Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you. I am glad to be drilling down to specifics, Mr. Speaker. So once that process is complete, what's the next step; what happens? What can the Assembly expect to see? Are the amendments going to come forward for the Assembly to approve? That's what I am looking to understand. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the specific process of the next step, I don't have that information currently with me today, but I will be happy to relay that to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On March 3rd, I had questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services, and she didn't answer the question, but she didn't also offer, at the very least, a chance to follow up in writing.

Mr. Speaker, specifically, I was asking about doctors, GP doctors, and the referrals, as well as a bunch of other things. But, ultimately, I am asking about capacity levels. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services speak to the capacity levels of the general practitioner doctors here in the Yellowknife area over the past 12 months? In other words, what's the vacancy and how many locums are we using. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, I don't have that type of information in the House here. So I know that I responded in writing to a written question with the most recent updates. I'd have to go back to the department and find out what those current numbers are. As I mentioned in responding to this question the other day is that those rates fluctuate weekly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate the fact that the Minister may not have them on her fingertips but you would think that this is such a high priority we'd have the numbers in real time regularly at her fingertips. That said, can the Minister -- would the Minister be willing to provide me them directly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services and the NTHSSA and the TCSA and the Hay River health and social services, there's probably 2,000 employees, and if I ask my department to give me the stats every single day, every single sitting, you know -- so what we do is I have monthly stats. And I did provide those monthly stats in written statements. What I can do is I can go back to the department, and I can send an email to the Member with what the current or what was in the written questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

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

Mr. Speaker, I read in the news earlier today that Alternatives North has been raising concerns with review of the MRA regs and how that process is going, feeling that certain organizations are getting preferential treatment. I am just curious, can the Minister help us better understand how the engagement process has been rolling out for the MRA regs, why the department's meeting with certain organizations perhaps more than others, and just help us understand the process better and the concerns that were raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of ITI.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we have a technical working group within the Intergovernmental Council that is working on the regulations for the Mineral Resources Act regulations. At this table, the GNWT is one party, and as you can imagine the Mineral Resources Act regulations are quite extensive. My understanding is they are currently over 250 pages. And we, in the Northwest Territories, have traditionally had diamond mines, Mr. Speaker, and so as we transition into the next chapter and next generation of mines in the Northwest Territories, it's really important to understand how that changes the needs of the regulations and how they interact with industry. And so, Mr. Speaker, what has happened is that through the Chamber of Mines, there has been some conversations between a couple of members of the technical working group who have had the opportunity to ask questions of industry and industry to ask -- or to provide answers so that the intersection of policy and how it really interacts with industry on the ground can be better understood while still preserving the intent and rights of Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I certainly think that there's merit in engaging specific stakeholders when developing regulations like this, particularly complex ones; however, I think what Alternatives North is pointing out is -- just questioning whether there's a level playing field for all stakeholders who are being engaged. So I'd like the Minister to comment on that. Will Alternatives North be given similar opportunities to engage with the technical working group to share their thoughts and concerns on the MRA rights?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the policy intentions documents were distributed at the end of last year, and so everybody had an equal playing field as far as being able to provide feedback within the policy intentions documents. The conversations, really, that have happened one on one are about well, what about this part, and what about that part, and how does that work for industry and, you know, what does this mean at the end of the day, how does this impact investments or attracting investments, or how -- you know, based on timing, how much interaction there's going to have to be between Indigenous governments and industry in order to kind of reset agreements and stuff like that. And so making sure, for example, that everyone -- that one another understands each other's mode of doing business has been really important to the process. This is no different, Mr. Speaker, than the conversations that I have, for example, with the daycare sector in regards to the daycare regulations. That's a one-on-one conversation. I am not talking with, you know, families in the same way I talk to daycares or, for example, education bodies in regards to the Education Act regulations as well. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, finally, I know Alternatives North sent several letters to the Minister's office on this engagement process, raising several questions, raising concerns. Will the Minister be responding to either or both of those letters? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, keeping in line with my Member's statement today and many Members' statements today on International Women's Day, I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, I guess a status update, on there is a proposed MMIWG advisory committee in the work that the GNWT is doing in responding to the calls to justice. I would like to know what's going on with that committee and if it has been formed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister responsible for the Status of Women.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories, we created -- in partnership with NGOs and Indigenous governments, we created a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls advisory committee in direct response to the Calls for Justice to ensure Indigenous governments, women's organizations, and 2SLGBQ2IA+ organizations have an ongoing and formal role advising government on implementation. Members are appointed directly by Indigenous governments, ensuring legitimacy and community-driven leadership in shaping our collective response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. I am glad the committee has been established. The updates -- the last public updates we saw, it wasn't clear. So I am curious, is the Minister able to share terms of reference for that said committee? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course I am able to share the roles and responsibilities of the advisory committee, including providing advice and guidance to the implementation of the action plan to support the work towards addressing the effects of colonization, as well as racial and gender discrimination at all levels of government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.