R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From my understanding, the day school, the residential school settlements, other similar settlements, were all initiated through the courts, through lawsuits, class action lawsuits, and that is the path, I believe, that has been proved most successful over the years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to go back because this was an issue that I dealt with as the Minister of ECE. So I would have to go back and look at that. But I imagine it might have something to do with the fact that it was the I believe the Dogrib Divisional Education Authority that was actually overseeing those residents. They weren't GNWT run in the same way that they were elsewhere, or church run. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's no conundrum here. We all work together. And the Minister of Health and Social Services can answer all of the Member's questions, so I would like to redirect it to her. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 7, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act 2024, to be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not aware of any of those discussions happening. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 187-20(1): Costs to Access Land Titles and Red-Tape Reduction; and, Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 203-20(1): RCMP Response to Addictions Related Calls. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated, this was a decision by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which I have no influence over. It ended up with an agreement, agreed to by the Government of Canada, and so I have no ability to open up that agreement, which was the result of, you know, 16 years essentially of litigation. So, no, unfortunately the answer is no, as far as I know. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 2, Missing Persons Act, be read for a third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't say that I disagree with much of what has been said today, and I've heard much of this from my MLA colleague from Hay River, the MLA for Hay River South, as well as the previous MLA for Hay River South, as well as myself as MLA for Hay River North. So I definitely recognize the scope of this issue. The government will be taking our time to formulate a response to this, so we will be abstaining from this vote, but we'll come back with a response in 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member had a couple of questions in there. The earlier one, were there individuals in the system in the Northwest Territories who suffered hardship? Of course there were. I know them personally; I'm sure every Member of this House probably has stories about someone they know who was in the system. That being said, this is a settled agreement that I have no ability to influence. We would likely need changes to -- or potentially need changes to federal legislation, we would need the human rights tribunal to be on board, the Government of Canada I'm assuming. So...