Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it was this spring I had similar lines of questioning, and at that time I pretty much kind of laid out what the plan was going forward. The reality is I think it's important that we really work with the communities on what's needed in the communities. And that's still the continued goal. We are, the department of health and the department of MACA, are working together to come up with plans for the communities, and Fort Res is one of the communities in our mind when we're talking about this, is having something in place to help respond in the communities to emergencies. And that's -- there is no full plan involved right now or full plan in place right now, but we are working on something to go, to move forward with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If there's no plan to introduce paramedics and drone ambulance services any time soon, when will the Minister commit to establishing a volunteer emergency first responder program to address this critical services gap in our small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like any small community, you know, volunteerism is very important. And I hope that members of the community would step up -- and I know there has been recently -- to establish their local fire department and maybe take on roles of responding to other emergencies. However, when it comes to talking about paramedics, that's a field, a detailed line of work that is similar to being a nurse or a doctor. You know, that's a different type of qualifications. It falls under department of health. But when it comes down to emergency response in the communities and first responders, you know, we are looking at supporting them here in the near future, you know, of hopefully having some established training in the communities, like even the simplest thing of basic first aid. So hopefully we can have something out here shortly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister committed to working with community leaders, as well as his Cabinet colleagues in health and social services and justice, to ensure that volunteers EMR services can be community-driven initiative that is not tied up in the bureaucracy of the system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the goal is to support what the community is requiring or what the communities' needs are. We're not going to slow anything down as the government. We're going to work and try to find a path forward in supporting communities when it comes down to emergencies. We have the ability in place to support these communities, and we'll continue to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to this program, this grew after the initial -- well, the most recent evacuations that we had in 2022 and then in 2023 and 2024, and initially there was no additional supports beyond those which were provided by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, which do include transportation to an accommodation facility, food and meals at the accommodation facility, some basic toiletries, and often support for the United Way who will step in and provide additional supports through either NGOs locally or to municipalities. It was as communities were experiencing multiple evacuations that the Government of the Northwest Territories decided to step in, and that's where the amounts were -- that were determined, we looked and did some jurisdictional scans.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you we continue to be at the very top of the whole of the country in terms of what we provide to residents, which doesn't speak to the reality that evacuations are deeply difficult and can bring on financial costs. So with that, Mr. Speaker, we reviewed the program that we had back in 2024. It was very clear that folks found that to be cumbersome, difficult to apply, and so the program we have now, which is what the residents of Fort Providence were relying upon, is one where there's a portal, a window, it provides comparably timely to what it had been and a much easier process. So it's not looking at people's individual bills or their individual circumstances, which, of course, are going to vary by the individual. It's meant to be one that provides quick -- the gap fillers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This question certainly has come up over the last few years when individual communities have been evacuated, some, honestly, for very lengthy periods of time or on multiple occasions in the course of one year.

So again, the program we've landed on at this point is really meant to supplement. So it's supplementing the fact that there are accommodations provided, that folks who need accommodations outside of the group-type accommodations are triaged and meant to get access to hotel accommodations and as well as transportation. The goal being that most people should not be experiencing significant additional costs.

Again, it's abundantly clear individuals all have a variety of different circumstances. So, Mr. Speaker, at this point, there's not a plan to further evaluate this program, which was just evaluated after the 2024 season. And what we can be, again, doing is making sure that we are continuing to work with municipalities and the service providers through the United Way so that their programs are making their way to those who need it. Thank you.

Final supplementary. Member from the Dehcho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, obviously, the department does certainly take a whole-of-government view. We do work with municipal and community affairs and to look at what programs and services they are offering through the emergency services that they are leading and coordinating and keeping ourselves, as much as we can, within the parameters of programs that are at least somewhat funded by the federal government and their programs, Mr. Speaker, and, of course, working too with ECE. They also provide emergency funding for income assistance clients and at the same time wanting to encourage employers who can to be able to continue to pay their staff, as does the GNWT. So, Mr. Speaker, with that, at this point, there's no plans to do yet another review. The review, as I mentioned, was done in 2024 after the 2023 evacuations. And at this point, we just want to make sure we are focusing on getting the money moving quickly into the hands of those who need it from what we are providing. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for Minister of housing. So I want to ask the Minister what specific measure is Housing NWT taking to support elders with language barriers, not just elders, but there's others, vulnerable, with language barriers who struggle to navigate automated phone systems and remote offices? Thank you.

Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that there is many communities in the Northwest Territories where elders do have language barriers and many times English is not their first language. In terms of the Monfwi riding in the Tlicho region, we do have three staff that regularly go into the riding and meet with constituents or tenants for Housing NWT, but they also provide a translator for that work as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has Housing NWT considered placing a dedicated housing officer or position from the North Slave office in one of the Tlicho communities to improve accessibility and communication for elders and other vulnerable residents? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And again, recognizing the number of concerns that we have from the Tlicho region and Monfwi riding that these discussions could be -- we could have internal discussions, but we can also talk to Tlicho government. We do have a memorandum of agreement with Tlicho government. So this could be a discussion item with the Tlicho government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So what is Housing NWT's plans to address the growing waitlist of 140 people in the Tlicho region, and how does it prioritize elders and unhoused people in urgent need of housing? Thank you.