Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if we were taking an all-of-government approach to this, we would see summer students in every region outside of -- including outside of Yellowknife. We would see SNAP students and SNAP apprentices in every region. But the fact of the matter is that a lot of those opportunities are often seen being taken advantage of solely or predominantly by students in Yellowknife. And I get that there's more population here. I absolutely get that. I get that there's more -- that there are more students here, that there are more employers here; I absolutely understand that. And I get that the Minister also can't force the government to do anything. But an example as housing, who is willing to put an apprentice in their contracts, there are departments out there willing to partake in these opportunities. And so I'm asking the Minister if he will especially work with Ministers of Infrastructure and Housing to tell them about the SNAP program because yesterday I heard in housing, in an exchange between a Member and the Minister, that they wished there was an opportunity before the apprenticeship program. This is it, Mr. Speaker. So I'm asking if the GNWT will be one of its own clients and partake in the SNAP program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that work is underway. As I stated, the Department of Infrastructure is actually looking at a couple students in different regions to take them on as SNAP students. So that work is happening. And, again, I'll say that when I came into this role I really did start pushing apprenticeships. Not that the department wasn't pushing them before but it really was one of my focuses. And, you know, we've seen more efforts gone into this area and we're continuing to see that. You can see it through the collaboration between ECE, the Department of Infrastructure, and other government bodies as we try to get more SNAP students. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. I think this is an excellent program and a really big opportunity for northern students.

One of the things that I also mentioned today in my questions was summer students. Summer is coming. Now is the time where summer students are hired. And I would also like to see an effort on the part of the GNWT to also make sure that summer students are being hired across the Northwest Territories. And so will the Minister of education also commit to talking to his colleagues about ways to make that happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Summer students falls under the -- I guess the purview of the Department of Finance. That's generally where those types of questions go. Nonetheless, I'm happy to promote the idea of hiring students to my Cabinet colleagues, and I'll do that wholeheartedly. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in June 2022, I tabled Motion 54-19(2), improving healthcare in small communities, calling for the Government of the Northwest Territories to conduct an external audit of client treatment records and client satisfaction. The response to the motion stated: Regular audits are undertaken at each health centre to ensure health services are delivered according to clinical practice standards and guidelines.

Can the Minister of health explain what a clinical audit in the small community health centre includes? Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have only high-level information in this area. I can't answer that question. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to prioritizing client satisfaction of Indigenous persons in the audit? And I'll still keep speaking to the audited. Mahsi.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the response to the Member's motion, there was quite an extensive section on cultural safety and how it was being pursued through initiatives such as the Indigenous patient advocates who were introduced today, as well as through cultural safety training, the living well together curriculum, which all civil servants are required to complete, and through to the office of client experience. Pardon me, the Office of Cultural Safety which provides inhouse training on cultural safety to increase confidence of Indigenous patients using the healthcare system. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a preventative maintenance program, you fix the small problems before they become too major and costly. And in this situation, you know, it can cost people their lives. And that's why I've been after getting an audit almost like -- I don't know what you would call it. It's an internal audit, like of the services within the health centre what the person -- the ailment going into the health centre, how it was diagnosed, what was the outcome of the diagnosis, and what was the remedy for it. Those are becoming very important as we're hearing more and more all the time about misdiagnosis.

So I'm wondering if the Minister can commit to prioritizing the standards for diagnosis, rates of correct diagnosis, and the rates of misdiagnosis in the audit? Mahsi.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't make that commitment to go over each patient's file and determine whether they were appropriately diagnosed. Audits generally are samples. They don't look at every single file. If somebody has a specific complaint about the way they were treated, concerns about the way they were treated, that they feel they were misdiagnosed, this is what the office of client experience is for as well as our other quality assurance processes. It's there to make sure that patients have a venue in which to make their concerns known and, more importantly in some ways, have them resolved. And so if the Member knows of people who are suggesting that they haven't been treated appropriately, then I encourage him to provide them with the information for the office of the client experience to resolve their issues. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the response to the motion, and it's written, is regular audits are undertaken at each health centre. Now, we don't know what the audits include because our concern, as residents, is they're not addressing the root issue of the problems. People are going in there multiple times with the same ailment and they're not being diagnosed properly at the outset. And I've always said if they don't know what is wrong with the patient and he's severely looking like he's in distress, they should be sent to a specialist ASAP. But as, you know, we're Indigenous so they won't spend that money on us. I'm really hoping that the Minister would explain to us what they mean by regular audits are undertaken. What audits are undertaken compared to the ones that I'm requesting? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll just start by saying that we run a public health system. It's for all residents of the NWT. It is funded to provide care by doctors and nurses in acute care settings and health centres and to provide for medical travel to people who have to travel. So to make an outrageous statement like nothing's going to happen because they're Indigenous is offensive to the people who work in our system every day to provide the best quality care to residents.

In terms of what's included specifically in an audit, I will ask the department to provide more information on that point and send that response to the Member when it's available. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of MACA. Has the Department of MACA submitted, within the life of this Assembly, any forced growth submissions to increase the funding for our communities and, if so, were they successful? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for MACA.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will be putting $5 million into this. We do work with the communities of NWTAC through that process, so we do have a process that we do submit stuff to Cabinet. Decisions are made by Cabinet and to this House and that's how we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the Minister reiterated my Member's statement, but I've asked the question whether or not the department has submitted any forced growth submissions and, if so, were they successful? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yes, there has been stuff and water and sewer is one of them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I'll have to follow up later on to find out what "stuff" is.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is predicting a $178 million operating surplus for 2023-2024. Can the Minister commit to allocating some of these federal resources to address the NWT community funding needs? We don't even have to go outside of our door very far to see people and the impacts of the underfunding of our communities. This morning I dropped off coats to people at the solid waste facility who are striking because their community can't afford to pay them properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member helping out people. That's greatly -- I think that's awesome.

In regards to the budgeting process, committee has the opportunity to bring forward requests for increases. We're more than willing to do that, but they need to work with the Finance Minister on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.