Thank you. Minister Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there was a discussion paper. It was sent out. And this was on the income assistance program of which this would be -- you know, we were trying to extract a certain segment of that program and design a different program for them. So that was public. There was online surveys that could be done. There were paper surveys. We've reached out to a number of current and former income assistance clients as well as NGOs, Indigenous governments. So that has happened. There is a summary, "what we heard" report in the works, and I expect that to be coming out in the near future. And I'm happy to keep the Members apprised of progress through briefings and letters. I do my best to communicate when there is something worthy of communication. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Are there any further questions?

Seeing none, Committee, we'll move to pages 54 to 55, increase food security through locally produced, harvested, and affordable food. Questions? Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just looking at the item around the construction of the fish plant in Hay River, and it does say that the timeline originally is fall 2023, and then it says will be completed in November of 2022. I just want to make sure that that is correct and it's not an error. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Chair, to Minister Wawzonek, ITI.

Thank you. Minister Wawzonek.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, Mr. Chair, the construction is as -- I believe, Mr. Chair, would all be underway, is underway, and is expected, indeed, to be completed by the fall of this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm sure that makes the chair of this committee quite happy right now. I think that's excellent.

I note that there are a lot of -- within the progress to date comments around supportive development of the food industry, that recommendations are being reviewed currently by the department for a variety of things like the meat regulatory framework as well as just the developing the food production businesses.

Can the Premier or the Minister speak to when we could start to expect to see some of this work start commencing? For example, the last time there, the review and amend the northern food development program has a date of spring 2021 for the greenhouses and community gardens support. So I'm just wondering if we're going to actually see implementation this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Mr. Chair, this is -- the area of food -- of the food security does -- is supported by quite a number of different departments. ITI's primary responsibilities certainly are the food -- are the fish plants, sorry, and then some support on some of the other programs.

Now, with respect to I believe it was -- I was just trying to find it. I do have it in my notes, but it's actually not -- I don't think ITI that's the lead on some of this, the Northern Food Development Program. Here -- sorry, Mr. Chair, I just want to make sure I'm getting the right date. I may have to get back to the Member on it in terms of the date as to where that's going to get us to.

Yeah, that might be the best, Mr. Chair, rather than me trying to look for it while everyone's waiting. Thanks.

Thank you. Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, that is totally fine if the Minister wants to come back to me. I guess I'm just wondering when committee will start to see some of the recommendations and where the department is going with them.

My next question is around the working with Canada to increase the flexibility of the Nutrition North Program to better serve NWT residents.

I note that the recommendations were provided to Canada. However, it looks like the result has been more about just adding communities to the program, not actually looking to evaluate the program and see what changes need to be made. It is my understanding, or there is a perception, that the money that's being spent here is actually just going into the pockets of the sellers versus, you know, actually bringing the cost of food down and the cost of nutritious food down for Northerners.

So could the Premier or the Minister speak about where that's at about the actual changes to the program and not just the addition of new communities. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do think that -- that having more communities added to it was -- was something that we can't put aside as not important. It was one of the biggest issues. When I went to Tsiigehtchic actually, it was brought up in that community that that was one of the biggest issues. And so I was a strong advocate, and we did get Tsiigehtchic and other communities as well included into it.

It is a federal program. What I can do is I will try, recognizing that I'm only one Member, but I will try to see if I can get it on to the Council of Leaders agenda, and if they don't want to deal with it there, then maybe I'll just send out a questionnaire to the Indigenous governments and ask if there's other parts of the program that they would like changed. That I can do because I work with the Indigenous groups and told them that we're all one when we go to the federal government, and I will carry their needs. So it's not a stretch for me to do that for them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. --

I think that I would be surprised if you didn't get support from Indigenous governments to look at this program and do some real evaluation. I do understand that a lot of these programs and such are the feds, and they have their -- their restrictions or their ideas. But yet again, it is our -- our government's responsibility, Cabinet's responsibility to tell the feds why their programs don't work just like, you know, constituents come to us to tell you why your programs don't work. So I think this is one where we really need to take back to the federal government that what they're doing is really just making people in places that are not the North rich. It is my understanding the address for some of the -- the larger grocers is in Winnipeg, or is in Manitoba. So it always struck me as interesting that they've made it on to BIP registries, etcetera, but then that brings up Walmart. That's another whole story.

Anyway, just more of a comment that I really think this is a broken program that needs to be -- we need to push harder than just, you know, waiting for the feds to dictate the conversation. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

I agree, Minister -- Mr. Chair. Like I said, though, when I did do trips to the northern communities, most of them are northern communities -- communities that are off the grid don't have access or are eligible for it. What I heard was -- was the communities wanting access to it versus complaining about it, so. But I can take it one more step further and ask that question because I've also heard the complaint that you've said as well. I just haven't heard it from the communities themselves. But I'll ask. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Nokleby.

Yeah, well, if you're in a community that doesn't have it, of course they're going to want to opt into it. But are you asking the question in the communities that have it about how the satisfaction is. So to me, I wasn't presenting that as an either/or situation. Of course we want to have as many communities getting funding and subsidy from the federal government that we can however that doesn't mean we can't work to improve the program and to really advocate for our communities. Also too, we shouldn't be relying on the communities to tell us necessarily that this isn't working. I think that it's upon us to ensure that our people have affordable fresh food. So more of a comment. Thank you. I'm done.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, that is a federal program. I'm willing to take feedback on it. But, you know, we have problems with our own programs. So a lot of times when we go in, we don't ask them everything. We -- I ask them general, you know, what are your concerns, what do you want me to address, what do you want me to talk about, and then they bring those to me. I could spend the whole four years just asking about our own programs. So this one is about food security. It's something I care in my heart about, and so I will -- I've made a commitment that I'll ask about a federal program to the communities. But like I said, it's not our program, so. I am willing to do it, though. Thank you, Mr. Chair.