Bob McLeod

Indigenous governments have told the Government of the Northwest Territories that building capacities is a priority and a challenge for them. Through the devolution agreement, the Government of the Northwest Territories has heard and responded to the needs of Indigenous governments by sharing up to 25 per cent of royalty resources with our partners for their capacity. This is unprecedented. There is no other jurisdiction across Canada that has stepped up to the plate and offered this type of capacity to their Indigenous government partners.

We are also working with Indigenous governments in...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the honourable Glen Abernethy will be late arriving in the House today due to a personal matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Our government has even gone above and beyond that. Instead of a special event day we have a statutory holiday called Aboriginal Day where everybody gets one day off a year. If you are working for the Government of the Northwest Territories, you can learn about Aboriginal history and culture. Also, you can go out and participate. Aboriginal people can celebrate the fact that they are Aboriginal. Also, we provide funding to those Aboriginal groups who want to participate on Aboriginal Day. We are always looking for ways to promote that. I think that the fact that over 50 per cent of our...

I am pleased to report that the community wellness fairs are proceeding. They are going very well. The most recent ones were in K'atlodeeche. At the NWT Associate and Communities AGM, they brought in some of their props. You could walk through a colon, so you could get people to go and get checked out for colon cancer. I think the most important message to people is prevention and that people are the ones that, if they practise prevention, they will be healthier. I think a large part of the measurement will be how healthy people are going forward.

I am pleased to say that the Truth and Reconciliation Committee recognized the Government of the Northwest Territories for its leadership not only in cultural awareness but also the fact that the history of residential schools and also our land-claim negotiations are in our curriculum. We focused on mandatory training for students and educators. That has been our main priority.

Our expectation is that we will eventually have all of our employees undertaking cultural awareness training, and we will continue. Right now, we will focus on new employees as they come on board. We are hiring a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Education is one of the most important priorities of this government, and I think that the Truth and Reconciliation report certainly confirmed that and made some concrete recommendations, which we have embraced. In 2015, the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students was reflected in the fact that 67 per cent of non-Aboriginal students graduated compared to 56 per cent of Aboriginal students. Obviously, we have a ways to go to improve on that. The major initiative that the Government of the Northwest Territories is using to narrow the gap is the NWT Education...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the easy way would be just to say no to all requests, but I think it would be more appropriate for us to look at developing funding guidelines. It would assist us as we get these requests. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, the request to increase the contribution which the government agreed to. Originally the government provided $25,000, and we increased to contribution by another $25,000. The organizers or the creators of the Arctic Inspiration Prize consequently announced that they would increase the prize value from $1 million annually to $3 million annually, and they have established a $60 million trust fund. Through you, Mr. Chair, I will ask Mr. Courtoreille to explain what occurs in the other departments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd say the top priority would be to represent the Government of the Northwest Territories in key files with senior federal officials, for example, discussions regarding new fiscal relationships with Indigenous people; and lead the development in an updated, strategic, collaborative, and cohesive, all-of-government approach to the Government of the Northwest Territories' relationships with Ottawa, with the aim of advancing the Government of the Northwest Territories' key objectives and achieving mandate priorities, amongst others. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an initiative where we were approached by the community of Tuktoyaktuk, who had submitted proposals to both the Government of Canada and ourselves and wanted to take their own initiative to ready the community for the onslaught of expected tourists and visitors with the opening of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. So we identified funds for two years to assist the community to get started. They were also successful in accessing funds from the Government of Canada. Thank you, Mr. Chair.