R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have a couple of pages from Hay River North here today with us, and so I want to welcome them Madeline Fabien and Francis Cook. And I have a feeling we'll be seeing them back in this Assembly in our seats one day. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, every year we honour the efforts of individuals, groups and organizations who strengthen the arts, cultures, heritage, and Indigenous languages of the Northwest Territories. Today, I am proud to announce the 2022 Minister’s Culture and Heritage Circle Award recipients.

The Individual Award recipient is Karen Wasicuna of Yellowknife. As the cofounder of Crazy Legs Contemporary Dance, her passion and support for dance and performing arts has had a lasting impact on many of her students who are now sharing their culture through dance in various professional capacities.

The Elders...

Thank you. With me, I have Christina Duffy, director of legislation division with the Department of Justice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here today to present Bill 57, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2022.

The purpose of Bill 57 is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified.

Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:

it must not be controversial;

it must not involve the spending of public funds;

it must not prejudicially affect rights; and

it must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

Departments responsible for the various...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, since the last time the Member asked this, I did add another holiday. It's not the holiday he was looking for though. So there will not be a statutory holiday on February 21st. The Member is well aware that that takes legislative change and that is not in the works. So it won't be happening this year. However, as I stated last year, this is the year that we are going to look at the Employment Standards Act and see what changes need to be made. So there will be engagement on the act including the potential establishment of a holiday in February. So the department...

Madam Speaker, the reason you see so much pink around the House today is because today we are acknowledging Pink Shirt Day, a day to reflect on how we treat one another.

Two brave teenagers in Nova Scotia sparked Pink Shirt Day 15 years ago after a male student in their school was harassed for wearing a pink shirt. The next morning, David Shepherd and Travis Price handed out pink shirts to all the male students. Now, Pink Shirt Day is a calltoaction for schools, communities, and workplaces to wear pink in solidarity against bullying.

Pink Shirt Day will be held nationally next week on February...

Thank you, Speaker. I'm always advocating to increase our housing stock. It doesn't just have to be the Government of the Northwest Territories building houses. When I meet with other groups and with Indigenous governments, I often speak to them about the need for housing and the roles that they can play as well, so I do do that work on a regular basis. It doesn't just impact immigration. It impacts our ability to staff teachers in communities and nurses, and all of those other things. So this is something that is at the forefront of my mind and the department's as well, and I will continue to...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the strategy was from 2017 to 2022. Part of that strategy or included with that strategy was a performance measurements plan. So the department is now reviewing the data, reviewing the administrative records and reaching out to stakeholders to complete that work and conclude that report. There have been discussions between ECE and ITI about the overall future of the program. And so those discussions, while they're ongoing, I expect that near the end of this Assembly/the beginning of the next Assembly, they will ramp up again when we have that capacity to do so...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'd like to recognize Georgina Lloyd. She is the assistant deputy minister with Northern Affairs for Crown Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. She is in Yellowknife this week and has meetings with the Aurora College transformation staff to discuss federal engagement opportunities relating to the transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university, and we're happy to have her here. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So we did reach out. The level of engagement wasn't what we would have hoped. Nonetheless, we did identify some areas for improvement. And so the Member can see the result of that engagement in the changes that were made to our nominee program stream, so changes to job advertising requirements and some other streamlining efforts. So that is where she can find those results. The proof is in the pudding. Thank you.