Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening I had the pleasure of meeting Annette King, Yukon's child and youth advocate, alongside several of my MLA colleagues, to discuss the vital work she and her peers champion for the rights of children across Canada. Ms. King's accomplishments, confronting and navigating challenges similar to those our communities here in the Northwest Territories face, are particularly impressive.

It was shocking, but sadly not surprising, to learn that 30 percent of the Yukon's child and youth advocates' work is dedicated to files from outside of their territory, many of which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Improving the overall reliability of the medical travel system requires addressing delays, strengthening coordination, ensuring clear communication standards and reducing avoidable repeat travel. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Can the Minister provide the average and maximum wait times for medical travel approvals over the past fiscal year, and explain what actions are being taken to reduce delays for patients who need to travel urgently?

What specific steps is the department taking to streamline coordination with non-insured health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I haven't heard any critiques about it. People just want to know how it works. So will the Minister proactively provide more clear information about this whole new scheme to everyone who is currently engaged in the program or who is interested in being engaged in the program, whether -- well, let's just say it's the employer stream. So employers who use the program, will she direct the department to proactively engage with them and make sure they have everything they need? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it was with great delight that Northerners who rely on the Northwest Territories nominee program got the rules finally last week, but there's a new points’ criteria that's been attached to the employer-driven stream. Unfortunately, my office asked for more information but were told to look for the articles and documents. People want to see what this is all about. Will the Minister publish very clear guidance about how the points system will work for the NTNP program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was a good summary of how our system works, how our child and family services system works, but what I am asking about is when people are raising concerns about the well-being of children in the system that aren't in custody or that are in custody, who's looking after the system? So if the very system is the problem, where do Northerners go to get assistance? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel like the handsome men are getting overlooked so I am going to recognize a handsome friend of mine, the grand chief of the Tlicho Mr. Jackson Lafferty. Great to see you here today. And I also want to give a shout out to all of our interpreters. We could not do this job without you. I think a few of you are in Range Lake,, but thank you so much for the service you provide in keeping Indigenous languages alive and well here in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, that's good news, but that's not what's being communicated clearly because that's why we're getting complaints. So can the Minister explain why this happened? Why was individual-level non-anonymized data collection suggested to providers instead of typical aggregated, anonymized statistical reporting as we see in federal programs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Committee Report 35-20(1), Standing Committee on Public Accounts Report on the Review of the Auditor General's 2025 Audit of Protected and Conserved Areas in the Northwest Territories, be received by the Assembly and referred to Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a hard-working Range Lake page Adam Kamali. Thank you for being here and supporting our proceedings. It's great to have you as part of our democracy today, Adam. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, that's disappointing but -- because it is important work. But my concern about it is if it's just for Cabinet and we don't get to see it or the public gets to see it, we're letting the unit decide what is core. Right? They're defining non-core or discretionary medical services. We're letting this unit decide what Northerners need and what Northerners don't, and that could have big impacts because the most expensive services are definitely in small communities. So will the Minister commit to transparency around this process so we can make sure we all have an...