Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because of the swift collective response from this government and the people of the Northwest Territories, COVID-19 has not taken the life of a single Northerner. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Indigenous women and girls. Today, I stand in solidarity with advocate, colleague, and my friend, MLA for Inuvik Twin Lakes in condemnation of the number of Indigenous women and girls who have gone missing or have been murdered in this country. Almost 2,400 Canadians shared their personal, gut-wrenching stories for the June 2019 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, June 5, 2020, I will move the following motion: Now therefore, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that the Legislative Assembly recommend the reappointment of the following individuals to the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission:

Ms. Marion Berls of the Town of Fort Smith, for a term of four year; and

Mr. Charles Dent of the City of Yellowknife, for a term of four years;

And further, that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of these appointments to the Commissioner.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister has mentioned before that we are national leaders in aggressive COVID-19 testing and that we are national leaders in a very timely response to the Reclaiming Power and Place report. I would like to urge the GNWT to be both an aggressive and a timely national leader in its action to do with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Will the Minister commit to providing an annual report to this House on the status of its plans and timelines so we can be accountable to keeping all Northerners safe? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In continuation of the questions posed by my colleague from Inuvik Twin Lakes, I would like to ask some questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services today. One of the questions that was asked by my colleague was in regard to working groups and who our GNWT collaborates with on those working groups, so what I would like to know is: who outside of the Government of the Northwest Territories does the Government of the Northwest Territories collaborate with on its working group for creating its action plan for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. My next question is in regard to the Support for Entrepreneurs and Economic Development, the SEED Program, which we did just discuss a couple of days ago here in the House, so I will make sure that I don't overstep on those questions. This, to me, is one of the most exciting programs that ITI has, especially right now where we have a lot of businesses needing support in the Northwest Territories.

One of the concerns that I have heard from my constituents in regard to the SEED Program is that there isn't a northern, kind of, commitment clause within there...

Thanks very much, Madam Chair. I am with my colleague from Yellowknife North: this is a very exciting page. Your comments about how ITI considers themselves allies to northern entrepreneurs and business community was not lost on me. Without further ado, the Great Northern Arts Festival was unfortunately, like many of our festivals, cancelled this year. I'm wondering, with the line item of $25,000 that was associated with that, what is ITI's plan for that money now? Thank you.

That makes me very happy to hear because our public servants are definitely in the driver's seat when it comes to making sure that northern procurement stays in the North and benefits northern workers. Would the Minister be willing to commit to quality-based procurement rather than lowest-bid rule while the department works to modernize its procurement policies to ensure that benefit retention to northern businesses and northern workers exists?

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. My final question for the Minister today is just: how has COVID affected your five-year tourism plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Infrastructure. My first question would be to ask the Minister if she'd read the report from the standing committee of the 18th Assembly, but we have discussed it. I know she has read it. What I would love to know is what her position is on the recommendations contained in the report. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I forwarded that email to a few of my constituents and just wanted to make sure that your comments to the Member for Yellowknife North were in line with that. My next question is in regards to domestic tourism. This year, within the Northwest Territories, we would love for all of our residents to be able to stay in the Northwest Territories and, to the best of people's ability, be able to really explore their own backyards. Has the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment looked into helping local tourism companies that are able to...