Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to take this time to acknowledge two graduating students from Ecole St. Patrick High School, which is in my riding. I want to Congratulate Audrey Debogorski and Stella Fairman on their achievements. Along with the accomplishment of graduating from Ecole St. Patrick High School, Ms. Debogoski and Ms. Fairman are both receiving the Loran Award from the Loran Scholars Foundation. These students were selected, from amongst 6,000 applicants nation-wide, to become two of the 36 Loran Scholars for 2025. The award includes a four-year post-secondary scholarship, leadership-enrichment program and a mentorship program.
Congratulations and all the best to Ms. Debogorski and Ms. Fairman, and I want to say how proud our entire community is of you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand why people do encampments. There are a variety of reasons, whether they're exercising their freedoms, they're demonstrating political statements, affordability and, of course, addictions and other types. It's not meant to be an all-inclusive list, but there's reasons why.
Mr. Speaker, knowing that the government isn't moving forward on the Trespass Act any time in the foreseeable future, it may be on a list for one day in the fulsome of time, but the truth be told is we need to act now.
So the question to the Minister of Justice is would he be supportive of accelerating the Trespass Act within this next sitting -- upcoming sitting. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. Totally agree. I think that, you know, the three pieces of legislation that we've been targeting from the Department of Justice, the SCAN legislation, the Trespass Act, and the Civil Forfeiture Act, are certainly high on a priority list since I've become Minister of Justice and continue to have conversations with the department about moving these forward. And we've already accelerated the timeline from where it was originally proposed and, you know, we'll continue to work toward trying to bring that quickly to the House as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the spirit of collaboration, that was the nicest no I've heard all week.
Mr. Speaker, the Premier yesterday -- I'm not going to quote him in specifics because I don't have it in front of me, but he said it's the time to do things. So less talk, a lot more engagement and walk.
Mr. Speaker, would the government be supportive if a Private Member, such as myself, brought forward a Private Member's bill noting that most of these examples, whether they're Alberta and Nova Scotia, Manitoba, BC, are less than six pages? Would the government be open to a proposal from a private Member? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a considerable amount of work is already underway toward the Trespass Act. An LP is being currently developed. A lot of research has already started to address the fact that, you know, all the provinces within Canada have a Trespass Act. Unfortunately, the three territories, as of today, do not. It's certainly a priority of mine, as I said, to push this forward as quickly as possible and I am happy to, you know, continue in that direction. Certainly, you know, respect the private Members -- or the Member's right to move forward with a private Member's bill if he so chooses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, I'm always happy to do the government's work for them so anything they want to share with me, I'd be pleased. And that's not the question, but certainly I hope that's embedded in there somewhere.
Mr. Speaker, I want to point out and finish with families are feeling emotionally hostage, their personal safety, financial costs, and it's impacting their general daily lives. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to share what they have prepared today on this initiative? Because I'll push to move forward on a draft bill this coming fall so we can actually see some action in this Assembly with some new meaningful legislation that affects the day-to-day lives of citizens. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I previously said, a lot of work is already started on this initiative and just prior to coming into the sitting today, I did have my staff reach out to the Department of Justice and ask them to provide me with an update on how quickly we could advance these three pieces of legislations quicker than the planned accelerated timeline that I spoke to yesterday. So happy to share that information with the House as soon as it's available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, there's very serious concerns in Fort Simpson and in the Deh Cho education region. Mr. Speaker, the district educational authority, the district educational council, have all made recommendation along the following lines: Immediate administrative action to remove or reassign the individuals in question pending investigation, an independent review of the incidents of leaderships practices, trauma-informed support for affected staff and students, and inclusive leadership that reflects community values, fosters trust, and prioritizes safety and accountability.
My question today is, will the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment honour the recommendations of these duly elected boards and implement them immediately? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is due process that needs to take place with anything that has to do with public servants in this territory. While we do have an Education Act, the Education Act also has clauses that points to the Public Service Act, and we do have a Northwest Territories Teachers' Association who has a collective agreement. We need to make sure that we are operating with due process in the territory while respecting the residents of the territory as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear what the Minister is saying but what about the due process of parents? Of students? Of the elected board, so the people who ran to solve problems and are being told they're not allowed; what does the Minister have to say to them? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a responsibility on all of us to ensure that we have healthy relationships across this territory. We are a small territory, and we are all very intimately connected and we all, I would like to believe, at the end of the day have the common goal of the success and prosperity of Northerners and our northern children at heart. I am using the tools that I have at my disposable, Mr. Speaker. I am listening to many of those DEA members who are also parents, listening to DEC members, and have never been in a position to not have those conversations. These conversations are incredibly important and finding a path forward is my focus. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, talk is not what these individuals are asking for, that these elected officials are asking for; it's action. So let's put the staffing issues aside. Will the Minister commit to the other things that they've raised, an independent review of these incidents, trauma-informed support for the affected parties, and to instill inclusive leadership within the region? If she doesn't want to talk about one issue, can she talk about the other three because talk is cheap, and this is -- the community has run out of patience for this. They need to see real action. The divisions are deep. It's time to heal them. We need action from this Minister now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member as far as, you know, talk is cheap, and action is crucial, and we are taking action. There's due process underway right now, and we are honouring those processes. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government is currently working on safer communities and neighbourhoods legislation. Can the Minister say what stage of development this legislation is in and when residents can expect the bill to be introduced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so the current status of the SCAN legislation is -- you know, the plan is to have it, along with the Trespass Act and a Civil Forfeiture Act, go out to have the LP ready in the summer of 2025 and go out to public engagement in the fall of 2025, have the What We Heard report completed and with the current plan to advance the bill in the summer of 2026.
Now, having said that, as I indicated with the question from the other Member regarding the Trespass Act, I did reach out to the department and ask for the opportunities to see what the potential escalated or advanced timeline could be on this piece of legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've heard that one aspect of SCAN would allow for evicting people suspected of drug dealing from homes. A recent Yukon Supreme Court decision struck down this section of the SCAN Act as unconstitutional. How has this affected the government's work on SCAN legislation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this really does -- this question really speaks to the complexity of SCAN. You know, SCAN did come to this House previously, and I think, you know, as we looked at going through and redoing the SCAN legislation, a big part of that was ensuring that, you know, there was a detailed policy and legal analysis done to ensure that, you know, what was brought forward is appropriate for the NWT, it was sound legally, and in line with our jurisdictional best practices, you know. And certainly looking at the Yukon Supreme Court decision on how that would potentially impact SCAN legislation in the Northwest Territories is a big part of the work that goes on within the department to, again, ensure that what we put forward is, you know, sound from a legal perspective. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to ensuring consultation on this legislation is done as soon as possible and introduced as quickly as possible for the safety of the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly have, you know, a very similar sentiment to all of the Members in this House in that we really do realize the impact that drugs and crime are having on communities across the NWT. And since becoming the Minister, it's certainly been my priority to work diligently with all involved communities, Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, and members of the public, to ensure that we are moving this as quickly as possible. So right now, the community consultation is scheduled for the fall but similar to my earlier answer, I am waiting for a response back from the department to see if there's an opportunity to escalate that, provided we have adequate resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of ITI. So I am fairly certain she has already met with him, but will the Minister of ITI reach out to our new Yellowknife mayor about this specific topic as to whether to discuss a new agreement that could be reached to create a territorial park on Tin Can Hill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of ITI.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have met with Yellowknife's new mayor, and at this time I can say that ITI has no plans to pursue the establishment of a territorial park on Tin Can Hill. Our North Slave region does have numerous territorial parks and that piece of legislation -- or sorry, that piece of property is currently owned by the municipality. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And yeah, I respect that answer. But if the city does desire to make a change in future, through engagement and discussion with public and Indigenous partners, would the Minister consider formalizing an agreement once more to transfer land to form a territorial park for generations to come? And perhaps she could speak about what roadblocks might be in her way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, always happy to talk about this and always happy to sit down and talk about the goals of any organization or resident. So should the city of Yellowknife wish to pursue a territorial park on Tin Can Hill, first and foremost they would need to have that as part of their city plan. They would need to then transfer the land over to the GNWT. The GNWT would then need to add that park to their regulations. But before that would happen, we would first need to decide if that was an area where we wanted to spend our budget within the GNWT to put another territorial park within the North Slave region and, specifically, within the municipality of Yellowknife. It would come with it, Mr. Speaker, financial obligations as well as certain markers we would have to meet for it to meet the requirements as a territorial park. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, having had this discussion for a long time with the Minister over -- since the time I was elected a year and a half ago, I can say that there are provisions within legislation and regulation that allow for community engagement, Mr. Speaker. So if that would be a cost saving measure for the GNWT to have a community group manage that space, provide clean up of that space, would that be something the Minister would be interested in? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, work like this could be done without the GNWT. The community could work with the city of Yellowknife, and the city of Yellowknife would have the ability to deem that space a recreational park and that wouldn't need GNWT involvement in order to pursue that work. So that's always an option as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all I want to do is bring baby Alma home as soon as possible. The Archaeological Sites Act defines an archaeological site as any location where an artifact typically is over 50 years old with no continuous chain of possession. If found, if the Minister maintains that the marked graves of children in an active cemetery are not archaeological artifacts, then why is she invoking this legislation to classify their remains as such? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our current legislation was drafted some time ago. It needs to be updated to reflect human remains, especially unmarked graves and especially in regards to our residential school legacy across Canada.
I can advise the Member, and confirm for this House, that that piece of legislation is due to be updated, and that is work that we are undertaking over the course of this Assembly. It's something that will happen under our Intergovernmental Council protocols because that's a piece of legislation that will be co-drafted, and that work has been jump-started by myself already. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister is creating precedence where remains are over 50 years old can be designated as archaeological artifacts regardless of being marked and located in an active cemetery, does that clarification now extend to all remains in Lakeview Cemetery here in Yellowknife that meets this criteria as well, or is this elective interpretation being applied only to the remains of Indigenous children? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the piece of legislation, it is defined as anything that is over 50 years old.
It is my understanding as well, Mr. Speaker, that if a community can confirm for certain that human remains are of a certain person and have a firm belief that it is clear that this -- the remains are of that person, that the Archaeological Sites Act does not apply in that case.
I think it is also important here, Mr. Speaker, in regards to this conversation, the Member has referenced the oath that we all took as Members where we swore to honour and respect all treaties in the territory. And many of our modern treaties in this territory speak to the remains of their members, and also confirm and compel the government to make sure that we are doing engagement and notification of all Indigenous governments, not just in the Northwest Territories but Nunavut as well, given that children from across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut attended residential schools in multiple different areas and not just their traditional territory. So it's really important that we're able to honour those treaties as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
