R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And how we're doing that is in partnership. Once again, we were just down in Vancouver at the AME Roundup where I signed an MOU with the Yellowknives Dene and the Tlicho to advance the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor. Of course we have a Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains -- see, it's not that hard of a title -- to focus on this work with an associate Minister who -- and I have found that arrangement actually to be one of the most effective things that we do as government, to have an associate and a Minister focusing on these specific...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, the Tlicho have tens of thousands of square kilometers of contiguous land and there are opportunities for mines on that land, from what I understand. And so from that standpoint alone, there would be ongoing benefits and benefits directly to Tlicho residents.

In terms of infrastructure, we want to ensure that when there's new infrastructure, if there's maintenance, that that's done locally. For example, roads, we always like to ensure that the communities closest to the roads are the ones doing the maintenance on those. So there's long-term benefits there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won't speak about things in front of committee, but the budget contains things to do just that. We're also working on -- we have an MOU with CanNor to help speed up things. We're working -- I am working with my counterpart in the federal government to look at a more detailed MOU to really tackle a lot of these issues that have held things up. We are looking at how we can engage the federal government more so that they can provide direction to the boards in certain areas and provide better support to the boards where we see things held up. One example I always mention...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Kam Lake, the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment, will be absence from the House today, tomorrow, and Thursday to attend the Arctic 360 Conference in Toronto, Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So from what I understand, a lot of work has been done. There hasn't been I guess delays to the work for the sake of delays. Any delays are the result of some disagreements on the composition of the management board, and the other work that can happen has happened. So going forward, the ideal would be that we would have consensus from all of the groups involved on how that management board would be established and its composition. And so we really need to get through that process, and the GNWT has very limited ability to accelerate that type of collaboration and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And EIA does work with NGOs. We have a very, very small unit, extraordinarily small unit with only a couple people in there so it's difficult to overcommit ourselves. Right now we are focusing on service integration with a specific focus on homelessness and people who are at risk of become homeless. And so that unit doesn't have a lot of additional horsepower to take on other roles. That being said, I am happy to speak with the other two Ministers who are involved in this and have a conversation because I do see the value in having some sort of coordination. When you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this is an issue that cuts across a number of different departments. Housing NWT is actually responsible for the coordination of the homelessness strategy although EIA does continue to play a role in there, and health and social services, as the establishment policy of that department, gives it authority over family violence and family violence shelters and the funding. So it goes beyond just EIA, and I wouldn't want to make a commitment and commit the Minister of the Status of Women and the Minister of health to something without having a conversation first. So now...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have a conversation with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change who has oversight of this file and see what can be done. But, again, it's a matter of people working together and coming to a consensus in order to conclude this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will do my best. This is more of a question for the ECE Minister but I understand, you know, from the Member's statement why she's directing this to me. So I will say that currently the area is protected under a land withdrawal until 2028 I believe, and there are a few steps that need to take place before it can move from a candidate to a protected area. The majority of those are internal to the working group. There's a number of Indigenous governments and the GNWT who are all part of this process, and there needs to be some agreement, as the Member mentioned, on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as the Member mentioned, staff have reached out to have conversations with the YWCA about ongoing funding. I recognize the important work that NGOs do, and they do it at a fraction of the cost that the Government of the Northwest Territories can do it. So we always want to make sure that we are supporting them to the extent we can.

The program that has sunsetting funding is a federal program and so, you know, we see this quite often in the territory where the federal government will see an opportunity to fund something that's their flavour of the day I guess, and...