Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is a challenge, Mr. Speaker, that I hear about actually wearing my ITI hat as much as Finance in terms of an impact on labour market shortages in a variety of areas and particularly in the private sector as well. So certainly I'm very live to it.

With respect to childcare, obviously I'll turn it to my colleague at ECE and the news that's being announced around a movement towards $10 a day childcare. But back to more generally with respect to housing, again that is a whole-of-government problem and a whole-of-government challenge as it is a whole-of-territory challenge. So at that point, I'd turn to my colleague over at Housing. But yes, absolutely, you know, when we're recruiting folks in, we are trying to find -- to look for, you know, some assurances as to where they'll be going, to work with the community, work with the Department of Housing, and try see, you know, again -- you know, what is available, what will the needs be, and to work with the -- to work the morale to see that the person's that's coming in is being supported to transition to being a permanent resident here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to something that the Minister just said around contacting the union back in the fall.

It's my understanding that the union responded with several questions as well, and there was a very -- a large lack of engagement during the fall time and then into the new year at which point the union was presented with a take it or leave it.

Is it not -- maybe the Minister could speak to the fact that isn't it under the collective agreement that the government has a responsibility to negotiate with the union and not present take it or leave it scenarios? Can the Minister speak to what happened to the breakdown of negotiations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a lot of discussion back and forth firstly around the design of the labour market supplement in which case some of the requests that were made by the union were, indeed, incorporated into that policy to better reflect some of their suggestions. Then when it came time to apply the policy on the first occasion where the Department of Health and Social Services had brought forward their suggestion, it -- you know, again, there was further discussions. There were requests to expand in a way that did not, in our view, meet the conditions of the policy. And so we were left with a situation where we were trying to apply the policy as designed and as written and as understood in a limited way, again being an exceptional policy to provide an enhanced salary or enhanced pay to a specific set of workers who meet a set of conditions, and of course, you know, I don't want to speak for the union, and I can't speak for the union, their view was that it should have been expanded and applied more broadly. That's the situation we found ourselves in.

You know, I don't -- again, not speaking for the union, I certainly don't think that anybody that was involved in that process was happy with where it ended, Mr. Speaker, to be quite frank. I think anyone in the territories, very well aware that there's a lot of challenges in the healthcare sector right now, a lot of challenges in that employment area across Canada, and we are looking for solutions. We're going to continue to look for solutions, and we want the union to be partners with us in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the NWT Metis Nation and their efforts to establish a final self-government agreement with the Government of the Northwest Territories. My questions are for the Premier.

Is the Government of the Northwest Territories prepared to offer the NWT Metis Nation an amount of land that is equitable to other NWT claims? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, the Government in the Northwest Territories remains committed to land claim agreements that are comparable across the Northwest Territories. So absolutely, we're looking for a comparable agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if the Government of the Northwest Territories is prepared to prioritize the self-government and land claim agreement with the NWT Metis Nation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this government remains committed to making negotiations and land claim and self-government agreements a priority. It's one of our 22 priorities of this Assembly. It was a priority from the last Assembly, many before. It remains a priority, and it will remain a priority until it is -- until they are completed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us what the Government of the Northwest Territories is doing to demonstrate its commitment and ability to achieve an NWT Metis Nation final agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are actively engaging with the NWT Metis Association and Canada and ourselves around negotiations. We're talking about flexibility, what we can do. And that process will continue throughout. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if she anticipates a final agreement with the NWT Metis Nation will be established before the end of the 19th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha -- oh sorry, just checking.

Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions are for the Minister responsible for human resources.

Mr. Speaker, whatever one's perception of those vaccinated or not vaccinated against COVID-19, we must follow our laws, legislation, regulations, and policies, which, in the creation, must be made in conformity with the Constitution and followed as we create new laws and rules.

So therefore, can the Minister confirm how federal government restrictions respecting air travel for vaccinated and unvaccinated public government employees in the NWT played into developing our COVID-19 vaccine policies? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Government of the Northwest Territories vaccine policies were initially being developed, this was back in August, and if I recall correctly it was actually before the time that we had heard what the final federal policies might be, we were doing our best to develop our policy for the needs of our communities, having heard from Indigenous governments and communities here in the North and being aware of the vulnerable population we have in the North and seeing the evolution of COVID-19 to that point. And around that time, Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions started to come out with other policies, their own policies at around that same time, and -- but we really -- we were doing our policy, you know, based on our analysis and not waiting on that of others or dependant upon that of other jurisdictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Considering the federal exemptions came out, you know, sometime in December and continued on. So after review and clarification of the federal restrictions on air travel for the NWT, of the employees placed on leave without pay can the Minister confirm how many have returned to work and received compensation for the time they were on leave? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, there of course is the GNWT's vaccination policy but then there are also some employees who, because of the existence of federal policies either in the places where they need to attend, such as an RCMP detachment, or because of the concern around travel, they would have been doubly impacted because of their job descriptions on -- on those policies. And the federal government had put in place an exemption initially to January 31st, and it was our exemption that -- or our understanding that that -- at that point, people who were subject to needing to travel under their job descriptions would be on leave without pay because that exemption was no longer in place. That exemption was in fact renewed, and so there were, I gather, a total of I believe six or seven employees who were impacted and who were placed on leave without pay and who are since now welcomed back to return to their duties as a result of not having to travel and who can then comply with the GNWT's policy where if they're choosing to not provide a proof of vaccination, they can undertake PPE, protective -- protective equipment and testing in order to comply with their policies and, of course, any loss of pay during that period they would be compensated back for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister confirm if changes to COVID restrictions in the NWT will result in the elimination of revision of current vaccine policy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, as I think folks are generally aware, we are anticipating that there will be some changes to the overall restrictions and approach to COVID-19 under the chief public health officer -- chief public health office and the associated orders as of April 1st. Mr. Speaker, when that occurs we certainly will be reviewing revising and updating our own policy accordingly. It's always preferable, Mr. Speaker, in my view to communicate directly with employees first and not necessarily to make statements here in the House that affect them, but I would say that employees should be expecting to have an update from us imminently. We're just again wanting to make sure that we are acting in tandem and in lockstep with what's happening with the chief public health officer who I know has been looking at numbers right up to -- right up to the end here to make sure that what we're doing is, in fact, the safest possible approach for -- well, for residents, but in our case, for employees as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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