Thank you. Minister of MACA.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you. That's all.

Member for Monfwi.

Yes, thank you. I just wanted to ask about the active position summaries. North Slave, the Minister mentioned that there's five positions, and they're situated in -- or posted in Behchoko and Yellowknife. And in Tlicho region, it says here Tlicho, it's good that it's there, we're not part of the North Slave, but still it's there. And then there's three positions. So I just wanted to know if these three Tlicho -- these three positions if they are active, and where are they posted or situated at?

Minister of MACA.

So the three positions are in Behchoko. The five are in -- the other five are in Yellowknife, the North Slave ones. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Monfwi.

Okay. So nothing in Fort Res, or just like my colleague here said, because North Slave is -- it's not just Yellowknife. North Slave according to -- you know, it's kind of a little bit confusing here, the system that they have in place because sometimes North Slave consists of Lutselk'e, Fort Resolution, Yellowknife, N'dilo, and the Tlicho region. And South Slave sometimes, you know, like they refer Fort Resolution as part of South Slave. So there's two. And it would be nice if we can just get, like, the correct regions, you know, or just to identify, like, take Tlicho out of the North Slave region so then we can do our own. We know what we have, what we can work with, instead of here, like, South Slave and North Slave. And most of the jobs that's mentioned it's all in Yellowknife and yet here headquarters is Yellowknife. They have 67 positions. They increased. They went up from 64 to 67 positions this fiscal year. So it's just more of a comment. It's just that I just -- it would be nice to see because every communities we've been talking -- we've been saying that we need more jobs in small communities. We would like to see more of these positions that are in headquarters or in Yellowknife or in North Slave to decentralize some of those jobs into small communities. And it would be nice to see this headquarters because MACA is important to a lot of -- to all the communities because a lot of our funding comes from MACA to operate for community government operations. So it would be nice if we can have most of these positions decentralized to the region. So will the Minister commit to decentralizing some of the headquarters positions to the regions? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

So thank you. So from 64 to 67, those three positions are the emergency measures positions that we're bringing to the table here. The other decentralization, we would have to look at it. I'm not going to make a commitment to move things around just to move things around. It has to be logical, and we need to do it. We do have regional offices out there in the North Slave. We also have in Behchoko which we have a MACA regional office there as well. So right now we do have regional offices but right now we're not looking at decentralizing positions. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Yes, thank you. When we signed the devolution in 2013 or 2014, it was part of the devolution agreement that most of these jobs that are situated in Yellowknife were supposed to be decentralized. They were going to decentralize a lot of those Yellowknife positions to the small communities. And it's not happening, and they have no -- they're not going to do that. They don't have a plan in place to do that. So I just wanted to ask the Minister, like, according to the devolution agreement that was signed, is there a plan to decentralize those positions to the regions as outlined in the devolution agreement? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of MACA.

Thank you. I'll have to get back and look at that devolution agreement. I didn't -- I don't remember that being part of the agreement but it could be, and we'll look into it. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Well, I know -- I was part of Tlicho government at that time and Premier of the day did -- and it was part of the agreement. They did mention that it was part of the agreement that they were going to be decentralizing because one of the things that a lot of people were against the devolution agreement was because of the centralization of power. And that's not what they wanted. And this is our -- the experience from the -- the experience of other First Nations in the province that they were going through all this. So it just said that from what our neighbour was going through, so to avoid that. So it was part of -- it was mentioned. So there was a lot of discussion on it and it's just more of a comment. So it would be nice if they can -- yes, to review the devolution agreement and start decentralizing a lot of those positions as -- you know, as mentioned in 2013-2014. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll take that as a comment. Did you have any further questions for the Minister under this section? All right. Are there any further questions, comments under this section community governance? Seeing none, please turn to page 336, Municipal and Community Affairs, community governance, operations expenditure summary, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, $2,136,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will now start on page 338, community operations, which is on page 340, with information items to 341 and 342. And Members, I'd just like you to keep your questions in the area that we're -- on the section that we're talking about because we have seven sections to get through on MACA tonight. So if there's questions under community operations? Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regards to community with the increase of fuel and that, are we giving any of the communities extra funds to be able to operate, you know, for heavy equipment and stuff, fuel, and the cost of fuel, the rising increases across the board; is the department looking at any increases for that? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

So right now we have the $833,000 that we're going -- that is to O and M. So that would fit part of it. I know there is some conversations with the finance minister to talk about the carbon tax and that there. So that's part of the conversation that committee's having with the finance minister. Thank you.