R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 72, Opioid Damages and Healthcare Costs Recovery Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. No, I can't. I don't have the authority to commit to the commanding officer. Our agreement with the Government of Canada is very clear that the GNWT does not direct the operations of the RCMP. However, the community government is more than welcome to reach out to the commanding officer and request a meeting. I know that he's still relatively new to the territory and is trying to get out to the communities and meet with everyone so it could be a good opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Each year I send out letters to the Indigenous governments across the territory to ask what they think the policing priorities should be for the RCMP. As Minister, I provide the RCMP with their policing priorities annually. One of the three priorities relates to drug and alcohol use. So we start right at the very high level. That's how we begin engaging. At the local level, there are you know, the RCMP is always open to meet with Indigenous government leadership. They're willing to meet with elected leaders. You know, when I speak with elected leaders in communities...

Mr. Speaker, at long last, it gives me great pleasure to announce that the members of the new Aurora College Board of Governors have been selected. I would like to welcome and congratulate the following individuals on their appointments:

Joseph Handley of Yellowknife;

Lorraine Tordiff of Fort Smith;

Lucy Kuptana of Tuktoyaktuk;

Rebecca Plotner of Yellowknife;

Tom Colosimo of Hay River;

Jack Rowe of Hay River;

David Hurley of Yellowknife;

Kevin Antoniak of Fort Smith;

Stephanie IrlbacherFox of Yellowknife;

Richard Boudreault of Quebec;

Student member, Cayla Gillis;

Instructional staff member, Wanda...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Annual Reports for the Education Bodies of the Northwest Territories for the 20212022 School Year, ending June 30th, 2022, volumes 1 and 2. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. So what we're proposing here is this upcoming fiscal year. So this is the next year. So there are no additional positions in this area being proposed for the Tlicho region. The Member can stay tuned for perhaps some other positions in some other areas in the Tlicho region that she might be seeing sometime soon though. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll hand it to Mr. Saturnino.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I recognize the Member's concerns. Unfortunately, I don't have that level of detail about the operations of the courts. The travel schedule and those logistical pieces are the decisions of the courts so it's not my decision to make. But I can look into it and get back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you. So the reason it's separated is because we have regional offices that deliver services directly to the public and we have those in each of the regions, including the North Slave. Separate from that is the headquarters office, and they do the headquarters work. So the same way that our CDOs, or career development officers in Hay River and Fort Smith, they're in Yellowknife. And that's the recognition of that.

The increase in positions is a and, you know, I'll hand it over. It's a bit of an adjustment based on some previous changes. So I think it's more technical than anything else...

Thank you. So that's a program that a school can run if it wishes to. They have that flexibility. One of the biggest barriers to programs like that are having teachers who also happen to be, say, journey persons. So they are in short demand; you know, skilled labour and skilled labour who are also teachers. It's a rare combination so that really is the biggest barrier. But if a school board has you know, they want to do that, they can do it if they can get the teaching resources. Thank you.