Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And, yeah, I'm glad to see that, you know, we are looking at setting targets and that. But, you know, we -- we've been doing this for 30 years. And in one of my -- in the statements this week, I had mentioned about putting a moratorium on hires of non-Indigenous candidates for one year. And in part that was to jolt the other side and jolt bureaucracy to let them know that, listen, we're serious. There's a serious issue here that's been going on 30 years, and we have to look at it. Because in reality, like I know that we have -- you know, we have P1 candidates or, you know, Indigenous candidates. We have P2 candidates. We have people have lived here and been born and raised here, and I have no problem with them getting jobs as well. But at the same time, you know, are -- the affirmative action was there for a reason. So I'm just hoping that's taken into consideration. Because, you know, one thing I always hear is, you know, I say oh, we -- you know, I hear people saying, oh, we can't place Indigenous persons and set them up for failure. I don't usually hear that about anybody else. You know, then -- you know, and then the job shadowing, you know, is that meant for Indigenous people or is that meant for everybody? And those are things that -- that, you know, I hear and, you know, I always try to look to -- to think, you know, the goodness that people are -- you know, are trying to relay when they say that. But sometimes it doesn't come out that way. So I just want -- yeah, I just want to make sure that -- that we are headed in the right direction. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, Madam Chair, I don't think this is about setting people up for failure. I certainly do not ascribe to that. This is a question of ensuring that the opportunities are available but also it's not always about waiting for someone to come and look for the opportunity. I mean, that's the difference between mentorship and sponsorship and really showing people, taking them and showing them the opportunities that have there for them, and then bringing them in. And you know, if it's a question of an equivalency, if it's a question of some training, if it's a question of, you know, they have already certain skills, qualities, education, what is it that we as a department or we as a government need to adapt in ourselves in order to make ourselves a place where those skills, qualities, and abilities are best used. So yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions under ITI, corporate management? Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to touch base. It's my understanding that this section here talks about communication. And I raised in the House, in Caucus as well, about the communication that we have in the community of Lutselk'e. And you know, we -- like I said, I mentioned also that the GNWT spent a lot of money building a broadband system up and down the Mackenzie Valley, and that's been ongoing for some time now. And, you know, when I was in the community of Lutselk'e and whenever I'd go there, there are a lot of issues in regards to internet services. Even the telephone services as well. In fact, I -- we can make a call to the band office there right now and you would -- you would get a one or two second delay. And -- or if you were to call for emergency help with the RCMP, you had to go through Yellowknife. Again, you got one or two second delay. And also just the basic essentials of using your internet for Zoom meetings and that kind of services. They -- by the time the guy gets the bill back from Northwestel, it's very expensive. One I even heard as high as $1,600 to have a four-hour meeting by Zoom in the community of Lutselk'e. So there has to be a way with ITI to bring this issue up and see how we could improve the internet services for the community of Lutselk'e so that it could be used for fire, ambulance, RCMP, medical health, medical imagery for x-rays, etcetera, of telehealth and so on. I guess my question to the Minister is -- is -- I guess, what are the plans are of this government to look at improving the internet services for the community of Lutselk'e? Mahsi.

Thank you, Member. I think internet services and something like that fall under Finance. But it's the same Minister so I'm just going to see if she could just kind of, to the questions under ITI but the budget -- as to the budget, that falls under Finance. So did you want to make any comments, or we can come back to it later on?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, let me see how far I can get. I know that Rick Wind is our chief information officer is also listening right now because Finance is coming up next. So anything I miss or get wrong, he will tell me when he's up in the House later maybe today.

I can say, Madam Chair, that the communities that are on satellite, and that includes Lutselk'e, they are expecting to be in the latest -- there's Connecting Canada funding that is bringing a price drop down by about 65 percent actually for services. This is -- and then there's also what we're looking at next is to be able to take advantage of the low earth orbit satellite or LEO satellite technology that is coming out sort of imminently, and there's deals already between Northwestel and the anticipated providers of those satellite services, which is expected to significantly improve on the delivery of services for all satellite communities.

For some of the other communities, Fort Resolution for instance, they are expecting to be up at a 50/10 service as part of a -- and, yeah, I'm being mindful of time, Madam Chair. CRTC basically has told Northwestel that they have do this, and so our role is to make sure that they're getting that done and to be able to update Members of the House when those services are coming up to their communities. So as I said, happy to continue that conversation over the next few hours if necessary. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yeah, no, thank you for that. And I guess if there's a way we could start working towards improving that relationship and provide really good service for that community to keep in line with all the 33 communities in the Northwest Territories will go a long way.

The other question I had also on this matter is that last year and in the last number of years, the internet services to the Northwest Territories were interrupted, you know, at times even up to six hours or longer. Are you able to let us know what are your plans to have a secondary type of internet services provided for the Northwest Territories so that we don't have any more interruptions? Mahsi.

So what I'm going to do with that is I'm going to -- if there's any more questions on internet services, we'll save those for Finance when the Minister has her staff that can support her with that. So if there's questions on the corporate management other than internet services, then go ahead, Mr. -- sorry, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We could just table this until we come to that section. Thank you.

Sounds good. Thank you very much. Are there any more questions/comments for ITI corporate management?

Seeing none, Industry, Tourism and Investment, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, 2022-2023: Main Estimates, $9,266,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will now move on to Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, and that is on page 212 with information items on 213, 214, and 215. Questions from Members on economic diversification and business support? Seeing none -- oh, Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair; it's a little bit of a waiting game sometimes.

Can I get an explanation on the contributions page on 213. There was economic diversification and business support contributions - various, $748,000 for 2021, and then nothing after that. Was that some sort of COVID relief money, or what? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Madam Chair, the detail there, let me send that to the deputy minister, please.

Thank you. Deputy minister Strand.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. So I see that -- I think this is the part of the ITI budget where agriculture is found. So I'm just wondering if the Minister can tell us how we're doing with the food security strategy. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So there's -- yeah, another one where there's a lot going on in food security so I'll try and watch the clock.

Right now, it's been determined that there will be a housing list largely I think going over to Health and Social Services, finding a permanent home for this and finding a permanent staff that had previously resided over in ITI. But both ITI and that senior advisor position is underway. It's not staffed yet. But I think it's well underway to being so soon. Health, ITI, and ENI -- EIA are all working together on the strategy or on this area because there are, of course, different elements to it, including agriculture funding as well as more poverty alleviation type funding. So again, not -- yeah, and again, is an ADM working group, I believe, on this one too. So again, mindful of time I'll stop there, Madam Chair. I'm happy to go into any part of that as needed. Thank you.