Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a nearly four-hour blackout yesterday in the city of Yellowknife. The Minister's well aware. She was -- and very thankful to have her engagement and receive updates from her through that. Can the Minister just speak to -- clearly to the citizens of Yellowknife, Dettah, and N'dilo, what happened to cause the power outage and how was it resolved? Thank you.

That would be me. That was such a good statement from my colleagues, thank you; I was wrapped in awe.

Last night a nearly four-hour power outage during temperatures as low as minus 25 occurred occurring our proceedings in this chamber, Mr. Speaker, interrupting families just as they were sitting down to dinner and affecting restaurants and businesses just as they began serving their customers at peak hours.

I want to thank the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation for providing timely updates which were greatly appreciated by my constituents. I also want to thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so one of the biggest concerns is when foster parents, in particular, are having issues and feel like decisions are not being made in the best interests of the children under their care, that they are -- their homes are shut down, they're shut out of the system. What ask the Minister -- what does the Minister recommend those foster families do in those concerns? How do they have their concerns raised so we can ensure the best interests of the child are actually being followed and not some other policy that they're not even allowed to see? So how do we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, there's a real need for a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories. I'm hearing from foster parents and biological parents in the system that in many cases there's a revolving door of social workers. Some of the foster families have four social workers in one year. Some have no contact with the kids' social worker for an entire year. They feel like they have been set up for failure, wrong information given, miscommunication. It's always their fault, Mr. Speaker, and when they complain their homes get shut...

Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories, the child and family services system holds extraordinary power over children in care with no real independent oversight. Every choice made affects a child's life, but there's no formal review process. And since young children cannot advocate for themselves, they need someone to speak up on their behalf.

As MLAs, we are meant to serve as advocates when systems are failing Northerners yet even we are limited when it comes to child and family services cases. Because health and social services is the legal guardian of these children, it alone decides...

Well, is it the table of the symposium or the table going forward? Like, I'm trying to get a sense of what the MOU actually produces in operational terms, I guess. Is this -- is there a timeline or a schedule to look like? Is there -- are there contributing pots of funding? Like, what is it beyond a piece of paper and a great agreement? I support this kind of coordination, but what I'm trying to get at is what is the real investment? Because I like to see announcements at Roundup. I like to see announcements everywhere we go. But I like to know what they actually mean in practical terms...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on January 27th, CanNor and ITI signed an MOU to strengthen economic development and diversification, and the substance of this is to align efforts to support resource development and infrastructure, explore opportunities for more efficient pre-regulatory assistance and coordination for projects and convene a first of its kind northern Indigenous governments and development corporations project funding symposium.

So can the Minister just tell us how -- as MOUs are not, you know, structured legal agreements with money attached and all that kind of stuff, what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I mean, this problem is seemingly getting worse by the day. There's been a number of very serious child and family services audits that have revealed serious defects in the system. Can the Minister comment on the implementation of audit recommendations and if the department has successfully responded to all of the past three audits of the auditor general to fix the child and family services system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. New year, new budget, same problems. Here we go again.

Mr. Speaker, we are in a moment, and it is a moment of unprecedented change in the world that we once knew. We have heard our Prime Minister talk about this. We've heard our Premier talk about this. We've heard the Finance Minister talk about this earlier today. And we just heard the chair of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight talk about it as well. And it is beholden on all governments in Canada to move to meet this moment but, in particular, this one, because the systems that we've always relied...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, if there wasn't an MOU and I asked the Minister how are you supporting coordinating project development in the Northwest Territories with Indigenous governments, I think she would have given me the same answer. So my question specifically is what difference does this MOU make in terms of, like, better supporting these projects? And what are the practical effects of the MOU on our economy for these projects? Thank you.