R.J. Simpson

Yes, I would.

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I said earlier, we're not going to have a school in place for this upcoming school year.

I can say that, you know, there are some roadblocks with the Education Act with the way all the districts are drawn, and so I know the Member has stated that hamlet doesn't want to work with or to have the Hay River involved but I think the Hay River DEA does need to be involved at this point. That's probably the easiest way to get things done. I've had meetings with representatives from Enterprise and the DEA, and there was discussions about perhaps starting small, having a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, we can't have a I can't commit to having a school in place by September. Schools need to be constructed or space would need to be renovated. There would need to be amendments to likely the Education Act. There's too much work to be done to have a school in place by September.

That being said, I have met with representatives from Enterprise, and I'm happy to continue to meet with them and have discussions as well as with the Hay River DEA, who are also involved in those discussions. Thank you.

Thank you. To my right, I have Andrea Giesbrecht, director of labour, development, and standards. It's her second appearance in front of committee. And on my left, Stephen Flanagan, legislative division with the Department of Justice, and it is his first time appearing in Committee of the Whole. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here today to present Bill 47: An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, No. 2.

Bill 47 adds the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th to the list of statutory holidays listed in Part 3 of the Northwest Territories’ Employment Standards Act, and includes consequential amendments to the Interpretation Act and the current Public Services Holiday Order to ensure alignment across legislation in the NWT and extend the holiday for members of the territorial public service going forward.

I am pleased to bring forward these amendments to support the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this Assembly, it's getting near the end. This is probably our last kick at the can to get things done. And so if there's going to be a school in Enterprise, it would be a future Minister. But I spoken I've had conversations with representatives from Enterprise. I hear their passion. I hear their desire to have their children stay home, be educated in the community, and I want to continue to work with them to see that come to fruition.

Part of the issues are with the Education Act, the way that education bodies are created, and the way schools are created, and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd be happy to meet with them. I know they have been busy lately. They've been providing evacuation services for a lot of the residents in Hay River. But if they're ready to meet or whenever they're ready to meet, I'm happy to meet with them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I want to commend the Member for the strong antislavery stance he took in his Member's statement.

The GNWT isn't the one who puts forward name changes for a geographical place. We have a geographical name policy, and it states that those changes come from the community. So we actually have received a request from the community to change the name of the Great Slave Lake.

We work with the Geographic Names Board of Canada on that, and there is a process. It involves community consultation, consultation with Indigenous governments, and we are undertaking that now. So the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Without a heads up, no, I can't detail the type of deescalation training that RCMP officers receive but the Commissioner of the RCMP did receive a new mandate letter today from the Minister of Public Safety and in there, there was comments about reviewing that type of deescalation training, to make sure that it is actually appropriate and doing what it is supposed to be doing. But I will provide the Member with a written followup regarding deescalation training. Thank you.