Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not just now but I've been hearing a lot from my constituents, and others in the Northwest Territories, those who are living on fixed income, that their money are being garnished to pay for housing arrears and other arrears as well, and this is causing a lot of hardship for our vulnerable, especially the elders. It is hard on them especially now with the high cost of living that they have to pay. You know, there are they have to pay for they have to make a choice of either paying for a bill or groceries and this is a lot of them are having...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in honour of International Women's Day, I want to speak once again about the importance and value of Indigenous women and girls within our society.

Mr. Speaker, in all of the country and all across the Northwest Territories, you will find many brilliant, beautiful, capable, and resilient Indigenous women and girls who have much to offer in this world. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, but in most Indigenous cultures, women and girls are highly regarded and they hold a very important role in the functioning in our communities. Besides the fact that these women are...

Thank you. Well, I mean, you know, it's it's doable; we can do something about that. So, yeah, that's I was really concerned about that because contaminated sites, people are still talking about. Still talking about the effects of the Rayrock that's in our backyard. Now there's other there the Fortune Minerals too as well, so. And with the diamond mine expected to close, so this funding, it would be nice if there were more positions in the small communities who are impacted by the who are affected more by the contaminated sites. So that's what I would like to see is that more be invested...

Thank you.

Did he say it's for all of the Northwest Territories or North Slave, the two position that I'm talking about?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not about us. This is about the people that we serve in our region. And MLAs, the way that I look at them is that we are public servants. So we are here serving the people in the Northwest Territories just like under the people that are working for the GNWT under that are under the UNW collective agreement. For whatever UNW gets, I think I strongly believe that MLAs should be getting the same. Mr. Speaker, if this is good enough for the UNW who are representing the staff in the region, it should be good enough for us. So the way that this is...

So this North Slave position, it's located in Yellowknife or in Tlicho region?

Okay, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since this program is, you know, going under review, I would like to ask the Minister what is the new equivalency going to be of the program once the review is completed? Thank you.

Yeah, the reason why I ask about that is because there's a lot of contaminated sites in the NWT and there are still you know, a lot of people are still concerned, you know, especially if it's in their backyard. We have oil and gas. We have uranium. We have the Giant Mine. Now with mining that's expected to close. So I'm just wondering if this was enough. The money that you're you know, it's for remediation, you said that. So how much of that is going to be for, like for the employment and for or is it for positions more? Is more going for the position or for the clean up?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, drug addiction, especially crack cocaine, is a major issue in my region. And even now with the allseason road open to Whati, they are seeing the impact, the social problems. So can the Minister explain what is being done to educate students on the negative impacts of using drugs and how we can make sure the CYCC staff can direct students to the supports they need to avoid or overcome addictions? Thank you.