Denny Rodgers

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and I appreciate that, and I recognize that we still have guidelines that we do offer through the department; however, what we don't have is enforcement. Can the Minister commit to -- and I know the previous Minister had a plan to have a plan. Can the Minister commit to sharing that plan, workplan, once developed by the working group with the House, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy today to recognize Inuvik Boot Lake constituency assistant, Ms. Sheila Nasogaluak here today. Her advocacy and certainly her passion and hard work for our constituents is invaluable for the work that we do up there, and I would not be able to do my job without her. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank my colleague from Range Lake for bringing this bill forward. Recently, Mr. Speaker, in Inuvik, we had a community feast held by the town of Inuvik for its first responders, the first of its kind in Inuvik, and it was a wonderful event and obviously the firefighters were there as well, and I was honoured to be able to speak and thank them on behalf of the residents of Inuvik Boot Lake and certainly the community of Inuvik as well.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I'm a bit of a poster child for first responders in the last three or four years having had -- in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister. And certainly I support this important work. I live in a riding with two Indigenous governments, well established, both with well-established development corporations. So my next question is there going to be -- is there any consideration -- I had originally had thought to potentially, for example, Mr. Speaker, if there was $2 million worth of government contracting work to be done in my region, is there any appetite to, say, carve out 10, 20, 30, 50, whatever the percentage would be, of that work and then have that work then with qualified...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since we're on the topic of commitments, we love commitments and I certainly appreciate that, can the Minister -- big, huge commitments. Can the Minister please -- would the Minister commit to, then, as the previous Minister committed to, having this building code in place when we walk out of this building at the end of this 20th Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke about a building code for the North. I would like to ask the Minister, given the number of units that certainly we are planning on building through our housing corporation as well as all the work that's being done with the Indigenous governments in my region and throughout the territory, can the Minister update this House on the work that's being completed by the working group to datez. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on March 3rd, 2025, I rose to give a statement on building codes, Mr. Speaker, or rather lack of building codes in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, all government buildings, as I understand, do adopt or abide by the National Standards Building Code, and that building code includes the electrical code, the plumbing code, the fire code, the energy code, as well of course as the building standards code. Mr. Speaker, however, all other developments, there is no code whatsoever. And, Mr. Speaker, we're the only jurisdiction in Canada without a building...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. I think we're starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel here, and I know it's going to take a continued commitment from the Minister to keep pushing this issue forward and getting this work done. Follow-up question, Mr. Speaker, you mentioned the amendments to the Northwest Territories land regulations. Do we have a timeline for that? Has the department come up with a schedule and timeline to get these amendments done so we can move this forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement today regarding the recent work done by the Department of ECC on the developing materials for the Indigenous governments around land leasing. My first question for the Minister of ECC is how would the department, I guess, define Indigenous traditional use cabins and who they are for? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.