important to do that.

We have, of course, the community counselling program that's available to individuals or people could attend in families. We also have a specific app, and of course that depends on having the right tools and the connectivity. But it's called the Strongest Family Institute, and it is specifically geared to helping parents with challenges that they face.

The Child and youth care counselling program, which I spoke about in response to another question, is one that is also available to families where they can attend together to talk about the issues that they face. So there are services that are in place and available immediately to families in need who are facing challenges. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That's good to know that the families can also access the youth counsellors; it's not just for children.

My next question is does the Department of Health record statistics for children on overdose, suicide attempts, mental health assistance, medivacs, etcetera? If Ontario can provide us with the statistics that one in five children are having mental health problems, where are those statistics for the NWT? How many children are in our mental health system and how is their progress tracked and recorded? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. I'll return with that information. Thank you.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, will the Minister finally admit that we are in a mental health crisis here in the Northwest Territories after two years of this pandemic? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I recognize that the pandemic has been incredibly stressful for almost everyone. It has produced a lot of anxiety, depression, loneliness, especially for people who live on their own like elders. And we have provided services throughout. The demand for services is uneven. At this point, we are able to keep up with the demand for services, and so I feel confident that we're not facing anything that we can't deal with. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Finance Minister presented budget 2022-2023 in which she stated that making "flashy announcements" and hoping new money would solve long-standing problems, and it goes on to state that the goal is to influence the path for the next five to ten years. And that's where it's concerning and it actually got me off my seat. Because there's a real issue that we see that's not being addressed is what I don't see in bold in funding is towards the Indigenous recruitment and training and retention. This is important as the Minister stating that this path is already being set for five to ten years, and we're not really addressing this. This has been an ongoing problem. Can the Minister address this long-standing issue? Mahsi.

Thank you. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I am more than happy to address this. We've done, actually -- in some ways, actually, this is exactly the kind of thing I was speaking to. We do want to be influencing where we are in five to ten years, and that does mean we need to be taking action today for Indigenous recruitment and retention. That is why we've moved forward on the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. That was released earlier -- or I guess a few months ago now, and we've had an opportunity to speak to committee about that and have public review of that alongside committee, and I was grateful for the feedback that we got at that opportunity.

We're also continuing to put forward a GNWT human resources plan so that this is, you know, really that -- the approach that we're taking to Indigenous recruitment and retention is one that is built into that plan and built into everything we do in the Department of Finance and with our human resources. So, you know, we already are doing a lot in this space, and it is exactly my hope that that's the kind of thing where we have that work, we are doing that work. We need to get word out about that work. We need all the departments to be working together towards that goal, because in five to ten years, you know -- and frankly, even before that, it would be pretty amazing to be one of the top employers in Canada for inclusion and diversity. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. Since the start of the 19th Assembly, many of us on this side of the floor have made the issue of Indigenous hiring and a review for the Affirmative Action Policy. I think the policy's goal was 50 or 51 percent. We're at 30 something percent and I think it dropped down to 29. So we're not even meeting our targets, and this government's been here for -- this is the 19th Assembly. You know, we're not putting our mouth where, you know, we should be putting the action.

I'm not seeing it in any of the projects that, you know, this issue is highlighted and budgeted for, and that's a concern. You know, we've always spoken about the geography of the Northwest Territories as the makeup is predominantly Indigenous and Inuvialuit and Metis. And we're always fighting that losing battle. We're always battling, battling the governments here. The government is fighting back with our people forever. And that's a big concern to us as Indigenous people and Indigenous leaders.

I highlighted the fact that I was an employee and had been interested in a program to advance myself, the associate director program. I no longer see it anywhere in the government website. So it's been wiped out. That would have gave me an initiative, a chance to work with an existing director job shadowing, you know, and the director was leaving. I never got nothing. I never got nowhere. My managers, you know, dismissed me. So I've experienced that. And that's the type of training we want to see back on the books is job shadowing on-the-job training. It gives us a chance at these positions. We don't need, you know, highly, you know, the high degrees to be able to figure out what's just common sense within the workplace. And we need this government to start listening to us as Indigenous people.

I'd like to hear the views of the Minister on that, and I won't have any further questions, Madam Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I can't speak to the Member's personal or specific circumstances but there's a continual renewal of the kinds of programs and policies that are available. The Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework brings it under one umbrella and puts targets on departments and puts an onus on senior management as part of their performance plans that they have to deliver on this. So we're taking those things seriously because it doesn't need dollars; it needs people to buy in and to understand the importance. These people to actually at the leadership level and at this level, amongst Ministers and among deputies, to be in a position to say that this is something that we as a government value, that this is something that we are going to advance. And that's not about the dollars; that's about getting it done. Every department has staffing dollars. Every department already has compensation and benefits associated to it. When we spend those dollars on our compensation and benefits for public servants, we want every public servant to feel included, every public servant to be reflected, and to know that they have a future in the Government of the Northwest Territories. So while the programs might change their names, we do have still the Indigenous career gateway program. This is an opportunity to connect young people into the public service. We have the regional recruitment program similarly to identify openings that are recurring and to find folks in their communities who can fill those positions. And if they do, there's the building capacity within -- there's -- sorry, the Indigenous management and development training program to help folks who need a bit of a step up to make their career.

And one of the newer ones, Madam Speaker, that I think's really exciting, building capacity with Indigenous governments program. This is an opportunity to have secondments between Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, and the Government of the Northwest Territories so that we are truly all reflective of one another, that we better understand one another. So I'm glad that we keep raising the issue. I don't want to not have the chance to talk about this as I have been for the last couple of years because there is a lot happening, and we're at a really critical point. The framework is in place now. Those measurements are in place now. And we do need to be paying attention to seeing as they come to fruition. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't know, maybe. The Member raises some very valid points, and sometimes I joke that he's just trying to chip away at the workweek with the more holidays and paid sick leave but the fact is this pandemic has shown us that when you're sick, we want you to stay home. But not everyone can afford that. So we are reviewing the Employment Standards Act in the upcoming fiscal year which starts not that long from now, and we are going to be going out and speaking with employers and asking them these questions, how they feel about it, and then speaking with the public as well. And the Member mentioned that in BC it's been shown to be a positive for employers. And so I want to say that nothing is stopping employers from implementing paid sick leave in their own businesses right now. So I want to thank the Member for raising that and maybe putting this on the minds of employers before we look at the legislation. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, and I thank the Minister for stating that. I've actually had a number of businesses reach out to me during the pandemic who have introduced paid sick leave. So I suspect the number of people who are actually left in the territory without paid sick days is steadily decreasing, and I would like to thank all businesses who have taken that step.

I'm actually wondering, though, if the department has any of those statistics of who in the NWT labour force or how many workers are presently without any form of paid sick leave? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

No, we don't have those numbers. When employers implement things like this, they're not required to inform employment standards. However, under the Employment Standards Act, I believe there's around between 15,000 and 19,000 employees in the territory who fall under that act, and I would imagine for the most part they don't have paid sick leave. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. I think it's important that we use the data that we have and that we understand the data we have and that we can use it to make change.

My questions for the Minister of Finance today are in regards to how the COVID-19 is impacting public servants in the territory. Does the Minister know what percentage of GNWT employees are currently on stress leave? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.