Thank you, Member from the Dehcho. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NGOs out there are the real super heros. They may not wear capes or have special rings, they don't fly invisible jets, but they are a beacon of hope. Sometimes they're the only light out there in the dark.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to taking responsibilities, the government doesn't want to get its hands dirty, who does it call? An NGO, Mr. Speaker.

Now, we shouldn't view NGOs as they continually be as the agency of last report. Take the Yellowknife Sobering Centre, Mr. Speaker. When it was ran by an NGO, they were capped at under $800,000 a year. When the GNWT runs it, they funded over $3 million a year, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that example alone is demonstrating the government supports those in the NGO industry not to have a living wage. Mr. Speaker, I envision -- this is an example -- that the finance Minister is out there daydreaming as the day goes on in a -- dreaming of the Mel Lastman style of pitch for NGOs, kind of like bad boys out on the street. Some NGO who's financially hungry and desperate for any opportunity, they've got sandwich boards on, they're saying -- and pop-up balloons saying they will do trauma supports for cheap, Mr. Speaker. Two-for-one Tuesday for trauma, Mr. Speaker. They are -- NGOs are so desperate they'll take any opportunity they can.

Now, that is a fictitious example. But I worked in the NGO sector. They are desperate for real respect and financial supports. Mr. Speaker, there's just no way we can keep letting them feel this way because they truly are the cornerstone of some of our social programs. An NGO carries a financial burden in ways the government cannot or will not. Mr. Speaker, their funding does not allow them to pay for the rent, their staff, and all their program needs fairly and reasonably. The Yellowknife Sobering Centre example is exactly the example that hurts them. Any money they have left over at the end of the year, Mr. Speaker, gets clawed back so they can't have vision. They can't tell their employees that they are planning for the future. It's literally month to month for many of these people.

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, we need sustainable funding for NGOs. They need to be treated with respect. They need inflationary and multi-year agreements, because they matter. And without them, we would be lost. Mr. Speaker, hurray for the NGOs. I am here for them, and I have no doubt all our good Members here support them as well. Cheers.

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

Colleagues, today I would like to share with you an individual who had a huge impact on my life personally and professionally. The person I am talking about is Ronald Leslie William Cook.

Ron was born on July 15, 1942 to Fred and Irene Cook on a picnic day in Grahamdale, Manitoba. Ron loved the outdoors on the family's homestead in Steep Rock, Manitoba, watching birds, chasing squirrels as a child, and was very interested in all-things nature. He loved watching seeds grow, eventually becoming an avid gardener and stocking the family's larder with fruit and produce. Ron developed a love for team sports in his teen years including baseball and curling.

Now, I am going to fast forward to when Ron arrived in Hay River as a social worker. Then Ron managed the Hay River Housing Corporation for two years and in 1981, he took a job running the local arena before the town had even created a recreation department. Ron was always a community person who loved working together with the people. He further developed minor hockey, as well as minor league softball and curling. Hay River hosted the mixed territorial curling championships when the lounge was only the community's arena dressing room number 1. There are stories about how they made a makeshift floor on the top of the pool area for temporary fantastic lounge for an entire winter. Eventually, Ron was hired as the town recreation director.

Colleagues, I would like to share a few stories about Ron. When I was a young lad, I would go and watch ball down at the Don Wright ball park. Ron played right field for the Hay River team. He was a very strong player but, more importantly, it was about the team. As I said previously, he helped develop the sport of softball in Hay River and this helped me enjoy the sport to this day. He was about developing young people into strong citizens. It was about working hard, having fun, and enjoying your teammates and the other team.

In 1984, I was in university and I reached out to Ron to see if we could develop a summer program for the town. I shared some of my ideas with him and about the importance of a summer program. About a month later, he reached out to me and advised me that he liked the idea and he would be implementing the program that summer. What I found so exciting was that he expanded it and there were four camps spread across Hay River that year. I was fortunate to be one of the camp leaders that year.

I have to say that because of him, I started to look at the recreation field as an option. I can tell you that I had the pleasure of working with him for over 15 plus years. With this in mind, I would like to have the rest of the statement deemed as read. Colleague, he will be missed by his family and friends, but I know he is in a better place. God Bless you, Ron.

Colleagues, as I was entering the recreation field, I had the opportunity to serve with Ron on the NWTRPA board. He had a strong vision on what he felt the recreation field should look like for the NWT. Like all good leaders, he would bring the best out of people especially when it came to getting visions from folks.

In 1992, I moved to Fort Simpson as the recreation development officer. One of the jobs was to get community recreation coordinators together to share ideas and come up with regional programs. I reached out to Ron to see if he could be part of it. After a couple of years of asking him, he was able to fit the next meeting into his busy schedule. At that meeting, he listened, offered some advice, and enjoyed the time spent with all the regional recreation coordinators. After the three days of meetings, he said that he was looking forward to the next meeting.

As I was telling his wife Gale in one of the meetings, Ron shared an issue with the group. The recreation coordinator from Jean Marie River spoke up after Ron described the issue and provided him with a possible solution. Ron got excited. This of course, confused the JMR recreation coordinator and he said sorry. Ron apologized to him and said he had the right solution and the reason he was excited was because he now had the solution to the issue. After that, Ron was sold on the Mackenzie Recreation Association.

I can tell you this was someone I enjoyed talking with and asking for ideas and solutions as we moved forward. As Gale use to joke, the Ben Sivertz Arena was surely his second home.

Colleagues toward the end of his career, Ron became interested in trails as "it is a healthy outlet for people's exercise" and was the driving force behind the 2001 Trans-Canada Trail relay in the community. Part of his vision is the trail in the community of Hay River. I can tell you, I have had the pleasure of walking on it a number of times.

Ron served two terms as a town councillor before becoming the recreation coordinator. Until he and the family left, he was involved in the Baptist Church, the Kiwanis Club, and the Curling Club. As well, he was involved with the Mackenzie Recreation Association, the NWTRPA, and NWT Curling Association.
As a competitive athlete, Ron competed at the national level for curling three times (1997 2002) in both mixed and seniors' competition.

I forgot to say, when he was 16 years old Ron relocated to Regina to complete his grade 12 and begin his post-secondary schooling at Briercrest, Saskatchewan. Following that, he went to Bethel College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then he obtained his Master of Social Work from the University of British Columbia.

As a young boy, Ron put this trust in his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and never missed an opportunity to share the good news of God's love and grace. Ron loved to visit people and discuss sports, politics, and theology. I can tell you that growing up, I enjoyed spending Friday evenings as a young teenager with the youth group he was part of.

Over the years, upon leaving Hay River, Ron needed medical and surgical assistance along the way and the family was very thankful to the Almighty God for his best provisions on Ron's life path. The family firmly believed that the many, many prayer warriors help lift Ron and the family to God for help in the times of need. The family wished to express their sincere thanks for all the medical and prayer support they received.

In cloasing, I would like to quote Psalm 18:2:
"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge." Until we meet again, RIP Ron.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Replies to the Budget Address. Member for Monfwi.

It's not that bad. It's mostly for small communities and regional centres, that we have lots of people living in the regional centres as well that are affected.

So, Mr. Speaker, on Friday the 2024-2025 Budget was tabled with a $2.2 billion operating budget. The Minister states: This is a practical and realistic budget aimed at reducing our overall expenditures in 2024-2025 to help restore balance and increase our fiscal capacity to deal with unexpected events.

The Minister also states this budget is about value and efficiency.

Mr. Speaker, I understand we are in a time of fiscal restraint. We need to reduce our debt, and we have to be very careful with our spending. We have dealt with COVID, floods and fires which has cost the GNWT a lot of money. The cost of delivering goods and services in the NWT is challenging and continues to increase. We don't know what this upcoming fire season will bring.

The GNWT needs to meaningfully support local economic development. We need to grow our local economy to build local resilience. The government should be putting money towards actions that will improve the lives of residents in small communities and regional centres and improve the capacity of local communities because this strengthens the territory overall.

Mr. Speaker, the people in my riding make up 6 percent of the territorial population and represents four of the 33 communities. In the Tlicho region, like many small communities in the NWT, there are significant challenges to address.

For a long time, our small communities have fallen below the regional centres like Yellowknife when looking at outcomes in education, health, income, employment, labour, mental health, housing, and the list goes on. At this rate, the small communities will never have equitable services for our residents. And now, Mr. Speaker, our small communities are in a fight for survival against drugs and crime. The increase of drugs and criminal activity in small communities across the NWT has mostly been a silent killer, but the illegal activities of the drug trades are increasing and becoming more overt and quite apparent in the smaller communities. We don't seem to be acknowledging or properly addressing the crisis this brings into our communities. And this is my concern with the budget.

Mr. Speaker, I don't see how this budget is going to improve the lives of residents in small communities and other regional centres. Our communities need us to put money behind our words. If we are a government that wants to improve the lives of residents in small communities, then it would be reflected in our territorial budget. In this budget, there is not enough focus on prevention.

Our children and youth in small communities need hope. They need to have positive and healthy outlets for them to spend their time. They need modern and safe infrastructure and facilities to play sports and do cultural activities, and these facilities need operational funding to ensure programming and organized games and other healthy activities can be scheduled regularly for them.

Mr. Speaker what will children and youth do if they don't have positive outlets to do sports and recreation? We have organized crime infiltrating our communities, corrupting our youth, destroying families, and disrupting our way of life. Our focus should be on ensuring children and youth in small communities are safe and healthy with a future to look forward to.

Providing sports and recreation activities enables a positive path for our youth as we combat against high-risk behaviour. Support the small communities to ensure children and youth have consistent outlets in sport and recreation. This budget needs an increase in sport and recreation funding, specifically to support youth and small communities.

Mr. Speaker, we also know that our communities face a funding gap. For several years, municipal and community governments have been underfunded to operate and provide services. The government of the 19th Assembly did increase $5 million in funding for municipalities, but we know, Mr. Speaker, there are tens of millions of dollars still shortchanging our communities.

By increasing the funding for municipalities, it will not just improve the financial sustainability of communities, but the benefits will multiply throughout the community. By increasing funding to communities, the GNWT will create more local jobs, more local contracts services, and improve programs and services for local residents.

The capital city holds almost half of the population of the NWT, which includes headquarters for both the territorial and federal government. It is the hub for most mining activity in the NWT and contains the biggest portion of the private sector. So in the capital city, there are much more services, programs, and opportunity for people. Overall, life is good in the capital city. Many families can afford nice homes and fill their kitchen with food, their kids receive a good education and a have a higher likelihood to graduate, and they can play a variety of sports, there is health care and RCMP services. In the capital city there is opportunity.
But, Mr. Speaker, what about the rest of the territory?

Well, Mr. Speaker, for the rest of the territory, the small communities are used to making do with fewer resources. Consider, for example, the midwifery funding for Yellowknife that is being reallocated. Well, with all due respect, Mr. Speaker, I know that the $900,000 for that Yellowknife-based program can be used somewhere else. Moreover, also on the topic of health care, I want to comment on agency nurses.

Mr. Speaker, I know that there are several Members here who want to eliminate entirely the usage of these agency nurses within the NWT. However, Mr. Speaker, I am unsure whether the NWT will ever be able to completely cut the usage of agency nurses across all communities. Because if we did, then some small community health centres would be left sitting empty and unused and they'd eventually close completely, Which would put our communities' safety at risk and leave no health professionals present at all. That can never happen, Mr. Speaker.

This brings me to my next point about cuts, Mr. Speaker. I am speaking specifically about the cuts to the Fort Smith Correctional Centre. Are these cuts the beginning of broader cuts for other regional centres and small communities? What will they cut in next year's budget, or during the rest of the 20th Assembly? I guess we will wait and see.

Our small communities are deteriorating on top of underfunded budgets, rising costs of inflation, and rising costs of goods and services. They are fighting an increase of violence and crime and are increasingly having to respond to emergencies and natural disasters.

The biggest form of support the GNWT can provide to communities to increase their local economy, to increase social programs and services, to provide more opportunities for residents, and improve the lives of residents in small communities is to put the money directly into the hands of communities. This budget needs to increase funding for municipalities.

The support that ECE has in place, such as the Small Community Employment Fund, is an excellent program that supports communities to hire summer students in a variety of local positions. This budget line needs to be increased.

Another way to support small communities is through decentralization, transfer of jobs and services away from the capital. In the past, the government has recognized the value of moving jobs and services into the regions and smaller communities but in this budget, I don't see decentralization happening.

Overall, the government has reduced some positions for this fiscal year but, Mr. Speaker, the value of moving jobs into the regions has been overlooked. Decentralization can stimulate growth in communities. We need to focus services where the service is needed most. The GNWT should have positions and services transferred into small communities for this budget.

Mr. Speaker, I represent four small communities in the NWT. I come from a small community so I've seen firsthand the challenges our communities face.
We know that many families, as their children get older, they leave our small communities. It is not uncommon for families to relocate to regional centres so their kids receive a better education and have more opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, people also leave because some don't feel safe as they once did. Our homes and communities are not the same places they used to be. There is minimal programs and services, little opportunities for jobs, and our youth have too much free time on their hands which makes them vulnerable and more likely to get into trouble and be negatively influenced. Our small communities need the attention and focus of this government to ensure all children, no matter where they live in the NWT, to have equitable access to opportunities by investing in:

• Sports and recreation;
• The municipal funding gap; and
• Enhancing small community employment programs.

We are supporting small communities. These are areas, Mr. Speaker, that I want to see the budget improve. I have spoken many times about housing. We are in a housing crisis in the NWT. We have overcrowded, unrepaired, and deteriorating units. We have people homeless and couch surfing. Housing is another major issue why people aren't living in small communities and why people are actually moving out of small communities because there is simply nowhere to live. It is surprising that the overall Housing NWT budget is reduced compared to last year, given the state of housing in the territory. How is the GNWT going to improve the state of public housing units or build the units needed in communities with a reduced budget? The GNWT knows the cost of addressing core need in the NWT is approximately $300 million in capital and $18 million in ongoing operational funding. Mr. Speaker, how will the GNWT bring the units it has out of core need with a reduced budget?

We need to increase homeownership in the NWT to reduce the demand on public housing, yet these budget lines are reduced. The Homeownership Entry Level Market Housing Program and the Homeownership Assistance Programs are reduced. How is the GNWT going to increase homeownership?

I would also like to know how many units Housing NWT will sell to clients over 2024-2025. Housing has many older units that could be sold to clients at prices clients could afford. This will increase homeownership and reduce the burden on housing to maintain them. I want to see the budget provide more focus on housing supports, specifically for small communities, to fix up the public housing units that exist and to support and expand homeownership. I recognize the housing Minister is formalizing relations with Indigenous governments in regards to housing, and this will support creative solutions. This is positive.

I am concerned, however, that the budget that is required to fix up the units currently operated by Housing NWT is insufficient, and this is among my biggest concerns with this budget. I would like to see more resources towards housing to ensure that our residents, those especially in smaller communities, have a safe, affordable, accessible, and suitable home.

These are my priority issues for the budget that I would like to see improved. These are changes that will meaningfully improve life for those in small communities, and this should be the priority of the GNWT, to help those most in need. Mashi cho. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Replies to the Budget Address.

Colleagues, I'm going to go back to number 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I was a little quick to get to number 6. Member from Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize for my hand being late. You were pretty quick. I just want to have an opportunity today to recognize Beverly Amos. Beverly here is visiting us in the House. She's one of our very few Inuvialuktun language experts in the Northwest Territories. There's very few of them left, so I want to take this opportunity to recognize Beverly. Her hometown is Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, and she now lives with her husband Lawrence at their cabin at Hans Bay on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. So welcome, Beverly.

Welcome to your House, and thank you very much for allowing us to represent the people of the Northwest Territories.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to extend birthday greetings out to a special lady who is 85 years young today. Colleagues, I'd like to wish my aunty Mary Effie Snowshoe who is celebrating her birthday today. She's from Teet'lit Zheh.

Mr. Speaker, we have all seen the effects of climate change in the North and, specifically, in our communities. The erosions of the shorelines, wildfires and drought, just to name a few. What is the government doing to address the seriousness of climate change within the Northwest Territories and the impacts on the Indigenous peoples of this land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I think as we have all seen over the last couple of years specifically, climate change has certainly played a large role in things all across the territory between floods and wildfire and, you know, a lot of challenges have been faced. The GNWT specifically is taking action with partners all across the territory in the North to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We invest significant resources to address climate change, including implementing actions identified in our climate change and energy action plans. ECC is also the lead on climate change and is using a coordinated interdepartmental approach with priorities that include transitioning to a lower carbon economy and privy climate knowledge in the North and building resilience while adapting to the impacts of climate change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Education is very important in teaching our residents about climate change. It is especially important to engage with our young, with your youth, because they are the ones who inherited this human-caused disaster. What is this government doing to educate our young people on how to adapt to climate change? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECC will continue to work with the GNWT climate change outreach plan to increase climate change awareness and increase capacity toward climate change all across the NWT. And I don't want to speak for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, but ECC would certainly be interested in pursuing conversations around ensuring that we are addressing the issue of climate change and how it relates to youth. So I will commit to having that conversation with the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How is the government using traditional knowledge from the Indigenous peoples to adapt and combat climate change? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I think ECC certainly has taken the approach that incorporating traditional knowledge is a really important area of how we do our day-to-day work in all areas throughout the department and certainly is a big component in how we approach climate change, ensuring that we are hearing all of the voices from all of the communities and affected people across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of ECC. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the department have a website where the residents can go to get information on funding to assist in education or alternative of any of these solutions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the specifics of that request with me, but I commit to providing that information to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of ECC. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke about the issues we're having with escorts for elders travelling to Yellowknife or Inuvik or Edmonton. I'd like to ask my colleague, the Minister of Health and Social Services, what the department's doing to look at dealing with the issue of the onerous bureaucracy that these elders have to go through to get an escort to escort them out? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within our medical travel policy, it, you know -- and I'm not sure if I mentioned it in this House before -- but there are many streams in our medical travel policy. There are the NIHB clients who fall under the NIHB rules. There are the Metis benefits. There are extended health client benefits clients that all fall -- those ones fall under the GNWT medical travel policy.

When it comes to regards to escorts, Mr. Speaker, there are certain criteria in the escort policy that must be -- you know, that the person -- whoever's travelling, if it is an elder, as the Member has mentioned in the statement, that can't speak English, then that should be put in as a request as there is a language barrier and that would be -- fall under our policy. But if it is put in as an elder and because of their age, that doesn't meet our criteria. If it's an Indigenous person, it doesn't meet NHIB's criteria. Right now, there's an actual program -- I think it's a pilot program that's being funded by ISC, Indigenous Services Canada, with Inuvialuit. So Inuvialuit members can go through their office and request for -- if they are denied through NHIB criteria, they can apply through them to have compassion escorts or, you know, and so. But that is directly a bilateral between that group. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I understand there's a policy for this. What I'm saying is that if you have an elder, is there not a way -- and I get that, you know, there is the different plans out there. But, again, you have an elder who whether they're going down to have a hangnail removed, it doesn't matter. If there's an elder and they don't speak English, they need to be navigated, they need help navigating even to get to their appointments, is there not something we can do to kind of streamline that so, again, that paperwork is not being done. If there's not anybody in -- and medical travel is medical travel, and I'm sure the Minister has heard many, many questions on medical travel. Is there not something we could do to streamline that so when you get to the situation of you have an elder in the community, it's just automatic there's an escort in there.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if there are -- you know, I guess, again, if it's an elder, you know -- I hear the Member. I know of many stories, you know, and I'm not going to deny that this is something that we are aware of. We know this is a gap in our policy, and that is why the medical travel policy is its own target in our -- you know, in the business plans. And so this is one of the areas that I really want to focus on. I want to use some of the information I will learn probably from the bilateral with Inuvialuit, and also to be able to hear from -- we have the Indigenous patient advocates who are constantly hearing this. They're taking the data. We know that this is an issue. And I'm not going to say in this House that it's not a gap, but it is, and I recognize it, and I am working towards trying to figure out ways to deal with this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.