Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I became Minister of Health and Social Services in August 2020, I had the opportunity to add two personal priorities to the Premier's mandate letter for me. One of the two was to reduce the toll of substance abuse on the residents of the Northwest Territories by leading a whole-of-government interdepartmental approach to developing evidence-based policies and programs and develop a robust addictions treatment aftercare regime, including a territorial alcohol strategy.

Mr. Speaker, I chose this priority for a couple of reasons. The first is that I am acutely aware of the deep damage addictions does to individuals, families, and communities. The second relates to an experience I had in the 18th Legislative Assembly. The Standing Committee on Social Development at that time toured the four treatment facilities in Alberta and British Columbia used by people from NWT. We met NWT residents there and heard the story of their journey to and through treatment. But, and this is a big but, in some cases they were reluctant to return to their home communities because they anticipated they would have no where to live and few aftercare supports of the kind they had access to in the south.

I want to provide residents in recovery the services they need to heal.

I thought about this priority when I met with staff from the Office of the Auditor General on Monday afternoon to be briefed on their report. I welcome the Office of the Auditor General's report as confirmation of their concerns and as a guide to how we can do better to help residents complete the recovery journey. This audit provides important insights as we continue work to improve addiction and recovery services for residents of the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, the findings and seven recommendations align with the health system's understanding of where gaps may exist and where improvements can be made. Providing safe, accessible, and responsive addictions services to help people heal is our priority. This is an area in which the department and health and social services authorities are already investing significant energy and resources. A few examples of this work include:

• Improving access and reducing wait times to community counselling through the implementation of the Stepped Care 2.0 model;.

• Improving aftercare through the establishment of community-based programming, land-based healing, and transitional sober housing options;.

• Engagement with individuals with lived experience and living expertise to increase our understanding of the addictions recovery needs of residents; and finally,.

• Improving cultural safety through the establishment of mandatory cultural, safety, and anti-racism training and the work to establish an Office of Indigenous Client Experience.

Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged by the work on these initiatives, that it has been validated as useful and significant to addressing addictions recovery needs of NWT residents. To ensure the meaningful use of the information contained in the report, I can share with you that the results will also be used by the Department of Health and Social Services to inform the development of the Territorial Alcohol Strategy, another aspect of my personal priority in this area referenced at the beginning.

Mr. Speaker, while all of this is promising, I recognize that the audit findings have highlighted shortcomings in the current system of addiction services and supports. There are areas of service delivery and approach that require greater focus and attention, and these are being taken seriously.

The department and the health and social services authorities have agreed with all the recommendations outlined in the Office of the Auditor General's report. The department and authorities have committed to act on all of them.

A more comprehensive draft action plan outlines activities and timelines for improving addictions prevention and recovery services. This document will be shared with the standing committee, and I look forward to further discussion with them about the audit findings. Together, we will create a more comprehensive response to the Office of the Auditor General.

Mr. Speaker, we are all aware of the high rate of addictions in the NWT. This situation is rooted in colonization and the trauma of residential schools. I understand the devastating effect on families and communities across this territory. I am grateful for the work done by the Office of the Auditor General and for the opportunity for the health and social services system to learn from this process to strengthen addiction recovery services. I want to assure residents this opportunity will not be wasted. The department and the health and social services authorities will act on these recommendations to make meaningful and lasting improvements to the addictions prevention and recovery system, and to give those who suffer from addictions the tools they need to regain their health. I am committed to ensuring progress is made. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the athletes, coaches, managers, and mission staff, who will be representing Team NWT at the 2022 Canada Summer Games being held in the Niagara region of Ontario from August 6th to 21st. The Canada Games provides our national high-performance athletes with venues to compete in hopes of continuing their athletic journey to Team Canada for the Olympics or other international events.

Every two years, the Canada Games showcase athletes at the highest level in national competitions, alternating between summer and winter games. The 2022 Canada Summer Games Host Society and the Niagara region will host nearly 5,000 participants, including approximately 135 participants from Team NWT, competing in nine different sports such as basketball, volleyball, soccer, swimming, tennis, athletics, beach volleyball, and golf.

The COVID-19 pandemic altered many aspects of life over the past two and a half years, including sport competitions. In some ways, the Arctic Winter Games, the North American Indigenous Games, and the Canada Summer Games have been impacted.

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will take time and will be different for each community and organization. However, events like the Canada Summer Games certainly help our athletes regain the competitiveness that they had pre-pandemic.

The Government of the Northwest Territories is very proud to support our team at the Canada Summer Games through financial supports and a range of other programs that support athletes, coaches, and officials' development at the local, regional, territorial, and national level.

In addition to Team NWT, MACA is pleased to support the Youth Ambassadors Program once again, which will see us bring youth volunteers to the Canada Summer Games.

The Youth Ambassadors Program offers a guided and structured volunteer experience for youth at major territorial, national, and international events. Participants work to develop their life and job skills, as well as build the confidence necessary to deal with some of life's challenges.

The program has successfully identified 21 youth from 10 communities who will travel and volunteer at the 2022 Canada Summer Games. We have four participants who have just completed the Youth Ambassador Program, virtual edition, as well as 17 youth who successfully completed the 2019 NWT Youth Ambassadors orientation event but missed out on their volunteer placement due to the cancellation of the games. All youth are between the age of 16 and 22, and they are the role models and leaders of tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to wish this year's Youth Ambassadors all the best on this exciting volunteer experience. I would like to recognize the following program leaders for their important work in supporting the Youth Ambassadors: Ashley Gillis, Lauren Modeste, Conan Donahue, Alicia Korol, and Kyle Donavan.

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the many volunteers who are responsible for supporting Team NWT, including the Sport North Federation, all the territorial sport organizations responsible for selecting and managing the team. Their contributions are significant and an important part of building a healthier Northwest Territories population.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I wish the very best to our Team NWT leaders, the Chef de Mission, Ms. Rita Mercredi, and Assistant Chef de Mission Mr. Damon Crossman, along with the rest of the mission staff, who are responsible for managing Team NWT and all the NWT while at the Canada Summer Games.

Play Fair. Have Fun. I sincerely hope you all enjoy this truly wonderful experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, our highways and roads are critical infrastructure that connect communities, allow for delivery of goods, and provide access to the rest of Canada. Regular maintenance is crucial to ensuring our roads serve the public safely and effectively. That work makes the NWT's highway system resilient to climate change and creates employment and training opportunities for residents.

Mr. Speaker, this spring's flooding tested the system's resilience and impacted our highways. I want to acknowledge the hard work of staff, particularly in the South Slave region, who went above and beyond to keep our highways opened and repair any damages to them, ensuring access to essential goods and services during the flood response. I want to thank everyone who played a part in making this happen during a very challenging time.

I also want to acknowledge the Department of Infrastructure's transportation group. They do an amazing job ensuring our transportation system is safe and working well.

Mr. Speaker, as the territory recovers from flooding, the GNWT is also focusing on the summer construction season. It will be another busy one. In fact, a total of $81 million in improvements will be made to our highway systems this year.

In the South Slave region, the rehabilitation work continues on 12 kilometres of Highway No. 1.

This work includes widening of the embankments, replacing culverts, and chip sealing. This is a multi-year project, which is expected to conclude by September 2023.

A bridge-culvert replacement is also planned at Kilometre 20 on Highway No. 1 and will be completed this fall.

Various sections of the highway near Enterprise, Kakisa, and Fort Simpson will also receive chip seal overlay from June to September this year.

Maintenance and cleaning at the Deh Cho Bridge is planned for this summer.

Repairs to Preble Creek Bridge on Highway No. 5 will also be undertaken this fall.

Mr. Speaker, in the North Slave region, the Whati Access Road will be upgraded. This access road connects the community to the newly constructed Tlicho Highway. This 12-kilometre access road will receive new gravel, as well as have road embankment construction, installing of drainage culverts, and replacing culverts with a short span bridge. This project is expected to be completed by fall of 2023.

Also this year, a 23-kilometre section of Highway No. 3 will receive surface repairs and resurfacing, along with chip seal.

On Highway No. 4, the Ingraham Trail, rehabilitation continues on roughly five kilometres of that road. Work will include repairing dips, widening the embankment, replacing culverts, and chip sealing. This project is expected to be completed by September 2023.

In the Deh Cho region, rehabilitation work continues on Highway No. 7, the Liard Highway. Crews are focused on widening the embankment, replacing culverts, and strengthening the road. This work is expected to be completed in September 2023.

In the Beaufort Delta, rehabilitation work on the Inuvik-Tuk Highway continues. This work is anticipated to completed by September 2027.

Highway No. 8 at Kilometre 239 will see bridge-culvert repairs.

And Highway No. 10, at Kilometre 8.3, will see rehabilitation of the bridge embankment.

Mr. Speaker, as our summer highway construction season gets underway, our construction crews will be hard at work on the NWT roads. I want to remind residents this summer to watch for highway crews, slow down in construction zones, obey signs while they are driving. Let us make sure the summer construction season is a safe one for Infrastructure employees and contractors, and those also travelling on our highways. Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. Member for Hay River South.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to NWT small communities, each is impacted by the high cost of living, limited business opportunities, lack of sustainable employment, lack of acceptable housing, lack of an acceptable level of health care, education and infrastructure; all issues that have been discussed on the floor of this House over the years by various MLAs with minimal resolve.

Mr. Speaker, in a previous statement I pointed out that, above all, one major project that would have a substantial impact on the economy and on the lives of residents in the NWT is the completion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley to the Dempster.

Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Valley Highway is designated as part of Canada's national highway system, a national dream in the making since as early as the 1940's.

Realizing this dream has been difficult for many reasons, and it is a dream that cannot be realized without the financial and political support of the federal government and the persuasive political will by this government.

Mr. Speaker, the residents of the NWT are still looking for that elusive highway and the possibilities it would provide and the dreams it would make come true for many.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to major life changing projects, governments excel at developing more strategy, more social and economic studies, more evaluations, more planning, disjointed consultations, red tape and restrictive legislation - all which work against timely development - while residents are forced to scratch out a living where not only do you now need two persons in the household working, but your children as well if you expect to make ends meet.

Mr. Speaker, over the past several decades, minimal progress has been made on advancing this project, and the lack of speed at which progress is being made is only resulting in the cost of construction to continue to rise exponentially.

This elusive highway, once pegged to cost around $700 million for the Wrigley to Norman Wells portion, we can now expect that number to grow to well over a $1 billion dollars. Now you add in the Norman Wells to the Dempster portion, we can add another $1.5 billion plus to the cost. Then we are looking at around $2.5 billion to complete.

With the cost of labour, fuel, and materials rising, we can only expect that construction costs will continue to rise to the point where the political will may wane and the completion of the highway will need a push from Indigenous governments and industry to make it a reality. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we talk of lowering the cost of living, providing a gateway to resources, fortifying northern sovereignty, then it is imperative that this government aggressively encourage the federal government to step up to the plate financially on this dream. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Members' statements. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to say how glad I am to see the senior Indigenous patient advocate finally advertised. This is a position that the Regular Members raised during the budget process, the previous budget process, as a need for this territory.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to point out that this position has been evaluated at a pay range that is not an entry level position, which is excellent, and that the screening criteria is not adding unnecessary barriers like degrees and masters but recognizing experience and lived experience. And I am sure we will get some excellent candidates in this role, in these roles.

Mr. Speaker, this brings me to think about how all our job descriptions in the GNWT are in desperate need to be re-evaluated and updated to remove unnecessary barriers that are put into them. I also believe that there needs to be more emphasis put into cultural and lived experience, especially in areas like health, education, justice, child and family services. They need services counted as experience and equivalencies.

With the recent class graduating from the Northern Indigenous Counselling Program, I congratulate them. I personally know some of them, and I know that they are going to do amazing work.

But I look at the screening criteria; for example, the child and youth care counsellor position. They are calling for a masters and one year' experience, or a degree and three years' experience, when I know they would be amazing with our youth in these roles.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT needs to be transparent in how they measure equivalencies and desperately need to add lived and cultural experience to how they measure experience. Mr. Speaker, this needs to be done and made public so the NWT residents and anyone who is applying for jobs can see it and can use it to see what their education and experience will be measured at when applying for jobs, because as it stands right now there is no one way of doing this and sometimes it is not being done at all and therefore people are being screened out of jobs, job competitions, and some who may be excellent candidates are not even applying.

I will have questions for the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the other day, on May 30th, the mayor and council of Yellowknife held a meeting to discuss whether the city should enter into a memorandum of understanding with Aurora College and the Government of the Northwest Territories about the location of the Yellowknife campus for the future polytechnic university. There were multiple media reports about that meeting which implied some concerning and misleading information about the future polytechnic university and where its main campus and headquarters will be located.

Mr. Speaker, it has already been reiterated several times by the Minister of Education that the headquarters and the main campus of the future polytechnic university will be located in Fort Smith.

On three different occasions, Minister Simpson said the headquarters will remain in Fort Smith and will not move after the transformation is complete.

First, on December the 10th, 2019, during my statement and questions, I asked about this issue and the Minister assured me there were no plans to move the headquarters out of Fort Smith.

Then on October 22nd, 2020, I again spoke and asked questions on this and the Minister said he was not aware of any discussion within the department to move the headquarters anywhere else.

Then, on May 29th, 2022, at a Committee of the Whole, Minister Simpson said the department was not going to build a new headquarters because there was already a location for it, which is Fort Smith.

Mr. Speaker, misinformation in the media and other political agendas must not cloud the opportunity for three strong campuses to exist with the future polytechnic university. Neutral decisions by officials in the Department of ECE need to prevail. Quotes like what was said in today's Yellowknifer newspaper should not be spoken by people in positions like assistant deputy ministers.

It is also very important that one of the first priorities of the new Fort Smith campus is to tear down and replace one of the last remaining residential school buildings, Breynat Hall, which is currently being used as a single student residence by Aurora College. This has to be a priority of the capital plan for the new university for Fort Smith.

Mr. Speaker, I know that new infrastructure on three campuses will be sought after and constructed eventually, but I feel it is important to reiterate that the main campus and headquarters for the university will remain in Fort Smith.

Given the May 30th meeting, I feel it is also very important that the Minister himself provide some clarity on what that meeting was about and to explain it, or how that will change Fort Smith's position as the head campus.

Fort Smith has been the education centre of the NWT for generations and will remain so with the new university, as far as I'm concerned. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, people have got to realize that prosperity of a new university has got to be shared across the three existing campus locations but especially for the ones outside of the capital region. The benefits of the future polytechnic university cannot solely be gained by the capital. I just want to make that very clear today, given the information that came out on Monday.

I will have questions for the Minister of Education later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Members' statements. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le Président. Three months ago I asked about the attempts to sell the Mactung mining property and any lessons learned from that process. The ITI minister said "I am very hopeful that we'll be in a position to report back positively in short order." That didn't happen.

Another attempt to sell the so-called "critical mineral" property has failed. This came to light with an April 4, 2022 Supreme Court of British Columbia filing by the appointed monitor for the property. There was no notice or communication from the Minister of this latest attempt to sell the property until the media picked up on this court filing at the end of the April.

The owner, North American Tungsten, went into creditor protection on June 9, 2015, after GNWT agreed to take on this operation under the devolution agreement and allowed that company to keep Mactung property as part of its financial security for its water license.

As part of the creditor protection proceeding, Cabinet ended up purchasing Mactung for $2.5 million with a special warrant that bypassed the Legislative Assembly. A lot of junk and hazardous materials were left at Mactung, even though I had been told that there was nothing there.

GNWT then spent $172,000 on a partial site cleanup of that property. Then GNWT hired a southern consultant to prepare and submit a land use application to the Yukon government for an imaginary exploration program in an attempt to hype the value of the property, which also seems to have failed.

When I asked the Minister about any lessons learned from the mismanagement of Mactung, she said that GNWT is "working together to market the properties and share in the costs of doing so and now work together with the Indigenous governments of the region as we proceed to a point where this is, hopefully, a final and solid proponent who could take over and move this forward."

I had hoped to hear something like GNWT would commit to change its legislation to make full financial security, in a liquid form, mandatory to prevent further public liabilities, something this government has failed to do over the eight years since devolution.

It's past the time for the auditor general to carry out a performance audit of GNWT's management or mismanagement of these resources. Needless to say, there are a lot of questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment about Mactung, how we managed this asset and liability, and whether we can ever expect to recoup the money spent on it. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the auditor general tabled findings on addictions prevention and recovery services. The OAG found that the GNWT did not do enough to provide residents with accessible, coordinated, and culturally safe addictions services including specific reference to aftercare supports.

A previous OAG report on the NWT's child and family services found that substance misuse was a factor that put children at risk in 83 percent of files. The finding is reflected in the accounts of several youth here in Yellowknife. They have shared that though technically they have homes, they resort to homelessness as a safer option because of substance abuse in the home or the need to leave the child protection system.

Mr. Speaker, our northern housing solutions, or lack thereof, are directly impacting our residents' ability to access homes free of substance abuse and violence, homes that allow them to maintain sobriety, and homes that provide avenues for prevention.

Mr. Speaker, 20 percent of Canada's homeless population are youth between 13 and 24. That's at least 35,000 Canadian youth experiencing homelessness and up to 40 percent of those youth identify as 2SLGBTQIPA+. Many young Canadians experiencing homelessness flip between friends' homes, shelters, and the streets.

But Mr. Speaker, Yellowknife might be home to Canada's Arctic only youth-focused homelessness solution called Home Base YK. Every night, Home Base opens its doors and offers a night of safety and warmth to roughly 20 NWT youth. But these beds are not enough and some youth, predominantly girls, are forced to choose the streets.

Mr. Speaker, across Canada many youth experiencing homelessness were also in the care of child protection services. The North is no different. Leaving the child protection system and transitioning to independent living is a challenging process. It requires government support and an aftercare plan. Across Canada, street-involved youth are six times more likely to be victimized and in the NWT, rates of substance abuse and violence are even higher. Safe housing is a human right at every age. Safe housing is at the core of any aftercare plan.

Homelessness exposes our youth to spiralling harms, including sexual exploitation, economic exploitation, traumatic events, declining health, and addictions. Youth-focused housing solutions affording our children safety, security, and the social supports necessary to transition from childhood to adulthood is prevention, Mr. Speaker.

Every child deserves to live and grow in a healthy home. Our children need us, this Assembly, government workers, civil society, and every person to come together and ensure their right to the safe housing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, previously I spoke in this House on inflation and the rising cost of living in the Tlicho region. The increasing cost of fuel is part of the problem.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the government announced significant increases to the fuel resupply program prices in ten communities. Three communities in the Tlicho region will be affected by this increase. Mr. Speaker, this upcoming resupply season, Gameti, Wekweeti, and Whati, will see an average increase of 44 cents per litre, or 28 percent increase for heating fuel; 45 cents per litre, or 25 percent increase for diesel; and 29 cents per litre, or 16 percent increase for gasoline.

Mr. Speaker, I am concerned about the impact these increases will have on my constituents. Without fuel, my people have a limited ability to get on the land. The effects on their well-being, food, and economic security will be immeasurable.

Mr. Speaker, often it is those who are the most vulnerable who suffer the most from these increases. I think of the elders seeing a greater portion of their fixed income going towards heating their home and transportation.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize that gas price increases are a world-wide reaction to the tragic events in the Ukraine where citizens are being forced out of their homes, families torn apart, and citizens are being murdered by an oppressive dictator. While I recognize that the GNWT cannot control these fluctuations in global pricing, it is our small and remote communities time and time again that see the worst of the impacts of these price increases.

Mr. Speaker, what I would like to see for this government to do is to work with us and to work with Indigenous governments to find a solution that will lessen the impacts of these increases on our citizens.

I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to substance abuse, two principles must inform our decision. That is evidence-based decision making and harm reduction. If these are the driving principles, Mr. Speaker, we will ultimately lower the number of people addicted to drugs and alcohol in this territory.

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Health spoke today in her statement, I truly believe that she believes these principles are essential to informing our decisions. However, Mr. Speaker, if we believe this, that substance abuse is a health issue, we must remove the criminal law from the picture.

Yesterday, the federal government announced that in British Columbia, starting in 2023, small possession of illegal drugs will be decriminalized. BC's Minister of Health, Sheila Malcolmson, in making this decision, said, "Stigma and secrecy about substance use kills." She said, "Shame and fear keep people from accessing the care that they need and fear of criminalization has led many people to hide their addiction and drug use and ultimately using alone means dying alone."

BC's public health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry said, "That criminal risk of being labeled a criminal, losing your job, not being able to get an apartment, not being able to travel, things like losing your children, it keeps people from talking to their family and friends about drug use. And that keeps people from accessing services."

The federal Minister of Health said, "BC was the template for other jurisdictions." She will soon rule on whether Toronto gets a similar exemption as they have asked.

Mr. Speaker, we have a template to follow. It must be recognized that decriminalization is not a silver bullet. And Mr. Speaker, in BC, in getting this application, had to educate their police on how to properly work with addicts. It had to set out a number of reporting measures and make sure this information is tracked, very similar information that our auditor general has recently asked us to do. It had to sure there was safe supply in place, naloxone in place, and had to increase the number of social workers and treatment available to users. It is not an easy process but BC has led the way in truly making sure we tackle the substance abuse issues in this country.

I know many people feel uncomfortable with the idea. They view it as sanctioning behaviour they feel is immoral. They view it as lawlessness that will lead to harm. But that is simply not true, Mr. Speaker. And if we're going to truly help those who are addicted, we must do what actually works and follow the evidence.

I'll have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I am sure you're aware, as is everyone else in the territory based on how my inbox and messages are blowing up , ECE and the City of Yellowknife have announced their intent to consider the parcel of land locally known as Tin Can Hill as the site of the future-proposed campus of the polytechnic university.

Based on the emails and the posts I am seeing online, residents appear to bewildered to hear that once again their beloved Tin Can Hill is being considered for development. In fact, in one email to the city I was cc'd on, the author provided a long list of unsuccessful projects previously considered that had all been shot down by residents' want to save one of the few dog-friendly urban green spaces in town. Some residents use the scenic trails in my riding as much as twice a day, five to seven days a week.

One comment from social media sums it up perfectly: "Tin Can Hill is a treasured recreational area. It's not compatible with a campus, parking, student residence, and the traffic congestion that comes with this facility. Construction will be destructive, subjecting residents to blasting and removal of treasured green space. It'll ruin the area for dog walkers, hikers, runners, cyclists, and tourists. Many residents have voiced concerns and feel that the city needs to stop allowing development pitches to be made for this space."

Since taking office, I've heard concerns about traffic through the residential areas adjacent Tin Can Hill. With the construction of a campus in this area, Copper Sky Apartments will likely become a thoroughfare. And affordable housing in the area will become non-existent as southern students take away our already limited vacancies. Gentrification will force our long-term and Indigenous residents from their apartments they currently call home.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not against the construction of the university in my riding. However, I'm concerned about the silo in which this work has been carried out. Clearly, residents have a lot to say on the future of Tin Can Hill. And I have to ask, like I do about my own role as an MLA, why weren't we asked? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Members' statements. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this spring the Department of Infrastructure has changed the pricing for heating fuel, diesel, gasoline and naphtha. Since last month, our communities have seen increases between 4 and 48 percent for heating fuel alone. And diesel price increase between 6 to 41 percent depending on the community. And gasoline saw prices go up between 5 to 33 percent.

The Department of Infrastructure website provides a table of fuel prices by community. Effective May 16, 2022, the price for a litre of gas can be as high as $2.40, the price at Colville Lake, or as low as $1.77 in Tulita.

In my constituent community of Łutselk'e, the price of gasoline went up by nine percent to $1.92 per litre. Heating fuel increased by eight percent to $1.56 per litre.

Mr. Speaker, I want to help and provide some input to look for ways to improve the lives of our people in our communities. Increasing the cost of heating fuel and gasoline does not do that. It does the opposite.

The GNWT now charges customers receiving social assistance and the senior home heating subsidy 13 percent more for heating fuel. The price in Lutselk'e increased from $1.38 and $1.56 per litre.

Mr. Speaker, the price of petroleum products is different from each community in the NWT. Prices have increased for all GNWT customers whether they're government or nongovernment customers.

Communities are hit hard by this increase. It is also a sudden increase and surprise to communities. We just began to adjust after the pandemic measures have been lifted. The prices hit our communities really hard.

Mr. Speaker, our communities did not see this increase coming. Most know that the GNWT resupply their products once a year in the summer.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that we are strategic and more considerate of our communities. Let's not create hardship for our communities where we can be innovative and find more reconciliatory approach.

I firmly believe that we can work together and find solutions that are not putting a hardship on small communities and this might mean looking at mechanisms for subsidized fuel costs. Creating subsidy or enabling contribution agreements between the governments, including the federal Government of Canada, with focused goal to leave money in the communities.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure later today. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Edjericon. I'm not sure if you were aware but you were cut off through a portion of it so if you could send us your statement, send us an email, and we'll have it printed for Hansard under Rule 10.4(1). Good portion of the middle part of your Member's statement was cut off. So I think the Minister has enough information to go on though. But we'll go from there.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my constituency assistant Loretta Rogers who is here in the gallery, and she is escorting the pages from my riding down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions are for the Minister of Health.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Health confirm what mental health supports are available to those persons impacted by flooding in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for an opportunity to highlight the responses and supports that are available. I'm sure this has been a very trying time for people in Hay River and more so as time goes on.

So the community counselling services, the Member may know, is located in the Jensen Building. It's open Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 5. No appointment is necessary. The counselling services are also on call 24/7 during an acute crisis such as the one now. There are virtual mental health resources available to residents as well, including things such as the Kid's Help Phone, Wellness Together Canada, and the Help Line, the NWT Help Line. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm how many mental health counsellors are on the ground in Hay River and if the department has sent in additional counsellors from other communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to say we have lots of capacity. There are two full-time mental health and addictions counsellors, one full-time child and youth care counsellor, one part-time practicum student, two community wellness workers, a clinic supervisor for CYCC, and a manager who also sees clients. Two additional mental health counsellors are arriving in Hay River from Fort Smith to facilitate community debriefings that are planned for later this week. We also, through HRSSA's communities counselling service, they attend the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre sharing circle for any needs that they can support there. So it's a well-staffed response. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm if there will be any outreach services whereby counsellors set up meetings with victims of localized areas such as the West Channel, Old Town, New Town, Paradise Valley, and the reserve? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we respond to requests and we make the services available in those debrief situations to the whole community so that there's confidentiality available. So crisis debriefs have been offered to key players in the flood response. And there are debriefs scheduled for Friday in the morning and the afternoon at the Hay River Recreation Centre. So I would appreciate the Member's help in making these known to his community so that people can choose to attend. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to actually thank the department and the Hay River Health Authority for having people available right off the start to talk to people, because what I found is that, you know, a lot of the people that were impacted, they needed, you know, somebody to hear their story. So I'd like to thank the department for that, and the Hay River Health Authority.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm how long we can except to have counsellors on the ground in Hay River to support those victims requiring mental health supports due to the flooding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that long list of health and addictions counsellors and wellness workers and so on, these are permanent staff in Hay River. And so they are there indefinitely. The additional resources really depend on the demand. So we are expecting there could be a surge in demand tomorrow after the -- or Friday, pardon me, after the community debriefings.

At this point, we haven't had an overwhelming response to our offer. But the resources are in place, and we encourage people who need them to use them. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Housing NWT.

Earlier this week, the Minister made a comment to my colleague from Inuvik Twin Lakes that the strategy as it is right now does not come with any dollars -- for the homelessness strategy, sorry, Mr. Speaker. So I'm wondering will the homelessness strategy end up coming with dollars once it is tabled, or will it at least be costed? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Homelessness.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of today, the Housing is working with the social development deputy's table which consists of Health, ECE, MACA, and EIA, to come forward with a plan that can be actioned that identifies the resources required for implementation.

Part of the delay is bringing forward a final document that desires the social departments to bring forward an approach that can be resourced and be successful with its implementation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, across Canada unique barriers exist for 2SLGBTQIAPPA+ youth accessing shelter systems. One in three transgender individuals are rejected from shelters for their gender identities and gender expression. So was, or is, the Northern Mosaic Network included as a vital stakeholder in drafting this strategy to provide homelessness solutions for our territory? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today much of the work has been done internally within the GNWT. The intention of Housing NWT has been that the action plan would provide an opportunity for input on the strategy once tabled but also that it would include actions that could be put in place immediately while some of those border conversations take place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if it's intended to be a fluid document that can be looked at and feedback provided and then changed? Why has Housing NWT, after nearly four years of committing to this strategy, not provided it to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review and input? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And in speaking with my department, this became a very complex document that identifies several different areas that involves several different departments as well too. So bringing it back, we're looking at bringing it to standing committee, I want to say, in the fall of this year. And I need to see movement on this document as well too. But once again, once the document is implemented, we need to find resources to making sure that we continue with the implementation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the saying "perfect is the enemy of good" comes to mind here. And sometimes you got to let something go and let people have a look at it in order to get some feedback and let it fly because right now, as of today, Members in this House have requested the homelessness strategy 65 times since September of 2018 when it was first committed to in the 18th Assembly. And it is getting frustrated at this point, and I understand that it's very important. But if it sits in Housing NWT, it will never get actioned. And so I guess I'm asking the Minister now, have any of the resulted feedback or information gained by working on this strategy for the last four years resulted in any kind of housing policy changes on the frontline of Housing NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there hasn't been any policy changes at this point as a result of the strategy. The work with all social department partners is to ensure that we have an all-of-government approach and to try to avoid any unintended consequences resulting from the strategy. And I do hear the Member that this document is taking quite some time, and I want to commit that we would be able to present this document in the fall of this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, my questions are for the Minister of Finance, which human resources falls under.

Does the GNWT have a document to educate hiring staff on how to measure education equivalencies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly anyone that is involved in hiring does have opportunity to access training through the Department of Finance. There are information packages online that can describe some of this, and the Department of Finance is often, if not always, involved during a recruitment and retention process so that they can also provide some strategic advice on how to do the evaluation equivalencies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister for their response but I've been in hiring process through the education boards, I've been in Health, in other areas, hiring teachers, nurses, you know, and every HR person that I received information of gave me a different way to do it.

So there isn't one strategic way or document that everybody does it equivalently through the Northwest Territories. I just wanted to put that on the record.

Does the GNWT currently use lived experience and cultural experience into equivalencies and if not, will the Minister direct her department to find a way to do this equally across the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is one of the commitments that is under the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. And I certainly recognize that the passion is being brought to it for exactly this reason, that there does need to be, you know, a better way of doing this to achieve the goals that we have of having more inclusive public service. So it's included already in that action plan.

There is the new job description guide. I ought to have mentioned it in the last response.

The job description guide is meant to be a place where there can be more cohesive approach to how, in fact, job descriptions are being done and where evaluation of the combinations of education and experience can be considered and some guidance, indeed, on how to achieve that through job descriptions now, again, utilizing that guide in the context of the framework. So once that is now underway, Mr. Speaker, that will be part of the commitments that we've made in that framework and hopefully we'll see success in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the Minister's answer, thank you for that. And it leads kind of right into my next question.

Is the GNWT reviewing all job descriptions to remove barriers and add cultural and lived experience to be measured when a job evaluation is scoring how they rate the pay? This is something that must be valued in our territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's Action 1.1 of the framework where it speaks to the importance of the job descriptions and, specifically, that all departments and agencies are now expected to conduct a detailed review of all job descriptions specifically with keeping in mind systemic barriers that may exist. And the point is to precisely do that, to remove those systemic barriers.

Every department and agency is responsible for their job descriptions. They certainly can seek strategic advice from human resources. But that is the individual requirements for each department, knowing themselves some of the particularities of those jobs.

But of note, in terms of when we're going to get there and how they're going to do that, we are now all collectively expected to be reporting annually on the completion of those tasks, including job description reviews. And performance measures for the framework includes having job descriptions reviewed over the next two to three years so that we get through, indeed, all of them just as is being asked. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. And I'm glad that you added at the end that there is kind of a timeline that these need to be done so we're not sitting here and some of our pages are the MLAs at the time asking the same question 20 or 10 years from now.

Will the Minister commit to creating these documents, like I had mentioned in my first two questions, for hiring staff to measure education equivalencies and cultural and lived experiences into equivalencies, and will the Minister commit to releasing these documents for the public and hiring managers and any staff that are involved in hiring on their websites to be more transparent and to commit that ensuring that HR ensures the departments are reviewing all their job descriptions. And you said that already so I thank the Minister for that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is one resource that I would certainly encourage prospective applicants to take a look at. It is on the website. It's GNWT hiring Q and A. It describes some of the information about who's on a hiring committee, what equivalencies -- what kinds of equivalencies might be considered, how that's defined. But it does not go through job by job providing individual equivalencies.

I had the opportunity to speak with the Member before sitting today. I understand, we don't want people to self-screen. We don't want people to think that they won't meet an equivalency and not even apply. That doesn't benefit the process. It doesn't benefit the public service. You know, the ideal is to have folks coming forward because they think they have the right equivalencies and then we can go through that process of the hiring process.

That said, Mr. Speaker, I can certainly go back and see if we can get a bit more information on to this Q and A so that people have a sense of where they stand and so that they aren't screening themselves out and they are applying to jobs to which they had a proper equivalency. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Education assure me, and the constituents of Thebacha, that Fort Smith is still the intended location for the main campus and headquarters of the future polytechnic university? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the time that our Premier was the Minister of Education, the messaging has been that the idea of a main campus is outdated. We have three campuses, and we have a number of community learning centres that all form one organization.

That being said, there is no plan to move the administrative headquarters from Fort Smith to Yellowknife. I think that some people perhaps, you know, saw that there was something happening with the campus in Yellowknife and assumed that everything was getting sucked into the capital. That is not the case. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please provide some clarity regarding the meeting that took place on May 30th at city hall of Yellowknife about the polytechnic university. What is the intended purpose of that meeting? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The City of Yellowknife, ECE, and Aurora College have been working together to, you know, identify a site for the future polytechnic university campus in Yellowknife.

If anyone is familiar with the current campus in Yellowknife, you would know that it is small. It's cramped. It is in a location that is inconvenient for many people. There's limited parking. And there's no possibility for growth there. And so there is a need for a new campus in Yellowknife. That has been, you know, discussed many times here. And there's also need for new infrastructure in the other campus communities of Inuvik and Fort Smith as well.

The meeting that took place with the City of Yellowknife was to discuss the MOU between the City of Yellowknife, Aurora College, and ECE regarding the Tin Can Hill site as a potential future site for that campus and just to discuss how everyone can work together to work through the process to transferring that property. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to have ECE and Aurora College staff meet with the mayor and council of Fort Smith to have a similar meeting, as they did with the Yellowknife city council, to discuss plans for the future polytechnic university. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A similar meeting isn't necessary because it's not a similar situation in Fort Smith. That being said, I was on the phone with the mayor of Fort Smith and a number of councillors on Friday discussing this very issue. I wanted to give them assurances that this was not a situation that, you know, some people are now assuming that it is, that there is going to be a single campus in Yellowknife or Yellowknife is absorbing all of the campuses or anything like that. I wanted to let them know that this was part of the ongoing process of developing a facilities master plan that will guide infrastructure investments in the polytechnic university for decades to come. And in order to do that, we need to have sites identified as well as the needs of the polytechnic and the students identified. But that being said, if the mayor and council want to meet and have a discussion, I'm happy to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to provide this House with an updated status on the polytechnic university at its earliest possible time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I gave an update last week with one of my Minister's statements, and I'm always happy to discuss this exciting project. So yes, I will provide an update to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I've raised the issue of our failure to prevent liabilities at Mactung, and Cantung, and our inability to sell the Mactung property at least 11 times since I've been an MLA. I can't quite match the 65 times raised by my colleague here. But can the Minister tell us how she can improve communications with MLAs and the public on what is happening with this mining property? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to any sort of sale program or process that may be underway, it would not be unusual for that to involve confidential discussions. And if that's the case, it's very difficult, if not impossible, considering legal obligations, to be displaying that out publicly.

That said, Mr. Speaker, we are a consensus government and there's been a lot of work done in this Assembly in terms of understanding better how to communicate between Ministers and MLAs when it comes to the development of legislation and the development of regulations, and perhaps there's an opportunity to here to consider what other processes we might have in place to improve communications on confidential items.

We've seen some other communication improvements in that regard here and so this may well be one of those opportunities to look here and see what might be done in the future, to find avenues by which we with communicate information that may be quite sensitive and have legal requirements or obligations attached to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm happy to talk with her more about that and get more information about Mactung in a timely manner.

The GNWT decided to try to market the Mactung property with the Cantung mine site with the federal government but all attempts seemed to have failed. Can the Minister explain what is going on with proposed sale of the Mactung property and when the taxpayers of the NWT can expect to recover their investment? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a joint decision made, quite some time ago now, between GNWT and Canada to attempt to market those two properties, Cantung and Mactung together. And that effort was underway to have a joint effort and a joint RFP out seeking to seek prequalified proposals. I believe that is the item that the Member was mentioning earlier with respect to the publication on the Supreme Court of British Columbia's court filing with respect to that not having yielded any positive results. But there do continue to be discussions by the GNWT, and we are stay remaining hopeful that ultimately a sale will be concluded. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm actually getting more information out of the Cabin Radio story than I guess what I've heard so for about what the process is going to be, but.

These Mactung and Cantung properties are 140 kilometres away from each other by air and 700 kilometres by road. It was always extremely unlikely that some buyer would ever take these on as some sort of a viable mining operation without significant concessions and subsidies.

So can the Minister tell us what incentives, concessions, or subsidies will be offered to sell the Mactung property this time around? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had it described to me that when the decision was made, before my time here, to purchase the property, that it was thought to, in fact, be a good maneuver and, indeed, that it would in fact not have difficulty being sold. So regardless of that, at this point I will still note, Mr. Speaker, that the two properties, although being 140 kilometres apart, were jointly owned previously. They remain high grade Tungsten properties. Geopolitical events and the critical minerals and metals discussions suggest that there may well be a good opportunity right now for these particular properties.

There are no subsidies being offered, concessions, or incentives. There is, of course, the mineral incentive policy that we have that applies for anyone who might be seeking to apply in order for some supports when they go out to do exploration. But as far as the sale and the RFP process, that is not subject to subsidies, concessions, or incentives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that.

In my view, the Cantung and Mactung saga is another example of post-devolution mismanagement of our resources. When I asked the Minister for lessons learned last time, she spoke about hope for a solid proponent to take over the property. I'm going to try the question again, perhaps a little bit differently.

Can the Minister explain what lessons have been learned about financial security and public liabilities from the Cantung and Mactung saga? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, we are characterizing the events differently. I wouldn't characterize it as a saga nor would I say that the story has ended or is closed. As I had mentioned at the beginning, there are still confidential discussions underway. I am still hopeful to have a positive update here at the end that might close out the chapter. And at that point whether there are lessons to be learned in one direction or another, that would be the time to do that consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE. And first I'd just like that thank my colleague for raising her concerns around this process. And I'm really glad to hear that the Minister's been having lots of ongoing conversations with Fort Smith and with the city. However, Mr. Speaker, I would have to wonder where my consideration was as the first time I heard about this was through the rumour mill and found out along with the rest of the public.

So Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of questions around this.

First off, can the Minister explain what other locations within the city of Yellowknife have been considered and why were they not selected and Tin Can Hill was? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I understand the Member's frustration. Sometimes the rumour mill gets ahead of government and before there are decisions made, before all of the steps are followed, that information can be shared. Information gets leaked and so that was the situation. It came as a surprise to a number of people and so it wasn't by design that things were out there in the public before the MLAs were informed.

Really, the team looked at everywhere in Yellowknife. There were some requirements that, you know, were needed. So the space needed to be large enough for future expansion. There's a desire to have a site that would allow for on-the-land learning, for cultural spaces, a place that was close to the downtown core, somewhere where all of the, you know, facilities could be located together. So these are some of the requirements that we wanted to have as part of this. And, you know, for perhaps many of the reasons that there's a long history of proponents trying to develop Tin Can Hill, it's because it's a great site. It's because it has all of those aspects. And so it is clearly the most preferable place for a polytechnic university. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That could have been answered in just as an everywhere answer, so I would just ask that the Minister please speed up his responses.

Can the Minister please tell me when the public consultation began?

Mr. Speaker, it seems to be a bit of a habit that things become a done deal before we're ever asked about them. Clearly, my residents were also, my constituents were also very surprised by this decision and now many are worried that they will not have an input and it will all just be lip service. So can the Minister speak a bit to the public consultation process and when is that going to begin? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a City of Yellowknife consultation process. From what I understand, it's already began. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So what I hear, then, is that the GNWT and ECE itself did no public consultation before they made their decision to go with this site so I'm really glad to know that our inputs are being considered here.

How much consideration has been given to the fact that the access to this location will be through residential areas that cannot sustain the traffic patterns that a university or college would require? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As part of the facilities master planning, students were engaged, staff were engaged, Indigenous governments were engaged, the city was engaged, and now we are in the public portion that is being run by the city. It's a city process. There will be plenty of opportunity for public input in this zoning process. And the types of things that the Member is talking about right now - traffic access. Those are exactly the types of things that this established public process is going to consider. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we're done here, I will forward the email that I received and referred to in my statement about the numerous times that Tin Can Hill has been proposed for development, and it has been shot down by residents. I'm, again, concerned about the waste of money on this project going forward as I can tell you, from what I'm gauging from listening to residents, they do not want it. And for them to not have been asked, for my constituents to not have been asked, is unacceptable. And, again, it's just a matter of this government doing whatever they would like to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't hear a question there but the asking is happening now. There's actually a process being administered by the City of Yellowknife where public input will be solicited. So that's what's happening. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing that global gas price increases due to the Ukraine-Russian war are creating staggering impacts for our communities, what steps, if any, can the GNWT take to soften the tremendous blow of these increases on our citizens? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, this government is alive to some of the issues in terms of, you know, the rising prices. And we, as a government, have done a number of things to be able to help the residents in the communities. You know, Education, Culture has some subsidies. ENR has some subsidies. So we are helping the residents in the communities. Thank you.

Thank you. Can the Minister commit to looking at all potential actions, including a potential short-term reduction in gas taxes, to offset the impact of global price increases when carrying out the next gas price adjustment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Petroleum Products Revolving Fund Act requires the GNWT to recover all operating costs from the sale of petroleum products. In other words, we are not permitted to undercharge or overcharge our customers for what it costs to provide petroleum products to each community that participates in the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Will the Minister commit to look in to further subsidies to stabilize the rising costs of living in small communities or programs to ensure people can get out on the land? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we can definitely have a discussion with Cabinet on how this government can be able to provide subsidies or programs out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In yesterday's auditor general report, it became clear that we have to make sure there is coordination in our response to the substance abuse issues in this territory. And I think one of the clear lines of coordination is of the RCMP's role. But I think before we even have that conversation, we have to make sure we're on the same page.

So my question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is does she believe that our response to substance abuse issues is first and foremost a health issue and not a criminal one? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question.

There's obviously an overlapping responsibility here where Justice is primarily responsible for what's criminal and how to enforce that, and Health and Social Services is responsible for what is a health issue and how to respond to that. So the change yesterday doesn't address the primary concern of health which safe supply of illicit drugs, the amount of drugs, and whether they qualify as possession or should be seized is really a Justice issue. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I have asked these questions of Justice before. Today I directed them to Health because the decision ultimately made was by the BC public health asking for an exemption to the federal Minister of Health.

And so my question for our Minister of Health is does she agree with the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs, 60 percent of the Canadian public, the overwhelming amount of public health officials, the federal Minister of Health, the BC Minister of Health, and really anyone who has worked on the front lines, that decriminalization is a step that saves lives and is a tool we need to use in our fight against substance abuse? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't offer an opinion on that. This is a first in Canada, the decriminalization of the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs. We're very interested in seeing what comes of this in BC. And of course because the toll of overdose deaths has been so huge in BC, we are hoping that it is successful in helping people to address the stigma of receiving treatment for illicit drug use. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister of Health say in her first response that one of the key things to a health response is safe supply. And this was fundamental and essential to BC being granted this. I know Yukon has implemented similar safe supply work. I'm wondering if the Department of Health has any plans to address safe supply here in our territory? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that the situation is very different in the Yukon. They have declared a public health emergency around overdose deaths following a series of deaths right after the New Year. We had three overdose deaths in the NWT in the first three quarters of last year. And three is too many. But compared to the toll that alcohol takes on people in the NWT, alcohol is a much more significant problem, and it's the one that we are addressing with the development of the territorial alcohol strategy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am well aware that alcohol is of a primary concern and issue to our substance abuse issues. But I think absent action now, we will find ourselves in a similar situation to the Yukon in the years to come. We have seen increasing drug use and many people on the front lines speak to that regularly.

But my question for the Minister of Health is BC in granting this -- or in receiving this application, the federal Minister of Health said this is really a template for how to respond to substance abuse issues. So I'm wondering if the Minister of Health will commit to looking at that application and looking at the federal guidelines that they put on BC in regards to reporting into tracking this. I want to at least make sure we are aware of what's going on in this area, because much of the data that BC was required to track is similar to what our own auditor general has asked us to track. So if the Minister of Health could at least commit to look at the application and see what we could learn from that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.