Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does Housing NWT see opportunities to support this kind of concept of a housing construction centre in other NWT communities besides Fort Good Hope? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think this opportunity that has been driven by the local housing society is a really great opportunity that all communities should consider. And Housing NWT came forward as a partner in assisting them with the application for the funding allocation that they recently received. So this is a possibility in all ridings and all communities. It's just that the work has to be done in partnership with Housing NWT but also locally, they have to be driven by the work. So the possibility is there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So to what extent does Housing NWT issue its maintenance and repair contracts to local development corporations and businesses like it does in Fort Good Hope, you know, in other communities in the territory as opposed to issuing those kind of contracts to contractors from outside the region or outside the territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing NWT, with our results, is approximately 95 percent of all contracting opportunities go to local or NWT businesses. We follow the GNWT procurement policy, and we also follow the business incentive policy. Housing NWT has local housing organizations in 23 communities which each have their own local staff leading maintenance and repair work on housing assets. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And to that end, to increase local capacity how many people who have gone through the Housing NWT apprenticeship program have actually been journey certified? And what is Housing NWT doing to ensure this number is increasing even more rapidly in coming years? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is critical work that we have to do throughout the North. We have to gain capacity. We have to build capacity in our communities. And these need to be local people and local jobs. That's how we're going to do it. And this is how we're going to build, like, the North, and it's working locally and having that local capacity. So the work that Housing NWT does in partnership with Education, Culture and Employment is critical work that we have to do going forward. And over the last number of years, Housing NWT, with the local housing associations, has supported 64 apprenticeships over the last number of years. So thank you, Mr. Speaker

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to the Commissioner's address. Petitions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to present the petition dealing with the matter of improved fertility and family planning supports in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, the petition contains a total of 368 signatures collected on change.org. Of those signatures, 189 are from residents of the Northwest Territories. And, Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories direct the Minister of Finance to work within a whole-of-government approach to investigate the following:

• The impacts to the territory of a declining birth rate and how it may impact population growth;
• The increased demand for fertility treatments for individuals and families to conceive in the Northwest Territories; and
• The feasibility of providing fertility treatments at no upfront cost to the Government of the Northwest Territories by providing a territorial tax credit for individuals undergoing fertility treatments.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Tabling of documents. Minister of Finance.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Inter-Activity Transfers Exceeding $250,000 (April 1st to March 31st, 2024); and, Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 170-20(1): Regulation of E-Scooters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Tabling of documents. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table two documents today: A letter dated June 11th, 2024, from Fertility Matters Canada regarding the Case for Support for Fertility and Family Building Care in the Northwest Territories; and, a survey by the Midwives Association of the NWT titled NWT Residents' Opinions on Midwifery 2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Tabling of documents. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a statement of consistency for Bill 8-20(1), An Act to Amend the Student SFA Act. And I'll just say the final statement notes it complies with section 35, which is very important. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. Motions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the rate of violent crime is on the rise in the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the RCMP have publicly acknowledged the link between drugs and unprecedented homicides in the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the RCMP have publicly stated they appear to be the only resource to deal with mental health emergencies;

AND WHEREAS the RCMP responding to a mental health crisis is time consuming and uses significant valuable RCMP resources that could be managed by a worker trained to respond to mental health crises;

AND WHEREAS support for Northwest Territories-trained social workers through Aurora College, mental health and addictions education programming that emphasizes on skills that help those deal with mental health crises and challenges, can be an opportunity to help Northerners helping Northerners;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Range Lake, that the Government of the Northwest Territories work in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to implement a crisis intervention team through a partnership that supports the response to mental health emergencies at an appropriately staffed level in order to maintain 24/7 support;

AND FURTHERMORE, the purpose of the crisis intervention workers is to enhance the response and reduce police contact in mental health-related emergencies and allow the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to focus their efforts on disrupting the drug trade in the Northwest Territories;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.

Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to my colleagues for having this motion and on certainly supporting it to get it at least to this phase of the process. That said, Mr. Speaker, I've spoken at length about how important our RCMP are, and that's absolutely true, and I'll never change that, Mr. Speaker. At the same time, I'll also say that the RCMP, as they've acknowledged in this motion, and they've said themselves, you know, they're not social workers, and sometimes when the call comes in and they're the only one answering the phone, they cannot unanswer that phone. They can't let it ring and ring and hope somebody else will take it. It's unfortunate, but the situation is that. They are the last person to call and they can't turn around and say, call somebody else. So they end up showing up at many calls that aren't typically orientated on the type of service they are. I mean, there's a saying, as they say, if you're a hammer all you see is nails. Well, police officers are police officers to fight crime. I don't classify most of these mental health challenges as true crime. I think people are -- some people are in distress. Some of these situations are dynamic and fluid. They don't require a police officer. But unfortunately, if you call the police, you're going to get a police response.

The nature of this motion really is saying things like we want different type of people to talk to people, and we want people to talk to people. We want social workers, as an example, to work with somebody who is in some type of distress. I mean, showing up with cuffs and a truck and all of the other tools and utilities is the wrong impression when someone is having a difficult time. There is a time and place for those types of responses, absolutely. The stat given, I even highlighted it today in a different type of process in my Member's statement, where I pointed out 2,268 calls to shelters over a two-year window only resulted in 3 percent in actual charges. Again, that reaffirms or underscores the fact that the police really aren't there to respond to police-related emergencies. Again, they're probably called because of different challenges, shelters, and different types of situations where it's difficult to manage and they have no one else to call for help hence they call the RCMP.

My heart goes out to the job and sometimes the thankless jobs that they do. But, you know, if they're called because someone's not allowed in because a shelter's reached its capacity, it's after hours and they can't let them in, I mean, when the police are called, that's not a crime. I mean, it's a crime they can't get in and stay warm. It's truly a crime that they have nowhere to go. That's the real crime. But, I mean, when we call the police officer to show up, they have to put it on the books that they have a call. All they do is -- all the public sees is the police officers picking up someone who probably just needs somewhere to go. And I'm actually feeling frustrated saying this stuff, Mr. Speaker. I mean, you know, this is awful. You know, they don't like to wear these statistics. You know, as a matter of fact, you know, I get the feeling, you know, they feel very uncomfortable that they have to respond to these types of calls. But when they pick someone up in a condition that can't enter the shelter and, you know, we know addictions consumes a lot of people and a lot of families in terrible ways. But when they have to pick someone up, the resources are tied up with that individual because they just can't drop them off at the hospital. The hospital won't take them if they're in a very difficult state. In other words, the conditions of the addictions are managing their current situation. They can't drop them off down the street and say hey, we'll just drop you off in this area and be good, right? No, they can't. They have to take full carriage of that individual until they're able to manage themselves or their safety is no longer at risk or the public's safety is no longer at risk.

So ultimately, Mr. Speaker, it frustrates me seeing this happen. It frustrates me knowing sometimes we just have nowhere for them to go. And, again, maybe that's the crisis here, you know. It's a multifaceted issue, and I have every belief that the government can help rise to this challenge. We're never going to solve all the problems, but we certainly have to chip away at them and that's what I always say when I'm here being relentless. Like, I'm relentless. I don't care how many times you say no, I'll keep coming back because I'm fighting for that one yes. And that one yes builds to two, and two yeses build to three and, all of a sudden, we're changing the nature of our community.

So, Mr. Speaker, I get a really burning feeling inside and frustration and upset every time I think about that this is the way society currently thinks is best to manage people. I think it's probably almost the worst way to manage people. And I even mentioned it in committee one day, like, I would throw myself in front of the police door and not allow someone to say, well, we don't know where to put them, let's put them in an open-door cell. Like, that is the worst place to put people in crisis in trouble. They need somewhere to go. So not only this speaks to we have to find better ways to work with people, we have to find better ways to help people. And that's really what it's saying in different ways.

And I know the government knows this, and I know the Minister knows this, and I know the Minister cares about these things, and there's no comment here that the government doesn't care, and there's certainly no comment here that, you know, they ignore this issue. It's just we now have to find a new way of doing business. And on that note, Mr. Speaker, I'll leave what I've said so far is to open up discussion. I mean, I'm looking forward to hearing what my colleagues will say. But this truly is an issue throughout the territory, not just here. And unless I forget, I'll make sure I ask for a recorded vote now, so it's not forgotten. But I look forward to the opportunity, like I said, to hear my colleagues and their struggles and maybe even their solutions to this particular issue. And I'll close off debate at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to rise in support of this motion and to second it. I think there's an interesting debate going on, as my colleague alluded to, in the Northwest Territories right now of how best to resolve the increasing rates of crime in our communities and addictions and substance abuse. And I think, unfortunately, this discussion turns into a binary of either you support more policing, or you support more addictions, and you can't do both at the same time. And I think you can -- I know because I certainly do, and speaking with our police services as well they certainly do, that you can address a public health crisis at the same time as you address an organized crime crisis, a drug trafficking crisis. But you need different resources to do that, and that's what this motion calls for. And specifically one thing we're missing is a community policing-based support.

I want to commend the GNWT for working on building something like this in Fort Liard with their community safety officer pilot program. I hope we can see more of those roll out across the Northwest Territories. And I think that would be an appropriate model for what this motion contemplates. We have to allow the police to do police work and create the kind of resources that can do this kind of work. The statistics are not good. I don't think anyone who is in -- who is unhoused or who is suffering from addictions and the issues that relate to that, I don't think they want to be dealing with the police. I think they'd much rather have a more supportive trained -- well-trained professional, who can get them into programs that can help support them. But when you're dealing with armed thugs, that's not a situation for a social worker either, and I don't think social workers want to be in that situation. So, you know, we need all the resources to bear to address this crisis, and I think this motion is a good way to give voice to what many people have been calling for, which is a different approach that isn't the heavy hammer of the police, so everyone can get back to doing what they do best and tackle the areas of this multifaceted problem that they're best equipped to deal with. So I support this motion. I encourage other Members of the House to do so as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I appreciate the idea and the intent behind this motion. I am not sure how this would look in practice. In particular, I think this would look quite different in each different community in the Northwest Territories. And I actually think the solution needs to be a partnership that goes beyond just the GNWT and the RCMP. I think there's many other partners who are on the frontlines of trying to support and deal with mental health emergencies.

You know, the Member for Yellowknife Centre talked repeatedly about the fact that people need somewhere else to go as opposed to being, I guess, taken to jail. And the problem is that we still don't have somewhere else for them to go. And this motion doesn't actually take us in that direction, per se. And, you know, in Yellowknife, we have the Street Outreach van which live and work in the downtown area, but, you know, thank goodness for the Street Outreach van. It's an essential service. But the Street Outreach van has identified time and time again that a big problem is that they're a van but often they don't have anywhere to actually take people who need help. They can transport them somewhere but there is nowhere to take them if, you know, the shelters are full, if the sobering centre is full, if the day shelter is full. And so that remains a big problem. And so, you know, we have a review that's happening of the Street Outreach program that the city has led and I've been happy to see that GNWT staff have been able to participate in that review. I am anxious to see the report that comes out of that and the recommendations. I would urge this government to look at those recommendations seriously, to follow up, to commit resources, to work with the city of Yellowknife in ensuring that we have appropriate, you know, responses when people are going through mental health crises or, you know, struggling and they're on the street and someone needs to respond but I agree, it shouldn't be the police. And so we need a more comprehensive service. We also need a sort of more comprehensive net of supports that are going to be able to help people beyond just being the first person to intervene in that crisis. We need the follow-up supports and services that's going to allow them to move past that crisis.

So I will support the motion, but I would urge the government in its response to carefully consider the review and recommendations coming out of the report on the Street Outreach program and building on current initiatives that are underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. To the motion. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.