Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't think I said that the department was responsible for it. I asked what was happening with the fact that there hasn't been an executive director there. Given the importance of the work and that we are funding them from the GNWT to some degree, what does the department plan to do with the fact that there is nobody leading that organization? Thank you.

Thank you. And I appreciate having the 40 seconds left so I can ask one more question. So then I guess my last question is around the community tourism infrastructure. I look at that, and we have seen a few changes, and I know that we had an influx during the pandemic, when I was sitting in that seat, just to keep some money going into communities while building things like kitchen shelters, that sort of thing. I'm glad we're up a hundred thousand from last year but a hundred thousand dollars does not go very far when it comes to trying to build anything in the communities. Can the Minister...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And that plays really nicely into my next area of conversation around different forms of tourism. I recently had the opportunity to attend the Grow NWT conference, which was the agricultural conference that was hosted by the territorial agri association last week. It was fantastic. And through that there was a lot more conversation around ecotourism, agritourism. You know, I think there's a real opportunity for that southerners would find it quite interesting to see how does the North feed itself and when we do get to a stage where we have innovative greenhouses and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. My question is around hotel rooms, etcetera, in kind of a little bit not budgety but I think something that really should be aware of is it's come to my attention recently that a lot of the hotel rooms are quite full and that people are struggling to find accommodations, particularly if the accommodation, you know, needs to be booked in a short timeframe. And so I guess that really comes back to I know that some of that space is being taken up by contract workers, etcetera. So I'm just wondering has the Minister or the department had any further conversations with the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the clarification around the essential services. Although I do want to note that the Status of Women does do a lot of other work that is quite key, whether or not it's actually deemed essential by the government. I know that they've been doing a lot work with, like, RCMP and analyzing things around domestic violence, etcetera.

Can the Minister or the Premier answer whether or not the gender equity unit is actually being positioned to replace the Status of Women given that there's more funding there than there seems to be to the Status of Women. Thank you...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just comment that I find it quite concerning that nobody seems to be aware that this is happening in the Premier's office. This position has been empty for months now, not just one. I think almost at least since the fall.

My question then is given that NGOs are often underfunded for wages and benefits, etcetera. Given that we're only contributing $444,000 to this organization, how does the GNWT expect an NGO like this to attract any sort of good quality people to work for them if we're not going to be properly or they're not being properly compensated? Can the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also agree that the work of the Status of Women is super important. And I'm just wondering if the Premier can speak to the process for hiring an executive director. It's my understanding that that position has been empty for quite a while and if the department could speak to what's happening there, that would be great. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I'm really excited to hear that. You know, I think it would be an amazing opportunity to offer, like, you know, go berry picking with an elder when we have people coming into the North. And as well too just all the mental health advantages of, you know, growing our own food and working with the earth and etcetera so I'm really happy to hear that.

I guess I just want to come back to something we talked about before the pandemic took over our lives, and that was the lack of anything around in the downtown core. In the winter months, when we do have the Aurora tours...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And Madam Speaker, I was going to thank you for your latitude in that last question. And given that it's not a super controversial topic, I do really appreciate that. I will leave this as my final question.

If it should be required, will the Minister commit to meeting with Cabin Radio to better understand the situation and ensure that whatever correspondence goes forward to the CRTC that it is, you know, with their input and the Minister's full understanding of the situation? Thank you.

Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I was talking about the right thing before I proceeded. Is there any chance then that this community futures group would be brought back into the fold so to say, and what really is this is again another area where I think perhaps some increased money would be useful as it takes the burden off the department to find the people to give money to and gives it to a different organization. However, I have heard complaints that at times these organizations are not being fairly run or at times that there's appearance of favoritism in the communities.

So can the...