Thank you. Please be seated. I'd like to thank Mary Jane Cazon for the opening prayer and reflection.

Ministers' statements. Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to update Members on the formal intergovernmental meetings that I have taken part in this spring and those still to come. These are valuable opportunities to advance our priorities and strengthen partnerships with Indigenous governments and with federal, provincial, and territorial colleagues. They are helpful in educating other jurisdictions about the Northwest Territories and our government mandate, and to ensure that northern perspectives are reflected in discussions of national importance.

Throughout April and early May, Cabinet participated in several important bilateral meetings with Indigenous governments. On April 8th we had the pleasure of being hosted by the Salt River First Nation in Fort Smith. On April 17th we met with Sahtuì Secretariat Incorporated in Yellowknife. The Deline Got'ine government hosted us in Deline on April 24th. On May 5th the Tlicho government hosted us in Behchoko; and, on May 6th, we met with the Northwest Territories Metis Nation in Hay River. These meetings are valuable opportunities for our governments to address shared concerns and to make progress on our commitments.

Although all of these governments have different structures, interests and priorities, there were a number of common themes in our discussions, including concerns about the illicit drug crisis, crime, and supports for mental health and wellness. These discussions help ensure this government's work recognizes the interests of modern and historic treaties, acknowledges the unique governance and cultural needs of Indigenous governments, and helps us understand regional and community perspectives across the territory.

Mr. Speaker, from May 1st to 4th, I participated in the Northern Premiers' Forum in Haines Junction, Yukon alongside the Premiers of Yukon and Nunavut. This annual meeting among the three territories is a crucial venue to work together on shared challenges and opportunities unique to the North. We discussed Arctic security and sovereignty, the economy, critical infrastructure, and the health and well-being of northern people and communities. We were warmly welcomed by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation and the community of Haines Junction, and I thank them for their wonderful northern hospitality. I look forward to hosting the 2026 Northern Premiers' Forum here in the Northwest Territories.

On May 21st and 22nd, I had the honour of hosting the Western Premiers' Conference, which brings together Premiers from the four western provinces and all three northern territories to discuss issues of mutual interest and importance. The last time the Northwest Territories hosted the Western Premiers' Conference was in 2018.

Hosting the conference offers a unique opportunity to showcase the strength, resilience, and potential of northern people, northern communities, and northern economies. I chaired discussions on a range of pressing issues, including responses to international trade and tariffs, economic corridors and supply chain resilience, Arctic security, climate change and emergency preparedness, and housing.

Mr. Speaker, on June 2nd, I will participate in a First Ministers' meeting, which includes the Prime Minister and all thirteen Premiers, in Saskatoon. First Ministers have been meeting quite regularly over the last few months, both virtually and in-person, as we deal with geopolitical shifts and reimagine Canada's economic and foreign policy future. I expect the meeting in Saskatoon will focus on working together, as Team Canada, to grow the economy through building major projects, and addressing tariffs and other threats to Canadian security and sovereignty.

From June 17th to 19th, the Government of the Northwest Territories will participate in a meeting of the Northwest Territories Council of Leaders in Behchoko, chaired by ek'wahtydi // Danny Gaudet. The Council of Leaders is an important venue where partners come together to collaborate on issues of shared interest. At this year's meeting, discussions will focus on strengthening intergovernmental cooperation on education and climate change, supporting healthy and vibrant communities, and working together to improve programs and services for all residents. Strengthening the Northwest Territories Council of Leaders is critical to building a future rooted in partnership and mutual respect.

To cap off the spring and summer meetings, I will represent the Northwest Territories at the Council of the Federation meeting in Huntsville, Ontario from July 21st to 23rd. The Council of the Federation is made up of all Canadian Premiers. We anticipate discussions will focus on national security, Canada-US relationships, trade diversification, strategic infrastructure and energy projects, internal trade, labour mobility, immigration, health, and public safety.

Mr. Speaker, intergovernmental collaboration is essential to advancing the interests of Northerners. We are stronger when we work together, and we make the most progress on our shared priorities when we present a united front. These forums are important opportunities to raise our voices, promote our priorities, and build the partnerships necessary to ensure a strong, prosperous future for the Northwest Territories.

I look forward to continuing to collaborate with Indigenous leaders, with my fellow Premiers, and to proudly represent the people and interests of the Northwest Territories in these important discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to building more homes for Northerners. This commitment is strongly supported by a large new incremental investment in housing totaling $150 million over the remaining term of the 20th Legislative Assembly. The investment is the result of strong collaboration by all Members of this House and highlights the strength of our consensus government system. Improving the suitability, accessibility, and affordability of housing is a top priority of this government.

This investment plan focuses on sustaining the public housing portfolio by replacing aged housing assets and retrofitting units to improve condition and extend their service life and reduce the risk of housing units aging out of service. Additionally, it adjusts the housing portfolio to align with the current and future demographic trends to be consistent with the territorial housing needs assessment that is currently underway. Over the next three-years, these investments will target a total of approximately 750 housing units, representing a third of the public housing inventory.

These new projects are in addition to 159 active modernization projects and 17 public housing replacement units that are currently being delivered in communities across the Northwest Territories during this summer's construction season. Construction has also started on a 50-unit mixed-use building in Yellowknife, which will involve the rapid assembly of timber structural panels and include biomass and heat pump technology for all building heat loads. Housing NWT will also complete a biomass conversion project at our seniors' multiplex in Fort Providence converting the multiplex from fossil fuels to a renewable primary heat source. These two projects demonstrate scalable approaches to sustainability in housing.

The GNWT, in the life of this Legislative Assembly, has completed 81 units of new housing, has 67 units of new housing in progress, and will execute on 144 more, funded through the $150 million investment. By the end of this government, Housing NWT will have completed 292 new housing units.

Mr. Speaker, these investments also present strong and new economic opportunities for Northerners engaged in the residential construction sector. In the past fiscal year, Housing NWT awarded 99 percent of its contracts to local and NWT businesses, demonstrating that investments in housing are direct investments in economic growth. This growth is further supported by the requirement for apprenticeship work assignments in all new Housing NWT construction contracts, which supports development of skilled tradespeople in NWT communities.

In line with supporting new opportunities for Northerners, Housing NWT and an NWT general contractor will be hosting a job fair in Deline in June. Supported by the Deline Got'ine government, this fair will offer local opportunities for constructing two prototype hybrid duplexes, which combine the best attributes of modular and stick-built construction methods. This work is being supported by a research grant from the National Research Council, emphasizing a shared commitment to innovation in the housing sector between the GNWT, Canada, the community of Deline, and contracting partner Arcan Construction.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to update this House and the public on the progress of Housing NWT's capital projects, highlighting the impact on social outcomes, innovative approaches, and increasing economic opportunities for northern businesses.
In addition to the large investment by this government, Housing NWT continues to actively work with federal partners to secure additional federal funding to strengthen our capital delivery plan. This government remains focused on addressing the housing challenges in the Northwest Territories, enhancing the quality of life for all residents, and building more homes for Northerners. Quyananni, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Ministers' statements. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.

Mr. Speaker, the 2025 wildfire season is now underway, and our team is ready to respond. Response is just one part of the equation. Readiness and preparedness are equally critical.

Following the 2023 season, the GNWT has enhanced its wildfire management program through strategic investments and initiatives. Today, I will update Members on the investments we have made that are helping us build a more prepared and resilient territory.

Mr. Speaker, for the first time, in partnership with the NWT Association of Communities, we sponsored all Indigenous governments and community governments to attend a wildfire preparedness workshop in Yellowknife before the 2025 fire season. This workshop focused on sharing knowledge and practical ideas about wildfires and how to prepare for them.
It brought together 30 members of local fire and public works departments, representing 17 communities. They participated in cross-training exercises to build their knowledge of structural protection equipment and strategies for defending their neighbourhoods.

Mr. Speaker, funding has traditionally been a challenge for communities in preparing for wildfires. Through a number of initiatives championed by the GNWT, we are seeing historic investment in wildfire preparedness. Following the unprecedented season of 2023, we acted quickly to secure and leverage new funding from the Government of Canada to support community wildfire readiness.

This year, the GNWT launched the FireSmart community wildfire resilience contribution program, which will provide nearly $2 million annually in FireSmart projects, including education, vegetation management, training and equipment, each designed to help communities become more wildfire ready. This program is funded through fiscal year 2027-2028, and early uptake has been promising. This initiative builds on the nearly $20 million leveraged by the NWT Association of Communities, in partnership with the GNWT, to complete fuel break projects in line with each forested community's community wildfire protection plans. This investment began in 2020 and will continue through 2030, with additional projects launching every year.

Mr. Speaker, we have also heard from NWT communities and local fire departments about the need for more training and support to participate in wildland urban interface responses. To address this, the GNWT plans to deliver basic wildland urban interface response training in several communities this summer, targeting local firefighters, public works professionals, and facility managers.
The training will provide familiarity with structural assessment and triage, familiarize local staff with key equipment, and increase resources to protect communities if wildfires threaten them.

This renewed focus on training local fire departments will lay the groundwork for developing a wildland urban interface response framework, in partnership with municipal and community affairs, the Office of the Fire Marshal, and fire departments across the territory. Together, we will build northern solutions and support local communities to ensure the NWT is better prepared to respond to future wildfires and urban interface events.

Mr. Speaker, knowledge is the cornerstone of success in wildfire resilience. To that end, we have invested in building a broad FireSmart network that is ready to expand FireSmart knowledge across the NWT. We have trained local fire departments across the territory to deliver the FireSmart advanced home assessment and neighbourhood recognition programs and have expanded our capacity to deliver these programs within our wildfire service. With over 100 assessments requested and three neighborhoods interested in recognition this engagement season, residents are eager to participate. We are also increasing our presence in schools and communities by holding information events and conducting outreach, supported by investments in public education campaigns, to encourage residents to take FireSmart action.

Mr. Speaker, these efforts make real progress as we continue to work toward a more wildfire-ready territory. But there is still more to be done. The journey to wildfire readiness is ongoing. It must be reflected in the actions of all sectors of society day after day, month after month, and year after year.

The GNWT is committed to supporting these efforts across all sectors to build safer communities, ready to respond and recover from emergencies, and better prepared to adapt to the challenges of a changing climate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Ministers' statements. Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, will be absent from the House for a portion of today's proceedings today to meet with the Forum of Labour Market Ministers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to talk about the upcoming territorial election. It may only be two years away, Mr. Speaker, but more importantly is you can never start thinking ahead too soon.

Mr. Speaker, with only a few days in this sitting left, we have to work as hard as we can to squeeze the issues in. One particular topic I want to highlight today is preferential balloting, Mr. Speaker. Interestingly enough, you know, I would love to ask the Speaker questions on this but, of course, our rules of our House don't allow this. I would grill you, of course, in the most respectful, as you can -- one could only imagine. But for the past three months in advance of the last federal election, different people were chatting, and I heard them, whether it was at Tim Hortons or Starbucks or even Javaroma, you'd hear people asking, you know, why do we vote? So when you hear voter apathy is high and engagement is low, you start to wonder, like, how do we change the system and conversation in getting these types of discussions. And certainly, one of the conversations is preferential balloting.

So my research went so far a few months ago to look into when was the last time the territory -- NWT, that is, had a plebiscite. It was actually back in 1982 and 1992 was the last time the citizens were faced with a question that was paramount to the future of the Northwest Territories, and it was about division, Mr. Speaker. The question is was that the right direction to go and how would it look. At the end of the day, we know how it went.

Mr. Speaker, as a plebiscite at that time, it took three and a half months to organize, so is it wasn't an undertaking that considered itself so impossible. So with approximately 860 days left in this particular mandate -- and some days I think it can't come too soon -- Mr. Speaker, is now a good time to start talking about our voting system to create voter engagement?

Mr. Speaker, I propose, similar to what the Yukon has said in the CBC article the other day, of which I want to say I was really excited to see someone else's thinking similar along the lines, is what if we put a nonbinding question to the people of the North for guidance in asking them would this help engagement; would this create more belief in our system? A preferential balloting system may not be perfect but now we're getting closer to perfect.

Mr. Speaker, again, voting apathy is high, engagement is low, and we can keep trying to shake the box and expect different results, but maybe sometimes we got to start thinking out of the box and finding a different method to engage our citizens to get a better result. At the end of the day, this is a caucus decision and an Assembly decision. There is no one Minister who will take responsibility for this and as such, Mr. Speaker, you're off the hook of questions today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. You would have probably got a lot of no's from me.

Members' statements. Member from Range Lake.

Mr. Speaker, not only are perspective residents turning away from our territory due to soaring housing costs that prevent them from finding a home, but we're also now losing families long rooted in our communities to a cost of living crisis that is pricing them out of the homes they've lived in for generations. For these families, leaving the North was once unimaginable but with every power bill, the uneasy reality sets in: They may no longer have a choice.

Northerners now pay nearly double the national average per kilowatt hour, prices exacerbated by the fact we consume far more electricity than those in southern provinces. While it's true the North often ranks higher on price indexes due to our vast and remote geography and challenging climate, this is no justification when we now not only pay significantly more than Yukon but have officially surpassed Nunavut to hold the unfortunate title of having the most unaffordable electricity rates in the country.

This summer I've heard again and again from constituents -- and the summer just started, Mr. Speaker -- who are looking forward to the relief from the milder weather. Usually, that relief usually brings to their pocketbooks, a time when they can unplug their vehicles and turn down the heat. Yet, despite their optimism, they've been afforded no such break. Many are still facing power bills well over $500 a month. The Minister has stated repeatedly that she has protected these families and all Northerners from steeper rate hikes, but what comfort does that offer when their bills remain unimaginable and further increases loom on the horizon? Reducing the pace of these increases isn't enough. We need lower energy prices outright otherwise, in a cruel twist of irony, the government might solve our housing shortage, not by building more homes but by triggering an exodus of Northerners in search of affordable living elsewhere. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a constituent reached out to me recently to share their concern and disappointment at the lack of midwifery services in Yellowknife. She found out she was pregnant at the end of January and contacted me to share her experience so far. What should be an exciting time for her has been overshadowed by concern and anxiety given the state of health care in the capital. She's been on the waiting list for a family doctor for over four years now and does not currently have one or assignment to an integrated care team. The standard for prenatal care is to have your pregnancy confirmed by a blood test and be seen in the first trimester, anywhere from 8 to 11 weeks. She never had that blood test and did not see a doctor until she was already at 11 weeks. During her first trimester, she was overwhelmed by anxiety as she felt she had nowhere to go to ask questions. Attempting to get a same-day appointment was next to impossible, and she felt dismissed when she spoke to a nurse via 8-1-1. Most of the information she has gotten about prenatal care has come from apps, pregnancy books, and speaking with friends. Mr. Speaker, the internet can be a good place for some health information but can also be a dangerous source of misinformation and needs to be balanced with professional advice.

Mr. Speaker, my constituent has a friend in Alberta who is also pregnant where midwives are offered and covered by provincial health care, and their experiences could not be more different. Her friend has access to a midwife whom she can text 24/7 for advice, and she feels strongly supported. My constituent can't help but wonder if she should be considering moving somewhere that she knows this kind of support is available.

Mr. Speaker, I don't want residents to be forced to consider this kind of choice. If the government wants people to feel confident in their choice to make this territory their home and start families here, they need to feel supported by and confident in our healthcare system. Midwifery services are a critical component of primary care. The need for this service is not going away, nor is the demand for it, which is why it keeps coming up in the House again and again and will continue to until we have established a program which offers access to midwifery in all of our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about the upcoming Arctic Development Expo taking place in Inuvik from June 17th to the 19th. Mr. Speaker, this show was established in 2001 which is their 24th year, if my math is correct. Certainly, it started out as the Inuvik Petroleum Show, some may remember, in anticipation of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline at the time. And back when the show first began, we had as many as 600 delegates attending in Inuvik which was certainly an exciting time and also a great economic boom obviously for the region. It's an opportunity for governments, territorial governments, federal governments, Indigenous governments, NGOs to get together and discuss issues that are facing us all.

This year's theme, Mr. Speaker, is preparing for our future in a changing Arctic, and certainly on the heals of the Western Premiers' Conference that was held here in our capital, and the Premier spoke to that this morning, certainly the timing is good, and if you look at the agenda the themes that will be discussed up there are certainly very similar to what was discussed amongst the Premiers here in Yellowknife.

Some of the discussions, Mr. Speaker, I know Minister Wawzonek will be making a keynote presentation on the GNWT's strategic infrastructure. I know our Premier will be sending in his opening remarks as well. It does coincide with the Council of Leaders so the Premier won't be able to attend, but, certainly, we appreciate him being able to give some opening comments. Other people attending, other discussions, will be around critical infrastructure for Arctic security, discussions on affordable energy and efficient Arctic housing, sovereignty and security in a changing Arctic, as well as Senators Anderson from the NWT and Senator Duncan from the Yukon territory will be in attendance to discuss Arctic security and sovereignty planning. So, again, very, very similar to what we've been discussing in this House and certainly what the Premier has been bringing forward as well.

So super excited, Mr. Speaker. I wish Mayor Clarkson, his council, his amazing staff, and a group of volunteers that it takes to put this show on every year, every success. Inuvik has been great in pivoting as we moved away from the Mackenzie Valley pipeline project into other areas around energy and around developing the Arctic, and the show has been a huge success every year because of that. So wish them all the best and I look forward to seeing hopefully some of you there. If not, they do live stream it, and I have a copy of the agenda if you'd like to have it. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Members' statements. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, staffing shortages in Yellowknife often make headlines, but the strain is even greater in the smaller, remote communities. A national shortage of healthcare professionals compounded by distance, limited housing, leaves many healthcare centres and health cabins understaffed and residents waiting. Earlier this month, the Minister of health and the public administrator for the health authority released a work plan centered on access, sustainability, governance, and streamline the administration, all viewed through a small community lens.

Planning is essential. That plan now guides the next steps of our health system as they work to make major improvements before the end of this Assembly. My preference is sooner, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to hear that work is underway by both the department of health and health authority to improve access to care in our small communities. We hear on the news about staffing complaints in the capital, and I don't want to downplay those concerns, but some of our small communities don't even have access to the health community health nurse every day. In some of our smallest communities, health and social services staff only visit the community on a rotational basis, and the frequency of those visits is often impacted by staffing levels in the rest of the region.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister and the new public health administrator have shared their work plan to make improvements that aims to address access to care in small communities. Part of that plan is intended to address recruitment and retention across the territory, and we know that when our small communities are adequately staffed, pressure eases on the regional centres and on the territorial hospital, which benefits the entire system. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to seeing the Minister's plan unfold. I look forward to seeing improvements in our small communities. I understand there are complex challenges and there is no quick fix, but I believe the Minister's focus on access to care and services in small communities is the right one, and I'm very hopeful that in addressing this, we'll build a better, stronger healthcare system for all NWT residents. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife North.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about proper channels. GNWT employees, including frontline health workers, are often told if you have a concern, you have to go through the proper channel. Don't take it to the political level, don't take it to the media. And that's all well and good until that refrain is used as an excuse not to do anything or not to take responsibility or to make staff who are already overwhelmed chase after yet another manager or fill out yet another form.

Sometimes staff have already gone through every channel available to them, and no solution has been communicated back to them, and the emergency is looming, and they see no relief coming. And sometimes the proper channel doesn't even exist in the first place. And those staff who really care have to fight to create a brandnew channel.

I've spoken to nurses who were around back in 1988 when the Public Service Act was first created. Nurses fought then against being forcibly incorporated into the Union of Northern Workers under one big collective agreement. They took it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and they lost because the court at that time said if you don't like it, your proper channel is to go lobby your MLAs, get them to change the laws so you get the bargaining agent that you want. Ironically, that's exactly what NWT nurses have been doing recently. And we are being told that actually that's not the proper channel at all, that they need to go through their existing union, go through HR, go through the government.

Mr. Speaker, there are no proper channels to effect this change. We have legislated a monopoly. The law gives all the power to the UNW to speak for public service employees and no power to employees themselves to choose their bargaining agent; no power to important groups such as nurses who will always be a minority within the broader UNW.

Mr. Speaker, if the only proper channel is to convince the group that's currently guaranteed a monopoly to voluntarily give up some of its power, then that is not a proper channel at all. And that's not the UNW's fault. The legislation is the problem. We need to stop scolding our staff for doing things the wrong way and get busy creating new proper channels. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we need strong wellness supports in the Northwest Territories, specifically Indigenous and elder led counselling in the community counselling program. Mr. Speaker, our elders have knowledge, strength, and teaching that have sustained our communities through the trauma of colonizations, colonization and the loss of language and culture. Yet too often, elders are left out of discussions when the government is putting systems in place to support our people.

Mr. Speaker, many Indigenous people are struggling with intergenerational trauma and the ongoing impacts of residential schools. We need our elders and traditional knowledge. Counselling and mental health supports are good to have, but they do not meet all the cultural and spiritual needs of our communities.

Mr. Speaker, when we sit with elders and they speak their language, when we hear their traditional stories, we begin to reconnect with who we are. We find strength. People who are struggling to find hope and they find healing that is grounded in the land and our values. We need to recognize the importance of traditional knowledge systems, supporting language revitalization, and ensuring elders are able to provide counselling to those in need. I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Members' statements.

Colleagues, Fort Simpson is fortunate to have participants in sports programs step up and new coaches developing athletes. These youth are stepping up, volunteering their time, and giving back to younger kids so they can learn new motor skills, have opportunities, build relationship skills, and travel. They are great role models for the younger generation as they are leaders and supports for these athletes. They prepare coaching plans, run practices, give feedback, fundraise, organize travel and accommodation, enter competitions, and spend hours supporting the kids they coach. They exemplify what it means to be a capable Northerner and make our community proud.

Fort Simpson Speed Skating Club is very lucky to have past skaters return to help coach and develop the current skaters in the club:

This past winter Ava Erasmus joined Fort Simpson Speed Skating coaching staff. Ava, now 20, had skated with the club since she was 7. After a couple of years absence as she went to university, Ava has returned bringing her skills, fun, and hardworking values to share with our skaters. Madison Pilling, also a former club skater, returned to coaching here after going to university. Madison brings her technical and race skills along with innovative training techniques to support and develop our skaters. Both Madison and Ava are looked up to by the young skaters who work hard for them and enjoy spending time together, so much that they are planning a summer bike team.

Soccer players in grade 4 to 7 are lucky enough to have Gombee Jose coach them twice a week since late August. Gombee is a grade 11 student at Liidlii Kue Regional High School in Fort Simpson. Gombee saw the need to increase practice time and skill development after LKFN kids last year's trip to Super Soccer. On her own, she decided to dedicate her time and efforts to helping these young athletes improve their skills. In the past two months, she has faced roadblocks along the way in helping these kids. However, she has persevered which shows her capabilities and strength. Not only has she done hours of coaching, but she has also raised funds for soccer gear for the kids, uniforms, and travel. Gombee is a great leader.

The effort and dedication and positive impacts of these young women are very much appreciated in Fort Simpson. We look forward to seeing what they and our athletes will do in the future. I would like you to give them a big round of applause for giving back to the community in the sports they love.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Ms. Denise McKee, the executive director of the NWT Disability Council who is joining us here today in the gallery. As we begin National Accessibility Week today, I want to acknowledge and commend her leadership and the council's partnership with GNWT which continues to advance inclusion and support for people with disabilities across our territories. Welcome to the House, Ms. McKee. Thank you.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also wish to recognize CEO of the NWT Disability Council, Ms. Denise McKee, who is my constituent. Thank you for being with us here today.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Yellowknife South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize Sheila Laity. She is a registered nurse and nurse practitioner, and resident of Yellowknife South, and also a long-term advocate for her profession. Thank you.

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

It's always a surprise today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize, first, Andrew Gregory, who is the clinical coordinator at the emergency room and intensive care unit at Stanton Hospital, a Yellowknife North constituent. And also to recognize Sahkeb Sadecki, another registered nurse with Local 11 and the UNW. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I have a couple.

One is Tegah Connelly from the Mackenzie Delta. Thank you very much for being here. As well, I was told if I did not do this I would get in trouble, so -- and this is from a former Member, Mr. Rocky Simpson -- he would like me to recognize Betty Simpson here, the Premier's mom, wanting to making sure he's doing a great job here today. So thank you very much for being here.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chamber. I hope you enjoy the proceeding. It's always nice to see people in the gallery, and we would like to thank you very much for allowing us to represent the people of the Northwest Territories for the 20th Assembly.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corp. Perhaps we can start with an update with respect to the overall Taltson project. And when I refer to update, maybe some timelines including costing. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister from NTPC. Sorry, I had a note that I get sidetracked.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm always very happy to talk about the Taltson project that we have underway right now. This is a project that is a partnership amongst the GNWT as one member of the MOU, but our other members are the communities and nations that are around the watershed region, so Akaitcho First Nation, Salt River First Nation, and Northwest Territories Metis Nation. We sit regularly. We had a steering committee meeting just before session commenced, and it was an opportunity for us to reaffirm commitment to the project, met with the Canada Infrastructure Bank, in fact, at that time, and we had an opportunity to discuss the next step which would be actually creating sort of project company or a project co and to determine then what kind of financial arrangement we might be able to find ourselves in in order to take this on to its next steps.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know that there's been a public release of any preliminary budgetary information at this point. I'm not going to take that step here on the floor. Certainly would be happy to come back to committee and provide an in-camera briefing but also can certainly assure the House that we are working towards getting, as I said, a project company into its -- into existence, and that will be a major next step for us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister able to provide any detail to the first question asked, which was can she provide some specifics around the costing and timing. And I'll be very clear, Mr. Speaker - referring to what is the anticipated project cost and when would we expect something to actually prove to fruition in the sense of come online. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in response to the first series of questions, this is not a project where there is, to my recollection, a firm budget that's been provided publicly, and this is not the place to be doing that. But, Mr. Speaker, with respect to timelines, the second question -- of the second question, Mr. Speaker, we are still working towards having the system online for 2033. Quite a lot of things do have to fall into place. First and foremost, Mr. Speaker, there are legacy issues surrounding the original Taltson Dam that date back to the 1960s and '70s, and that is a first priority for myself and for the other nation members of the MOU. But beyond that, the next step that we are in, Mr. Speaker, is to get this project in for an EA. We are hopeful to have that work done over this fall. Individual members of the MOU are each taking on parts. For example, YKDFN are looking at where the line might line here on the north side of the lake while the nations from the south side are looking at where it might begin. So that work is well underway, and we're looking forward to, with that, being able to go into an EA, again, as soon as possible so that we can move forward to regulatory proceedings thereafter. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister responsible for NWT Power Corp. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, it's difficult to sort of give a quantum as to what it's worth versus what it's timed versus how much Ottawa is giving. Like, we don't know, and that's kind of the question that's being asked. Because I don't even know if we should be pursuing the Taltson project given the fact that, remember, it doesn't go far back that the Mackenzie Valley pipeline dream died because it was studied to death and by the time -- so, Mr. Speaker, my question, really, is focused in on is this the right opportunity? Because I've heard the Taltson project when I came in the House in 2003.

So to shorten up to a sure question, Mr. Speaker, could the government consider, or has the government ever considered, maybe bringing north -- sorry, power north from Alberta because they have a much straight -- simpler and straightforward regulatory regime that's interested in being in business and getting things done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I would be very happy to appear in front of committee. In fact, perhaps a public briefing would be most appropriate to be able to give much more lengthy answers to all of these questions. This is an opportunity with this project to connect 70 percent of the population of the Northwest Territories to hydro. It's an opportunity to take advantage of energy that is spilling over at the current facility in Taltson Dam. It's an opportunity to link our grids, which are currently disconnected grids which is a huge problem for our energy costs and for sustainability and reliability of our system. And, Mr. Speaker, yes, we certainly have looked at running power lines south, both in towards Saskatchewan, down towards Alberta.

Transmission lines do not come cheap. There are several hundreds of thousands of dollars per kilometer. And so, Mr. Speaker, with that, this opportunity to advance the project with partners from this watershed and one that has a sustainable and reliable source of power, yes, Mr. Speaker, in my view it certainly is an important project. We're farther than we ever have been, and I think we're in a good place to move it forward and see some significant progress in the life of this government. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister responsible for NT Power Corp. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement today, my first question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is I'm glad to see the Minister's focused on improving care and services in in the small communities. Will she commit to creating and implementing clear service standards that make community members can expect as part of the work her department's doing. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within health and social services, there are core services -- standards do exist throughout the Northwest Territories but right now, what's happening is we are reviewing those and focusing on updating a lot of those core service standards to ensure better supports and guidance for health and social services authorities implementing these standards, and that's one of the things that we are focusing on. And hopefully that these recommendations from that review will help to move these next steps forward by this summer that we will have that finalized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information and reply.

My next question to the Minister is the work plan developed with the public administrator promises improvements to the healthcare system within the year. What specific recruitment and retention targets, such as vacancy rate reductions, will the Minister use to measure success in small and remote communities and will she report those results publicly? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we will be publishing right shortly is the people strategy which goes into detail on our updated plan for recruitment and retention that's guided by feedback from staff and residents. I'm looking forward to being able to brief standing committee on that strategy. While the success of this strategy is -- will not be seen instantly, it aims for this as to be continuous improvement and feedback from the staff. So one of the things with part of the question is assessing the progress in small and remote communities, so one of the key areas that we are striving to document is these vacancy rates. So in these frontline positions, so how long it takes to fill these positions, as well as responses to exit surveys, when employees leave our system, and we can use this data quarter -- to compare quarter to quarter, year to year, and so that we can see whether things are improving with the people's strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that information.

My last question, in my statement I noticed that -- I noted that fully staffed small communities relieve pressure on regional centres, on the territorial hospital as well. How will the Minister's department track and report the system's wide impact? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while there's limited access to care in small communities, patients often have to travel elsewhere. And with our limited, you know -- Members of this House have brought up many times other alternative measures that we are looking at right now as virtual care and also with the public administrator going into each of the regions to see what is actually needed and what can be implemented as soon as possible in those small communities that could help promote the health of the people in those communities while reducing their need to always have to travel into the regional centres. While improving service delivery and access is essential, we -- I totally agree that we need to make sure and to track the progress and impacts of those improvements. So our ongoing work to strengthen service in small communities includes building a robust, more monitoring, and reporting tools because that's something, you know -- in health, we continue to just go and find ways to resolve the issues and then we don't usually do a good thing because we're a 365-day, year, so those are things that we are working on. So the tools will allow us to measure performance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as Members are aware, the business community and newcomer community in Yellowknife are very anxious about expiring work permits. Can the Minister please share what provisions she is seeking from the new federal government on drastically reduced allotment of spaces in the NWT nominee program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. I'm assuming Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a starter I am seeking that our allotment of 300 be restored with greater flexibility. This has been communicated in a letter. And I intend to travel to Ottawa as soon as we're done session so that I can continue that conversation in person. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. I'm glad that she is seeing the urgency on this.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister elaborate if she's working with her Cabinet colleagues to ensure information about critical service extensions, such as driver's license and health care access, is being made accessible to organizations that support newcomers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Both myself at a political level and also at an official's level, the government is working to ensure that we are unified. In support, sometimes we do receive outreach from newcomers who do require support, and we're always as MLAs happy to provide it. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for that. Will she be speaking to her federal counterpart about the need for newcomer services specifically, not just permanent residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very happy to share with the House today some greater detail of what I have started the conversation with, with the federal minister. That includes restoring our nominee allocation with greater flexibility. It also includes engaging directly with northern stakeholders. Nothing beats hearing a personal story from a Northerner to help understand our northern and territorial context. It also includes extending the GNWT -- or working with the GNWT to extend work permits to people working in the territory and increase investment in settlement services. And one of the things I hear greatly about is that there are gaps in how we can apply those settlement services in the territory. So that conversation is not only around increasing supports, but also broadening supports. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier in the day, my constituents are very frustrated with the high cost of power in the Northwest Territories. We have a limited rate base, and we keep squeezing them, and there's nowhere else to charge. So does the Minister have some concrete policy proposals, infrastructure investments, or other forms of change that we can bring to our power system to give Northerners some relief because they're tired of paying these bills, and it's driving people out of their homes as I said. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of NTPC.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the energy systems of the Northwest Territories are in dire need of significant nation scale investment. We need the federal government to be paying attention to the situation we find ourselves in. Residents across this territory are facing not only the high cost that they currently pay. That is also significantly subsidized by the GNWT just to keep the power bills of where they are.

Mr. Speaker, we are not alone. The Yukon right now is proposing a 34 percent increase to their power bills. Nunavut pays an even larger subsidy than we do on their power bills to keep their bills lower for residents.

That doesn't solve the problem, Mr. Speaker. This is a national scale problem. We're not on the North American energy grid. We're own our own. We have almost 20 some different individual micro grids, Mr. Speaker, and so we need the federal government to look at us, to look at projects like Taltson that will start to link our systems, that will look at some of the micro hydro projects that are being examined by Indigenous governments on their lands and, frankly, to consider whether or not there's some other pilot projects that are happening elsewhere in Canada that need to happen in the North so that they're regulated for the northern climate, northern context, and can be brought online to actually fundamentally change the systems that we're in. That's how we're going to get this problem solved. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, my honourable friend from Yellowknife Centre talked about the challenge to the Taltson project and perhaps the optimism around it that might not be realized, and certainly, these are large scale infrastructures. So she said with projects that will take time and investment to pull off and, of course, federal investment. Hopefully, our northern Prime Minister understands that. Nunavut pays more in subsidies. Will the Minister increase the power rate subsidies to give Northerners a break? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are still currently in this process of a general rate application that was required by the public utilities board, so at this point we are waiting to see what the public utilities board comes back with.

We are also then very much eagerly anticipating the response of the public utilities board to the 13 different policy proposals that we have put forward as a government to look at ways to change and improve the overall structure and system of the GNWT or of the Northwest Territories power systems, and that includes looking at things like power systems plannings and how people might be able to have net metering changes and communities can enter into independent power producer arrangements. Those are all things that will start to change the way that we are operating. But, again, at the moment I'm waiting on the public utilities board, and I am sure they are diligently doing their work. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister responsible for NTPC. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of -- the net metering policy is long overdue, so I hope the board agrees with the Minister because we could have had some cheaper renewables a long time ago if we had had a more favourable rate like they have in Yukon. So we're in 2025, Mr. Speaker. We have AI technology. We have new technologies. There's lots of companies out there who are promising to save this government money by implementing some new systems, some new RFPs.

Will the Minister look to the many, many options out there of AI and new -- emerging technology companies that can provide cheaper power with our current systems. They can optimize our systems to lower the costs which will result in lower rates for Northerners. So will the Minister commit to looking to those solutions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, always happy to look at other options. There is a wealth of change happening in the energy space. Everything from AI managed battery technology that can look to optimize the battery systems and to the actual management of a diesel -- even a diesel generator, all the way over to micro hydro or micro nuclear which is just really tiny little facilities, not on a scale that we were -- would have before seen that are still only at a piloting stage.

So the short answer is yes, Mr. Speaker, and the longer answer is we need to make sure that whatever which of these solutions we choose is one that's properly geared to the Northwest Territories, to the Arctic, and that's where we need the federal government to be our partners because getting technology brought up to speed for the North doesn't -- isn't always something that's on their radar. It needs to be on their radar too. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister responsible for NTPC. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Indigenous elder-led counselling; it's not just a service, it is a lifeline. If we require every mental health worker to have a clinical degree, then we may be regulating some of the elders out of a job. With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, how many elders or Indigenous counsellors are employed as part of the community counselling program? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have that level of detail with me, but I can get back to the Member with those numbers. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that some small communities do not have regular in-person access to counsellors who provide mental health supports. What steps is the department taking to address these gaps and ensure equitable access to this free service to all small communities across the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do provide mental health counselling across the Northwest Territories; however, there are some vacancies in some regions and that we continue to struggle with as many of our counsellors within our program, as the Member has said, you know, they are clinical counsellors and they should have -- be able to register, and we encourage them to register as soon as they are hired on under that, which also then, like the Member says, provides a barrier. Some of the people that have been working in our system for years. But we do provide virtual telephone counselling and fly-in services to those communities that do need it, and then when there is something going on in the community, usually the leadership will reach out to the department and we will arrange to have counsellors go into those communities when there are things going on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

She touched base on some of them, but I will ask this question. What is the GNWT doing to work with small communities that are currently without a counsellor to address these vacancies? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, I'm not going to repeat my answer. And what I will say is that with the Indigenous governments, you know, we do sit at the Council of Leaders, we do have bilaterals. We do have the community wellness and recovery fund that we do encourage Indigenous groups to access if they want to provide other, you know, traditional counselling, traditional elders with their traditional healing aftercare. So I do know that many of our Indigenous groups have been accessing this funding. There are some that we are continuing to work with on being able to access this fund. And this year, I think, is the first year that it's almost been all used. So that's a good news story, that the Indigenous groups are knowing about this and they are accessing it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions here are for the Minister of Justice. I would like to ask about Charter issues related to the Public Service Act which specifies currently that all members of the public service, by default, will be represented by the Union of Northern Workers, or UNW, for the purposes of collective bargaining except, of course, for the teachers who are represented by the NWT Teachers' Association.

So my first question is can the Minister of Justice say whether the Act as it currently stands substantially interferes with GNWT employees' rights to freely associate under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, especially in instances where employees may wish to leave the UNW and join or form a new association. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, colleagues, Member for Yellowknife North. I give you some caution that we do have a bill that we're going to be talking about so please, focus on questions that are not part of the bill. And so Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the attorney general, I am unable to provide legal advice or legal opinions within the Legislative Assembly and as such I will not be able to answer the question regarding the impact to potential Charter rights. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister explain the current legislative process that GNWT employees are supposed to follow if they wish to leave the union and form a new association? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is still requesting a legal opinion from me as the attorney general, and I am unable to answer that question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I understand that the government intends to go out and do some public engagement with stakeholders prior to making any changes to the Public Service Act. Can the Minister explain whether the government intends to offer any guidance or opinions during those public consultations about how the current legislation may interact with Charter rights; will that be part of the public engagement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Public Service Act is administered through the Department of Finance so that question would be certainly more relevant to be directed to the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on my oral questions to the Minister of Justice I had asked last Thursday, and it was with respect to sharing information about a Trespass Act, and he had said that there was a pile of work being -- pile is my word, but pile of work that's already been done on this particular initiative, and I had asked him specifically would they share that information so I could move forward on my own Trespass Act seeing that the government isn't moving forward swift enough in response to the particular problem.

So the question specifically is, again, would the Minister be willing to share the background information they've been correlating and getting ready to create a legislative proposal, would he be willing to share that with my office so we can move forward on this initiative? Thank you.

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

No, it was my fault. Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my answer last week on Thursday, I committed to sharing an update on the current process and where we were at which the department did share with all of the Members of this House on Friday. I am happy to be able to stand up here today and say that I've had a conversation with the Department of Justice this morning, and we have -- I've directed them to advance the Trespass Act on a more aggressive timeline than I had proposed last week and that work is underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Almost forgot to clap, Mr. Speaker; I was so in shock. Well, Mr. Speaker, it's nice to see government in action is actually two words, so it's -- thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, perhaps the Minister could update us what does that actually translate into. In other words, what timeline is he now proposing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated last week, the three pieces of legislation that we're proposing to advance at a quicker timeline than was originally thought, the Trespass Act is probably the least complex of the three pieces of legislation so my discussion with the department was to move this forward. Obviously, it takes -- requires collaboration from all of the Members of this House in order to meet the proposed timeline, but we're hoping -- shooting to have the bill brought to the floor in the fall sitting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is, again, for the Minister of ECE. It's my understanding that funds for wage top-ups from the last fiscal year have not made it to all eligible daycare providers as of two weeks ago. Can the Minister please explain when the providers will be able to provide backpay to their staff? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that by the end of this week, 49 of 51 retroactive payments will be released, and the remaining two Education, Culture and Employment staff are waiting to confirm some necessary information so that the retroactive payments can be issued. So that's in the form of, for example, certifications and such. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's good news. But is that the case for all of the providers, was it missing information? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, of the 49 of 51, not everybody has not received. It just means that by the end of the week, we've reached 49 of 51 and so generally for those who are -- had not received it, it was reliant on waiting for confirmation of specific information, and if the Member has a specific constituent that she would like to follow up on, I would be more than happy to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to -- I too wish to turn to the NTNP worker program that we have foreign workers in the Northwest Territories. We had a town hall a couple months ago. The response was significant, and people are very concerned. So the Yukon has extended their work permits. They were able to do that with their existing relationships with Ottawa. So why are we not able to extend work permits here in the Northwest Territories? This is something that nominees are asking for. They're desperate. They're very concerned about their future. So why can't we extend the permits here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to see them extended, which is why I have put that into my request to the federal government and will be travelling to Ottawa next week to follow up on that request. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've heard from the Minister that one of the reasons we can't extend the permits is because we're redeveloping the program for 2026. So can the Minister confirm if that information's correct? Because that seems like it's our problem and not the federal government's.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are redesigning the program for 2026, but we do need the federal government's permission to be able to extend work permits. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has the Minister been able to work -- or look at what's happened in the Yukon and crack the code? They were able to do it, so why can't we? That's the fundamental question here. We see another northern jurisdiction with a very similar program that's also maxed out its utilization rate, and they were able to do this. So what is the difference between our program and the Yukon's program? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the years the Yukon has gone one way, and the NWT has gone another way. At this point, what I am doing is I am travelling to Ottawa in order to ascertain what the difference is and how we get to a more equitable place as far as how our immigration program works in the Northwest Territories. And I very much look forward to having the conversations to talk not only about our allotment, talk about work permits, and to talk about settlement services, as well as flexibility within the program here in the territory. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on the questions raised by my good colleague from Range Lake, same subject, same Minister, Mr. Speaker.

I've been around politics a long time. I'm not going to say I'm the oldest in the sense of this process. Many people have excellent experience around politics in this room and including the territory. But one thing I've noticed about leadership is about how you define yourself. And sometimes I see people make declarations and that causes other people to stand up and see how they can respond to it. So in other words, I'm getting at is what would go wrong if the Minister said we want those 150 positions back and we're moving on it, and the federal government's job is to accommodate our request? Could the Minister show the leadership and declare we are taking those 150 back? Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, after the program was changed by the federal government in January, we were immediately advocating for that. The federal minister travelled here to the Northwest Territories last summer and heard firsthand the experiences of local businesses in the territory and the labour demands in the Northwest Territories. So they're very well aware of what it is that we need. We, again, laid out why we need these allocations. We laid out why we need them returned. I will continue to do so. But I cannot give out allocations that I do not have. We administer a federal government's program here in the Northwest Territories. I do not have an allocation. I do not have a permanent resident allocation to give somebody if the federal government has not given it to us. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, a couple things there were a little on the confusing side, and that's how I'll describe it. First of all, it's the old government, not the current government. Second of all, it's the allotment change, not the program. Mr. Speaker, the refugee deal wasn't taken. So, Mr. Speaker, on this meeting that she claims to have, why doesn't she extend an olive branch to the Members, you know, who are very interested in this, and we go down as a delegation and say we're going to take the 150 back, and we're going to ask you, Minister, Mrs. Federal Government, whatever you want to call it, meet us halfway, and get us there. Thank you. Why can't the Minister do that?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our Cabinet, many members will be travelling down to Ottawa to meet with federal Ministers, and we intend to travel with representatives of Indigenous governments of this territory. Thank you.

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