Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, it's certainly again -- it's certainly, I think, our hope, my hope, you know shared hope on this end, that that's not going to be the case. As I indicated, we had been initially hoping that the strategic -- the regional strategic environmental assessment would get moving a little faster than it has. Had that been the case, the timing of that work would well -- would have contributed well to the timing that we were expecting in advance of the 2028 end of funding for us. So, again, it's been a couple of years. We've had a lot of progress over on the RSEA front despite interests. So if that is the case, we may be in a situation where the work we do contributes to the strategic environmental assessment as opposed to the other way around. There's no lack of understanding that there will certainly be areas of overlap in terms of what needs to get studied and what should be studied. And so knowing that it would hopefully mean that the two contribute one to the other. Thank you.

Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister indicate any levers that we have to influence or control the timing of the regional environmental assessment to ensure that it proceeds at an appropriate pace? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories does participate. We are a participant in the process. I happen to have been in -- obviously in the past government, and so saw as that work was getting underway and was present at bilateral discussions with the Tlicho government when the two projects were discussed and where the desire to move forward with both was discussed. So as a partner, we can certainly engage with the others involved and see if there's a way to ensure as partners, as one participant, but just to ensure that everyone knows that there's these two parts going on. I believe that that's true. I will follow up certainly with my department, with my colleagues, to make sure that that remains true on our side and that other parties are alive to the different timelines as they go forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a concerning amount of crime on our streets here in the capital. I was at a friend of mine who owns a shop just a couple days ago. And the door was locked. He doesn't trust the people that come in. This is an increasingly poor problem. And I know our Premier has stood on a public safety agenda. That was his pitch as Premier, and he -- and we made that a priority of this government. So how is the Premier addressing the elevated rates of crime that have been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the main things that I've been doing during this Assembly is lobbying my fellow MLAs to also make crime prevention and law enforcement a priority. We wound up with that in our priorities of this Assembly. Well, public safety, and so I'm happy to see that. And that will allow us to now move forward hopefully with some other initiatives. I meet regularly with the commanding officer of the RCMP. We discuss some of the challenges they're facing, potential solutions, and I'm always trying to find ways to provide additional support to the RCMP. We've added new RCMP members around the territory, including here in Yellowknife, every year since I have been the Minister of Justice. And, again, next year we will hope to be adding more officers. So I have been working. There's also legislation that I've been looking at to tackle some of the other issues we're facing of the drugs, the drug houses. The reason that we have this crime here is, in large part, because of the drug problem and so I want to be able to address the root of that. At its core of course, the drug problem is a health issue. It's a trauma issue. So we need to get at those reasons as well. So I am looking forward to the mandate development so that I can put into motion some of these issues -- or some of these potential solutions that I've been looking at over the past few years. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you to the Premier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I agree with the Premier. We need to have a combination of root -- of things that address the root causes and things that keep our streets safe. The Premier mentioned legislative -- new legislation tools that could be provided to the RCMP. What are those? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I've spoken extensively about some of these tools. One of the main ones is the Civil Forfeiture Act. So right now if someone is suspected of committing a crime and they have some money on their person that is seized but they are not convicted of a crime, that money goes back to them even though, you know, everyone and his dog knows that it came from selling drugs. The Civil Forfeiture Act would allow the government to make an application to the court to retain those funds, and it would be done on a balance of probabilities as opposed to beyond a reasonable doubt. So there's one example of the types of legislation that can actually impact crime in the territory and organized crime and, frankly, the type of people who are selling the drugs and leading to a lot of the other issues. Scam legislation is the other one that I've spoken extensively about, and that is a way to help root out the drug houses. And a Trespass Act is another one that's probably of interest to the Members from Yellowknife. Many times the RCMP get a call, there's someone who's causing a disturbance in an apartment, but they have no authority to remove that person because we don't have a Trespass Act here. So those are the three primary pieces of legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier. I look forward to seeing those pieces of legislation.

As this -- as public safety is a priority of this Assembly, the Premier -- will the Premier arrange a briefing for the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight with the RCMP commander of the Northwest Territories so we can speak -- so that all Members of this House can receive the same level of information and detail and express our concerns? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've got to say I'm a little surprised that the committee hasn't done that themselves. They have the full authority to make that offer or reach out to the RCMP, and I know that the commanding officer would be happy to appear and have those discussions. So I can pass along the message but what I recommend is that the committee actually write a letter and ask for that meeting. That way you start building a relationship between the committee and the commanding officer. If I act as a go-between, I'm just kind of passing notes back and forth. Thank you.

Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And fair enough. Will the Premier commit to hosting a town -- or joining me in hosting a town hall meeting where we can discuss public safety concerns with business owners in Yellowknife, with people who live in my riding, so he can hear their safety concerns firsthand? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That sounds like an invitation to the Member's constituency meeting, and so I'm happy to accept. Thank you.

Premier. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on the questions from my honourable colleague from Yellowknife Centre, during my campaign it was brought to my attention from people struggling with diabetes that Inuvik, indeed, does not have a dialysis machine. I believe there are two in Yellowknife and one in Hay River. Would the Minister of Health and Social Services commit to having that equipment in Inuvik as well?

Thank you, me Boot Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Mr. Speaker, if there's one person that requires dialysis, I think that warrants enough having a machine up there. My understanding is the cost of the machine is not the issue; it's not super expensive. But I also understand that if you are diabetic and you live in Inuvik, you have to move if you require dialysis. It's as simple as that, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that one of the issues is that we use agency nurses and local nurses and you can't always be guaranteed that the nurses coming in are qualified to actually use that equipment, and that is one of the issues that we are facing. Can the Minister, given her background of course, confirm if that is indeed the case or if that's something that others can be trained to do? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear. Diabetes is a disease on its own. Kidney disease is a separate disease. It affects the kidneys and it's not -- you know, it's not the same. So although we have -- you know, on one hand we have lots of people with diabetes and, yes, we do need -- and we have those supports in all the communities, like the testing, the medication. But for dialysis, you know, there's other options as well. Like, there's peritoneal dialysis, which we do have I think three patients in the territory. They don't have to move to Yellowknife because of the level that they can do that at home and they're supported by -- to do that. So that's why I said I would commit to -- you know, to try to figure out how many people in the Beaufort Delta have kidney disease and if they are -- you know, how many are stage 4/5 that may require dialysis.

In the near future if we have a whole bunch of people that are, you know, coming towards needing dialysis in the future, then that would be something that we can look at. It's not just a machine. It is staffing, and it would have to require staffing and a facility. And the Member knows our facility in Inuvik is -- there's not any space in that facility. So, you know, we'd have to figure that out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, thank you to the health Minister; she's certainly more well versed in this than I am. But, Mr. Speaker, the person that I did speak with, a constituent during my campaign, had kidney issues and was getting to a point that would likely -- there was a good chance would require dialysis and therefore would have to move. My question still remains. That person was then told that one of the main issues is not the cost of the machine but actually having the staff to run the machine, and the main reason for that is the fact that we use -- our nurses, you're not guaranteed when they're coming in if they're trained to do that work. Can the Minister confirm that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes -- and I'm glad that the Member -- you know, we work closely with Alberta Health Services' dialysis service to provide this service using their policies and stuff, and they do take training to be dialysis nurses. So it's the same as we have an endoscopy unit, we have to have trained staff to run that endoscopy unit. Like, those -- it's more than just hiring a nurse. And I've said it, and I'll say it again, a nurse is not a nurse is not a nurse. Everybody has a specialty, and that's why we struggle in our health care providing the right service for the right people, especially in this time where there's a shortage of nurses across Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Okay, Members, time is up. Oral questions. Written questions. Member from Range Lake.