Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Legal Aid Commission of the Northwest Territories Annual Report 2024-2025. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left I have Charlene Doolittle, deputy minister. And to my right, I have James Bancroft, assistant director of corporate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department was hoping to have the Act reviewed by the end of the summer of 2025, but this review has been delayed primarily due to capacity challenges, and really those key changes that we've made is we've really focused our resources on the three key pieces of community safety legislation - the Trespass Act, the SCAN legislation, and the Civil Forfeiture Act. And this has slowed the timeline for the review, conducting the review of the Residential Tenancies Act. We have started that work however, and there's plans to do engagement with stakeholders on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll speak first primarily to the Yellowknife Courthouse, and we do have plans in the capital plan coming forward that part of that plan is to address a secure -- more secure parking area. I don't know specifically, as I sit here today, if that will include juror parking but certainly happy to take that away as well and look at what that could potentially look like, as well as -- you know, I'm familiar with very few courthouses across the Northwest Territories and what those facilities look like, but, again, I think in -- you know, our rapidly changing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently we are using the Employee Assistance Program as a support for jurors that are currently serving. And I certainly appreciate that jury duty is a -- you know, is an honour but also can be a very traumatic and challenging experience.

We are currently working on a new program that will come out hopefully in 2026. And I don't have the specific answer to that but I'm happy to get that information and provide it to the Member to focus in on the detail of that request. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, crime reduction and prevention is a key priority of the GNWT and a complex issue requiring community support and involvement. And I really want to emphasize that this is not anything that we can do alone. The GNWT can't solve this problem without working very closely with all of the other agencies across the NWT as well as with the communities, the Indigenous governments, the Indigenous organizations. It needs to be an all- hands-on-deck approach, Mr. Speaker. As Minister of Justice, you know, I'm responsible for setting the policy and priorities for 2024...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from Kam Lake, that Bill 27, An Act to Amend the Protection Against Family Violence Act, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, there are over a hundred climate stations operated by the GNWT and the federal government, so environment and climate change across the NWT. The GNWT has climate stations in every NWT community. And building from the landscape carbon workshop, the GNWT is coordinating efforts with partners, including Indigenous governments and researchers to develop landscape carbon roadmap for the Northwest Territories, and this roadmap will identify the next steps in research, monitoring, including western science, traditional knowledge, and local knowledge and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from Yellowknife South, that Bill 23, An Act to Amend the Children's Law Act, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.