Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize a hunter and trapper and a painter, a contractor for about 40 years, originally from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, lives in Fort Smith, but he's retired and living here in Yellowknife. I would like to welcome ** Marie, a well-respected elder and a good friend of mine. Also, I want to recognize James Williams as well in the back. I want to say welcome here as well. Mahsi.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Dave Wasylciw. He is the YK1 board chair here in Yellowknife and a member of the Range Lake constituency. Welcome, Dave.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Kam Lake.

Well, Mr. Speaker, this is the beauty of going last as you get to repeat some people. But I'd like to say a big hello to constituent James William; powerhouse of an athlete, powerhouse of a parent, powerhouse of a coach, and powerhouse of a chair, David Wasylciw, who is the chair of the Yellowknife Education District No. 1, so we get to spend some good time together. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Kam Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. It's my turn to embarrass James a little bit. But welcome to the Assembly, James. I greatly appreciate all that you've done for sports and the caribou out there as well. So thank you very much for being here today to allow me the honour of doing your Member's statement. Welcome to our Assembly.

Colleagues, if we missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your House. Again, I'd like to thank you very much for giving us the honour to represent the people of the Northwest Territories. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to have people in the gallery. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement today I talked about some challenges through the CLC and community outreach program through literacy. I'm going to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment that knowing that there's going to be some significant change-ups and noting that the mandate of Aurora College no longer notes -- or maybe never have noted adult literacy, is she willing to engage with partners like the NWT Literacy Council in order to save these programs that are not only needed in the communities but in our larger centres, such as Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Fort Smith. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is most definitely an easy commitment because I've previously made it to the Member for Yellowknife North. Absolutely. Thank you.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to hear it because I was speaking to the council and we're concerned about the opportunities. Can the Minister -- would the Minister be willing to lean into the Aurora College to ensure that any of the CLC money that could have gone to these communities could be partnered with, specifically, the NWT Literacy Council because they don't have that perspective. So that last commitment was working together, well, yeah, that's great, but can we look at getting Aurora College to work directly with the literacy council to save the community learning centre projects. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I've previously shared with the House, I cannot direct the operations of Aurora College. That would be seen as interference, and I'm prohibited from doing so under the Aurora College's Act. But the commitment that I have made is that, first of all, to acknowledge that this is an issue that needs to be reviewed and that there are other parties within the Northwest Territories who want to be involved in some of this work which is very promising and very good. And so as the Minister of education, I have committed to following up on these programs, following up with communities, and ensuring that at the end of the day we're talking to the partners that want to be involved in this project. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's nothing prohibiting the Minister from inquiring with the board chair and the president and maybe the board overall about saying, here is a partner willing to meet the needs of the communities, Mr. Speaker, and we would -- and that includes even the larger communities. So, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to engage in this conversation especially because this House is the funder. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly always happy to have conversations, always happy to pass along the messages from the House, and certainly very interested in learning what the future of literacy programming looks like in the territory and working very hard on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement, my first question for the Minister of Infrastructure is around the sailing dates and, importantly, has the department now, given the analysis of what happened last year, are they looking at sailing dates and, as importantly, communicating those dates out to the residents of the communities that will be ordering the goods and services for the barge? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sailing dates and specifically cargo cutoff dates are typically communicated a little later in the spring as we're still waiting to see what the water levels might look like as we get closer into the spring dates.

I can say, Mr. Speaker, and I'm happy to say, that we have new director other at MTS, and the director was able to use the opportunity of NWTAC to make some connections and good connections with communities so that when we are able to communicate and as we're able to communicate, we're doing that in an effective way. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that. Yes, and, you know, earlier the better when it comes to getting those dates out for sure. But I appreciate that they're are factors in that.

Mr. Speaker, I spoke in previous Member statements about the need to maybe look at logistically looking at Inuvik and/or Tuk or both kind of ramping them up a little more given that the difficulty we're having getting through the ramparts and sailing now and to maybe do some of that barging from Inuvik or Tuk all the way up to Fort Good Hope and certainly the coastal communities. Is that something that the marine transportation services are looking at to kind of building up some of that infrastructure this year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no plans at the moment to significantly modify the infrastructure that's up in the Beaufort Delta region. However, I can say that some of the -- there was a tug and a barge -- barges left up in Inuvik back in 2024 so that they are ready -- more ready and more able to move quickly as soon the waters are navigable. Obviously still hoping that this year's water levels come back and that we're not facing quite the same level of challenges next year but did take those steps to say that we are positioned so that at early parts of the season when, hopefully, things are easier to navigate that we'll be able to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you for that. I appreciate that, Mr. Speaker. So it's my assumption, then -- and I know one shouldn't assume -- that the majority of the goods and services that are going to be transported into the coastal communities and the Inuvialuit settlement region will, indeed, look to be transported via truck to Inuvik and/or Tuk for those hubs to get that product into the coastal communities. Thank you.