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, 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.