Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I take offence to this one. I think that this one goes against the rules of debate, 3.2(3)(i). The comment that the Member stated that the children are Indigenous and therefore it's not as important but if they were Caucasian that it would be an allofgovernment response implies faults or hidden motives to another Member; in fact, it implies that the whole of Cabinet would make this a priority and I think that's disrespectful to all of us. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also am kind of really heartbroken in what I'm hearing today, in honesty.

This Cabinet has been different. It's tried different. And those that were in the Assembly in the last Assembly know that, know that we've been working differently. And they know I think that Members that were here, ,and current Members as well, many of them, know that my heart is in the right place, and I am the Premier and I represent our Cabinet.

I've been asked I'm a Yellowknife MLA, Mr. Speaker. If I was only concerned about Yellowknife and my own riding and my own get reelections, then I...

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've put a really strong focus in this Assembly on building relationships with all governments, federal governments, Indigenous governments, etcetera, municipal governments. So we've really feel that we have a solid, strong, positive relationship with the federal government as it stands today. If there was a time that we needed to, things weren't getting met in NWT; you bet, I'd be the first one knocking on other doors. However, in saying that, when the election was coming up, the federal election, we did send a letter to all of the all of the parties to say what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Realizing that we haven't yet had to take advantage of it, I always say that any kind of bill or program or federal investment that puts a stronger focus on the northern needs of the North, we're always in favour of that. So that's one area that for sure we'd like to do.

But no matter what what the outcome of the Bill C245 comes, we are pleased with our relationship with the federal government so far and the accessibility that we have to the officials with the Canadian Infrastructure Bank. So we're not seeing any issues at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't like to guarantee anything that I can't make sure happens, but I can guarantee that we have the full intent to make sure that the rights that Appendix C of the Salt River Treaty Land Entitlement claim is fulfilled to the best of the GNWT's ability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, the GNWT has been actively working with Salt River and Canada on the implementation of Appendix C. Appendix C requires that all parties establish a trilateral working group to discuss the delivery of programs and services to ensure that the programs are available to all residents, and that includes Salt River First Nation members. So the trilateral working group meets regularly and discusses areas of concern that the Salt River might have with the implementation, as it relates to the GNWT programs and services. In fact, the official steering committee...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The MLA actually across the hall is really good for working with us and providing questions. So yes, I did review the bill just this morning actually once he gave me the questions, in honesty. But in fairness to the Member, the departments have had the bill for a while and had reviewed it, and I'm not meeting with the Private Member that's bringing it forward but the Minister of Finance is meeting with him this week coming up. So looking forward to see those discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

... the bank and we're looking forward to ensuring their input is considered during project planning as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.