Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to announce the release of Living Well Together, the online Indigenous cultural awareness and sensitivity training program for employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Developed by the Department of Finance in collaboration with the Departments of Education, Culture and Employment and Health and Social Services, Living Well Together replaces the GNWT's previous Aboriginal cultural and sensitivity training for its employees. It is a direct response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call for action with respect to...

I take my responsibilities as a Minister very seriously. I, certainly, am not going to stand and act in anything other than in the interests of the public of the Northwest Territories, but that includes, Mr. Speaker, an understanding and awareness of the rule of law and legal advice that we might receive as Ministers. I don't act on my own. I don't act without advice. I don't act without looking to the department. I don't act without looking to the Department of Justice when the time is appropriate. This was an usual legal problem. I could see that from day one when it came to my desk. We...

That's a challenging one to solve, Madam Chair. No, and I don't mean to laugh to make light. I suspect most people in this room would not disagree. Right now, the ITI-focused programming does tend to be project-specific or event-specific, whether it's direct under, for instance, the Northern Arts Festival or through the SEED programming that does tend to supply funding for events. Again, ECE and ITI work quite closely in terms of the arts strategy, and we've had some discussions about we have a great strategy. What will we do to ensure that there is the funding to meet its goals? I don't have...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We were really just waiting for the IGC process, the intergovernmental council process, to be concluded with the protocol there. With that done, I will commit to getting a full outline of our expected timeline on this to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is the contributions section here, so this is detailing, I believe, money that is going direct to, for example, the maker spaces in contrast to the money that would be directed to a position that is there to support the work of the department, broadly speaking. Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry, that would be the $350,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That is a BDIC-specific item, and I know that that was one of the questions they looked at when they gathered together in January. I had emphasized to them the fact that people will need the answer to that in advance of the fiscal year. I would like to just confirm where they landed on that, and I will commit to getting back to the Member. I think I will have that answer by our next sitting dates. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have that in my mains. It's not something I have in front of me, other than to sort of rehash what was already discussed earlier this week about the costs of expanding the season for a month being into the tens of thousands of dollars, let alone the fact that there are contracts in place with operators and some simple physical facts about what they can or cannot do before the real thaw happens.

The question involved was towards what could be done in maybe the day parks as opposed to the camping parks. That's a new spin on the question. What I would like to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We are, right now, working with the Department of Health and Social Services as well as ENR, and I think others, actually, towards a food strategy for the Northwest Territories, and a lot of work has, in fact, been done on that recently. There's been an inventory done around food security programming led by ITI, and recently, a poverty round table hosted by Health and Social Services. All of that information is being put together through an ADM working group so that all the departments, again, continue to understand what each one is doing so that we can best respond...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I suggest this might go to our director of finance, Ms. Salvador, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There is an increase there. That's with respect to the Mineral Resources Act implementation and also money to establish the knowledge economy and regional economic development plans.