Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Yes, this is a great project, excited to hear all the good work that the NWT Community Services Corporation has done, and the exciting work around the rehabilitation of Northern United Place with the renovation project. Housing NWT at this time is still working on a response, Mr. Speaker, and I'm hoping to have something today or tomorrow with the response to the NWT Community Services Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At first, it may appear like a layout of cash but it's not. It's just a guarantee, and the GNWT will get its money back because this is a 50-year organization that is cruising to work.

Mr. Speaker, what communication has the Minister, through her department obviously, had with the Yellowknife Community Association in the context of NUP about what they're doing and how they're trying to meet their deadline of tomorrow May 30th? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, Housing NWT, we cannot guarantee anything. This is a financial management board decision because we can't continue to take on debt. It reduces the borrowing capacity of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Internal discussions right now with the Community Services Corporation and Housing NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to freshen up the memory of this particular House, it was housing was supported through a move forward on $41.6 million, Mr. Speaker. Ooh, that's a lot of money. Mr. Speaker, I'm asking is there any way to tap into that financial opportunity temporarily to support this mult-imillion dollar initiative they got all on their own and they're going to pay for it all on their own. And, Mr. Speaker, lastly, they've done this for 50 years without interruption, and they've served this community well. Can the Minister find a way to make this happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, thank you to the Member for the emphasis on how important this project is, especially for downtown Yellowknife, affordable housing, Aurora College students. This is really important that we provide a place, and the renovation project sounds like a great renovation project and some good work by the NWT Community Services Corporation.

We're looking at the community housing initiative funding and seeing if there's any opportunity to provide some funds through the community housing initiative fund to the NWT Community Services Corporation. So, again, these are internal discussions, and I'm pressing Housing NWT for a response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had a young constituent of mine reach out to talk to me about AI technologies and how they're changing the world, increasingly becoming the norm in industries from, you know, coffee shops to the highest levels of military. So my question is for the Minister responsible for the public Service. What policies are currently in place to govern the use of AI technology in the GNWT? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the use of artificial intelligence obviously is a new area. It certainly is one that we are looking to provide better guidance to our staff on. So what we've done thus far, we looked to what the Government of Canada's doing, we've also looked at what the Government of British Columbia doing, and that is likely to be where we'll find the most alignment that can help us move this forward a little faster. And with that, we will be able to produce our own guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence, which I expect that and then training associated to be ready for staff in the very near future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would appreciate knowing a clear timeline on that. Are we looking at the end of term or next year or something like that because this technology's moving fast every day, and faster still, it's learning a lot. So when can we expect to see those new policies come in place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that this work is well underway. I don't have the timeline in front of me, but it certainly will be this government and I would say, really, not the end of the government but fairly soon. So I'll certainly happily commit to get that timeline back to the Member. It is an area where we want to ensure that people are able to use this. It can be an opportunity for efficiency, creativity. But it needs to be used responsibly, and it needs to have human oversight to make sure that we remain, you know, obviously, transparent in what we're doing. So happy to provide that date as soon as I can. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you would use AI to write your own policies but let's not do that.

Mr. Speaker, there's also AI technology you could use to better manage our energy systems, our emergency management systems, and a host of other things to improve that. Is this policy also going to cover the use of those technologies that could be procured for other public policy purposes? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I mean, looking at using AI technology in areas of infrastructure and actually replacing type of different infrastructure systems is beyond what I'm speaking to here. What I'm looking at here is how the public service is using AI really more in day-to-day functions. So, again, don't want to be overpromising in terms of what it is, but it's really meant to be guidance for the public service in how we use it in a public service context and not necessarily when it comes to, for example, battery systems. Certainly open to having an opportunity to look at those as well, if it would answer questions here in the House, but this is really focused on the public service who are delivering functions to public, you know, policy generation for example, not necessarily replacing infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier's sessional statement highlighted facilities-addictions treatment and dedicated aftercare. So my questions today are for the Minister for Health and Social Services.

The Minister knows that I have had constituents who have required to go to facilities down south, and it's a very convoluted and complicated process and public-facing information is limited. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me what she is doing to improve pathfinding for addictions treatment in other territories for the people of the NWT? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question and, you know, this is -- I received BFs on this. And so one of the things that I've asked my department to do is to look at the front-facing and, you know, when a lot of times when people are looking, you know, we tend to search online and so that was the first thing that, you know, we look at is how do we find what we service providers are offering. And it is very difficult on our website to find facility-based addiction treatment and how to access it. So that is one of the directions that I've given to the department. But what I would like to say is that every one of our communities has access to the community counselling program, and that would be the first step to doing that. And if you're living in a health centre -- a community with a health centre, then it would be the health centre that you contact.

I've asked the department to try and to be able to do this and make this information a lot more clear for people that are needing this service, you know, and I -- and I appreciate the questions because I think when we have somebody who is struggling through addictions or through this type, you know, they may struggle to just try to find the energy to find the services, and so we have to make it as easy as possible. So that is what I've given the direction to my department to look into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the Minister for her compassion on this issue. One thing that I heard from my constituent specifically, who was dealing with this in December of last year, was the inability to secure a case manager in time for their family member to receive a path forward expediently to treatment. So can the Minister please tell me what the quickest way to connect with a case manager to make sure that people who are expediently seeking care, who don't want to relapse, can find that way to treatment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we heard loud and clear from many users of the service is that there used to be a -- you needed a pre-approval just to be able to apply for this program. That has been removed. But what I would like to go back to is the expedient of the facility-based addiction program. There is a necessary -- you know, and I know that when people are ready to go, they might be ready today, there is a process still that can take -- you know, it can be up to -- once you have a caseworker, can take three to five weeks to get into a facility. The reason why that is is that we have six facilities that we have contracts with, and those are the only contracts that we pay for. So we have six contracts outside of the territory. And there is an application process. There's an intake process. And so any community counsellor can be. In Yellowknife, Tree of Peace is an intake place. But what I would also like to share is this is not an immediate entrance into a facility. And I know when people are going through this, they're urgently wanting their family members to be put into somewhere. What we have gotten federal funding for is for detox beds. So if there is a need for detox, the process for that, though, would have to go through a practitioner and, you know, and we -- you know, so if you're in a community, you may be referred to the hospital once you're ready or you're, you know, preparing to go for intake. Some of our facilities actually have the detox so that would be something that the caseworker would work out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister also speak to what availability and communication of that availability of aftercare is available to folks who are coming back from treatment. I know that with some of the resources that are coming on in line in Yellowknife, which are fantastic -- I'm so excited that we have that, those dedicated spaces, but what information can family members receive about making sure that their loved one is coming back and has a safe place to land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.