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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We hired an independent panel, and they did some really good work on procurement, and they delivered their report in June 2021. And Mr. Speaker, I somewhat naively thought that, you know, within a few months after that we'd see changes to procurement.

I reviewed their report. I thought they did good work. I didn't really disagree with any of the recommendations. They made a few recommendations to change the thresholds in BIP, increasing the top $1 million to $2 million, recommended creating a local labour adjustment, and a few other tweaks.

They recommended a new definition of northern business, ones that a company would either have to have 51 percent ownership or a majority of its employees in the Northwest Territories. Importantly, they recommended using that definition which would then get rid of schedule 3 and finally remove Walmart from BIP. Yet, here are, Mr. Speaker, at the very end of this Assembly, and we still have not amended our policy.

Additionally, they recommended the creation of an Indigenous procurement policy. As far as I can tell, that conversation went completely off the rails, and there is no Indigenous procurement policy any hope in this Assembly. I personally would have just created a target similar to the Yukon and called it a day. I think getting everyone in the room who probably was never going to agree in the first place did more harm than good. But, Mr. Speaker, here we are.

And in August 2023, the government released finally its response to the review on procurement. And there are some hope in there. Apparently we have a new definition of northern business. We seem to be making no changes to the BIP threshold, and it doesn't look like Indigenous procurement is going anywhere. But maybe, just maybe, Walmart will finally be removed from BIP if we get that policy passed in the life of this Assembly. I'll have questions for the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is tomorrow. It signifies a time of the year when Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed in residential school. The mission was to take the Indian out of the child. We must honour all these children, the residential school survivors, the children who never returned home, as well as their parents, grandparents, families and communities.

Wearing orange is to remember these children and to acknowledge the impacts on Indigenous families and communities.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all people to reflect on the painful history here in the NWT. We cannot forget the little children and the little boys who cried at night alone for their parents and grandparents. We cannot forget the parents' and the grandparents' pain who cried for their children.

Mr. Speaker, I also ask that we all take meaningful action to reconcile this painful past and work together to build a stronger territory for our children and grandchildren. We have begun to acknowledge the discriminations faced by Indigenous children but more needs to be done, especially for our Indigenous youth in the child and family services system. Today, 98 percent of children in the NWT child and family services are Indigenous children.

Mr. Speaker, we need to start to focus on real change and give Indigenous families more support, more educational opportunities, and more resources so that they can be successful. Many residential school survivors did not receive the life skills they needed and were more comfortable in institution rather than home. That is so sad. Our jails are full of too many residential school survivors who have said being in jail is easier than living in a residential school. We need to think about having appropriate support for these residents as well.

Mr. Speaker, we all want a territory where each person has fair opportunities to build a good life and contribute to their communities. I hope that your reflection on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation lead you to positive actions for every child and person in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, the truth and reconciliation is about how we face the past and move forward. We need to do this together as a territory with the Government of the Northwest Territories, Indigenous government, non-government organizations and, most importantly, all the people. NWT has a population of 44,000 people. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, climate action is reconciliation. We're on the heels of a dry summer season of record heat and wildfire in many parts of the world spurred by a rapidly warming planet and marked by a significant absence of global climate action ambition. Yesterday we heard an excellent synopsis of this government's persistence to overpromise and under deliver on climate action and the grim reality of the progress of energy alternatives. Globally, Indigenous people protect 80 percent of the world's biodiversity but account for less than 5 percent of the global population. The true costs of climate inequity are disproportionately paid for by Indigenous Canadians where the impacts of climate injustice threaten human rights over life, water, sanitation, food supply, health, housing, self-determination, culture, and development.

Climate change is disproportionately impacting the North. But globally people are mobilizing, especially our children, who are increasingly turning to the courts to hold governments accountable in the fight against climate change.

This summer 16 Montana youth brought forward a suit against the state of Montana and won. The youth said the state violated their right to, quote, "a clean and healthful environment, as well as their rights to dignity, health, and safety, and equal protection in law." In April, Ontario youth took their province to court in Mathur v. Ontario. The case was dismissed but not before the judge agreed that Indigenous people and youth are disproportionately impacted by climate change and that the government is risking the lives of its residents by not going further. These are just two examples of hundreds of climate litigation cases being adjudicated around the world. Globally, courts are helping people hold governments accountable to their climate action responsibilities.

By 2050, there will be over 1.2 billion climate refugees worldwide displaced by extreme weather, rising temperatures, and damaged ecosystem. What people pass off as just a few degrees difference equate to massive shifts in weather systems, food supply, and way of life closer to the poles or here in the Northwest Territories. NWT residents have quickly become statistics as climate refugees temporarily displaced by the unmitigated impacts of climate change.

Lack of true climate action jeopardizes true reconciliation as it risks further threats against treaty and land settlement agreement rights, Charter rights, and threatens culture, traditions, and customs. The climate crisis is gaining speed, Mr. Speaker, and the work to mitigate it needs to be transparent, aspirational, funded, and fulfilled. Mr. Speaker, what would an NWT judge say about this government's climate action and its infringement on human rights and treaty rights? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Member for Sahtu. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Alice Jane Pellissey was born on June 30th, 1947, in Fort Wrigley to Wilson and Caroline Pellissey. Alice is the one of thirteen siblings, and she was considered a matriarch of the family. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that Alice was instrumental in helping raise her siblings. She was always trying to help her parents.

Alice was a residential school survivor and attended Grollier Hall in Inuvik. As she got older and wanted to go out on her own, she moved from Wrigley to Yellowknife to help her auntie. Her family and friends would always describe her as a hardworking, happy, and friendly person. She was always about helping people regardless if they were family or friends. This attitude and work ethnic was passed on to her son, Wesley James Pellissey. Wesley was their pride and joy. Later, in life Wesley meet the love of his life Tamarah, and they gave them four beautiful grandchildren. She loved them very much and she would say they helped her stay young. She was always speaking highly of her grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law.

Mr. Speaker, her son shared the moment his mom passed away with me. Wesley and his wife were by her bedside throughout the time at Stanton Hospital. At about 2 a.m., he woke up and knew that she was going to pass soon. After a bit of time, he went up to his mom and told her it was alright for her to go be with her husband. He explained to her that he and his family were going to be okay. After saying this, she left this world to be with her husband. He describes feeling the energy leave her body and most peaceful feeling he had felt. The time was 2:17 in the morning.

Mr. Speaker, her sister Lena described being woken up and being told that Alice had passed on. All the sisters cried, got dressed to go to the hospital to say their last good-byes. It was very hard for them to lose her.

Mr. Speaker, she was predeceased by her loving husband Eddy Sonnenberg, her parents and brother George.

Mr. Speaker, the family would like to thank the Stanton Hospital for all they did for Alice when she was there. They will be forever grateful. After she passed, the family took her back to Wrigley so she would be buried in her home community. Her son and his company prepared her grave site using his own equipment, one last thing he could do to honour her.

On behalf of the family, they would like to thank the community of Wrigley, family, and friends for their support during this difficult time. Mr. Speaker, she will be sadly missed but never forgotten.

Welcome, and Ms. Terry Hawkins, the chair of the advocacy committee and a board Member for the Yellowknife Seniors' Society. And my constituent, a very avid advocate for seniors, Margaret Marshall. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife South.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Fernanda Martins. I'm not sure she's actually a constituent, this might be in the wrong spot, but she is a resident of Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker. She's here as the senior advocacy advisor from the Northwest Territories Cancer Society. She's here today because there is a motion, of course, on the floor today around taxation of vaping motions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not to be repetitive, I would also like to welcome Mr. Daryl Dolynny to the gallery. He is my constituent of Great Slave. Unfortunately, where I sit, I can't see whoever else is in the gallery so if there are other constituents of Great Slave, I welcome them, and thank all of the senior advocates for their work and bringing this strategy forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone, welcome to the gallery, and I hope you're enjoying our proceedings. It's always good to have an audience with us. Thank you.

Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of health and social services what are the barriers to incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA? And I ask that question as residents of Hay River are concerned that this separation is, in part, one of the reasons the community cannot attract doctors or fill vacant health positions which in the end impacts timely and quality health care for our residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is flexibility within the Health and social services Administration Act to bring Hay River health and social services into NTHSSA, but in the meantime they are part of an integrated health and social services system in the NWT where people from Hay River receive treatment anywhere else in the Northwest Territories, and vice versa if someone's in Hay River, they get treatment there. There are a couple of significant barriers. One is that Hay River health and social services has its own collective agreement. And so their staff are not GNWT staff. So that issue was last looked at in 2015 when a working group examined the implications and costs of bringing HRHSSA into the Territorial Health and social services Authority. At the time, the cost of bringing the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority in was $20 million, and the government of the day decided it was beyond its capacity to accommodate that. So I think the time has come to strike again a working group to look at what the cost would be so that the next government can make an informed decision about this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA was to proceed, what would the process be and the timeline to complete such amalgamation? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Just to reiterate what I said earlier. Functionally, there is already amalgamation in service delivery. But, specifically, the work that needs to be done involves the public service. So there would need to be some work done with regulators, pension providers, and the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority to complete a detailed cost analysis of the cost of bringing that health authority in. There would need to be negotiations with the Union of Northern Workers because they hold the collective agreement with the health authority staff. And then there would probably need to be some work done on job evaluations and job descriptions and so on. So it is quite a comprehensive list of things to be done. But I think the kickoff point is having the leadership of the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority ask us formally to join NTHSSA so that preparatory work can be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, incorporating the HRHSSA into the NTHSSA, I see an opportunity to formally expand health services to those communities outside Hay River, which I expect would result -- and I would hope it would result in an increase in staff in Hay River. Can the Minister confirm if this is something the department would consider in such an amalgamation process? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Yes, I certainly

(AUDIO DISRUPTION)

When we're talking about incorporation. Will the Minister commit to identifying the financial amount we are talking about and whether it would have to be allocated in one fiscal year, or could it be accomplished over several years? Thank you.