Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the unit did review that. I would say the unit is probably now the foremost expert on reviews of the healthcare system. They've read every -- everything that's ever been written in terms of any sort of analysis or reviews they could get their hands on. And so that is all being considered. Everything out there is being considered in these reports. And so I can assure the Member that, yes, if something was written about the healthcare system, the team has looked at it, and they are considering how it fits into these priority areas and what efficiencies they can find based on the facts and the data that they have and then the recommendations in those reports too. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So please forgive me here but, I mean, it sounds like what we're doing is there's a huge amount of analysis and there's a large number of decisions that are going to come out of this, and the way it's being framed to me in this conversation is that this is all going to kind of hit Cabinet in one big meeting. I am sure it's not going to be exactly like that. But I am just wondering, you know, with the MMP report -- I mean, that one's now several years old -- what's stopping us from just going ahead with some of the recommendations in there? I mean, I would imagine that with the sweeping changes that are potentially going to come out of this, if we try to bring them all about at once, it is going to shock the system in a big way. So is there something to be said for rolling this out piece by piece? Maybe there's something to be said for doing it all at once because it makes the most sense. I am curious to understand how the unit is thinking that through. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And so this will come to Cabinet and, you know, the way the Member described everything coming onto Cabinet like a tsunami, that's just Cabinet. That's how every meeting is essentially. We get a thousand pages in front of us with major decisions that we need to deal with. So this will come to Cabinet but the implementation of it is not going to be, you know, March 1st of -- or sorry, April 1st of, you know, 2028. There is going to have to be a phased approach. The healthcare system needs to continue to function as a healthcare system, so we want to make sure that it functions, and to try and -- to have a wholesale change, it would be too disruptive. I assume -- again, I am not in the system, but that is what I understand the plan is, is to make these changes and then implement them in a fashion that is not too disruptive and that can be absorbed by the system. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And not to belabour the point, but I guess what I am just wondering here is -- you know, I will focus on the MMP report because it's probably the one I am most familiar with at this point. But, you know, there was some key recommendations in there that it's just really are we going to do this, or are we not, and if we're going to do this, this is how we're going to do it. It was pretty clear. The report is publicly available. Anyone can have a look at it. So I guess what I wonder is how much analysis do we really need to do? Is the analysis not already done? And why wait, is really the question for me. Like, you know, the Assembly has four years to get stuff done. I don't want us to be in a position where we're taking all the significant actions all in the last six months of the Assembly or the last year of the Assembly. I know that the way our election cycles and the government cycle all works, that tends to be the case. But I would hope that we could make decisions as we go and that we'd build a system that can do that, make decisions when we get the recommendations as opposed to waiting and waiting, and -- I think I've made my point. I will wait for the Premier to respond. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And when I say it's all going to hit Cabinet at once, you know, it will be all decided, I believe, in a relatively short period. But as these analyses are done, we -- can be distributed to Cabinet, we're going to -- there's going to be something to be shared with MLAs as well, and so there will be time to absorb these things. And in terms of the why wait, I mean, that's -- again, that's a question for the healthcare system. The healthcare system has gotten to its current state because of how it's been operating, and so what we're trying to do is figure out how it's operating and how it can operate better. And that's the goal of this unit. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And the reason I am sticking so hard to these points is this, and that is that we have no shortage of reports that have recommendations that have failed to be implemented over the years. And I am not just talking about health. I am just talking about government in general. Implementation seems to be a much bigger and more difficult problem than getting recommendations for what can be done to improve things, and so I think it's something that we should be considering.
With the very little amount of time I have left, the last point I wanted to make is knowing that the unit is focusing so much on programs -- I've made this point a number of times -- many of these programs are beloved to people and are not things that people are going to be letting go of. So how is the unit balancing the need for sustainability with the fact that the programs that we're reviewing are essential to many people in the Northwest Territories, and we're not going to want to get rid of the program itself. How are they balancing the need for program versus the need for sustainability and the need for maintaining the programs that we have? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And, you know, as was mentioned earlier, there's programs that we're always going to have that every jurisdiction in Canada delivers and, you know, on the list of programs that are being reviewed, that's primarily what we have. And so we know that, you know, medical travel is going to, you know, be core in the territory. We're going to need medical travel. We have a big territory. We have a lack of infrastructure. We're going to need medical travel. Are we doing it as efficiently as possible? I would say we're not. I mean -- and there are anecdotal -- you know, the Minister of health is making changes now, so there are changes happening where things have -- where the pressure really has built up. And it's clear that small changes can make big differences. So there are things happening there now. But, yeah, maybe I will leave it there and the Member can have time for something else. Thanks.
Thank you. No further questions. Please turn to page 140.
Executive and Indigenous Affairs, healthcare system sustainability, $2,185,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to Indigenous and intergovernmental relations on page 142, with information items on page 144 and 145. Are there any questions?
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you. I'd like to change witnesses.
Right, okay. Sergeant-at-Arms, would you please escort the members out and escort the other witnesses into the chamber.
Thank you. We're moving on to Indigenous and intergovernmental relations. Any questions? Are there any questions?
Member for -- I have Yellowknife North on first.
Look at me. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, so the agreement many years ago -- well, at least some years ago -- that established the Intergovernmental Council on land and resources management, the IGC, states that it's supposed to be reviewed every seven years, you know, how well the agreement is working, how well the Intergovernmental Council is doing, whether processes can be improved. And so what is the status of the seven-year review? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the last Intergovernmental Council meeting was held in November, and it was -- there was direction received from the council to begin the review. Maybe for the details of the review, I can hand it to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Premier mentioned, at the last Intergovernmental Council meeting, direction was provided to officials to proceed with undertaking the review. There is a transitional review working group that's been established with participating governmental officials. That group met on July 18th. The work will have to continue. At this point there's still quite a bit of work to do to make sure that all parties are fully aligned on the scope and nature of the review. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So just to make sure that I am clear, so has the scope of the review been determined in terms of what are the main issues or areas for improvement people want to look at? And then, will that scope be made public, or is this all to be done internally? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And so I will start, and then we can go to the deputy minister. But, again, this is one of those councils where the GNWT is one of the parties at the table and so the pace is often dictated by the party with maybe the least capacity or the least availability. And so it doesn't always move as quickly as everyone would like and, you know, I think those of us around the table as well. But I can hand it to the deputy minister for some more detail on that. Thanks.
Thank you. Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The working group is scheduled to meet again in the earlier part of this year. So their next major step is to develop the terms of reference for the review, and that terms of reference would then be advanced to leaders at the Intergovernmental Council itself for approval. And at that point, we'd have clear parameters in terms of scope. And maybe just building off of what the Premier mentioned, any sharing of -- public sharing of information of the terms of reference or the review would have to be something that the parties would agree to collectively, not just one party such as the GNWT. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, more generally, in terms of the public being able to see what work is ongoing of this group, my understanding is that Intergovernmental Council meetings are not ever public. Has there ever been discussion within the group as to whether the public could have sort of more idea of what's going on there, what's being discussed there, even just a better appreciation of what gets accomplished by the group? And does it require, like, unanimous -- does every single party around the table need to agree on everything, you know, including this? I think a lot of people are just confused about what's even happening there or how it works. And if nobody's comfortable making anything public, it doesn't, you know, help clarify for anyone out there what's actually going on there. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you. So there's the Intergovernmental Council which is made up of the elected leaders, and we meet only once a year. There's a secretariat that meets much more often. And then it's the Intergovernmental Council that really guides our work when it comes to the legislation and how we work together. And so it's always been the goal to have unanimous consent on things moving forward, but I think that the review will help inform how that -- you know, how that history continues forward and whether or not we want to do something different. There is the opportunity to move ahead without the full consent of the group, and perhaps there's times when that's -- is what needs to be done. But this is an area where, you know, if there was more hours in the day, more days in the week, I would like to spend more time actually on this Intergovernmental Council and, you know, convene another two meetings a year, perhaps, so that we can actually get together and have some substantive conversations because I think it's an important area that is much in need of a review and some more focus. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Another question I had, on page 144 of the budget, there is essentially a doubling of the funding for Indigenous intergovernmental meetings fund from $300,000 to $616,000. And so what's the reason for doubling that and what is meant to be accomplished or changed with the doubling of that funding? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So it's because we are working more closely with Indigenous governments. When the Council of Leaders was created, I believe there was one year of funding to support that group, which is a very large group. I think last time we went to Ottawa there was 26 Indigenous leaders that came with us. And that was -- so that was one year of funding. And so we have not had that funding since then. And, you know, we're demanding -- as an Assembly, we want to work more closely with Indigenous governments. I want to work more closely with Indigenous governments. And so it takes more resources, especially when we want to move things more quickly. And so this funding will allow us to continue that work. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Yellowknife North.
Okay, I will leave it there. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Next, I have the Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In the business plan on page 6, there is an action that discusses reviewing the GNWT principles and interests for negotiations to explore possible updates. And it's my understanding that there will be an internal review on those principles and interests by the end of this fiscal. Let's just start there and see if that's on time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you. No, that's not on time. That said, I am digging into those types of materials myself, and so once the department catches up I will have plenty of input for them. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Great Slave.
MS. REID: Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the Premier for that. I also am curious, then, what is driving -- beyond perhaps requests from Indigenous governments, what is internally driving this review? Is there anything that the Premier is aware of that isn't working that he is specifically keen on seeing being updated? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of the EIA.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So, of course, these business plans and these targets were all created in our first year, and as we go, we learn. And so what I am finding has been more useful is to meet personally with the Indigenous governments, with the negotiators, hear directly from them, and see why it's taken us, you know, decades to make progress on things or not make progress on things. There have been instances where there has been some back-and-forth between basically ourselves and the Indigenous governments on some of the finer details of potential future agreements, and so we've dealt with those at the Cabinet table. And so the idea was to look at everything that we're doing to ensure that everything is up to date because times change; we want to make sure that things are still current and make sure that they work for the unique needs of the different tables. But we've almost taken a more tailored approach to it, and -- yeah, I will leave it at that. Thanks.
Thank you. I will go to the Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, the Minister for that. I can appreciate that there is urgency behind this Assembly's Cabinet to settle land claims and to work more efficiently with Indigenous government partners to do so, so -- and I don't want to preclude. Obviously negotiations tables are confidential. But I guess I am just curious at the heart of the matter, like, when was the last time these parameters, these principles, these interests were looked at in wholesale and thought about in this way, or is this the first time in a long time? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the Member. We'll turn the table to the Minister of EIA.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the principles and interests were looked at in the last government, actually. So it's been relatively recent. We have -- there's also a negotiating mandate, a very detailed negotiating mandate. And there's -- it's divided into chapters, and those chapters are reviewed periodically as well. And so there's some that maybe they haven't been updated in many years, maybe some have been updated a few years ago. So there's a number of different documents that guide this work, and they are reviewed on a regular basis. Thank you.
