Masi, Madam Chair. Obviously, the Minister is listening carefully to what our issues are or challenges, and this is an opportunity for us to have more positive news instead of decreasing numbers from 700 to 400 in actual employment in the communities. In fact, we should be aiming for higher, so I think this is an area where we can do that. I am certainly hoping that the Minister will seriously consider it as we move forward, because the whole COVID thing is still with us. It is very challenging for students to return home from school. I have kids in college, as well. These are some of the challenges that they're faced with, especially in small, remote communities. Not every community hires GNWT students, so this is creating more opportunity at an isolated-community level. I would like for our Minister to seriously consider it. Madam Chair, that was just a comment to the Minister on that.

Skills Canada, there hasn't really been much increase over the years; $70,000 has been that earmark number for quite some time, now. When you look at Skills Canada, there are quite a few very successful individuals who have gone through the process. Just speaking from my experience, my kid has been involved in that, and he's now a journeyman ticket holder, an electrician. In fact, he got the highest mark. If it wasn't for Skills Canada, would we have seen those success stories? I'm not sure, but I'm thinking down the road, the next five, 10 years. Since Skills Canada has been very successful to date, in my eyes, anyways, has there been a contemplation of possibly increasing the funding, Madam Chair, from $70,000 to, it would be nice if we could get double that, but I'm just wondering if the Minister is considering that down the road. Masi.

Masi, Madam Chair. Just on Small Community Employment Support, as well. Mr. Norn did touch on a few of them, so it has been answered. I'm looking forward to additional information that is going to be delivered to us on the regions and the communities. The funding was $5 million back in 2019, and now it's hovering just over $4 million. There has been an increase in funding, as well. With the last Assembly, actually, probably all outlying community MLAs pushed for it, and I think there's a high value for this. It creates employment in the communities. We've just heard on the numbers. Obviously, we would like to see more of that. The last time, it was a supplementary that it was brought in. Would the Minister be in consideration of bringing a supplementary on this particular subject area to increase the funding? Because I'll be supportive of that, and I think other Members, well, they have their own perspective. There has been a lot of support in this area, so I'm just wondering whether there's an appetite to do that, Madam Chair. Masi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. It sounds like the elders should be all-inclusive. It sounds like there's only a handful of elders who may have been involved. The ones who were calling me have not been directly involved, and they want to be out there. Even at 70 years of age, they want to be out there with us. It's a bit of a challenge right now because every Tuesday, the boundary line changes. It's substantial right now and making it more challenging for us to hunt. Anyways, the next question I have is: with respect to community hunts or harvesting from the community perspective, what kind of options are available for a fuel subsidy or transport subsidy to MacKay Lake? That's the only area where we can hunt, so what is available to the harvesters in my region?

Obviously, the elders predicted what kind of answers the Minister was going to give. There are three herds. That means there was an increase in population of the caribou herd. That should allow us to harvest in that area, not discouraging us to hunt, Mr. Speaker. Another elder, because I spoke to a few of them, who called me just this past week, asked: how are the elders engaged and involved in the decision-making of this mobile zone? I understand there's the Wek'eezhii board, but elders are asking: how are we involved as elders? Mr. Speaker, these are the words of the elders.

The next question that another elder from the community asked is: this mobile zone keeps getting bigger every year, which makes it more challenging and difficult for harvesters to be out there and harvest food for their families. They're asking: why is it getting bigger every year when we have the opportunity to go out there? Basically, that's what one of the elders was asking. What's causing the increase in the line?

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When I made my Member's statement, I commented on caribou management. I also mentioned the hunting zone and how difficult it is for people to go hunting. I would like to ask the ENR Minister a question. Before I ask that question, I want to say this question that I'm posing right now is coming directly from the elders. It's their words. [Translation ends]

When I first spoke about the mobile zone in my Member's statement, I would like to ask a few questions that have been outlined here by an elder in my constituency. First and foremost, they would like to know: when was the first mobile zone initiated or established, and who made that decision? Mr. Speaker, masi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I want to make a statement on caribou. The caribou management zone is an area where people are not allowed to hunt within this area, within this zone, and they move the zone every once in a while. Recently, the elders have been calling me, and they are saying, "Why is that zone getting bigger every year?"

It's getting really difficult to hunt in that area, so I have been getting a lot of phone calls from elders. When we look at this, our elders who had survived on the caribou, today, they still depend on the caribou, but some days it's very difficult to go hunting. These are the words that are coming from the elders, that I am bringing to you. The Minister of ENR, what kind of policies and acts do they have in place, and how are they going to work with the elders in the community? These are some of my questions I will refer to the ENR Minister. Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation ends]

Masi, Madam Chair. This particular area, obviously, we push our students to enter trades and get a journeyman ticket after three or four years; three years for welding. In the past 15, 20 years, we've been pushing for students to enter post-secondary so they can become lawyers and such professions, but now, there's even more push for trades. It is lacking in our communities. It is great to see 20 students; 20 students across the Northwest Territories, Madam Chair. We should see more of these students in these programs, in pre-trades, grade 10, grade 11, grade 12, taking these pre-trades program. Once they leave high school, they have one or two years to go. That is my wish. Madam Chair, if I can get the Minister to make a commitment to provide what we are currently delivering through district education on the pre-trades, how many students there are currently registered, and what is the plan going forward? Those are just some of the questions I have for the Minister. Masi.

Masi, Madam Chair. I'm glad the Minister recognizes that lack of qualified language-speaking teachers, and we should be doing more in that area. We've been talking about that for a number of years, now. We're still talking about that. Yes, there is the MAP program. There are other small initiatives on the go, but this is an area that we need to focus on. Obviously, the language immersion program, four in the communities, I'd like to see more. It's not the local district education authorities that are here before us; it's the Minister and his department. They are the ones who are accountable to us, and we need to promote more of these, so I just want to get that message out to the Minister's department.

Another area, Madam Chair, is pre-trades in the schools. When you talk about the career development, I'm on page 48, there has been a lot of discussion on those individual students who have taken on pre-trades in high school. When I was in high school, there were mechanic and welding and other trades sectors. In the schools, within the 49 schools, again similar to the first question, how many schools are delivering pre-trades in high school, which eventually amounts to four years of taking a program and almost the completion of journeyperson ticket holders? I'm just curious where we're at with that. Masi.