Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the court services, I see in here that for 2023 and then with the main estimate and then there was some increase in 20 -- later on revised estimate. But within this fiscal year, 2024-2025, it still stayed the same. And then there's a large reduction in the Office of the Children's Law, which is an important -- you know, it's -- this office is very important for many of our children that are in care or for -- you know, they provide good services. I just wanted to ask where is the increase made within the court services?

Mr. Speaker, can I have unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Okay, there are some of us MLAs that have four to six communities we represent, just like you, Nahendeh. We all came here wanting to make change. I hope that we as AN Assembly can move forward together in a positive way. We don't always need to be at each other's throat or tear each other down or arguing just for the sake of arguing. Both sides of the House must come together in a good way and work as a team for the people we were elected to represent. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. And also I see here -- okay, the compensation and benefits, this fiscal year for 2023-2024 for the main estimate went down for 2024-2025. Do you know which region is impacted by this?

Thank you. And the community mental wellness and addiction recovery, I think this is where that -- the transitional programs or for housing, for addiction recovery, I think you said it's under this community wellness. I just wanted to ask, I know that we've been talking for last two days the impacts of drugs that it has on our communities, on our people. And in Behchoko alone, you know, like, I mean, we have huge problems. And when our residents, they go for treatment, some of them they go back to the same old, everything's still the same, there's no change to the place that they're returning...

Okay, yeah, thank you. Thank you for that information because I was trying to find why, where. And also within the court services, okay, I think this is probably the court workers, you know. In North Slave there's, like, you know, 57, 57 active position -- we're still in the court services -- and there's nothing in Tlicho. There's nothing in Deh Cho and Sahtu. Why, how come there's no allocations or positions in that region? Can the Minister explain why or why there's no services provided for those three regions?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Consideration for elders and seniors in debt elimination. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Tuesday, June 4th, 2024, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, that the Government of the Northwest Territories revise the Financial Administration Manual and related policies on the elimination of debt to provide specific provisions for forgiveness of debt owed to the Government of the Northwest Territories or public agency for elders and seniors who are 60 years of age and older;

And further, that the Government of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak about good governance and leadership that I believe we, as MLAs, and we, as the government, should demonstrate. This is my thought on some of the things when I first came on, okay.

Mr. Speaker, when I first became an MLA, I thought the way that I was supposed to act was like a boxer getting into a ring for a big fight when I go into session. That's what I thought, okay. I thought I had to always try to get one over the Cabinet or a Minister. I thought that I had to be strong all the time with everything and with everyone I deal with in...

Thank you. Yeah, that's it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, [translation unavailable] on May 16, 2024, [translation unavailable].

So, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT held their bilateral meeting with the Tlicho government on May 16, 2024. Together, the GNWT and Tlicho government are working to improve mental health and addictions, build infrastructure, Tlicho jurisdiction in education, Tlicho involvement in emergency management, continually improve comanagement of wildlife. I want to take this time to acknowledge the good work of this Cabinet to improve relations with Indigenous government and to take actions that improve the...

Yeah, that's good. Thank you. That's what I wanted to hear. And then what I see here, it's good. You know, there's more money allocated to some of the programs, like men's healing, which is greatly needed, and it's helping a lot of community members in small communities. So I know it's being used well. Even the Victim Assistance Program, it's really helping a lot of communities because I know that we see things happening because of these programs. So I'm glad there is money, you know, there is increase in that budget for this fiscal year. So that's all. It's more of a comment. Thank you.