Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the arts funding from ECE is still seen in the main estimates under ECE for this year. So currently what's happening is the planning of how to do that amalgamation. So you won't see any of those dollars that used to be in ECE in ITI. They are still located in the Education, Culture and Employment main estimates at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Okay, thank you for that. That is -- that's a relief. I was especially concerned seeing SEED funding go down quite a bit, wondering if we're piling more and more things under that umbrella, how we're going to sustain all these initiatives. But that's good to know.

My last question, in response to a previous question, the deputy minister talked about microclusters in agriculture and manufacturing. And I've seen that term a few times also in the business plans around -- I think it's microclusters of housing. I'm not familiar with this term microclusters, and I wonder if you could explain when you say you're looking at microclusters, what does that mean?

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, microclusters are these basically, like, individual business entities that kind of grow and generate themselves within different communities. So, for example, you know, if I travelled to community X, Y, Z, and they're saying, you know, we're really interested in getting agriculture going, we really see the potential, and that starts to generate and you end up with this microcluster of an agriculture industry within that one community that grows and supports itself and evolves from there, and Hay River is a great example of that where, you know, you've got a lot on the go in this community, everything from eggs to wheat to berry trees and all the rest of it. So there's a lot of really neat things going on. And so they're essentially economic hubs that occur in our communities. And I think one of the things that's really important about those is they end up being resident driven, which is what you need, really, in order to have a successful business; you need that heart and hustle. And so if the residents are driving that economic hub or that economic microcluster, the chances of it succeeding are way, way greater than if, you know, somebody else is deciding for a community what their industry is going to be. I think it's really important that where people want to put their time and their energy and their sweat and -- their blood, sweat, and tears, so to say, it need to be personally driven by community members for it to succeed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go back to Yellowknife North, the Member.

Thank you for that. So I'm still not clear what ITI or the GNWT's role in that is, but that could be a further conversation. But my final question, so one of the specific actions that ITI has in its business plan to support housing is connecting economic analysis of the housing sector to determine whether an industry led microcluster could be fostered for the NWT Housing sector I suppose as a whole. Can you explain what exactly that would involve? I don't really understand what that action is at all. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for your final question. To the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, one of the things that I have learned very quickly about ITI is ITI is very much a connector department, and so it plays a very strong role with connecting other departments within the GNWT, connecting, you know, grassroots, organic funding like the SEED program, to other funding mechanisms through CanNor and such, by connecting smaller grassroots programming -- or funding programs, like manufacturing funding, SEED funding, you know, even if it's an agriculture microcluster, for example, you've got the SCAP funding. But when it comes to housing, if you have a community who really wants to play a vital role -- and I mean, there are communities represented here who have approached me about doing, for example, trades programming in order -- in their home community in order to facilitate building housing, and so now all of a sudden, you've got ITI that is acting as a connector between multiple departments, between multiple funding entities, whether it's through federal government or even just the GNWT and then private sector that are bringing those together and creating essentially a housing hub or a housing microcluster in communities. And so whether or not that is for a specific part of housing or if it is seeing a housing project just for that community from start to finish, there's great opportunities for ITI to continue to play that role and to really play the connector piece on how do we start that's industries and really see them flourish by bringing all those funding pieces together.

Thank you. Okay, we're going to -- is there any further questions? No, don't see no hands. Okay, no further questions. Please turn to page 235.

Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary, 2024-2025 Main Estimates, $20,897,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. We will take a short 30-minute break now, and we'll come back. So that will give a chance to give the translators an opportunity to rest. Thank you.

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Okay, thank you. Moving on to minerals and petroleum resources beginning on page 239 with information items on page 234. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm being blinded by, like, a beam of miraculous light here.

My question on this one, I believe that this division -- well, I guess the first question just to make sure I'm getting -- I'm in the right spot here, but this division deals with remediation employment opportunities and mining employment opportunities in the NWT, is that correct?

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Sorry, Mr. Chair. Can the Member be more specific about what he's looking for. At ITI, we don't do mine training, per se, you know, as ECE might, and don't have mining positions, but this is the section that houses our Pathfinders if that's what the Member is looking for.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake for clarification. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. No, I'm not really speaking to the pathfinder program. And maybe I'll give a little bit more detail so the Minister can understand what I'm getting at. So there's been quite a bit of talk in the past little while about the opportunities that mine remediation has for employment in the territory and just ensuring that we are capturing the benefits from this activity, but namely, the Giant Mine remediation project was going to be -- you know, it's upwards of $4 million now that's going to be spent in the territory. And my question is if this is the department to be asking questions about those opportunities and who is overseeing them?

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yes, ITI is a partner in that, and the lead on that is ECC from the GNWT's perspective. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Okay, thank you. So this is news to me, I didn't realize this. So ECE is involved in dealing with the employment opportunities for mine remediation for Northerners?

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, yes, ECE is the lead on the Giant Mine remediation project partnership with the federal government. Thank you.

I'm going to go back to the Member from Frame Lake.