Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, back in April, the Legislative Assembly played house to youth from across the Northwest Territories for our annual Youth Parliament, something I look forward to every year as we get to hear voices from youth and to hear what they feel is important to the next generation.

The following words in my Member's statement today are those that were written and read in this Legislature by Kaegen Ball who represented Yellowknife South as the Minister responsible for Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about plans for the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The Mackenzie Valley Highway is a project that has been talked about for decades and will connect the Northwest Territories providing the possible expansion of communities and an increased stability to resupply those communities. So far in the project, 40 of the 42 bridges have been completed, and it is in the coming construction season we will begin construction on both remaining bridges. The planned distance for the highway is only going to be from Wrigley to Norman Wells, but once this project is completed it will be expanded to cover the communities and towns all the way up the highway, Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway.

This highway will give vital all-season supply routes to the smaller communities without the need to worry about low water levels where the barges might get stuck or how the big airport or landing strip for the supply planes is to land on, and it will help with further development and reclamation of old projects and infrastructure. My main focus with this project is connecting the Northwest Territories and giving the necessary supplies and assistance to communities that are currently hard to reach without large short-term investments, such as for crews and fuel for the barges and the planes that resupply communities along the Mackenzie Valley and further.

Another concern that is driving my wanting to focus on this project is climate change and how it is causing disruptions in the resupply routes through wildfire, low water levels that I mentioned in my concerns about the barges, melting permafrost, damaging the airports, and more. This highway will eliminate some of the problems faced by the existing resupply routes.

I know that for a few more years while we continue to work on this road, we will need to use the barges and planes to resupply unconnected communities, but the highway will connect them and eliminate the need for current methods used to resupply the communities along that route. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Kaegan for letting me bring his voice, once again, to the halls of this legislature. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife South. Members' statements.

Good afternoon, Colleagued, today, I would like to celebrate the life of Billy Alfred Deneyoua. He was born on March 9, 1968, to Henry and Bella Deneyoua. He was one of eleven children in their family. Billy attended Thomas Simpson School and was one of the lucky ones who did not have to attend residential school. Billy was taught to hunt, trap, and set snares by dad. They would go out to their cabin for weeks at a time where they would trap and bring home furs.

When people spoke about Billy, they would always say that he was a hard worker who loved to be outdoors. In the summertime he would be seen mowing the lawn, harvesting and chopping wood for the fall and winter seasons. As well, you could see him in the evening or on weekends working on his 4-wheeler. This was his mode of transportation to get around town and to get to work.

Billy worked for many years at Simpson Air with Ted and George. He was a fixture at the company. Passengers from the communities loved to chat and catch up with him. Billy was very happy with his sisters, or helpful with his sisters every year with their gardening. He would help them turn the soil, dig up the garden, sometimes he would help plant potatoes. In the fall time he enjoyed digging up fresh vegetables.

Billy loved his nieces and nephews as they were his own children. In return, they loved him so dearly. They appreciated that he would joke around with them, and he told them great stories. One of the stories was when two of his nieces saw his skidoo and try to start it. After a couple of pulls, it started and took off straight toward a tree. They could be heard saying Billy's gonna be mad, so they pulled and tugged on the machine until they finally managed to get it back to where they found it. They covered and hid the skidoo tracks and took off. A bit later, the girls ran into him, and he asked them why they bumped into the tree. Then he started to laugh about it. This was Billy always looking at the brighter side of things.

Billy was an amazing man who was understanding and when you needed a hand, he would be there for you. His family and friends are going to miss him. It is very hard to say goodbye to an amazing angel; they were lucky to have him in their life.

The family would like to thank everybody for their condolences and for coming out to say their final goodbyes. He is now with his parents and family members watching over the family, especially the young ones. He will be sadly missed.

Members' statements. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Replies to the Budget Address, Day 3 of 7. Reports on committees on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Returns to oral questions. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of MACA.

Under the NWT Emergency Plan, the communication incident management team is only activated in state of emergencies. Can the Minister speak to what coordination will be stood up when communities have urgent concerns on public safety that may not yet be classified as emergencies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister speak to whether he'd consider expanding or re-envisioning the NWT alert page to draw from GNWT corporate communications or any centralized mechanism that would be able to consolidate all relevant and robust public safety information in a mobile app, like the BC wildfire app. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA has been working to expand the NWT alerting system. They've worked with the RCMP recently for the ability for them to send out alerts. MACA's always looking at improving the way we communicate. When it comes down to a territorial emergency, right now I think we're at the stage where we're using the NWT alert system. There's also other apps and devices out there, like Alertable, for an example where you can set your region for your ability to pick up those kinds of emergencies if there is any. But there's -- locally, I would have to say the best resources are your local community agencies, whether it be the community government, your community emergency response teams, whatever that might be. And for that reason is that's where you're going to get your experienced knowledge people for that area communicating and those -- that information would be utilized also for MACA to share or the territorial emergency measures organization to share if need be. But for the most part, when it's a local state of emergency and local EMO organization is running it, it would be the local governments, like a town or municipality doing the communication that may not go out everywhere on, like, the NWT alerting device. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure that really gets at the heart of what I'm getting at, but I'll try and ask my next question, which is will the Minister ensure that coordinated plain language information, including evacuation notice alerts and orders, fire bans, road closures, wildlife -- or sorry, pardon me, wildfire perimeters, air quality measurements, which are already there, road construction, campsite closures, by way of list of a small sampling could be made available through the NWT Alert Site? That's the new site that they've put up and stood up, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As this is a new development central focused area for getting communication out there, the department will continue to work on it and hopefully we can get as much information on there as we can like the Member's suggesting, and I think those are all great things. It's just a matter of working on the site to get the communication and the information on there that is needed. So we'll continue to work and develop that site to have more information. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be related to, or taking up where I left off on my Member's statement, with respect to midwifery.

Mr. Speaker, I was enjoying a good read. It's not a good read in the context of happiness, but it is a good report regarding the reclaiming power in place. It's the final report of the MMIWG. And I happened to notice a familiar name, Ms. Lesa Semmler in there. So I'm sure she's very familiar with the report. So specifically, I want to point to the page, without going into context, is it talks about the teachings of midwifery and postnatal care of women and children.

So that said, Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Health and Social Services is, how is the Minister meeting that objective of supporting midwifery in the Northwest Territories in line with the statement that ties to the report which also ties to the mandate which also ties to the business plan of the Government of the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I'm so glad that the Member, you know, in his Member's statement agrees with a lot of the things that I also agree with. And midwifery is near and dear to my heart. So one of the things that what -- you know, with all of the things that are happening in the Northwest Territories is what we are doing is we are focusing the midwifery on the programs that we currently have. So Fort Smith was the first program. We expanded into Hay River. But currently right now, Mr. Speaker, we are barely filling those positions in those two communities where there are no prenatal services and no other services that will be providing to those members in those communities that deliver. So this is where we need to focus on midwifery because midwifery is to be able to birth closer to home with your family and those people in those communities. That is where we want to make sure that these programs are successful so that's where we're refocusing that area to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm really glad we agree. So then I am looking forward to the next agreeable answer from the Minister when she explains the role of the Midwifery Advisory Council on how the services of midwifery are being rolled out in the Northwest Territories to serve sometimes the first choices of expectant mothers to go through that process. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to also hear how the Minister expresses the advisory committee's advice on how we do job postings and reaching out in recruitment of midwives. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. I think that's a couple of questions in there. So I'm going to turn to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the positions that are currently in the communities are government-funded positions and, yes, I hear the Member of how we would use a midwifery advisory, you know. We have created these positions with collaborations within the department with them and, you know, moving forward this is the thing, is we need to make sure that those positions in the communities that -- Fort Smith, like I said, and Hay River, which do not have birthing services. Inuvik and Yellowknife have birthing services right now, and so we're going to switch our focus to make sure that we can support those communities. And if it means working more with the advisory on how we do that better in those communities so that these programs are successful and women can birth closer to home in those communities. I also want to note that because we are, you know, having a hard time recruiting for the Hay River, which that community also supports Deninu Kue in their prenatal/postnatal supports. So by not supporting Hay River, you know, we're not supporting Deninu Kue for those people to have that prenatal and postnatal support. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister is when is the last time there's been any recruitments in the Yellowknife area that can support the regional centres? And, again, Yellowknife represents half the population, so I'm coming back to what is the Minister looking at from a dollar and cents point of view of recruiting more midwives in Yellowknife to support community birthing options, such as midwifery? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The more support that I put in Yellowknife, the less people that I'm going to have working in the frontline that are actually doing the midwifery program. And so the support that we're leaving in place is to -- the one position to support the two communities to be able to be effective. You know, if we keep taking away and we put it in Yellowknife, then that's going to be taking away positions or midwives that could be working in those communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very curious on how the Minister reconciles taking away from the communities by supporting the expansion or fulfilling the current program of midwifery in Yellowknife that supports the communities. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain exactly how this takes away from the communities, she keeps saying that, by not supporting the Yellowknife midwifery program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the position -- there is still a position to support the two communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.