Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is a fact that we are -- the Northwest Territories is second only to Nunavut as far as being the territory or province with the highest rate of family violence in Canada. That is still very relevant in our entire territory. We also have a lot of communities that rely quite heavily on public housing across the territory. And our public housing still has a community residency policy where people need to live in a community for a designated period of time before they can even put their name on a waitlist to then wait for housing. And what this means is that somebody who is in another community potentially cannot put their name on another community's waitlist to flee family violence. I know that the Minister has said on the floor of this House before that they could go and talk to their local LHO and maybe check a box and be willing to have their name put on a waitlist in their own community. The problem with that is that we live in a very small north. We live in a small territory where we all know one another. And somebody might be expected then to disclose to a family member, an extended family member, or in an unsafe way that they're experiencing family violence, and that puts them in further harm. And so I think it's really important that we have safe places where women and children who are most predominantly impacted by family violence can go and be safe. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the pieces that I just wanted to point out here that I think is super key is the sustainable multi-year piece, and that, again, comes back to everything that we just continuously hear from any of the organizations that receive government funding, that the uncertainty from year to year to year about getting funding actually causes more of a cost to them than it would if they just had it for a few years in a sense of a cost for the capacity to report or to reapply but also just even that uncertainty always adds additional costs to it because you don't know for sure. So you can't plan ahead and be more efficient with your time and your money. So that I thought was a very key piece.

And one of the things that as we travelled for this work, you know, we went into a few communities, and I've heard from others that, you know, it's just a matter of the physical space. And this has even come up around arts, everything. Oftentimes it comes down to is that people just need a space to do something. And in this instance, there seems to be people that are out there that are motivated; they know where they can get their funding to operate; they have ideas; they've got dedicated people that want to work on it and solve the problem but they just can't get a house. They can't get a place in a building. And, you know, I think the more that we as a government and my colleagues on the other side can just provide these spaces, it will -- it will follow. Build it and they can come I guess, for lack of a better way. I think if we can provide the spaces, the communities and the people themselves will ensure they're filled and will ensure that they're being run in the manner that they're intended to. So for me ultimately within the next while, I would love to see that there be a shelter for women and children in every single community in the Northwest Territories, whether that just be a small one-bedroom home that they can go to that is considered to be a safe house. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services lead the development of TSLGBTQIPA+ guidelines for emergency shelters, transitional housing, and nonprofit organizations providing housing and homelessness prevention supports by the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Like the previous motion, this one is very important, and it does need to be addressed in that this is a marginalized group of people that are not always even going to be able to access or feel comfortable accessing traditional supports that might be in place. You know, I have heard as well from people that were renting places or were about to sign leases and things and then made the sort of innocuous comment of, as woman, my wife will be coming, and then finding out all of a sudden they no longer have that lease and that there really is still a degree of prejudice happening in our rental market and particularly because there is no vacancies, landlords don't -- and I don't want to say the word "luxury" but they can be more picking and choosing of who they have in their spaces. And one of the ways that they are determining this from what I hear is based at times on sexual orientation and not being of a binary gender. So to me this will -- this is a suicide prevention piece that's so important as well as a homeless prevention piece because these are people that are at higher risk and a greater degree of suicidal ideation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice increase funding to the men's healing fund to support regional healing programs for the holistic health and well-being of men. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in the work that committee did, I'm sure people have noticed by now that not everything in this report is solely focused on housing. And a lot of this work we wanted to be preventative and wanted to go upstream. And so we can't have a motion that speaks to safe housing in regards to family violence without going upstream as well and ensuring that healing is also supported there and so that's what this really speaks to. And I look forward to seeing the government's response on this. I know that this has been an issue for both the 18th and 19th Assemblies. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, and I have to say that I struggle at times with the conversation around, you know, women's rights or things for families and women and children because we are moving away as a society from the traditional binary role or idea of there being only two genders or even people being gendered to begin with. And so it's -- I find sometimes that it allow -- it ends up being that we're so hyper focused on one group, we're kind of losing intent of that everybody needs help, and any support that's there for one person that might fit some demographic will also help another person, even if they're in a different demographic. And one of the things that really struck me is when I travelled at one point into Fort Simpson, I sat with a man at the learning centre who spoke to me about how he felt that he was no longer -- or not even no longer, sorry, that he felt that he wasn't supported and that in the conversation around women and everything that has come from the last few decades that the conversation around men then stalled. It became a very, like, polarized conversation. If we're going to promote women, then we're not doing this for men, but really we need to start talking about people and humans and everybody and not being focused on what they identify as or what it must be. So, yes, like my colleague said, if we're going to support people in our group, we have to support everybody. And the reason I think the men's heeling fund is so important is as society changes, we only have certain role models that we grew up with that show us how we're supposed to be in our relationships and as members of society. And with such a drastic change that we've seen in a while, a lot of people I think are generally lost about what they're supposed to be doing. The role model that was held up to them as being what they were supposed to aspire to be as children is -- we have now said as a society is not necessarily valid or not one that we want any further as women's issues advance. And as a result of that, I think men have become lost. And how do they become -- how do they show emotion. How do they show feeling when as children they were told that men don't cry, be a man, you know, be strong and stoic. And so I really feel that this is a piece that's key and critical because if we don't heal all of us, we're not going to be able to heal our society. So I strongly support this and hope that it is one that will be taken up by the government. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Thebacha.

I'm going to make a short comment. In my previous role, I saw a lot of abuse that occurred to men also. And I think that this is a really important motion. It's -- there's also the reverse, okay. It's not only women that are abused within society in a home life. I saw both sides of the abuse that could happen, and sometimes it could be pretty, pretty awful. And so I really support this particular motion. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. The motion is in order. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I like this motion too as well. It's a good motion. It's going to help men help each other, helping each other. It's not just men but there's other young men too as well who needs help and support, you know. So but the studies show that it's the girls and women that suffer the most. But I have heard -- we have heard many times from others as well that men do need help as well. We got to focus on men so that way if they get the help that they need, then, you know, their relationship with their loved ones might improve, which is true, you know. So I heard that statement many times too when I was on the Native Women's Association as well. And so I really do like this because there are a lot of young boys that are suffering too in silence, you know. And sometimes they don't know who to turn to for help because some of them are in single parent household, and they don't have a good role model. And these program like this, men's healing fund -- or men's healing support group is really beneficial, especially in small communities. It's like a big brother program but they work with each other. It's a group. So I really do like this. And it's good for the well-being and the health of our young boys, young men. So I really do support this. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a brief -- yeah, it's really good to hear that if something like this gets through, we tend to just not to do anything for the men and our young men that do need help in our communities for support, and I'm really happy, thankful for the Members that brought this forward. And I am in full support. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion.