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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to thank the Minister of MACA and his staff for the invite to attend the Wood Buffalo 2023 Arctic Winter Games. Mr. Speaker, I have nothing to compare to it as this was my first time attending the games, and I would have to say the Wood Buffalo host society did a great job hosting this event.

The heart of the games took place at the Fort McMurray Suncor Community Leisure Centre where this is where I was able to cheer on two of the NWT curling teams, both of whom are from Inuvik. I watched some very fast hockey, Arctic sports, Dene games, as well as the opening ceremonies took place there.

The games were spread out over the Wood Buffalo region so transportation was a very big part of the host's society, and I think they got it kind of organized after the first couple of days of transporting over 2,000 participants, coaches, and mission staff. I was able to travel north 40 minutes to Fort McKay to take in the speed skating as well as different rinks and gymnasiums throughout Fort McMurray. I was able to watch basketball and even more hockey. Fort McKay was a small community north, and I learned from one of the members they're a Metis community and so you could see it as you drove in there that, like, everything had all -- the poles and everything had their Metis emblem and everything there so it was a very proud Indigenous community. Unfortunately, I was unable to travel 40 minutes south to Anzac where I would have liked to take in badminton and figure skating, which is a big part of my child's sports growing up.

Mr. Speaker, it was also really nice to see the participants competing, socializing, meeting new friends from all seven regions after a five-year hiatus. And let's not forget the pin trading, which the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories and I learned very quickly how important this was to the games.

NWT received 106 medals in total, and I would like to thank and congratulate the participants, especially the Inuvik Twin Lake participants, coaches, and admission staff. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to seek unanimous consent just to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, colleagues. I just wanted to name the Inuvik participants because, you know, to get there they have to compete against a lot of different students. So,

• Olivia Amos, a participant of badminton;
• Tyler Gordon Barb, a participant, ice hockey U19 male;
• Talley Banksland Stefure, participant, ice hockey U19 male;
• Kiara MacDonald, participant, ice hockey female;
• Mohammed Matada, participant, volleyball;
• Caleb Piechuk, participant, short track speed skating;
• Jacob Robertson, participant, curling;
• Charlie Snowshoe, participant, biathlon snowshoe;
• John Amos, he was the coach of snow showing;
• Mark Robertson, the coach of the curling, the male; and
• Nick Saturino, coach of the curling female.
• And as well as admission staff from my constituency, Wanda MacDonald.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge and welcome Corinne Nitsiza, originally from Whati. She's here in the gallery with her two granddaughters, Justice and Presley. Corinne is a long-term Tlicho interpreter as well. So therefore I would like to welcome them in the gallery. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to raise and recognize two of our pages here, Isabell Moses and Michael Pellissey Junior. Thanks, too, to Priscilla and Darcey Moses who are their chaperones that brought them here, as well as our interpreter Mary Jane Cazon. Thank you very much for the work you do with us here today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber and I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to see people in the gallery. Mahsi.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. I don't think his MLA can see him, but I'd also like to recognize Dave Brothers who is up there. I've known him for a long time. He's here as a happy grandparent, I think, today, and also Corinne Nitsiza is also a very talented beader and I think a couple of us own some very gorgeous earrings by her. So it's always nice to get to have the artist in the House too. So thank you.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Replies to the budget address. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later today I'll table a document, being a bill that was prepared in the 15th Legislative Assembly but not enacted. Mr. Speaker, that bill is the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act. With some minor revisions, the enactment of this draft bill, we could provide enforcement with the tool to help addressing the manufacturing and sale of illicit drugs. The legislation's already present and working in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon.

So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Justice confirm what enforcement tools are we using in the NWT to shut down known drug houses throughout the territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So right now the tools that are being used are the tools that are the RCMP's disposal - their ability to do investigations, to get search warrants, and the like. So what we don't have access to are a lot of the tools that other jurisdictions do, that are not criminal law but civil law tools, like the SCAN legislation that the Member is talking about. So unfortunately right now we have a limited set of tools in the territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister for that answer. I think it's important that we look at expanding the tools that we do have, and if that means going and looking at civil legislation then that's what we should be doing.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm why we'd want to look at civil legislation to deal with those drug houses? Thank you.

Thank you. Over the last number of years, the tools that the RCMP have traditionally used have been eroded by changes to the Criminal Code, by Supreme Court decisions, so the reason to look at civil legislation is so that we can do our part to support the RCMP in addressing some of those issues. Civil legislation, it's much different than the criminal legislation. It doesn't need to be enforced by RCMP officers. It uses a balance of probabilities as opposed to proof beyond a reasonable doubt. So there's a number of benefits to using civil legislation, and it just expands the toolbox that the law enforcement has access to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it sounds like maybe we should be enacting this piece of legislation. It didn't happen in the 15th Assembly, but the difference now is that we have a lot of people dying because of drugs.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit his department to undertake and complete a jurisdictional scan and review of the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act used in other jurisdictions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we're at the tail end of this Assembly. We have maybe six months left where we can actually get things done. Right now, the Department of Justice is working on the policies and legislation that we've been working on for a number of years and trying to wrap that up. So as of today, there isn't the capacity to go about and do that; however, times have changed. We're seeing new drugs. We're seeing new types of criminals in the territory. We're seeing a lot of interest from criminal organizations outside of the territory in the Northwest Territories. So we have to change as well. So it's imperative that we look at these pieces of legislation. I think we have a moral obligation to do so, to do what we can to stop these deaths and the devastation that drugs are causing in the community.

So while I can't commit to the work that would be involved in looking at this piece of legislation and doing all of that work, because it is a significant amount of work, I have spoken with the department, and I've let them know that we need to put our minds to this. We don't have a crime reduction unit in the Department of Justice, but that doesn't mean we can't look at more of these initiatives. We do have a number of initiatives, community safety officers, things like this, but it's clear that we need some more tools.

So this has been the focus of a number of discussions I've had with the department. This piece of -- the SCAN legislation is one piece. There is more communication -- other pieces could include more communication between the RCMP and the Minister, other types of civil legislation, more support from municipalities. So all of these things are on the table, and I've asked the department to turn their mind to it and figure out how we are going to respond, because we can't continue to do the same thing. There needs to be action on this, and we can start now. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Hay River residents, and NWT residents, do not want to attend more funerals. What we want is the enforcement tools to hit those who are manufacturing and selling out of public housing units, out of private housing, and out of commercial properties. I know the Minister has already alluded to this next question but, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to review this draft SCAN bill and consider it for the NWT before the end of this Assembly? We have to do something and doing nothing just isn't acceptable. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So personally I have reviewed the draft bill. It's very similar to other bills across the country - the Member named a number of jurisdictions that have this. And as I've already stated, I won't repeat myself, but we are turning our minds to this. We know we have to do something, and we need to take action. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, yesterday was the first time I heard my Minister speak about Bill C-21 here in the House in regards to long gun firearms legislation that's trying to go through in Ottawa. What's the GNWT's position on this bill? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Honourable Premier.