Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there are two other parties involved in all of these negotiations. There's the Indigenous government, who we are negotiating with, and there's the Government of Canada. So we're doing our part to ensure that we have mandates that are modern, that reflect the challenges of today, the aspirations of the Indigenous peoples who we're negotiating with, and we're going to continue to refine those and move forward as we can.

I will give one example of a date, and I know that the Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations has put a date of June of this year for advancement of the Dehcho final agreement to get to the AIP. I think -- I am not sure if we're going to hit a full AIP by that point, but there's an example where there is a date and we want to do what we can to meet that date and then quickly advance things after that. And what I've seen in these negotiations, when there is a -- when negotiators at the table do have the opportunity to give a little on certain things, perhaps because we've changed the mandate at the Cabinet table, then that spurs progress at that table. And so by giving a little, we can get a little and move forward that way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the interim or what more feels like the permanent land withdrawal because of this process, is frustrating to Northerners. Mr. Speaker, what's stopping this government under the powers and authority under the Premier to make a financial agreement carrot to work towards closing this? Because it is slowing the North's progress down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there's a lot to land claim negotiations, self-government negotiations. As I said, there's three parties, and so there are things to consider when making offers. Previously, Canada and the GNWT would make joint offers where land and money were combined. Canada has changed their approach, and so we're actually waiting for some clarification from Canada on how that's going to work going forward, as well as some other areas where there's been policy changes over the past number of years where there's a lack of clarity. So there's a number of different issues here, and we are doing what we can within our authority, myself as Premier and our Cabinet, to advance these files as quickly as we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Premier. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance.

The OCIO and the DIIMS team have a different perspective on electronic records management compared to the Archives, and I would hazard to guess that most government workers, at best, think of filing records as a hassle. Training on ORCS and ARCS, the organizational and administrative records classification, is available, but people don't tend to understand why classifying records is crucially important. So my question is, would the Minister be willing to investigate as to whether further training should be developed and implemented specifically on the important role all employees play into the lifecycle of government records management in conjunction with ECE? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely always happy to investigate opportunities for more training for our staff to make sure they're delivering the best services possible. I can say that there have been a number of new on-demand training modules that have been introduced. There's been an increase in terms of understanding disposition of records practices, which you certainly don't want to have anyone say that that's not important, Mr. Speaker. And specifically this was developed, in fact, with NWT Archives, so giving a bit of a shout-out to the folks there. And, Mr. Speaker, last note on this one, so perhaps the timing is good to look at what else needs to be offered, April, for the Enterprise Information Management team, will be recognizing Records and Information Management Month. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to that in Bear Facts.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain whether ongoing ever-increasing TSC chargebacks are at all related to the ongoing growth of electronic records in DIIMS that have no current way to be moved into an archival repository? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, no, this is not really the source of significant growth that we are seeing in TSC chargebacks. DIIMS doesn't actually generate TSC chargebacks. But there certainly has been some significant growth in this area. Really, some of the areas of growth include particularly the software licensing that have seen some very significant growth. So although the overall impact to the budget is only on the order of a few million and not tens of millions. Where we are seeing significant growth, however, is simply in terms of providing connections, internet connections, phone connections, to all of the staff across all of 33 communities and that -- those costs continue to grow. But I -- certainly, it's not -- it's not for this area, and this is one -- so putting that one to rest. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I will push back because I think storage is not cheap, but anyway.

Can the Minister tell me if records management staff have identified the need that records management legislation is required while working on scoping with ECE on their archival legislative review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's a little early that the legislative review isn't complete so I am not in a position to say whether or not there would, in fact, be new legislation strictly required. But, Mr. Speaker, certainly these teams are working closely together. This is actually one of the areas for OCIO where we have rolled out our IT planning studies process. It's one of the first three out of the gate to ensure that the data archives connector project between the departments is one that will actually be planned out, hopefully very successfully, using this new process. So, again, early on the one but it's, again, hopefully a highlight from the OCIO offices on and out of the front. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we set the minimum wage here in the Northwest Territories and we work to develop a formula, and we worked with employers and an entire committee to develop this formula that's based on the consumer price index. And it was determined when that formula was produced, and come up with with employers, that not having a predictable way of determining what minimum wage would be year over year created some challenges and some unexpectedness as far as running a business. So that's where that formula was born.

Now, the median wage that is used by the Northwest Territories nominee program is actually set by the Government of Canada. That is a requirement under this program, that we use a median wage. And the Member is right. That median wage follows different occupational codes, and the reason for that is that through the nominee program, through the temporary work program that the Government of Canada has for immigration purposes, these individuals need to make sure that they can cover their monthly expenses. Often they're not eligible for other support programs that provinces and territories have. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, and that is important to get out there as well because it is frustrating, I think, for employers. But there's still that gap, and often they're in a position where they're paying more for the same work performed by a northerner to a nominee, and that's not what the intention of the program is for plugging labour shortages. So what can the Minister offer to these employers to make sure that everyone can be compensated the same way and there is no pay disparity between Northerners and between nominees? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, what I often hear from employers is that, well, first of all, the median wage, it's important for people to understand is higher than the minimum wage. Quite often in the NWT, many workers are not making minimum wage unless they're in, for example, a frontline service as in a grocery store, sometimes you'll find people there making minimum wage, or in other types of industries. But often what you'll find in the Northwest Territories is in order to be competitive with other employers, employers cannot pay minimum wage. And so where we have a minimum wage in the territory that accounts for people who might be working in a role that brings in tips or works with a lot of youth, for example, we have to follow the median wage set by the Government of the Northwest -- or sorry, the Government of Canada for the nominee pProgram and the temporary foreign worker program. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and to be clear to the Minister, we're not talking -- we're talking about people who are paying the minimum wage for service jobs, and that's what we're talking about here. And this is a real situation. This is not a hypothetical. There are Northerners in those jobs, people who are born and raised here, who are making minimum wage versus nominee program workers who are making median wage. So how are we going to reconcile that so we make sure everyone is on a fair playing field? Because I don't think it's fair to those minimum wage workers, and certainly it's a burden on the employers. They can't pay more wage. So how are we going to help them? What kind of subsidies or programs can the Minister use to support businesses and support workers, especially young workers in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, if we want to make sure that we're filling our labour market needs across this territory, we need to make sure that we are paying people a wage that they can live off. And so if that means that employers, unfortunately, have to raise their minimum wage so that people can take on those jobs, that's where we're at. But we're not in a position to go against a median wage set by the Government of Canada that is a requirement. And if people are wanting to see parity between what foreign workers are making and what Northerners are making, then they're going to have to meet that median wage. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am continuing with the thread of questions from my Member's statement except this time for the finance Minister.

Mr. Speaker, do we have a set target of indeterminate staff we need to reach, and how close are we to meeting that target? Thank you.