Katrina Nokleby

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, the abuses and violations committed and condoned by the Government of Canada against Indigenous people and, in particular, women, girls, and 2SLGBTQIPA+ people, is genocide. These abuses and violations have resulted in the denial of safety, security, and human dignity for Indigenous people and are the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQIPA+ people. Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBFQIPA+ people are forced to confront violence on a daily basis and live in a world where perpetrators act with impunity. The steps to end and redress this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't reiterate everything that my colleague from Kam Lake said, and I don't think I actually could after this long day in the House and week as well so far. I did just want to say that I too am disappointed that we didn't get this bill further along and kind of did get stuck in this conversation that ultimately did not end up going anywhere. However, I shouldn't say it that way because it really did sort of bring back the importance of ensuring the entire Government of the Northwest Territories has the same approach and all of the bills and acts have the same...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I speak unanimous consent to return to recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to echo what my colleague from Yellowknife North said. I want to respect the process of the intergovernmental working group in this. I think this is the exact example of where we did run out of the time at the end. I know that the Minister was open to having it go back, but we were just not able to have that fulsome conversation. It does speak to some of the motions we made or recommendations we made to have the conversations start sooner with the standing committee and having that be a lot more sort of fluid in that conversation back and forth between the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's not often that Cabinet proves my point, so I do appreciate that there is a third department that is now involved in this.

I think, again, it just speaks a little bit to what I was saying before, that there needs to be a sole direction, there needs to be a plan. We really need to be tackling this and especially given the food insecurity that people are facing. And, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure you're not immune to this. I am on a weekly basis hit up by residents of this territory for money to buy groceries for their children. And I know from speaking with my colleagues that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, for once, that's great news to hear in this House. I'm always glad to hear that we're getting more federal money than less. I guess given that we've had these back to back years of quite terrible environmental conditions for our growers who are predominantly in the South Slave, you know, I just want to sort of reiterate that it is becoming quite concerning. So can the Minister or the department do they track the amount of, say, community gardens and greenhouses that are present throughout the territory? Like, how is the department supporting that initiative...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the territory desperately needs to strengthen and diversify our economy. Our residents must have access to healthy and affordable food, and the need for mental health supports is at an alltime high. There is one sector that can help us improve in all these areas. The agrifood industry provides residents with opportunities to grow their own healthy produce and to open small and mediumsized economic ventures while reducing stress and improving mental health.

Mr. Speaker, our infrastructure gap and limited supply chain leave us vulnerable to food insecurity as...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And first of all, I just want to say I appreciate there's a lot of nuances to this bill, and there's been a lot of things that are needed and a long time coming, but I am going to belabour a little bit of a point on the bottle depot as well with my colleague. And I do recognize that it is not the sole intent of what we are here today to do.

But that being said, the entire reason to create a second bottle depot in the downtown area was to serve the vulnerable population that is using this as a source of income. And so for it to have a fiveday delay and, really, the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree with the things that were brought forward by my colleague for Frame Lake. It was quite an interesting process back and forth with the department and the and the working group, the technical working group, the Indigenous governments and representatives. I had the pleasure of being able to chair a few of the meetings which was helped me to stretch my legislative muscles and work through that kind of a process. And as you can see, the number of motions that we brought forward as a result of just how much back and forth there really had been. I agree that we likely...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister's response. But it did reiterate one of the concerns I raised in my statement, which is that this is an area where it does bounce between departments, or it's split over two, and like the immigration file we see that that does not generally work. You know, and if anyone is listening that will be around in the 20th, I do think there needs to be a Minister responsible for food security. I don't think we can go any longer without having somebody solely responsible for that who has to answer questions for it.

So next, can the Minister advise if...