Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do appreciate that, and I think the move to traditional foods in the hospitals is a good step. Perhaps that will somewhat commercialize the market, but I don't want to see that principle of non-commercial hunting disappear. I do think there probably is some inconsistency in the messaging that is occurring between ITI, Health, and ENR in regard to the market of hunting, because I have seen more and more push to allow locally harvested game to end up in restaurants or end up in markets. To me, I don't understand how we could do that without commercializing it. I guess...

Thank you, Madam Chair. That $55,000, would we know how much water that entitles industrial users to use?

I appreciate that answer because I just want to make it clear: when the City of Yellowknife is requesting the municipal lands in their boundary, they are not requesting the land that the Akaitcho is requesting. That is a separate issue that the City of Yellowknife is not requesting that land. My next question is: I am concerned that we underfund our municipalities, and they have been asking for this land. I am concerned that the Department of Lands is then going to make the city pay an arm and a leg for it. My question is for the Minister of Lands: is there an intention to charge the city for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that, in some conservation circles, there is hesitancy to put a value on wildlife, but I think, as we are going forward in this Assembly, looking at food security, and we are talking about increasing the harvesters assistance program, I really do think that there is a value to putting a value on what all of our caribou herds are worth to providing food security and then doing some of that assessment of what ultimately that benefit in food security is, being provided by local harvesters. Would ENR be willing to begin that work?

I hope, by end of three years of pestering the Minister about this, I can get a couple of extra hours. At some point, if the democratically elected people of the NWT can't get a couple of hours of time to renew their driver's licence, then I don't believe we are having the right conversations. My question for the Minister of Infrastructure is simple. I don't want to continue having conversations about the operating costs and the operations of a building. Will the Minister direct her department to open the department of motor vehicles in Yellowknife for some portion of time, either evenings or...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess this goes back to that issue. I question if there is outstanding money on people's equity leases, and they're not making payments, and we agree that we will eventually give them the land in fee simple. Why are we spending millions of dollars administering this when we could simply just hand over the land? Is the Department of Lands willing to look into cases where there may be outstanding fees? Is the Department of Lands willing to conduct an analysis of whether we're actually spending more money administering equity leases than we are actually owed at the end...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I previously asked questions to the Minister of Infrastructure about extending the hours of the department of motor vehicles in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that this is a small issue, but it is my intention to go through each of my campaign platform points and try my best, and if I can't have an office buy a couple of hours, then I wonder what I am doing here. The Minister responsible for the Department of Infrastructure last said that one of the barriers to implementing this was cost. I would like to know what the cost would be in adding an additional day to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to begin with the equity leases. Can the Minister of Lands tell me how many equity leases there are outstanding and the total amount owed on them?

Fifteen out of 320, I believe, is a statistic that shows that we're really not tapping into a huge section of our labour pool; that is, women who are willing to enter the trades. Is the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment willing to create a women in trades program?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do understand that there is a difference between land lease fees and taxation. I guess my concern here is we have the Department of Lands acknowledging that there are rights-based cabins and then continuing to charge those people fees. I really don't think that this is the purview of the Department of Lands. I think this is a matter of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. One of the problems is we have seen land administration continue to be a colonial tool where we enforce these policies without looking at the larger picture, that Indigenous nations are saying, "No...