Thank you. Thank you to the Minister for explaining that. But, you know, I do think that a few of my constituents would disagree. So I'll make it more precise. Can the Minister commit to a 90-day service standard for land lease applications? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process for land leases requires consultation with the Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations and, Mr. Speaker, I respect that consultation process so I will not stand up here and commit to changing the process without proper consultation with the Indigenous organizations and governments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly that's not my intent. I think the Minister needs to work with treaty partners to ensure there's realistic and clear policy. So what I am saying is when an applicant applies, can they get a response, whatever that response happens to be, within 90 days? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I will commit that we will ensure that we improve our communications with the applicants and provide a level of response within 90 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Well, I know who my new favorite Minister is, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're on a roll. Will the Minister commit to convert all outstanding equity leases to title -- fee simple title? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, leases that qualify for fee simple title under the legislation, the limitations of land sales policy may be eligible for title to their parcel subject to consultation and survey requirements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I won't be singing my questions by the way.

So, Mr. Speaker, diabetes in the Northwest Territories are certainly, you know, well above the national average. As a matter of fact, groups like the Metis have some of the highest diabetes affected in the context of ethnicity. NWT Indigenous women are certainly well above the Canadian average. And, Mr. Speaker, our regional centres suffer enormously with the high levels of diabetes and the lack of care.

My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is how is she planning to change this narrative by extending diabetic supports and care outside of the headquarters region of Yellowknife? Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure I understand if the question is the direction from the headquarters or -- because in all of the regions, we have regional diabetes educators. We have community health representative workers that work with -- you know, with health promotion and health in that area so if the -- you know, if there's a specific question, I would try to get the answer for the Member. Thank you.

Well, it's a two-pronged question, Mr. Speaker. The same question by the way. But, you know, it's the sense of the accessibility to diabetic supports, and without revisiting the earlier questions, it's about wait time getting a doctor to supply the information in the context of diagnosis and treatment of those supports. So, Mr. Speaker, my understanding is Yellowknife's the only area you can get dialysis and other types of supports for diabetic care. And I'd like to ask the Minister, again, is how is she going to expand this type of support services to those communities and regions to ensure they have that type of support? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to investigate and report back on how many people have to come to Yellowknife from our regions and smaller communities for these types of support services specific to diabetes? Thank you.

Yes. Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, upon that analysis, would the Minister be willing to take it to FMB to expand services and support programs to the communities and regions based on that type of information; will she become the new advocate? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I guess I'm confused. With diabetes, people see access outside of Yellowknife. They access the physician. They are able to get their prescriptions for their -- you know, the medication that they're on. They're able to get the -- you know, the necessary tools that they need to check their blood sugar. There's many -- this is available outside of Yellowknife. So I can look into further what patients, if they are travelling to Yellowknife for diabetes services but I -- you know, I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions this time are for the Minister of Infrastructure.

Does this government plan to move ahead with applications around the Slave Geological Province Road that could trigger an environmental assessment even while a regional study is underway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first and foremost we are working very closely with Indigenous governments on any routing decisions that might someday be made in the future, including the Tlicho government who did trigger the request for the regional strategic environmental assessment. At this point, we're at a stage going out this summer to do some field work analysis, some early field work analysis but, again, Mr. Speaker, I do want to emphasize no final decisions on routing are going to be made without Indigenous consultation, and the GNWT does continue to participate in the regional strategic environmental assessment. We had certainly hoped that had that moved a little faster that they'd be in a position to actually take that information and contribute. Don't have a lot of control over how fast the federal government can get that going. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So does the Minister have a sense, then, on how fast this government plans to move on the Slave Geological Province Road?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do, as of December, have a type A land use permit that was issued to us, and with -- that's just going as far as -- going up to Lockhart Lake. Now with that, it is hoped that we could spend this summer beginning some field work assessments, and again ultimately had been hoping that more would be happening with the regional strategic environmental assessment. I can say, Mr. Speaker, we have funding right now, federal funding, that goes until 2028. So that puts a bit of a time crunch on us to advance what has been often spoke of as one of the critical infrastructure projects for the Northwest Territories and one about which the Tlicho government has been very vocal to me in asking how fast and when we can get this moving. So ideally, Mr. Speaker, we are finding a path forward by which the work on -- in the Slave Geologic Region can contribute to or be contributed to by what's happening with the strategic environmental assessment but the timing of that is somewhat out of our hands. Thank you.