Katrina Nokleby

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 Chair. I think another just to further make a little bit more points or comments around that is that also one of the issues that I hear around having construction camps and mining and other industry around is sort of the byproduct of the partying, etcetera, that may come from some of the workers that do come into town. So another point there for pushing for camps is that in a camp situation, the camp can regulate workers returning to the camp in the evening therefore limiting the amounts of alcohol that they can consume and then be, you know, creating trouble in our downtown...

Drin Gwiinzii, Mr. Speaker. February is Indigenous Languages Month in Canada, and once again the Northwest Territories proves unique in that we are the only political region in Canada which recognizes 11 official languages, nine of which are Indigenous. Indigenous Languages Month is an opportunity to celebrate the NWT's unique culture and heritage, once again emphasizing how important it is that we preserve and revitalize Indigenous languages. We will achieve this through their everyday use, indepth educational program, and new technology such as apps, ensuring these languages survive for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is what this seems to me, and I hear a lot of what the description about the gender equity unit does actually seem to me to quite overlap with some of the work that is being done by the Status of Women. So, again, just like our shelter situation where we put it on NGOs that can't afford to pay proper wages to do work, it seems like this is another one of those types of situations where we underfund an NGO to do work but then we have a parallel department or other department doing some of that work. Those people are making more money. They're getting better...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, is it the intent of the Department of Infrastructure to retender this project or; i.e., send it out for another RFP round? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm going to continue along this line of questioning.

Can the Minister speak to when the last halting or demobilization or stoppage of work at the Tulita Health Centre occurred? It must have been past the time of the COVID stopping. Thank you.