Oh, sorry. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Sounds like the Member wants to walk to the other side. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is matching $50,000 to all residents. We are hoping that residents will contribute.

I can say as the Premier if that Member walks the receipt over to me, I will commit to personally donating $500 towards the campaign. And I challenge every Member in this House to donate $500 to the campaign. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that -- or the Premier. I think I can up her on that. I'm going to send it to her by email as soon as I sit down so she's going to get it right away. And so can the Premier commit that she's going to match that donation and make sure that the GNWT doubles it? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I made my commitment that I will. I already had one Minister say that they already give their $500 as well. Out of that $50,000, if we don't spend it all, which I commit we will spend it all, I already said if it's not spent, we will donate it to the Red Cross. But, again, the plea is for all residents to donate to this cause. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions will be for the Minister responsible for MACA. Unfortunately I didn't have time to give him the questions, but -- I just wrote them.

Does the Minister of MACA believe water and sanitation is a basic human right thus essential for all our northern communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you. I think the Member's asking for my opinion so I can tell you the department believes that water and sewer is important. That's why we have the water and sewer subsidy program. We work with the municipalities on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister's department believe that every community in the Northwest Territories deserves access to clean water to avoid potential health issues? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Yes, we work with the municipalities on issues, and that's why we have the CIP gas tax. We work with them. We give them the money. They pick their priorities. They work with them. If there's challenges, we work with the municipalities. We have staff that go in there working with them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister's department believe that reasons Indigenous communities that don't have clean drinking water, in part, is due to marginalization, remoteness, age of systems, lack of funding, and maintenance? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. That was like a written question so I will get back to the Member with that answer. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Emergency Management Act section 17(1)(f) says -- states: Provide -- it provides for the restoration of essential facilities and the distribution of essential supplies.

On the basis of the -- on the basis of the Minister's answers and this legislation, will the Minister commit to looking for resources to fix the water issue in Edzo? Thank you.

Thank you. And I appreciate the Member from Hay River South asking questions for Monfwi; I greatly appreciate that.

We've said before in this House here we are working with the community. We're reaching out to the federal government. We are looking for funds to help the community address this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance.

Can the Minister of Finance advise us what percentage of the GNWT workforce have completed the Living Well Together and if not, after March 31st, provide us with a number. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm prepared to answer two questions right now. So the first question is we do track those numbers. Had I known that this would come up today, I would have asked for those numbers. In fact when I heard the statement, I started to send an email but didn't quite finish. So I'll stare at my computer and see if the numbers arrive but if they don't, Mr. Speaker, I will commit to providing them to this House.

On the second point, Mr. Speaker, we had set March 31st as the deadline for mandatory completion of the training. But really that -- the reality is, Mr. Speaker, this isn't a punitive thing. This is meant to be an educational thing. It's meant to be an opportunity for people to absorb the training, to hopefully do it as groups, to hopefully do in a bit of a learning community with others in their department. I know that there's been very good uptake, that the numbers were looking good last time I saw them, and that we're happy with the number of folks that are on their way to completing it. And, really, what I think this will do when we see the numbers and where we're at and who's left is to give an opportunity to check in the folks who haven't completed it and make sure that they're being given the time and the tools and the supports necessary to get it done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have more questions. So if the numbers come up on her screen, I would like to hear them.

But my question is, is this government, you know, for the 20 years that I worked in the government, programs come up, training comes up, we get really active and want to make sure everybody does it, and then it phases out. So we have a timeline of one year for all government employees to complete this training, yes, not punitive, but what happens when they don't? How are we -- how is the government following up on that and how are we ensuring people have the space to be able to do the training? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the Member might be overhearing some of the conversations I have over with the department, only because it's incumbent on every leader of every department, from Ministers to deputies to every manager of every team, to watch those numbers and to actually follow up on it. So even as I was sitting here, Mr. Speaker, I was checking back in with my folks and to make sure that the folks that I work with are registered, that they are carving out that time, and reminding myself that I need to make sure that I give them that time to get it done. So it is incumbent on all of us to do that.

And I can answer the first question, Mr. Speaker.

The GNWT as of February the 15th had 61.6 percent already enrolled, just under 40 percent complete. I have breakdowns. The Department of Finance was 72 percent enrolled with 41 percent complete.

So, you know, Mr. Speaker, again, the fact that we have so many people enrolled was a big part of why we made it mandatory, because that at least gets people started. They'll see what this training is. They'll see its quality. And hopefully, again, now that we're having this conversation, every manager out there is making sure they're carving out that time for themselves and their staff to get this done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for that answer. And, you know, it's good to see that people are taking it, and I'm -- you know, and I'm glad that you had said that you're -- you said in this House that hopefully managers and supervisors will give that time for their staff because I know as a past manager of nursing, it was very difficult to fit those things in, but.

My question is, is when I asked the health minister to add this to the job description, we add criminal record check for vulnerable populations because we want our patients to be safe. Can we not add the cultural -- the Living Well Together as required in our job descriptions so that this government commits to saying our Indigenous people are safe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.