Katrina Nokleby

My second set is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

The Child and Youth Care Counselling Initiative is one of the Government of the Northwest Territories' programs intended to increase mental health supports for children and youth. The initiative was administered by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment until its multiphased multiyear transition to the Department of Health and Social Services.

I submit the following questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services:

Can the Minister explain how the Department of Health and Social Services prepared for the new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So what I hear is the Minister doesn't know what's going on in his department and he's not interested in mitigating this with the First Nations in a respectful manner. Will the Minister apologize to the LKDFN for this inappropriate raid on their people and their wellness camp, elders and children? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that letter is dated as of yesterday, after getting questions in this House, and it's my understanding it went to the wrong address for the Chief and not the SAO. My question, though, is, however, yesterday the Minister said with respect to the raid that it, quote, "hasn't been proven it was unlawful." However, the search warrant was thrown out by the courts. So is it not logical then that that search was unlawful? Is this really just not a game of semantics. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on September 13th, two uniformed officers arrived by helicopter at the Thaidene Nene East Arm National Park. What followed can only be described as a raid, as officers proceeded to enter a cultural camp of 80 people, including LKDFN elders, children, and Indigenous university students and faculty from New Zealand. Under the threat of arrest, they had to stand by while ENR officers searched their dwellings and seized belongings. Elders stated the raid was reminiscent of their youth and the experiences of their ancestors, being persecuted by colonists for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

The Child and Youth Care Counselling Initiative is one of the Government of the Northwest Territories' programs intended to increase mental health supports for children and youth. The initiative was administered by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment until its multiphased multiyear transition to the Department of Health and Social Services.

In its action plan, in response to the 2020 Auditor General's report recommendations, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, why didn't the Minister consider reaching out ahead of time in order to mitigate the situation with the LKDFN? This is what we've been talking about since we took office, was doing things properly and respectfully with the First Nations. Given that the warrant was thrown out, I think that there could have been a lot of things done here to not have had this happen, to traumatize women and children and foreign dignitaries. Therefore, can the Minister answer whether or not he thought about mitigating this and contacting the Chief ahead of time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I ask my question, I just want to state that I do not I have a lot of empathy for the people that had to execute the orders of the Department of ENR, and it is not them that I am criticizing in this.

So my questions are for the Minister of ENR. When did the department reach out to Chief Marlowe to request a facetoface meeting to discuss the incident? And when the Minister does have that meeting, could we please have a copy of it and minutes from the meeting. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Sorry, I just okay, maybe I can rephrase. When do we expect to hear a decision on whether or not the additional funding has been awarded for that project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Minister knows I'm a really big fan of the iterative process. So I'm glad to hear that, you know, we are looking at this as something that we are going to adapt and change as we get more feedback from the users of the system.

My last question I think just has to speak around Indigenous ownership. I believe there's been some information in the media around, you know, people sort of being window dressing as they take part in ceremonies and such but I think it's really important to clarify the record that the rare earth mine that is operating in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm super glad to hear the Minister speak about a coordinated approach and sort of being proactive with the players in the region given that I can't think of how many times I've heard oh, if we just knew that was going on, we would have jumped on board. So great to hear that the Minister's coordinating that.

Given that our dependence in the next while is going to be on metal mining as the diamond mines sunset, can the Minister speak to what is being done and how the GNWT is supporting the expansion or exploration for new metal mines? I can't stress enough...