Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] I would like to make a statement regarding elders. We have a mandate to protect the elders, for them to live in dignity. We have great respect for our elders. They are our guides, and we do not want them suffering in any way. We need to do the best for them. We see a lot of the elders who are suffering. [Translation ends]

Madam Speaker, the number one issue that Monfwi constituents have is that of housing. I have been here for the past 15 years, and over those years, I have made so many statements on housing, too many to remember, in fact, whether it be in the House, at the Cabinet table, or in the Speaker's office.

One area that they are most concerned about is how we treat our elders with respect to housing needs. I already brought up to the NWT Housing Corporation Minister the need to have a program in place so that qualified journey-persons can travel to small communities, especially the most isolated communities, to service their furnaces, plumbing, inspect water heaters, water and sewage tanks, et cetera for our elders.

I have heard enough stories from my elderly constituents about black smoke coming out of their furnace exhaust pipe because their furnaces have not been serviced for years. Surely, this cannot be safe, Madam Speaker. I am not an oil-burner mechanic, but something like this can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning in their homes, I am sure.

Yesterday, my office sent the NWT Housing Corporation Minister a picture of a water tank belonging to an elderly couple in Whati; yesterday, Madam Speaker. That water tank is operating with a screwdriver lodged to the side of the tank in order to plug a hole, in this day and age, Madam Speaker. When that screwdriver is removed, water starts leaking from the tank. Again, I am not a certified technician, but this cannot be safe. In fact, I believe it would be a hazard in the household. Madam Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation at the appropriate time. Masi.

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] This supplementary, we had a long discussion yesterday. Some supported it; some did not. I want to say a few words on this topic. Yesterday, there was an election going on in the USA, so some of them may not have listened to our proceedings yesterday. Madam Speaker, when we are here in this House as MLAs, the people are the ones who voted us in, and we, in turn, say whatever they want us to say. It's not my own words; it's my people's words. Once I leave this building, we talk to people, and we get feedback from people; we talk to the people who we represent. Some days, it's really difficult, how many times I have mentioned this. We have a lot of alcohol and drug problems, homelessness in all our communities, and we have talked about this so many times. They are the ones who are giving us this information. They want us to bring it up to this session here, and I bring those forward for them.

Madam Speaker, recently, we have been losing a lot of young people. They are passing on. Even last week, from my region, we lost a young lady. Even though those things are happening in our communities, we still have to deal with all the issues that we have to deal with here. Now, we have this important motion in front of us. I'm having a difficult time to support this motion. I am talking on behalf of the people who are not able to say anything in this House. It seems like we're creating a situation. We've hired all these people with all this money, and when we think about the amount of money we're going to spend for this department and look at home, where we have all these problems, it's really difficult. We are representing the people who are supporting us. Some days, it's really difficult to listen to what's happening here. The amount of money that we're spending, and our people are suffering. Once I leave this building, I go to a coffee shop. I would see people staggering around, and some of them will be asking me for money for coffee or a sandwich. I ask them, "Where are you staying?" or, "Do you have a home?" They have no idea that we're meeting here, so a lot of times they are having difficulties. They have nowhere to go, and they say that, "I have no one to help me, so I'm on the street." I am numbing myself in this way. How many times have I come across people like that?

Madam Speaker, we have this bill in front of us. We had a long discussion yesterday. We did talk about this, and maybe a lot of people didn't hear what we had to say yesterday. [End of translation] [Microphone turned off] ...some of the things I said in my Tlicho language. I'm just going to summarize some of them. I simply cannot support this supplementary as it is. As you know, we had a deliberation last night, late into the night, on one specific item: the secretariat budget of $8.277 million of new funding, new funding for employees of the secretariat. I have no other issues with the supplementary. On the other supplementary items and such, I have no issues, but it is very unfortunate that they're all lumped together. It's all bundled in one package. It should have been a separate item. This is a very controversial issue, but if the government of the day want us to approve one package, then that's what it is.

Madam Speaker, I've been talking about this for the last couple of weeks now. We need to invest into our communities. What is it that our communities need? I did speak in my language about the homeless people out there, homeless people who cannot speak in this House. That's why we're their voice here. I was elected to represent my people. It's not my voice. Once I walk out of here, I usually run into my constituents or other people from the North, and they question, "What are you guys doing? Why are you guys spending so many millions on this so-called secretariat?" They may not use the word "secretariat," some of them, because they're having a hard time speaking English, but in the Tlicho language there is another form. They do not like the bureaucracy.

Madam Speaker, I would just like to reiterate that, due to the US election that was happening at the same time last night, throughout the night, we'd been deliberating this supplementary, a lot of people may have probably missed our broadcast here. I feel that it's very important that they know where we stand on this particular subject matter, on the supplementary, so I just want to reiterate what I said yesterday, just a couple of paragraphs.

Just think of the $87 million over the next four years, what that could do for the people of the Northwest Territories. It could build 300 homes for the homeless who I referred to earlier. There are overcrowded Northerners throughout the Northwest Territories, especially in the most isolated communities. Some households have 15 to 20 people living in one- or two-bedroom houses. That's a real fact. It could construct three new addiction treatment centres plus six badly needed community health centres across the North. It is equal 100 classroom teachers employed over the next five years. It also amounts to cash value for those 3,000-plus struggling northern businesses to a tune of $29,000 per company. Just imagine the economic boost of that. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Like I said yesterday, as well, I could go on and on and on, but we don't have much time this evening to deal with this. I'm just going to wrap things up by saying that we are losing lives out there. I've touched on this, as well, in my language. Almost on a daily basis, a weekly basis, especially in my region. The past couple of weekends, we lost two young individuals back to back. That was very sad. That was very hard. It's very difficult to be standing here to speak to that. It's very emotional. We need to turn our focus to those in need throughout the Northwest Territories, not create another form of bureaucracy within GNWT. Let's start making a difference for our Northerners. We have lost far too many people, our people of the North. Let's not lose any more, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, in conclusion, for that reason alone, I cannot and will not support the current supplementary that is before us as presented, especially on the category of the COVID secretariat. Masi, Madam Speaker.

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] Today, in Gameti, they have been asking for the station for a long time. We have two RCMP in the community. Sometimes, when they are in a situation, where are they going to hold the people? They do not have any place. They have a small building that they hold people there, which is not right, so I would like to ask the Minister a question. [Translation ends] Obviously, the community of Gameti has been pushing an RCMP detachment for a number of years, and I think this is a great opportunity for us. Yes, it may not be suitable, but it is a facility that can be utilized in some form or fashion in Gameti. What I am after, Madam Speaker, is: can we expedite this process where, during -- the winter road's coming from Whati to Gameti, if we can reach out to RCMP division, the federal counterparts, to expedite the process, so at least try to make it before this winter road or the following winter road if it's possible? The community is badly expressing a need for a detachment in Gameti. Masi, Madam Speaker.

I would like to ask the Minister about the process in also engaging the community, the community chiefs, and my Tlicho Government. I would like to know from the Minister what kind of engagement has taken place so far with respect to RCMP, the Commissioner, and also at the federal level within the Justice Department and my leadership. Could the Minister provide me with an update of what has been happening or what would be the process of engaging those parties?

[Translation] As we stand here today, regarding the Ministers, they are responsible for each department, and they also work with the RCMP. [End of translation] Does the Minister agree that the Whati RCMP detachment should stay within the region, from Whati to Gameti? Gameti badly needs an RCMP detachment to hold those individuals who are causing issues in the community.

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] I want to ask the Department of Justice a question regarding there is supposed to be a new RCMP station in Whati. I would like to ask him questions regarding the Justice Department. [End of translation] I have questions for the Minister of Justice pertaining to the process of how we allocate a structure from one community to another community. I am referring to the RCMP detachment out of Whati to Gameti within the same region. I'd like to know from the Minister: what would be the process to establish that type of dialogue within my region and the other players involved? Masi.

Masi, Madam Speaker. I'm glad that the Minister will be taking those best practices into consideration. My question is: when can we see those adaptations into our current policy within the department or departments in the GNWT? Madam Speaker, masi.

I'm glad the Minister is committed to providing those targets within each department. It's very important that we increase our Indigenous workforce within GNWT. Enough of talking about the 30 percent over the last 20, 30 years. Just put that into action. Within the life of this Assembly, I would love to see an increase in Aboriginal representation from 30 to 40, 50 percent, whatever the case is. I'm glad the Minister's committing to that. Our sister territory of Nunavut understands the problem of under representation of Indigenous male workforce, especially in the public service. That government had embarked on an aggressive strategy to empower young Inuit males to help them succeed in aspiration of a work environment. Is the Minister aware of those Nunavut government initiatives? Has she been paying attention to Nunavut approach to this issue, the challenge that we're faced with?

I am glad the Minister brought up the target. I think it's very important to have each department have targets. When I talk about Indigenous male, eight, nine percent within GNWT. That is very low considering that 50 percent population of Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories, only 30 percent of our workforce is Aboriginal. Out of that, only eight to nine percent male. It is disappointing to see those stats. It's been there a long time now. I talk about decades. I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance if there could be established targets within each department to specifically hire those individuals within the Indigenous hiring; more specifically when I touch on male because we need to increase that number, as well.