Caroline Cochrane

The move to bring it into government at this point actually wasn't because of any animosity or any other reason. The reason was because the previous campaign schools for women that were done focused on just the Legislative Assembly.

It was when we did the first workshop during my term in Hay River that it was quickly realized that, if we focused just on the Legislative Assembly, we were defeating our purpose. There were a lot of women who didn't want to run for it because they had childcare issues; they didn't want to do the amount of travelling; they didn't want to leave their communities...

There are things they are doing that fall within the act. There are things within the act that say they may do. There are some basic pieces within the act that we need to get back to, like I was saying.

It is right that it doesn't say gender-based analysis, but section 3(1)(e) within the Status of Women Council Act says that the council's purpose is to review policies and legislation affecting women and to report its finding to the relevant government departments or agencies. When I, Mr. Speaker, look at reviewing policies and legislation on things that affect women, again, I may be incorrect...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Ms. Louise Beaulieu, who used to work with me at the Yellowknife Women's Society, the homeless shelter for women, and who I consider a close friend. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, I will move that Bill 8, Emergency Management Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Absolutely, I will take that into consideration. I just want to note that a lot of people who work for the government actually have a real concern. They want more women in leadership. My understanding, and I will check on that because I may be wrong, is that the majority, I think all of them except for my special advisor, actually were not paid for any of the work that they have done for the campaign schools. It's tended to be on the weekends on our own times, so I will confirm if that is true, because it's important to note. If it is not true, I will come back to the speaker and stand up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As stated earlier, we are just in the stage of renewing it and making it fit the people more appropriately. We will be doing an evaluation at that point, where we will be deciding what we are going to do with it. I also want to say, though, that we are looking at expanding it so that it can meet more of the needs of people and addressing municipal Indigenous governments, for example, but also the budget, we want to make sure that we can do it the most cost-effective way to be able to reach the most communities. It's important. These are important schools. They actually...

That is totally incorrect. From my understanding, the Status of Women did put out nominations. It closed in February; I am not sure of the exact date. They stated that they couldn't do the awards because of financial limitations. Those are things that we are looking at within their budget. As stated before, they are looking at their budget to see how they can best provide the services that they need to provide for that.

We do have a pot of funding. It is a small pot. It is $50,000 a year. The Status of Women never applied for that this year, Mr. Speaker. It wasn't that they couldn't get the...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by clarifying. When I was asked questions the other day on the Status of Women, if there was anything in my statement that said that I was going to ask the Status of Women to go against the legislative act, then I sincerely apologize because it is important, as members of the public, that we do not lie in the House. I don't remember making that statement. I will check Hansard. If I did, I will apologize in advance. I hope that other Members will, as well.

I don't plan on changing the mandate of the Status of Women, Mr. Speaker. What I plan to do with the...

I don't know how many times I'm going to say today that the Member is right. Communications is an issue. Communications is something we need to work on. We recognize that within the Housing Corporation.

We have a lot of changes to the programs, and the public still isn't aware. We have sent out letters to the municipalities and to the Aboriginal governments. I went into the community of Fort Simpson the other day, and I looked on the bulletin board at the band office, I believe, and it wasn't there. I did give direction as soon as I got back. I said, "Send out more notices," like let people...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. The best solutions for communities are actually to have the services within the community. It's not the best service to be outside. Those in the community know the situations. They know the strengths and the challenges of community members, so I would like to see a board in Tsiigehtchic as well.

We do have a local housing organization in Tsiigehtchic with a manager. The difficulty has been the board. In 2013, actually, we met with the community and we talked about a board. Out of those people in attendance, only one person actually stated that they...