Caroline Wawzonek

For reference, I am looking at the summary of operations expenditures page, which is in the main estimates binders, and that does have a breakdown by department and also by expenditure category, showing a grand total of expenditures of $1,895,865.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been on people's mental health. Today, I want to speak to the fact that it can take strength, courage, and sometimes both to seek help for illnesses that may not have obvious physical symptoms.

Eight years ago, when my daughter was born, I experienced postpartum depression. It has taken me years to even be able to say those words, postpartum depression, and it still makes me uncomfortable. At first, I insisted that my behaviour and feelings were from a lack of sleep, but as weeks turned into months, I slept less...

I suppose one answer is that every dollar spent, to a degree, supports the Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories insofar as it provides the day-to-day functioning, programs, and services of the Government of the Northwest Territories that help all of the residents of the Northwest Territories, including Indigenous people. To the extent of breaking it down per capita or by demographic, certain programs and services, certainly, I will make an effort to go back and see which programs and services are targeted specifically to Indigenous groups in the Northwest Territories, but as far as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wasn't actually sure if the question is simply the total revenues, which, of course, is $2.1 billion; but alternatively, if we're looking to remove from that general revenues of non-renewable resource revenue at $33 million and the tax revenue of $277,000, then that would leave the remaining amounts, which is the amount that we get from Canada, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

I am certainly not going to speak for the whole of the Assembly and determine which of our priorities ranks above one or the other, but I think every Member here who has experienced the last two months of working from home and working remotely knows how important Internet connectivity is. As we're going forward, we are not entirely out of the weeds in terms of COVID. People are going to continue to rely on digital communication. It is obvious that this item is a priority, and it already was a priority of the Assembly. I'm not, as I say, going to rank it above the others, but I certainly can...

In addition to being the owner of the main highway that brings that link all the way up and brings that point of access and, in additional, being the consumer that helps make it attractive to Internet service providers once they're in that community, there are two other roles, I think, that the government is playing and must continue to play, and needs to, certainly, do a very good job of playing as we've all realized how important Internet services are in our homes. That is as an advocate and as a supporter.

As an advocate, both at the federal government level, in terms of going in, this is a...

I certainly can confirm that human resources has already begun working with Health and Social Services, that they are already underway in terms of developing their plan. I'll correct myself later if I'm wrong, but I believe there was an intention to move forward this summer. Again, now, with COVID-19, that may have changed somewhat, but the Department of Finance and human resources has been quite actively involved in the fact that we've had to staff up in the Health and Social Services Department. I will certainly commit to getting the details on those plans back to the Member and back to this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, the new collective agreement now has 24 months as the benchmark and no longer 48 months. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: "Report of the Northwest Territories Traditional Remuneration Commission 2020." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Mackenzie Valley fibre link is certainly one part of it. Making the connection up to Tuktoyaktuk is another. Looking at what other areas of connectivity we can work with. For instance, the road currently to Whati is another point where we want to look at what we can be doing as a supporter and as an advocate to make sure that we're using all those opportunities to get the basis, to get the fundamentals there available for those Internet service providers.

The plan, if we're going to be having a plan, is much more than just what the government can do. It's going to have to engage and look at...