Thank you. Minister responsible for Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when Bill C-21 was introduced, there wasn't a lot of controversy around it. I mean, it is a bill that's banning certain firearms, but the real controversy was the amendment that the government put forward in November that would prohibit a number of firearms that are used by hunters in the Northwest Territories. As I've stated in this House, we are not in support of those amendments. I had a conversation with the Minister of public safety on Tuesday, and I explained to him the history of the Northwest Territories. You know, the fact that in the Northwest Territories, there are more hunters on average in the population, and I would guess that our hunters are hunting a lot more than most parts of Canada. So these are very, very important tools to the people of Northwest Territories, and we are not in support of removing those tools from the hands of the hunters and residents of the territory. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that, Mr. Minister. I'm really happy to hear that. Will the Minister, the Government of the Northwest Territories, clearly, make the federal government on long-term firearms will negatively impact our Indigenous people and territory.

Will the Minister go public and start having meetings across the territory with our hunters and trappers and the people across the territory, because we haven't heard a thing since this Bill C-21 came out, and like I said, it's the first time I heard it yesterday. We have to let people know what's happening, to work together. And did the Minister also talk to the Yukon government and to Nunavut? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when I spoke to the Minister, I said that there needs to be consultation; people need to come to the territory and they need to talk to people on the ground, not just to us and Indigenous governments, but to the hunters, the residents, who are going to impacted by this. So I have made that strong recommendation to the Minister.

First, the Department of Justice of the Northwest Territories is not going to go out and do consultation on a federal bill. That's the fed's job. But I think that they got the message. They're aware of the push back; that's why they removed the amendments. I haven't spoken directly with the Ministers from the Yukon and Nunavut but I'm aware of their position, and their position is the same as our position. They don't want to see their hunters disadvantaged in this way either. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Bill C-21, was ever the Northwest Territories government offered to see what any comments on this bill before the federal government went forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to double check with the department but we -- definitely, there was no consultation on the amendments that are really the cause of the controversy here. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of ENR explain what happens with outfitter license holders at the end of the ten-year timeframe that they are entitled to hold their license? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the wildlife business regulations, the ten-year period restarts after every year the outfitter has renewed their license and is compliant with the regulations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, are outfitter license holders able to hold on to their outfitting license indefinitely as long as they follow the rules, or is there an opportunity every ten years for new applicants to apply to become holders of outfitter licenses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member's statement actually had all the correct information. So there are a maximum of seven outfitter licenses available to operators who are not partnered with the local harvesting committees. There's a maximum of ten licenses -- outfitting licenses for operators partnering with local harvesters. So when the maximum number of outfitters have been reached, a new license can only be issued if their license expires. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm whether a non-NWT resident can obtain an outfitting license in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is no residential requirements to hold outfitter licenses so a non-NWT resident can obtain outfitters licenses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in the event that an outfitter license does not become available, how does ENR notify the public and interested applicants of that availability? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process is made public. As soon as the license is available, we put it out publicly. We also reach out to interested parties that have expressed interest in doing that. So we reach out to them, explain that it's happening, and then there's guidance on how a license can be applied for publicly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. I take that as a comment. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

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

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. The reasons the nurses don't leave the health centre is they are prohibited from doing so by policy. The emergency first responders who attend to immediate problems - car crashes, people fainting, and so on - they are specifically trained as first responders and they have the appropriate equipment, including transportation, to respond to the situation. So there are four communities in the NWT where municipalities provide that service but, unfortunately, this does not happen in the small communities. And I realize that that is less than ideal, especially when you have a very concerning case like the one the Member mentioned. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. And mahsi to the Minister for the answer. Yes, our community, we don't have no ambulance services, but I know the health centre has a van and a bunch of other vehicles. Apparently, there's no first responders in most small communities, and that's the challenge we have. The only people we have close to that, that don't attend to these kinds of calls, are the volunteer fire department as they only attend to anything related to fire.

I am wondering if the Minister could commit to working with other departments, probably a whole of Cabinet initiative, to look at training first responders for small communities? Mahsi.