R.J. Simpson

Sorry, Madam Chair. If I can get some clarification, there was some double negatives. I lost the thread on that one. Sorry, thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And there is, it's in a future activity, the Indigenous and intergovernmental relations activity, which is about three or four in the future here. But yeah, I can assure the Member that there is. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the principles and interests were looked at in the last government, actually. So it's been relatively recent. We have -- there's also a negotiating mandate, a very detailed negotiating mandate. And there's -- it's divided into chapters, and those chapters are reviewed periodically as well. And so there's some that maybe they haven't been updated in many years, maybe some have been updated a few years ago. So there's a number of different documents that guide this work, and they are reviewed on a regular basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, there's a lot of planning, and there's a lot of analysis, so maybe I will go to the associate deputy minister for some detail on the specifics. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, EIA's role when it comes to this really is the relationship with the Indigenous government and then the consultation aspect. There's also the role that I have as Premier in helping Ministers move files along. And so this has been one area that I've identified as an area that I am supporting the Minister in, who has made this one of his priorities to enable more access to land in communities for building. And so this is one that I am committed to having real concrete results before the end of this government. Thank you.

Thank you. No, that's not on time. That said, I am digging into those types of materials myself, and so once the department catches up I will have plenty of input for them. Thank you.

Yes, I would, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. So there's the Intergovernmental Council which is made up of the elected leaders, and we meet only once a year. There's a secretariat that meets much more often. And then it's the Intergovernmental Council that really guides our work when it comes to the legislation and how we work together. And so it's always been the goal to have unanimous consent on things moving forward, but I think that the review will help inform how that -- you know, how that history continues forward and whether or not we want to do something different. There is the opportunity to move ahead without the full...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So it's important to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with the people of the Northwest Territories. And in my time as MLA, I've seen us actually come quite a long ways. I don't think we barely -- there was barely any social media use when I first started. We weren't live streaming things. But all of that has really changed over the past number of years. So it's important to always look at how we can advance and get better. There's a -- you know, government's been doing things a certain way for a while as well and so there's always the culture aspect of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I won't speak too much about the justice department. I am not the justice minister. But I take the Member's point. We have a lot of people in the territory who are in and out of jail, who are on the street, who are in a cycle. And, you know, we do it -- you know, we have supports in the territory. You know, we have community counselling. We have SFA. We have these other things. But if people aren't in a place in their life to be housed and to stay out of jail, those types of things might be beyond their capacity at this moment. And so that's why -- that's one of the...