Vince McKay

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, so I don't know if it's right to be talking about contracts in here. But I will follow up with the Member, and we'll have some discussions on what needs to be done there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have the staff within MACA to deal with this type of stuff. We have the staff that are trained in emergency management. We have the staff that are able to, you know, build the plans and also work with the legislation. I'm quite confident that the department is able to manage the types of emergencies that we've been dealt with the last little while. I know there's also concerns about the capacity. The Government of the Northwest Territories have -- it's actually even still advertised -- have requested for GNWT employees who wish to step up. There are trained GNWT...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I'll commit to having something to the House or for the Members here before the next session. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the government has been working with communities to identify residents in the community that require extra assistance in case of an emergency. That being said, the government may not be fully involved at that time, especially if it's a local emergency. Even in that scenario, the government may still be involved locally in the fact of helping, you know, assist somebody out of an apartment building or whatever that may have been evacuated. So the process is updating. We're learning from the things that have happened. You know, we're -- I will have to say even this year...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this summer was obviously another difficult time with the fires and the smoke and the fog. It did cause some issues on our highways with visibility. And I hear the Member. Same concerns I had through this. I've talked to the department, and this is something that we're going to look at. You know, so any recommendations on how we can improve our emergency situations like this, I'd be happy to hear them.

So, yes, we are looking at how we can improve this. I know Drive NT has been one avenue that's been used, and they're trying to obviously stay on top of it, but it's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I guess that's the good thing about this third party independent after-action review, is that it brought out all these things. It brought out the -- you know, some of the issues that we were having, including this one that was raised. Yes, we are looking at making these changes in the Emergency Management Act. This is all part of the after-action review. You know, the whole point of this is clarifying our roles and responsibilities. You know, I guess after that, in 2023, having been part of it, you know, I understand the confusion and everything else that was there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The current structure already separates from the political side. The decisions are all made within the ICS system, and when it comes down to a Minister making a decision, it's through the legislation on what type of decision that may be. So sometimes it's signing off on an emergency evacuation order that a local state of emergency that has been declared. So it's not the Minister making the decision; it's following the recommendations of the trained staff. So basically the Minister's role is limited to making statutory declarations if a local state of emergency or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member, and I agree with his concerns. Again, I will work with the Member to work with the department and see what we can do to find a path forward to make sure that it's corrected and repaired properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, this is definitely an area of concern. It's been brought up many times, obviously. This is one that's definitely been a hot radar topic area. So they've done a lot of work on it. But, obviously, during this time of year when it's raining as bad as it is, it shows that it's getting a little slushy and mucky. So the department has reached out to the contractor to do some work on it. Obviously, we can easily -- we can obviously easily say it's going to go away as soon as it freezes and the snow fills everything in. But you're right, when the spring comes around, we're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like any small community, you know, volunteerism is very important. And I hope that members of the community would step up -- and I know there has been recently -- to establish their local fire department and maybe take on roles of responding to other emergencies. However, when it comes to talking about paramedics, that's a field, a detailed line of work that is similar to being a nurse or a doctor. You know, that's a different type of qualifications. It falls under department of health. But when it comes down to emergency response in the communities and first...