Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Premier commit to supporting programming such as Adventure Smart, which teaches Northerners to be prepared and self-sufficient when they journey onto the land or water and partner with NWT businesses, as well as federal, territorial, and municipal departments that operate in the territory's natural environment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier. Will the Premier allocate funding directly to the training of professional ground search and rescue volunteers with accountability built in to ensure they're being trained to current national standards as recommended by the report? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's plenty of things I would like to do. This is one area where I would like to see something happen as well. What that is, I'm not quite sure yet. This does take resources. But that being said, I've already had discussions with the Minister of MACA on potential future steps on what we can do. Again, that being said I can't make any promises. We are going through the budget process right now. We are really looking to get our financial house in order so that we can pursue activities like this, which falls in line with our public safety mandate. But that's work that still needs to be done. Thank bou, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this report was commissioned by the GNWT and was completed and hasn't been implemented. So can the Premier commit to an implementation schedule that will be costed and released publicly so we can know when these necessary lifesaving changes to search and rescue will take effect? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like every other initiative that we would like to bring forward, it has to compete with all of the other initiatives. And so we will weigh this against the other initiatives that the Members have requested, initiatives that other stakeholders have requested, and plan as appropriate. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement today talked about trying to find ways to help de-escalate violence in shelter and programs and opportunities that exist, and I even pointed at our First Nations -- Saskatchewan First Nations training program. Now, there's a lot of good in all of that, of course, but there's also opportunities. So my question will be directed to the Minister of Finance. And I'm going to give her a little second here or two.

The department, this section has the human resource department, and we do a lot of employee training currently right now. And so my question for the Minister of Finance is really not about that specific program per se, but the GNWT has a ton of training to employees. Is there maybe a way to start strategizing and looking at opening it up to NGO organizations to expand it? And we run things like verbal judo that could be extraordinarily beneficial to NGOs as an example and, hence, that's where the first question will start. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. It's actually not new to me; it certainly has come up over the course of some years that I've been doing the budget dialogues. And I'd like to take it away, see if we can continue to work on this a bit. Some of the challenges that the programming that we have does come with costs, and it comes with costs that we pay for our employees. There's also some concerns I've run into around at what point would you be turning someone who's not an employee to be starting to look like an employee, particularly in the case of workers who are in areas of essential services such as shelter workers. They're already -- if they're receiving contribution agreements to the organization from the GNWT, we don't want to wind ourselves up in a situation where there's any blurring of lines as to who is the employer and what services they're providing. I realize in training programs that seems a small thing, but the concern is being where those lines might be. I'm certainly happy to have a conversation around whether there's ways we could make inroads on finding access points, but not necessarily in the same or equal way that an employee might. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I raise the issue of the Saskatchewan First Nations offered a program, and I guess I would say to the Minister that, you know, is something like this in general -- could this be worked into contribution agreements whereas in the GNWT works with the department of education through the Department of Finance under contribution agreements to find ways to bring NGOs supportive training up to a higher standard than what we're currently offering them, which is, you know, one-offs from time to time. So in other words -- allowing the Minister to get a second there. So in other words, I'm just trying to create an opportunity and foster better training and skills so we can help de-escalate violence in shelters. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we're starting to cross paths between different departments, whether it's EIA in the Premier's shop where I know they are doing a significant amount of work in terms of supporting our NGO sector in the Northwest Territories. Obviously ECE and the Department of Finance from the human resources perspective. Let me answer briefly and say anything's possible. Whether I'm going to be able to commit on the floor to a program that's rolled out in Saskatchewan, probably not, but certainly can commit to looking at that program and seeing whether there are elements or aspects of it that, again, as together with my colleagues we can utilize and employ and advance here. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister's identified that the medical travel policy will be reviewed. Can the Minister identify a timeline for reviewing the policy? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline of the medical travel policy, because of the enormous amount of work that's going to take and collaboration and consultation in the Northwest Territories when we roll -- like, once we start may take -- you know, it could take the life of this government to get it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I like the word get it right. I'm glad that myself and the Minister are on the same page there.

So then, Mr. Speaker, then, my assumption, then, is during the review that the Minister will be engaging with the public as well obviously as Indigenous governments with this process? Thank you.

Yes, most definitely. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke specifically to youth that are living in Edmonton, going to school in Edmonton under the age of 19 and not having the ability to get an escort to come down to attend medical appointments with them, whether that be a CT scan or an MRI or things that often we're sent out to Edmonton for. So I guess my question is can the Minister commit to revising section 6.2 to recognize that a minor under 19 years of age requires an escort or is provided an escort upon request? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've committed to reviewing the entire medical travel policy and looking at all the different things and those are -- I think that is important. But the other part of it is, you know, we hear the concerns, and this is not -- I was on the other side, and I raised many concerns on medical travel. But the understanding of the different programs that medical travel is, so if we're looking for an escort, if they are NIHB, then that doesn't fall -- the escort criteria doesn't fall upon GNWT to approve that exception if it doesn't fall exactly. If it's GNWT, then there's the appeals process that appeals can go in. And then there's other insurances that also cover people that are travelling down for medical travel. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I do understand that. And, again, the concern is had the student been living, say, in Inuvik and had required to be escorted out, then there would be an escort provided, wouldn't be an issue, they would go out both the student -- and I know the Minister is a mother, so she would -- if she had an 18-year-old getting a CT scan, she'd probably likely to be there and not trust the 18-year-old to get the information he's required to get, or he or she is required to get from that doctor. So I guess my question is, then, can the Minister explain whether there's any expectation that departmental staff have a conversation with the family before making the decision on escort requirements, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I can't speak to individual cases that are, you know, throughout the territory, and Inuvik being so small that I wouldn't want to speak to individually making a decision. Our medical travel policy is to assist patients from the Northwest Territories to travel. And I hear the Member that if the Member is away at college, then the travel is already there and I hear what the Member is saying, and, yes, I am a mother and I've traveled many times that I've paid my own way because of, you know, a lot of things. And I'm still covering some costs for some travel. But the instances -- not everybody -- you know, there are circumstances, and that's why I said there are appeals, there are other ways to look at it. And, you know, and if this was an ongoing issue or was the other -- the other thing is that if it didn't generate in the territory as well and it was generated outside the territory for certain things, then the medical travel policy doesn't even apply. So then there's no escort policy. Thank you.