George Nerysoo

Thank you, Minister. With that answer, my two other questions wouldn't be relevant, so I'll find another way of adding it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be more specific, I was contacted by three organizations within my riding and asked to advocate on their behalf, and I did. How successful were the interested organizations from Tsiigehtchic and Aklavik been conducted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like to thank the Minister for that opportunity. I'll be taking her advice and reaching out to her. It's been a long time. There is people going out and not following through or don't have the capacity or don't have the resources to reach out to. How long is it going to take us, take for us to move forward and support our people who are crying for help to move forward and break the cycles instead of taking steps backwards because of the lack of resources, especially in our smaller communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to address an issue that affects those who make the choice to go to treatment facilities away from their homes to get help for their dependency and the lack of resources available to them when they return home. Often, these people who return home fall back in the same cycle of substance abuse because they do not have any follow-up or acknowledgement for their efforts to get sober.

Mr. Speaker, making the choice to attain sobriety is not an easy choice for most people to make. Due to lack of treatment facilities in the NWT, people usually leave their homes to go...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll reach out to Members of my three communities and see if they can allocate some funding. How can we work in collaboration to provide what is needed for the residents of the Mackenzie Delta in regards to addictions and aftercare and for funding and resources to be made available within our smaller communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following on my Member's statement, we have a lot of people of all ages going for treatment for alcohol and or drug abuse. There's a lot of people from my community, my region, go out to, as far away to Toronto for up to six weeks, and upon the return they're going back into their same old habits, they have no resources to go to. There's absolutely no help and some of these people are falling back into their old habits within a week or so. It would be good if the government can follow through and make some of these programs available in our, especially in our smaller...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. According to NWT bureau of statistics, the employment rate in the NWT dropped from 66.3 percent in August to 65.2 percent in September. Based on a labour force activity report released on August 8th, 2025, the annual rate of employment in the NWT dropped 2.6 percent since July 2024.

Mr. Speaker, on the other hand Stats NWT states that the total cases of income support rose from 1,005 in May of 2025 to 1,097 in June, a difference of 92 more cases in one month. With this recent drop in employment, I can only assume that the rate of income support will rise.

Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to follow up on my colleague's Member's statement from Boot Lake on the condition of the Dempster Highway. As my colleague stated, I too have been receiving daily texts about the highway conditions in terms of safety.

Mr. Speaker, I personally drive this highway on occasion, and I know what the residents of the Beaufort Delta are referring to and have them express their concerns about the horrible conditions of the highway at this time of the year. Just to put into context, when I went to Inuvik with the cab, the cab driver was driving 35...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a vacancy of a highway inspector in Fort McPherson. Has this position been filled, or is there any interest in this position? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure in regards to my Member's statement.

Communication with the department and the regional department is important to ensure the safety all our users of NWT highways. How often is your office staff in contact with the regional department to look at improvements and/or maintenance reports from the highway inspectors? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.