Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Wednesday is the deadline for getting feedback to the GNWT on the student financial assistance regulations. The regulations call for an increase to unlimited semesters for Indigenous students, and this is great news. But why stop there? The draft regulations maintain the six year or 12 semester basic grant cap for non-Indigenous students. Mr. Speaker, this does not keep pace with post-secondary or labour market trends or make sense given how SFA is used today.

Today, the average time to complete a bachelor's degree is almost five years, and the NWT labour market needs predict the most in-demand jobs as management positions. The GNWT's own recruitment calls for master's degrees for these positions. The NWT also needs lawyers, specialized health care workers and veterinarians, among other professions, all of which require education past a bachelor's degree. In addition to limiting semesters, the regulations also set a $60,000 cap on the total student loans.

Mr. Speaker, SFA needs the ability to respond to labour market demands and allow funding beyond the current cap on a discretionary basis. Graduate studies, aviation and medical school are all in demand, cost more, and have demanding workloads which limits student ability to self-fund their education. This policy limitation also doesn't make sense when held against SFA's own usage trends. The program is not fully subscribed. Over the last decade, the number of SFA students has declined while funding for students has remained constant. Less than 10 percent of students access more than four years of funding, and only 4 percent of SFA recipients are graduate students. So increasing the cap for all students schooled in the NWT does not stand to drastically change the cost of SFA. While the SFA regulations will continue to limit semesters for some NWT students, the regulations now remove one of the NWT's strongest population retention tools for the remissible loans in one sentence, quote, "eligibility will no longer be based on whether the student was schooled in the NWT," end quote.

Mr. Speaker, every week I hear from families that SFA is what keeps them here in the face of a high cost of living. The NWT has too much to lose by changing the eligibility requirement without a post-graduation residency requirement. But the NWT does, however, absolutely stand to benefit from increased education levels of NWT students and increased incentives to return north for loan forgiveness from extending remissible loan limits. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in the House to talk about the village of Fort Simpson's deputy fire chief, Pat Rowe, who retired from the volunteer fire department after 40 plus years of service. Upon returning home from his tour with the army, Pat joined the department in the 1980s. As he said, it was a natural fit, especially after being trained to fight fires in the Armed Forces. As well, it was his way to give back to the community. As he has been quoted in several news articles, it's a job that needs to be done; I just happen to have enough training to make a difference. That's a pretty good feeling when you're able to help.

Like most things in life, you start working your way up the ladder and before you know it, he went from being a firefighter and up to the top as a fire chief. It was a position he held until 2013 when he had some medical issues, that all the diagnosis was him moving into the role of deputy fire chief and keep on serving our community. As he would say, you have to live every day for what it is or if you stop, life stops.

Mr. Speaker, Pat grew up in Hay River, Northwest Territories, but moved to Fort Simpson with his family when he was a youngster. It's a community he cares a lot about and whether it's volunteering or donating to a cause, it is home. Pat said the decision to step down as the chief was hard, but the department supported him.

Pat is very proud to be part of the NWT firefighter family. He has told me numerous times it's a good group of people whether you are from Yellowknife as a full-time firefighter or from one of the communities' volunteer firefighters. Volunteer firefighters of the North is a unique experience, and people need to be thankful for them.

Mr. Speaker, I want to use some quotes from his best friend and fellow firefighter to describe Pat: He's always led by example. He is an inspiration to everyone and has done a lot for this community. Pat must have responded to thousands of fires and ambulance calls during his 40 plus years. Biggest void for the fire department is all the years of knowledge and experience that goes away with his retirement.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank Mr. Pat Rowe for all his hard work and commitment to the village of Fort Simpson and the residents. Please join me with thanking him. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I did a Minister's statement on the Independent Legal Advice and Representation Program, and so I'd like to recognize some representatives from the WYCA here today. We have Hawa Dumbuya-Sesay, the executive director of the WYCA; Nomazulu Khumalo, the organizational development manager; and, Farah Rajan, the independent legal advice and representation coordinator. So we're happy to have our partners in the gallery with us today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Hay River North. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Thebacha.

I'd like to recognize Dr. Sharma's Indigenous and global health research group with the University of Alberta. They're doing community visits in the North. And especially my friend of that group, Rachel Austry, Indigenous community project lead. And I'd like to say hi today. Thank you.

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

I'd just like to take a moment to recognize two of my pages from Fort McPherson, Brody Alexie-Benoit and Brenden Vittrekwa; they'll be here for the week. And, also, I'd like to thank Desmond Benoit for being the chaperon. It's always good to have lots of help in the Chamber here. Mahsi.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I answer that question, I have to thank the Member from Hay River South, Hay River North, the Deh Cho, as well as Chief Martel and her council and Mayor Jameson and her council. They showed strong leadership. There was a number of volunteers that helped here in various other communities. So, again, I thank them very much for this.

In regards to the questions, given preseason forecasting for high conditions in the southern NWT this summer, the GNWT took a number of actions to be prepared for an earlier and challenging fire season. We brought on more fire crews this year and testing and training for fire crews in the south NWT has been completed by the time fire had started. We added additional aircraft support for this season and had them start two weeks earlier.

When the KFN and Hay River fire started, we already had an Electra air tanker and helicopter on the ground in Hay River to begin the work on the fire on that first day and brought in additional helicopters from Fort Smith and the second Electra aircraft from Alberta. A second ECC contracted NWT-based Electra and four Fire Boss air tanker, which had also been brought on strength earlier this year, started working on the fire that next day. As well, we had crews that were on the reserve with Evergreen. There was four of them, and we were able to -- the next day, we had six crews there right away. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm the department was prepared to immediately action the fire on the K'atlodeeche lands; and, how long did it take to mobilize upon receiving word that there was an active fire that was becoming out of control; and, how effective was the response using ground crews and equipment, helicopters, 802s, Electras, and I understand they were even considering bringing in C215s. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said previously, ECC was prepared for a possible early start to this fire season and had crews, helicopter and air tanker on strength in Hay River. ECC staff were able to respond to the fire on the morning it started with the information of the smoke. A helicopter and initial attack crews responded from Hay River immediately. Another Electra from Alberta arrived mid afternoon to assist. But the evening of the day the fire started, four crews and three helicopters were also working to contain the fire. Crews from Wood Buffalo National Park also assisted early in the response. An incident management team, additional crews, and additional air tankers were also on site the next day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this fire is still being actioned although it's being held. We know personnel time out and replacements are needed. I ask the Minister, did the department bring in replacement personnel equipment from other regions or out of territory; and, what is the department's long-term plan for personnel and equipment considering the potential for fires this season? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The first transition of overhead and crew have already occurred and allowed firefighters to have some much time needed off. Overhead and crews from around the territory serve as the original responders and 24 extra firefighters from across the NWT have been hired and are assisting.

As member of the Canadian Interagency Firefighters Centre, ECC works with other federal, provincial, and territorial wetland fire management agencies to coordinate resource sharing to help with wildfire responses. Early in the KFN and Hay River fire, we brought in an extra Electra tanker from Alberta to assist and brought in 20 firefighters from Nova Scotia last week to assist with this ongoing response. The wildfire season across Canada has been extremely busy, which means all jurisdictions may face other challenges getting additional resources to support wildfire suppression and operation depending on national fire situations at the time. We've also reached out through SWIFT that we look at trying to get international firefighters as well across the northwestern part of the states, Alaska. And, again, we look at across internationally as well to make sure if we need the resources, we get them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, knowing that we have had an early start to the fire season, I ask the Minister what plans are in place to help communities with fire smarting, such as building fire guards around the community, or is that responsibility placed squarely on the shoulders of the community governments and who would fund such initiatives? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the responsibility for fire smarting in NWT communities is shared by all. And you heard me in my Minister's statement here, it includes the public, homeowners, local, territorial, and federal governments. All 29 forest communities in the NWT have community wildfire protection plans that help guide them in preparing and responding to wildfires. ECC has worked with communities to make sure their plans are updated and continue to provide ongoing advice and assistance to help them implement their plans. The NWT Association of Communities recently received $20 million in federal funding which can assist communities in implementing part of their community wildfire protection plan.

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, it is a collective group approach to it and so we all need to take responsibility to make sure our communities and our residents are safe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Can the Minister give us any further updates on the secret spills and compliance with the transboundary water agreement by the Government of Alberta? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for ECC.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since the spill and seepage were reported, Imperial Oil has been providing regular updates to the GNWT on its mitigation and redemption work. The Government of Alberta has undertaken monitoring near the spill and has not found evidence the drinking water sources in Lake Athabasca have been affected.

I met with the Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas in April. The Minister agreed to notify the GNWT on any spills as soon as Alberta is aware of the spills as agreed in our transboundary agreement. The federal Department of Environment and Climate Change and Alberta established a notification and monitoring working group to discuss and improve spill notifications. The GNWT successfully advocated to become a member of the working group along with NWT Indigenous governments and representatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. As skeptical as I am about whether there will be any real changes, I do appreciate the efforts of the Minister to resolve this important matter.

Can the Minister tell us what discussions he had with either or both the Alberta and federal ministers about the secret processes of developing tar sands discharge regulations? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.