Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned the NTHSSA is working with the human resources to explore additional recruitment and retention options. Last month representatives from the NTHSSA travelled to the University of Toronto job fair to promote speech language pathologists opportunities in the Northwest Territories. The territorial manager of the occupational therapy also travelled to the national occupational therapy conference with a recruitment booth. The rehab leads are working continuously with a talent organization for recruitment campaigns, refreshing that they don't yield any candidates, but they've hired two new SLP grads in the fall of 2023 and they're working towards three new grad OT job offers for 2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll just note that the Minister listed some excellent recruitment initiatives, and I think what I've pointed out is the problems with retention, which as I mentioned the other day is a different strategy and a different problem. But I'll move on to my next question, which is so due to shortages of staff, the health authority has pulled back school-based support since 2021. How does the department plan to reinstate school-based services for speech language pathology across the territory to ensure that all kids can gain the tools to be able to speak, communicate, and read? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in-person appointments for urgent referrals within the Northwest Territories and telehealth appointments will continue with the staff that we do have. Services will be maintained for students with priority needs. But we also, I want to let the Members know, that NTHSSA and the department are working together with the Department of ECE as they explore ways to support the learning needs of children who may be impacted by the reduction of school speech and language and OT services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So while there's limited access to Yellowknife students for speech and language consultations, there's almost no care being provided by the government to students in other regions. And many of the regions outside the North Slave have reached out to private companies to receive services and reached out for funding through Jordan's Principle. How does the department justify having entire regions have to reach out to private companies in order to receive any services at all? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, when regions -- you know, depending on who is reaching out for those services in the different regions, for us, you know, we are working on the recruitment portion of it. But if there independent Indigenous organizations that want to access those funding, the boards that want to access those funding, you know, they can be way more strategic on how they're providing services in their regions. They're more flexible in how they can hire people. So right now what I can -- all I can really say is that the department is preparing a review of the speech and language pathology service to understand what the current gaps are and identify opportunities for improving the services, and that is the same thing that I'm also working with my colleague from ECE to ensure that the focus that is in the school, how are we supporting those students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my questions -- or my statement on the Public Lands Act, my first question to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Can the Minister of ECC provide the House with an update on the status of the development of the regulations for the Public Lands Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I know this has been a process that has dragged on for a little while, but I'd like to reassure the Member that the department continues to work on the Public Land Act regulations collaboratively with the Intergovernmental Council technical working group to reach consensus on a few of the remaining issues that have taken some time and conversation to work through. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that reply. My next question, as I said in my Member's statement, the Public Lands Act passed in this House in August 2019 yet its implementation has been delayed because the regulations have not been developed. Can the Minister explain why the development and regulations for the Public Lands Act has taken so long? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the technical working group is working to reach a final consensus on some of the concerns from Indigenous governments related to the jurisdictional interaction between ECC's public land administration and some land use permitting carried out by land and water boards. Some of these concerns are beyond the scope and mandate of the Public Lands Act regulations team and have been taking additional time and effort to find potential options. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My third question, does the Minister have a timeline for when the regulations for the Public Lands Act will be completed? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECC is using technical advisory panels at this time to engage stakeholders in the scope and substance of the PLA regulations. ECC has plans in place right now to reengage with the technical advisory panels on the proposed regulations. Once issued, identification through the IGC's technical working groups are addressed, hopefully before the end of spring 2024, which I know is technically right now, so we're hoping very soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Fine supplementary. Thanks very much there, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear we got a timeline, now we can expect our efficiency of land administration to be concluded. That's more of a statement. I look forward to working -- or will the Minister update us after the spring of 2024 is done? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an Intergovernmental Council process in collaboration with Indigenous governments. So we are really hoping to have this done well before the end of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Dempster Highway is relatively maintained on a regular basis when the highway's open and the season is busy. But there are times when the ice crossings are closed and the road seems to be neglected. Can the Minister tell me how they receive updates and inspection reports on the highway at any given time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a regional office in every different region across the Northwest Territories, and each regional office is responsible for doing that type of maintenance when there are issues. There are a variety of different channels through each post. The deputy minister, the assistant deputy minister who is responsible for regions, and myself as well, are all notified. So when there's -- for instance, when there was the -- earlier this year and the ice roads were melting, we were all involved on various chats and emails and text groups and phone calls to notify when there was potential closures of the highways, for instance when there was an ice hole that developed. So there's all those different pathways that erupt, and I certainly make the effort to update MLAs when I have that information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is important that the highway be inspected and reports go to the appropriate regional departments. Can the Minister identify if you have inspectors on all sections of the road during closure of the ice bridges? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are inspections and inspectors and roads staff that do go out and inspect all the different roadways. If there's a particular stretch of road that the Member's concerned about or a particular event in specific, I'd be more than happy to look into it. If there was a time when there was a concern that there wasn't enough inspections happening, I know there -- you know, again, so I'd be happy to speak to that specifics. I can say that there's staff in all the regions that do exactly this work, and they report up through the department. Again, I do often receive reports when there's challenges. So, again, if that system has at some time broken down, I'd like to hear about it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is referring to a section of the road. There's a section of the road on the Wrangling River portion, and it's very dangerous to motorists. Has the Minister been updated by the regional office on the severity of this portion of the highway? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.