Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, second by the Member of Hay River South, that the Committee Report 75-19(2), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on Review of the Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, No. 2, be received in the Assembly and referred to Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. The motion is in order. To the motion?

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried. The Committee Report 75-19(2) has been received and adopted by the Assembly.

---Carried

Reports of standing and special committees. Returns to oral questions. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I see the Minister for MACA is smiling over there, so.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of MACA confirm if temporary accommodations are available for those persons who lost their homes during the wildfire will be made available and under what criteria? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, private accommodations will be provided for the people that were impacted by the wildfires. And, again, in regards to his riding, we have people in Peace River right now and other locations. They'll be there until January, but we will be looking at each case case by case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had a couple of calls, people asking about accommodation, and I'd like to ask the Minister who it is that residents need to contact to access these accommodations? Thank you. Is it the Pathfinders, or who is it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's kind of a dual answer. If they're in Peace River or they have access to accommodations down there through Red Cross or our evacuation process, yes, please reach out to the Pathfinders that way. But if they haven't got accommodations, then, you know, reach out to their MLA, reach out to the South Slave or, if in case, the Pathfinders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if there -- and I think he alluded to it. Is there a limited time these temporary accommodations will be made available to people who lost their homes and if there is a limited time, what criteria will that be based on? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, these people that were impacted by the fires there, their accommodations we're relooking at it in January. But as we work on it, it might be extended until we get them actually back into their home or a replacement home as we work through that process. So right now, we got it in January and then we will be -- as we move forward, we'll be looking at each individual case by case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've got a couple of people who are actually in the temporary accommodation right now and they've been told they might only be there until the end of November. And the Minister alluded to that it would be end of -- or in January. So can extensions be granted, or can the Minister at least let the department know or let -- so they can tell these people that they're good until at least January and then, you know, they'll be given some time; it won't be, you know, a week before that they're told no, the extension's not going to be there or they are going to get an extension, because people are pretty anxious right now and they're worried they're going to be out in the cold this winter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know exactly which people he's talking about that are impacted, but my understanding is that accommodations are until at least January. But if the Member has heard of different situations, please reach out to us and we'll reach out to the department to make sure we fix that because we don't want these people that are being impacted by the fires to then have to be impacted by the accommodations. They may be -- part of the thing is they may be looking at maybe moving to Hay River and that might be some of the work that we're working on. But if the Member can work with me on this, we will get that resolved. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. Last Wednesday, the Minister of Finance tabled the government's What We Heard report on their policy review of the Affirmative Action Policy. Following this report, can the Minister explain what the government intends to do next regarding the affirmative action. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to be able to table this report. This has been a long time coming in terms of the work happening around affirmative action but, more importantly, around the hiring of Indigenous Northerners to the public service. And, Mr. Speaker, I can certainly say that the commitment of the Department of Finance and Human Resources to seeing achievement in terms of actual diversity and inclusion in public service remains firm.

With respect to what will happen next, Mr. Speaker, this is a policy that is of the executive council, and so there has been work done now to put together what a new policy might look like, to put together what a new direction might look like. The evacuations and the changes of timelines have made that somewhat a bit more difficult to act upon, but that work has certainly continued through that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so can the Minister confirm if the government is firm on its assessment and decision to replace this old, outdated policy, the Affirmative Action Policy, within the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't obviously speak for the executive as its entirety since that, again, is a policy that belongs to Cabinet as a whole. But I would certainly say that, yes indeed, the Government of the Northwest Territories is firm in its commitment to prioritize the hiring of northern Indigenous candidates and firm in its commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Mr. Speaker, much has happened over these last four years, not the least of which is a public service strategic plan, which we didn't have before, the Indigenous recruitment and retention framework, which we didn't have before, implementation targets that are now public, and a diversity and inclusion framework. So much has happened, Mr. Speaker. I realize the affirmative action program is one more piece of that, but I would still say that all of those actions do speak loudly that we remain firmly committed to this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So can the Minister confirm that when -- and I'm going to say when, not if -- when the new Indigenous Employment Policy Comes into force, the existing Affirmative Action Policy will be revoked and will cease to exist? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed, the -- an Indigenous Employment Policy was the subject of what was being consulted upon and various drafts were put out for review and for consideration and, indeed, if that were to be the direction that we go, that would end the now 30 some-year-old Affirmative Action Policy and bring with it the implementation of a new policy. It may be, Mr. Speaker, particularly given the timing, that we would want to delay implementation or we may want to make it, you know, a pilot or something that gives us a bit of breathing space, recognizing where we are in our timing and the challenges we've had this summer with timing. But in short, it's -- certainly if there's a new policy, that is the point; that it replaces the old one. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I understand the Minister in saying if but when -- I'm going to just keep saying when. When this policy is approved and it is implemented, how long would the Minister consider the timeline to be before we would start seeing the changes at the frontline? Because every single one of us as MLAs, we all are MLAs first, have heard from our constituents on problems with hiring in the GNWT workforce. So when can this Minister -- when the policy comes into play, how long will it take for this government or the next government to have it roll out? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, no one should wait. No one should wait. And, Mr. Speaker, I would encourage people -- the Department of Finance does now have a full online reporting mechanism around Indigenous employment and around the Indigenous recruitment and retention framework. It includes all of the different steps that we had put to ourselves to achieve under the framework. It also now has publicized the targets for hiring of Indigenous candidates, and reporting on all of the implementation of that has begun. So no one should wait. That should be a tool, and the department should be held to it. All departments should be held to it because every department's targets are on there.

With respect to a new policy, Mr. Speaker, the beauty of it being policy is that it will have some more flexibility. If there's a new policy, typically what would happen is it does give an opportunity for departments and agencies to get used to it, to look at it, to refine it, to make sure that it is, in fact, the best one. So I can't give a timeline for a thing that we haven't announced. I can only say that, again, no one should be waiting. They should be using the tools that are already out there to their fullest ability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.