Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for having those numbers on hand.

So 21 out of 190 units is a pretty low percentage I think we can all agree. Can the Minister explain what were some of the barriers or challenges that prevented more of those HELP tenants from actually achieving that homeownership that they set out to achieve when they joined the program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think of challenges in homeownership would include like capacity to pay the utilities. Sometimes they fall into arrears. Sometimes family situations change. And sometimes they don't want to no longer be a homeowner. So upkeep of the unit, again, this is something that homeowners face every day in the Northwest Territories. So this would be another challenge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure we could have a much longer conversation too about all the barriers and challenges. But we have a new homeownership initiative program now that's sort of superceded the old. So how has the current HIP program been designed differently to try to overcome some of those challenges, or what different result do we expect this time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, like homeownership is a challenge in the Northwest Territories. So what housing's doing differently now is they're providing counselling, they're providing budgeting sessions, they're providing those with arrears an opportunity to pay off their arrears so they can become eligible. And also with the HIP program, it is a forgivable loan over three to five years so the tenant would become the owner of the house through a forgivable loan which would zero out at the end of those years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I just mentioned that in regards to tools for the RCMP, I just wanted to ask the question to the Minister of Justice.

How can we all work together with the GNWT government, the Indigenous governments in my riding, including with the RCMP, to look for solutions on the interim until the new SCAN legislation and the new strategy on drugs -- new drug strategy and dedicated RCMP crime reduction unit? I just wanted to ask that question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I stated earlier, a lot of that work has already started. Public Safety Canada has gone into the community. I've gone into the community, met with leadership, along with my deputy minister. The RCMP, as I mentioned, I have -- I've made one of their priorities to strengthen relationships with Indigenous governments. So ensuring that those touch points are actually happening, that those conversations are happening, is important.

And one of the most important things that the community can do is report things to the RCMP. And I understand that there's times when people don't want to put their name towards a tip. They don't want to testify because of potential retribution. But regardless, we have to make those reports. And when we can, we have to be willing to testify. That really is, from what I've seen, maybe the biggest barrier in the Northwest Territories to dealing with this issue on the enforcement side. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question to the Minister of Justice, now that we're talking about the SCAN legislation, next year, February, is there any way where we could try to help move that date up so that we could get that into action? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I received this request about SCAN legislation and civil forfeiture legislation quite often because there is a real concern about what's going on and people want more tools to move things forward. So I will ensure that we're working as fast as we can on this, but I don't want to get anyone's hopes up that we're going to be able to get this done and introduced prior to the next sitting.

SCAN legislation has proven to be controversial in the Northwest Territories. It was brought forward once before, and it did not make its way through this House or out of this House, and so we want to make sure that we are doing the proper engagement, that we are hearing from everyone, and that we're crafting it in such a way that we will be able to get it through this House so that communities can benefit from it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to ask the Minister of Justice if there's a way where we could get the RCMP in Fort Resolution to work with the Deninu Kue First Nation and the Metis Nation to have a meeting to address some of the concerns they have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, I mean, I don't even need to be involved in that conversation. That's a community-level conversation, and the community can have that. Through the Department of Justice, we can relay the Member's comments and the desires for such a meeting, but I think those are the types of things that can really happen at the community level.

Deninu Kue First Nation does receive $50,000 annually to hire a community justice coordinator. I understand that that position is not filled. But that's the position that would help coordinate these types of conversations among leadership, including the First Nations, the Metis, and the RCMP and the GNWT service providers as well. And the department is also offering to help to support the staffing of that position should the First Nation require it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Mr. Speaker, last sitting Members raised a number of concerns and passed a motion regarding the health care system, and a lot of the concerns that were raised were about workplace morale among nurses, doctors, health care workers in general. And I would note that with the system sustainability unit and the new public administrator, it's not really clear if morale issues are actually being addressed by those initiatives. So can the Minister clarify for the House who is tasked with improving morale in the health care system, and what are they doing to help our nurses and doctors? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has stated, you know, this is not something that comes to a surprise to this House. We've heard it on the floor many, many times. It is in the mandate of the public administrator to ensure that the NTHSSA is dealing with this morale issue. I also took it upon myself, and now accompanying with me within the NTHSSA, the PA attends all of the -- along with the CEO and the COOs of the region, we have completed -- sorry, we've completed TCSA. We've completed Stanton. We've completed Fort Smith. We have a whole stretch of regions that we'll be doing town halls with staff in March and into April to making sure we're hitting every region and as well as the operations area within the NTHSSA. And all of that feedback is part of the work that we're all working towards ensuring that staff are being heard and that there are going to be, you know -- like, from the recommendations and the concerns brought forward, there will be actions on those for the managers, the CEO to deal with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that answer. And so, Mr. Speaker, I understand that workplace morale can be a bit of a difficult thing to track and to measure. So I'm just curious has the department thought or the Minister thought about how she's going to track progress on this issue? Are they establishing measures? Are they, you know, taking a baseline to understand from staff where things are at now and where things are going? How are they going to be measuring success on this important issue in our health care system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, with the work that's ongoing in the next, you know, little while, I think that the last employment engagement satisfactory survey that was done from staff that is done every two years, that will be a tool that is measured. But I also -- you know, I think that one of the areas is all managers and staff have to take ownership of making sure that they're bringing their concerns forward. And this is something that I've said in the town halls with staff is that if they're -- you know, if they're bringing the issues forward and they're not being heard, we've heard from COOs to say that, you know, make sure that it's coming to the COOs if you're not being heard as a group, as a department, as a -- you know, as an area so that way that we are aware. There's times where the senior leadership is not aware of some of these things. And some of those things that cause morale issues could be small fixes, but it's actually going up the chain of command to ensure that voices are heard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, you know, one of the ways that we're able to track this sort of thing and determine for ourselves and be engaged with our constituents is to see what's being brought forward. So does the Minister or the public administrator have any plans in place to establish some kind of a plan or list a set of actions that are going to be taken and, you know, maybe a timeline for how things will go down so that staff can see, you know, what actions are being taken, how their concerns are being heard and actioned? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I had mentioned in this House, you know, the PA is working with the leadership of NTHSSA right now. But when I mentioned about the town halls, those town halls and bringing those concerns forward, there are internal actions for each of those COOs to go back to their staff to work through some of those issues that were brought forward. So I know that we've only -- like I said, mentioned, we've only done two or three of three different regions now, and we have the rest of the regions to go there. And I encourage those staff to come out and voice their -- you know, their concerns. Not just their concerns, but what's working so that we don't change the things that are working. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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