Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members' statements. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about how we work in collaboration for the people of the Northwest Territories. The nature of our job as elected officials is to be a strong voice for the people we represent.

Mr. Speaker, the interpreters behind us are elders, and they watch over us when we are in this House. Also, the elders from our home communities are also watching us. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you our elders may not be registered psychologists or psychiatrists or psychoanalysts, but our elders have the knowledge and life experience to lead our communities in good times and bad. In our consensus government, my colleagues and I come together and make decisions that will have an effect on the lives of the residents of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, we must think of our elders as we do this work. They should always be respected and cared for. I believe it is important for all of us, as Members of the Legislative Assembly, to look to the elders as an example of how we interact with each other when we are in this House. Mr. Speaker, people in the Northwest Territories are our priority, and we need to work together for the benefit of all. Our elders teach us how to be responsible and respectful.

Mr. Speaker, I have recently learned that the Legislative Assembly has an elder on-site program. Members and staff can join an elder for quiet reflection, tea, and conversations in the tent behind this building. Mr. Speaker, this program is similar to the GNWT initiative like the elders in schools program. I would like to see more programs with elders in our public spaces, and I strongly encourage Members to visit with the elders at the Assembly. I will have question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Members' statements. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the non-insured health benefit, NHIB program, is a fundamental right for all ineligible -- sorry, eligible First Nations and Inuit across Canada. For many of my constituents, it serves as a critical safety net, particularly in emergencies, where public or private insurance falls short. NIHB provides essential services, including medical transportation, when they are needed the most. However, I would like to bring attention to a recent case where the delivery of these benefits failed one of my constituents.

While travelling in Alberta, a constituent of mine became seriously ill and was hospitalized. As this was a personal trip and not a medical travel, they were deemed ineligible for medical transportation benefits. Compounding the issue, they did not have travel insurance. Recognizing that NIHB could apply in this urgent situation, my office immediately began working to secure access to these benefits. Unfortunately, due to jurisdictional administration barriers between Alberta and Northwest Territories, we face significant delays in Alberta.

Physicians could not initiate the NIHB process. This had to come from our own department in health and social services. Yet because the patients were hospitalized outside the NWT, the NTHSSA was unaware of this condition. As a result, we spent over two weeks navigating these barriers to access a service that should have been readily available.

Ultimately, coordination was achieved, and I want to thank the Minister and NTHSSA for their efforts, along with NIHB staff, but the delayed caused substantial emotional and financial strain for a family that should have been focused on supporting their loved one.

Mr. Speaker, this cannot happen again. We must ensure that NIHB services are available immediately and seamlessly regardless of location. I urge that NTHSSA to review this case, provide appropriate training, and develop protocols to prevent similar situations in the future. I look forward to working with the Minister to make this a reality. I would have questions for the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Health care is what I'm going to talk to the House today.

Mr. Speaker, we have a great system, best system, some of the best people, Mr. Speaker, but all systems have their challenges. So, Mr. Speaker, when we talk about the heroic efforts that the nurses face or challenge every day, you know, we are a great -- we're of great appreciation of what they do. Mr. Speaker, often they're treated as the only people we talk about in the system, but they are the symbol of the system in the way we chat about them. Let us not forget there are many people that support this system, such as personal support workers, admins, techs, and the list goes on. So when we speak about nurses, sometimes we tend to forget to mention the other names so I don't want people to feel we don't think about them. They are on top of mind.

Mr. Speaker, but like every great system, a hospital is similar to what I would describe as the game Jenga. You can only put so many stresses and challenges on the system before it tumbles down. Nurses are on the vanguard of our healthcare system, Mr. Speaker, and often we talk about them in a way of being the first ones that we see to receive our health care. But I often wonder, you know, no matter how many health care czars we hire from far and wide, Mr. Speaker, will they get to the root of some of these challenges our system is facing?

Mr. Speaker, it seems to be that we're giving glazing efforts towards the management and relationship challenges, the pay equity challenges, and certainly the working condition challenges. Mr. Speaker, to go back, we don't seem to spend the time about finding out why the frustrations are there with the management challenges. No, we just assume everything's good, and if you hire the guy from Regina to go through it, well, heck, you know, he'll hear what he's paid for to hear. He's hired by senior management to look at the system. Well, he's not going to be as critical on the system as one would think. Mr. Speaker, pay equity, often we hear about -

-- point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Member from Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is speaking about an identifiable individual who is not in the chamber to defend himself. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Hay River North. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Colleagues, it was a very close line. Please let's not do semantics in saying could be where, it should have, would have. Let's be very respectful of our people in the public service. At this point in time, there is no point of order, but I appreciate us making sure we're aware of this situation.

Member from Yellowknife Centre, please conclude your -- or back to your statement, please.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the chance to finish, uninterrupted hopefully.

That said, Mr. Speaker, we should be talking about ratios. MIT did a review years ago, I seem to read, which was we're not computers; we're people, which is you can only challenge and stress the system so much whereas in nursing ratios asked the question can we allow our teams to focus in a reasonable and balanced way? Mr. Speaker, I'll end with this because I can't seem to -- I don't have enough time to finish my statement. I'll say you can only work the system to the bone and expect best results, but if you work the system to the bone, all you're going to get is a bony system and nobody wants that, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Members' statements. Member from Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Saturday, tomorrow, the community of Hay River will be hosting its annual lobster do. It's a much-anticipated event in Hay River. It's an opportunity for the community to get together. After a long cold winter, it's one of our first big annual events.

I would like to take a moment to thank all the volunteers, as much of the people that are going, it takes that amount of people of volunteers in the background to host this event, preparing and cooking hundreds and hundreds of lobsters for the community that go. It is sold out, so that's a good thing. Hopefully, there's a few Yellowknifers that decided to skip across the lake to the sunny side and take in the event. I would also like to mention that a lot of the funds from this event go to community functions, so it's a community event that raises money for the community. Although I won't be there this weekend, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to wish them a very successful, fun event for this Saturday. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Hay River South. One of these years, I'll hopefully get there. Members' statements.

Colleagues, on Monday my Member's statements will be about three amazing young ladies from Fort Simpson who are giving back to their community. Today I would like to talk about a couple of other amazing people from the community of Fort Liard.

Roslyn Firth and her husband returned to the community to help the hamlet of Fort Liard. Roslyn took on the role of helping run the community's recreation and youth department. One of her main goals were to help train a local person to take over. I am proud to say as of April 1st, 2025, Holly Fantasque is the manager of recreation and youth programs for the hamlet of Fort Liard. I would like to thank Roslyn for coming back to the community and providing Holly the support and encouragement she needed.

Holly lived her whole life in Fort Liard and graduated from Echo Dene School in 2019. She was a member of the Liard Giants soccer team for eight years and attended many soccer competitions in the Deh Cho region and beyond. She travelled to Spain with a group of Liard soccer players in 2017, a trip that took them around Spain and to the soccer stadium in Barcelona.

I am proud to say that I had the pleasure of knowing this young lady since 2011. I witnessed her being a member of the community soccer program. I can tell you she was always a leader and encouraging others to do their best. It was not about winning for her; It was about doing her best on and off the soccer pitch. I personally felt that she would be great in whatever career she would choose. I may be a bit biased, but I am glad when I heard that she decided to enter the field of recreation. I was very excited.

Holly completed the recreation and northern leadership and recreation and northern management courses within 14 months in 2024 and 2025 and was an outstanding student. She completed her Indigenous Sports Circle training modules, mental health first aid for those supporting youth, and her C diploma with Grassroots Canada soccer in 2024-2025. Holly is a very capable young woman and no doubt has a long and successful career ahead of her. Liard is fortunate to have her on board, and I'd like to wish her all the best.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to take the opportunity to recognize one of our pages - who's just left the room a second ago. Sam MacKay is a Yellowknife North constituent, and I want to thank all the other pages as well here today from St. Pat's High School, which is also in my riding. And I believe Sam's parents were up in the bleachers a few minutes ago but are no longer but wanted to welcome Bill MacKay and Sarah Flaherty to the House as well. Thanks for being here and for being Sam's parents.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to welcome our guests from the Auditor General's office, Mr. Jerry Demarco, Ms. Carey Agnew, and Ms. Emilie Anne Duval. It's great to have their assistance at the Standing Committee of Public Accounts. We had a wonderful meeting with them last night, and we look forward to seeing them again soon. Thank you. Thank you for being here.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Yellowknife South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to have a representative from Yellowknife South acting as a page this week. Nia Nichols is a student at St. Pat's, and thank you for your service this week.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chamber. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to see people in the gallery, and I'd like to thank you for allowing us to represent the people of the Northwest Territories.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won't be asking questions regarding ratios because my colleague from Great Slave had raised it the other day, and it seems like it's moving forward. But I'll focus in on the administration process and the analysis.

Mr. Speaker, during a public committee hearing, one of the questions I had that never got answered was our health care czar is travelling far, wide, and whatnot, up and down wherever, and from wherever apparently -- that causes issues with individuals but I'll recognize that -- that despite that they're a publicly appointed administrator, I would like the schedule published as to who they've spoken to, when they've spoken to them, and where they're going. Because it's very important that Northerners see what's being done and also feel what's being done. So is the Minister able to publicize their schedule? Thank you.