Frieda Martselos

Mr. Speaker, a territorial transition house should be considered for the community of Fort Smith because of its setting, environment, and the traditional values and language that are offered. This territorial traditional transition house should be in a place where people can stay once they finish treatment in the South. Would the Minister consider building a territorial transition house for after-care clientele so the NWT would be more successful in making the addictions problems facing our people a thing of the past? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Is the on-the-land funding, similar to what we have done in Salt River, still available to all Indigenous governments?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to address another aspect of addiction services that are lacking in the NWT, which are the inadequate levels of after-care supports that are offered to people who return home from treatment centres. After-care is an extremely important component for people who struggle with addictions; yet, our territory is lagging behind in offering any real substantive supports to people when they return from treatment. When people get out of treatment, they must readjust to everyday life, which can be challenging after getting used to the routines and...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that the Legislative Assembly request the Office of the Auditor General of Canada to undertake a special audit of the Stanton Territorial Hospital Renewal Project, and report thereon to the Legislative Assembly; and further, that this special audit investigate the actual project costs and long-term financial implications of the partnership arrangement, compliance with the Financial Administration Act and the financial policies...

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to make a statement to highlight the public and private services that all businesses and government service centres provide to the people of Fort Smith. I would especially like to thank all the service providers at the Fort Smith Health Centre, including management, doctors, nurses, wellness workers, supporting staff, and all the people who keep the buildings clean. All of these workers provided a service that is unique and professional and, while sometimes serving the public can be difficult, they always do it in the best interests of the community. I want to...

I don't have any other questions.

She didn’t ask for any comments when she made the statement, so I thought I was able to do that. I’m sorry if I’m out of [microphone turned off]… The third question that I had was with the department, for three new positions, and the creation of office of devolution initiatives. I just want to know the makeup of that department.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a couple of questions. One of them is: a couple of weeks ago I did a Member’s statement on deputy ministers on boards. I, too, feel very strongly that, if you’re going to be accountable and transparent and arm's-length, the board has to be neutral. It’s the only way to go. There has to be input from various regions of the public to sit on these boards, and we have a lot of external people who are not in government, who will sit and give the perspective of the people of the Northwest Territories, and that’s extremely important. For me, I would ask the Premier...

Just further to that, I am in favour of making sure that friendship centres are funded properly, Madam Chair. It is really important because I know federal funding is not enough and friendship centres do a great job within the communities. They do a wide variety of programs that benefit a community. Some of them do soup kitchens, some of them do lunches for impoverished children, and there are so many other functions that they take care of that a lot of other organizations don’t. I just want to make sure that the funding is disbursed evenly. The $170,000, I don’t think it’s enough, but anyways...

Madam Chair, I had a question for funding with regard to funding the Northwest Territories friendship centres. First of all, I want to ask the first question, I guess. I always thought friendship centres came under federal jurisdiction. This is just extra to that?