Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions. The motion is carried. Report of Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Professions Act, will be moved into Committee of the Whole later today. Thank you.

Reports of standing and special committees.

Colleagues, we will take a short recess. Thank you.

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Welcome back, colleagues. Returns to Oral Questions. Acknowledgements. Oral Questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions are for the Minister of MACA.

Mr. Speaker, we have flood victims sleeping in tents, staying at the shelters, some with friends, and some with no place to stay. Can the Minister tell me when and how we will house those that have been displaced from their homes as residents need immediate accommodation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand this is a very challenging time for residents, as I've experienced that in the Nahendeh riding last year as well as residents from Fort Good Hope and as well as Little Buffalo. Disaster events are stressful and disruptive. And I understand that people just want to get things back to normal so that they can have a place where they can put their head. The reality is that things are not normal and that people have been displaced from their homes for anywhere from a week to several months, depending on what damages have been done to their homes. I know that every day is a very long time when you are out of your homes but we are working as quickly as we can to put -- but we will -- it'll take some time to get people into all the accommodations needed, long-term accommodations. Evacuees who cannot return home to do the flood damages are encouraged to contact our pathfinders who will talk them through about what's their available requirements are and to make sure that they're register reflects their full housing situation. So we will work with them. We encourage you to reach out to the pathfinders and we will work as fast as we can to get people into accommodations, medium to long-term accommodations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm the process for approving accommodation requests for those who are displaced and are without accommodation; which department or departments have that responsibility? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, the health system which was the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, and the local housing authority are working together to ensure those who cannot return to their homes will be provided with long-term accommodations. So we do have a system in place that will triage them, I guess is the best way to describe it, and then we will see what their needs are and we have a system in place for how we do it. Damage assessments will help determine who requires accommodations and for how long. Pathfinders will follow up with anybody who is registered to better understand who needs accommodations and help support individual specific accommodations are required. So, again, reach out to our pathfinders. We have two in there right now, and we have in the process of hiring additional pathfinders and they're going to be located in the ECE building which is by the courthouse there. So we will have people there as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, many residents welcomed those displaced by flooding into their homes when accommodations were needed. Will the Minister confirm if there will been an opportunity to compensate those who opened their homes when accommodations were needed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, no. There's no provision within the Disaster Assistance Policy to provide funding to those households who have taken in evacuees. Mr. Speaker, though, the outpour of support for evacuees has been amazing to see. And I know the residents of Hay River and K'atlodeeche First Nation will continue to support their neighbours, family and friends, during this very difficult time. And unfortunately this is the process, and we need to follow it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, accommodations is very important to many people, and I know that right now there are some that are staying in motels and hotels, and you know, they get news that they might get kicked out one day or the next day and they're not sure what's going on. So can the Minister confirm how long will accommodations be covered for those displaced by flooding? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for that question. And it is a very important question moving forward.

The duration of long-term accommodations will depend on the level of damage to the residence and their homes and a reasonable duration for the repairs to be completed. So that people understand, from the 2021 flood people put up in the accommodations to meet their needs while their homes are being repaired, some of these people are still in accommodations and -- so that there is we're not going to kick people out. We are going to put people in accommodations until such time as they can get back into their homes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually the request to look at the programs across to see if our programs and services align with the United Nations declaration was done by all of the departments across the GNWT. However, it was also -- that information was also provided to our special committee on reconciliation. I want to make sure I got the -- Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs as a part of the research that was compiled to be able to provide the interim report.

I do know that the Member is part of that committee and had access to that information. But right at this moment that information is not public. We are also working with the working group of the Council of Leaders to -- to also identify what programs align and what don't align and then develop an action plan from that work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'm curious about any internal work that's kind of occurring. I recognize that there are larger questions that the declaration raises, you know, how we are going to operationalize free prior informed consent is obviously a very large question we have to work with the Council of Leaders. But to me, there's a number of smaller internal changes to GNWT internal policies, perhaps our consultation policies, perhaps how we structure the government to empower regions differently. I think there's probably a lot of work that we just need to do internally.

So my question for the Premier, has any of that work started; have we made any internal changes to how the GNWT operates in the hopes of implementing the declaration? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're always trying to improve our services, programs and services. I'm just thinking a couple of them that stick off my head right now are the Indigenous Government Procurement Policy. That has never been attempted in any government that I know of before this so that's work that we're starting now. And then of course the government already has their mandatory Living Well Together, which is an Indigenous cultural awareness and sensitivity training that we're asking every employee and every MLA to actually review. So that services people. All staff are more cognitive of the issues Indigenous people have faced and hopefully will reflect on the services that they provide.

And like the Member said, there's lots of small things but those are the two bigger ones that stick in my head right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Premier state that the plan is, you know, we're doing this inventory exercise and then hopefully there will be an action plan. I'm just wondering whether we have a timeline on when that action plan will be public? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the Member always looking at this. It's really important work, the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples. However, I keep having to remind Members that this work is done by Indigenous people in partnership with us. They're taking the lead on this. And so as when that work plan will be done, there is a working group of which the GNWT has one Member and all the Indigenous governments have membership on that. So I can't say at this point when that work will be done. It's contingent on when the Indigenous governments have said "we're done." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it's my hope that since this was a priority of this Assembly that we would see something in this Assembly. And if we have to live with an action plan that, you know, we get on the last day and we actually don't do any of the work in it in the life of this Assembly, well, that's better than nothing. And I guess the other debate here is that BC and the federal government have introduced actual legislation which create a legal obligation for the government to do this work and for departments to do this work. Are we going to see legislation to implement the declaration in the life of this Assembly, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to acknowledge, again, and thank the Member for when he did his opening comments today in talking about the issue, talking about we can't do this unilaterally, I agree 100 percent. Nothing about us without us is a comment to be -- pointed with me.

We did bring the concerns to the Council of Leaders table and stated when legislation that we're getting -- I'm getting pushed in the House to get legislation across by MLAs and then gave them a timeline of when we could expect what work had to be done before legislation could be done to get into this term of this government. I've had mixed reviews. Some Indigenous governments are saying, yes, let's get on it now and other ones have said, I don't care what MLAs say. I care about this and this has to be done on our time.

So we did hire a facilitator to help with that process. They are aware. The Indigenous governments are aware of the timelines and the work that has to be done before. So I'm hopeful, Mr. Speaker, that we will have some legislation during the term of this government. But I'm also respectful that if they decide that it's not to be, then the next government gets the glory for that as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.