Caroline Wawzonek

I apologize. I should have been briefer in my original answer. I happened to have a chronology of the efforts we made because it's not the first concern that's been raised to me about what I've done to engage and the time we spent speaking to not only Indigenous governments but also our community governments and others. We did write out, seeking input. We also had two further conversations about this, and it was actually as a result of those conversations and of the input that we received that, in fact, we did not allow taxis to be involved in the sale and distribution of alcohol and that, if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Liquor regulations are a regulation entirely within the department of finance and typically wouldn't necessarily be the subject of significant -- certainly not consultation as a legal concept but engagement, more generally. What we did do in this case, Mr. Speaker, is that certainly, at the same time that this was happening, there was a liquor-related motion by the Dene Nation that was made and a fairly lengthy response provided to them on April 7th. I was involved in an Indigenous governments' call that has been happening weekly now with the governments during the...

Mr. Speaker, again, I'm going to commit to firstly put that into writing for the Member. I think there are quite a lot of programs that are happening, and I don't want to be seen as missing one or simply reading out a list and not getting to the root of what is being requested. I will just briefly say, Mr. Speaker, that there has been trauma-informed care being provided as training for correctional staff now for, I believe, two years. There are Indigenous liaison officers meant to be stationed at all of the facilities, although I acknowledge that sometimes those positions have not always been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The correctional service did develop what's called "Northern Sessions." It was developed specifically in the Northwest Territories and was meant to bring northern Indigenous perspective into the correctional programming that's available. There are also other programs that are built upon from Correctional Services Canada and then adapted and delivered by local facility staff members.

I'm certainly pleased to hear that there has been coordination and communication between the private establishments and the local government. I know I have also been in contact with the local government, and the Liquor Act is written such that, where there's a licensed establishment, a temporary prohibition order is not an option, unfortunately. Certainly, if there can be that communication within the community, that is good news. Going forward, as I've sort of alluded to in my first answer, Mr. Speaker, it's quite clear that there needs to be a much bigger conversation around the Liquor Act...

I think you're channeling my answer, which is that the outreach to our business community is going to involve far more than just my department, but I anticipate that, certainly as we're going forward in our response to COVID and our COVID relief efforts, I expect there will continue to be quite a bit of dialogue across different sectors. No doubt, if this is something that the industry of tourism finds, if they are getting interest from the community, then I'm sure that I'll work with my colleague to explore that further. Certainly, I am conscious that the public sector is a leading role and a...

The Government of the Northwest Territories actually provides quite a variety of flexible options as it is. The challenge sometimes becomes that it is spread out over different departments, so that it comes down to individual departments, divisions, and supervisors. There already are flexible work weeks ago, flexible shifts and hours, to a large extent. The Government of the Northwest Territories certainly makes those efforts, and we are going to continue to make those efforts.

I would just say that, in light of what's happening right now and the experiences with COVID-19, the experience of...

I need to just take 10 seconds and actually go back to the genesis of the program, which was that, when Canada, the federal government, ruled out this CERB program for individuals who were negatively impacted, lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19, and they set a floor that would provide money to everyone, $2,000 into the pockets of people who had been negatively impacted, there very quickly arose, particularly in southern Canada, the fact that a lot of front-line workers were now incentivized to leave what might have been considered, at least perceptually, a higher risk profession, whether...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The emergency wage subsidy provides a 75 percent subsidy to employers to encourage them to keep their employees on the payroll rather than laying them off during what might be more-than-lean times for those businesses, whereas the wage top-up program, Mr. Speaker, is one that is meant to support employees who are making under a certain level of wages, of earnings hourly. In that sense, the two aren't necessarily related. Rather, they are not related, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Yes. Again, I don't know that the Department of Justice has right now, on track, that specific information, and it may well be that it's held by the RCMP. However, again, what I can do is at least ensure that that question is transmitted to the RCMP directly and see that they can follow up.

As I mentioned, the RCMP does have regular updates they provide to communities, and it's a good opportunity to ensure that, when they are doing that, that they are providing updates to the extent that they have the information about Liquor Act violations, Liquor Act prohibitions, since that certainly has...