Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for the question. I think I answered the question earlier. But with the NWT Housing Forum, I just want to clarify that many communities in the Akaitcho and the Dehcho region participate in the NWT Housing Forum and have ongoing discussions and work in collaboration with Housing NWT. So these conversations and these partnerships continue even if they're not part of the devolution agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the Dene Nation Assembly in Fort Good Hope, they passed a resolution calling for -- to start up, to Build Canada Homes funding to build homes in the Northwest Territories. And there are also people from -- that are part of the housing forum that signed on to the motion.

So my question to the Minister, is she able to sit down with the Dene Nation, Dene National Chief George Mackenzie, to work with him in trying to figure out as to how we're all going to work together since housing is a top priority of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, of course I am willing to sit down with the Dene National Chief to talk about their vision around housing in the Northwest Territories, have a conversation. But one thing I will say is I am working with Indigenous rights organizations in this Northwest Territories, and we work one-on-one or through the NWT Housing Forum. But of course willing to sit down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, it's good that she's willing to sit down with the Dene Nation to talk about housing. But the thing is that we're talking about rights-based communities. The Dehcho, Akaitcho are not part of the devolution agreement. So there's a need to sit down to sort that out because you can't sort of just take care of the people that signed on to devolution and then not deal with the ones that didn't sign on to it. So we need to address this issue in trying to help find the monies needed to get this thing off the ground on housing. Thank you.

So I will just stand, Mr. Speaker, now. Just kidding.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Council of Leaders has nothing to do with devolution. What is part of devolution is the Intergovernmental Council. Just to clarify that. But, again, we do work in partnership with the Akaitcho and the Dehcho communities that are interested in delivering housing in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing -- You've already got me thinking health and social services. Minister responsible for housing.

Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we face the imminent closure of diamond mines, critical minerals becomes all the more critical for our economy. We have 25 out of 34 critical minerals in the Northwest Territories.

On March 3rd at PDAC, the federal government announced up to $165 million for 22 Canadian projects to unlock upwards of $434 million in critical mineral projects. These were all over the place: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. But the Northwest Territories is not on the list.

So I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, why aren't NWT projects, who are leaders in critical minerals, getting access to these and other federal funds as the federal government continues its aggressive push to develop critical minerals in Canada and we keep missing the list? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Range Lake. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to correct the information, some of these projects are the Saskatchewan energy/power corporation, SaskPower, developing linkages between northern and southern Saskatchewan; the B2Gold project in Nunavut; the clean energy design which is doing a pilot in the Northwest Territories is also doing a pilot there. So I don't -- those don't sound like foreign companies to me. So can the Minister take a look at this fund and see how it and other critical mineral funds are working and ensure that some of that investment is flowing here and support our local projects to make sure that they can receive this necessary funding. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I sat in the room with Minister Hodgson when he made the announcements, listened to all of them. All the announcements that were made in that room were tied to foreign investments. Absolutely, we are looking into all of these funds, tapping them, making sure that we're connecting as well our local Indigenous governments, local Indigenous development corporations, and our proponents that are operating here in the territory, making sure that they are aware of different funding opportunities. We hosted an entire panel when we were at PDAC, Mr. Speaker. I moderated it, our Premier spoke at it, where we actually had people from the federal government come and speak to Indigenous governments and Indigenous development corporations about different funding opportunities that are available. We also had different successful proponents that have seen success in some of these funding programs come and speak to the audience and also be able to talk about their success stories. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will stress that these are 22 Canadian projects regardless of their investment sources. And if it's foreign investment we're looking for, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment should be talking to those foreign sources. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister outline how much money the territorial projects have received since Prime Minister Carney started shifting towards a new critical mineral strategy? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have those tallied up in front of me but certainly happy to sit down with the Member whenever he'd like. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, continuing on the human resource theme, and I can't stress I've had the pleasure of going through, at least on a cursory review, of the public service annual report. So I am going to draw to the attention both the two years of 2023-2024 and the following report 2024-2025 as the simple examples.

Mr. Speaker, on page 50, ironically in both reports, it is the only when phrase direct appointments is used. It's not used in any other phrasing or calculation. And it embeds the issue that I am trying to raise. It says internal mobility includes all transfers, and in brackets, (including direct appointments). So, Mr. Speaker, given the fact that the two years -- and I will just make it very easy. There's just over 2,100 internal mobility changes in jobs, and the second one there's almost 1,900 mobility jobs, is there a reason why the government doesn't specifically point out how many direct appointments are made in a public service annual report? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I actually like to keep a printed copy of our Public Service Act because the questions do come up here. I don't have it in front of me right now. But I can say, Mr. Speaker, that again -- and without seeing that exactly, I am kind of ill placed to maybe explain what's on page 50. I can certainly say, Mr. Speaker, what I do have in some of my materials here, that in -- between April 1st and -- or in 2025, most -- about half of the direct appointments -- and the numbers are quite different so this is where I suspect there may be something more to discern in terms of what is in -- on page 50 there, but I have in front of me 63 direct appointments, about half of which were entirely to do with programs under the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. So, again, that's the regional recruitment one and bringing students in through the BCG program. I will note another, like third to 40 percent, were interns. So those are two of the really biggest sources of direct appointments, Mr. Speaker. But, again, happy to sit down and check into what's in there and to make sure that we are fully reporting out what is being appointed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I only ask your indulgence so I can describe the names of the reports so we're speaking about the same report.

So the report I am reading off is the Public Service Annual Report 2024-2025 and of course 2023-2024. Again, just making sure we're on the same page. And lastly, about being on the same page, I am referring to PDF page 50 which is actually report page 46.

Mr. Speaker, my question next is really about is why don't they tease out or clarify officially in these reports direct appointments; in other words, have it a standalone category. And therein lies my question; can the Minister do that in the moving forward reports? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, Mr. Speaker, again, I am happy to take another look at what's in the Public Service Act -- or public service annual report. It certainly was my recollection that we did report in on the numbers of appointments that came in under the various -- particularly Indigenous recruitment programs, summer students and internship programs. So yes. I mean, the simple answer is yes, Mr. Speaker. We can certainly put that in there. Let me go back and have another look. Again, I am hopeful that it may well be that more information is there and that -- I'd like to just make sure that we -- yeah. You know what, Mr. Speaker? Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Colleagues, our time for oral questions is up.

Oral questions. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to the Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Reports of standing and special committees. Member from the Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Procedure and Privileges is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of the Rules of the Northwest Territories, No. 3, and commends it to the House.