Daniel McNeely

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Part of our correspondence came through personal presentations, written presentations. I read out for the record one of the presentations that was sent to our chair of SCEDE on May 6th from the Sahtu Renewable Resource Board. At the bottom of the first page, it says in bold:

"ENR Legislative Development Process: While the SRRB, the Sahtu Renewable Resource Board, participated in ENR's technical working group for developing bills 38 and 44, this participation was not granted to SRRB until February 13, 2018."

I am not too sure of the timeframe of the notification of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can't see myself supporting this motion and the previous one, as well. When I consider the existence of what we have already, we made significant progress in two candidate areas and two areas, one off the land claim settlement area and one within, so you have two examples of a system that is in front of us. It is working, and the staff are proceeding on it as we speak. Now, we are trying to change the system that is working, so I can't see what we are really trying to achieve by placing timelines and restricting the Minister's office from authority to move forward when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, also, would like to recognize Gayle Strikes With A Gun. She's originally from Alberta, but she was our principal in Fort Good Hope from the year 2000 to 2003. Congratulations on your recent award. Masi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In recognition of the clock here, also, that is ticking away, I will just mention in the pre-devolution area over the years and the post-devolution area, we are at a milestone developing this post legislation here which really, really reflects a system that is and has been through the engagement session.

Now, to tweak what is existing, I think that this is kind of where we are at, when I look and hear some of the comments being made. It may not be the perfect system here on the post-devolution side of things, but it gives us identification for where room for improvement...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, want to recognize the chair of SCEDE and the Members, the staff, the department, and the Minister's office for everyone's collaboration to expedite this to where we are today, recognizing there are a number of candidates, a number of areas of interest, that can immediately and in the long term comply with their initiatives under this bill.

In my recent trips to my home community in Fort Good Hope, I witnessed the discussions or negotiations going on to set out a protected area upstream from Fort Good Hope and the Rampart River delta area, an area unique to a number...

My next question is: is the Minister willing to make herself and staff available to, in the absence of this framework material, have engagements in Sahtu communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very encouraged by the Minister's statement earlier, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, which leads me to a limited number of questions later on. However, Mr. Speaker, we are approaching June, graduation month. I am grateful to see that our Sahtu region is supporting approximately 35 graduating students in our communities, from the three Aurora campuses and institutions outside the NWT. This is very encouraging. However, there still remains a lack of post-secondary transitional supports.

Mr. Speaker, transitioning and planning are critical elements...

All those opposed, please rise.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 55, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 1, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks for that reply. As mentioned earlier, if the Minister's party will include the Minister and staff, if the Minister is taken out of that party there, will the department heads look at travelling dates to the Sahtu communities to pass this message on? I see nothing about renewed vision, as I mentioned earlier, and getting that communication out to the communities is the gap that we need to fill in excelling the aspirations and good feeling of our students. When will the Minister make her staff available?