R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under the income assistance regulations, the department can issue an emergency allowance to income assistance clients when there is an emergency. And in this instance, there  the emergency allowance was issued to income assistance clients in Fort Simpson and zones 1, 2, and 3 in Fort Good Hope. There are no income assistance clients in Jean Marie River, otherwise we would have supported them as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the work to determine when that happens is underway. We are going to do a full review of arts funding programs across the territory. This isn't something that can be done in isolation, just creating an arts council. We need to take stock of what we're doing, how much are we spending, and how effective is it, and how can it be improved by the creation of something like an arm's length arts council. So that work is happening over the coming years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it would be a lot of work, for one thing. There would have to be consultation with the education authority and obviously the district education council. The district education authority would have to make it very clear that this is what they wanted, and I haven't received that  you know, there's been no resolution passed by the authority that I'm aware of. But the Hay River DEA comprises of about 42 percent of the student population of the south slave. So  but probably close to $10 million that goes to the SSDEC would then be removed and allocated to a new DEA, a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated last time, if this was as easy as cutting a cheque we wouldn't be here. This issue would be dealt with. The fact is we have an education system that is built on equality, not on not about being equitable; it's about being equal, so. And if I pay for busing in Hay River, I'd have to pay for busing in Fort Smith, and Yellowknife, in Inuvik, in Simpson. It doesn't matter if the communities need or not; we have to give them the money. I am working towards an equitable system where money goes where it's needed but currently, we have an equal system. So that...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that Bill 33, National Indigenous Peoples Day Act be read for a second time. This bill replaces the public holiday National Aboriginal Day held on June 21st of each year with the public holiday National Indigenous Peoples Day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This money is long gone; it's out the door.

Laughter

And there are discussions between, you know, our between ECE, people in the regions, people at headquarters and communities who are require infrastructure and so, you know, if a project wasn't successful for whatever reason, there are those conversations that have happened. So that work is definitely being done. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I've spoken with the chair of the CSFTNO and informed him that there exists this issue and that we will reach out as soon as this bill is passed and begin work on amending those regulations. And I've been assured that from the time that those consultations with the CSFTNO are complete, and really the consultation is 'do you want to remain with your threeyear term limit or do you want a fouryear term limit?' Once we're done with that, within two weeks we can have new regulations drafted and likely enforced.

And the reason this wasn't discovered, well, I can take that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. There was extensive consultation with the Yellowknife school boards. I've had numerous conversations with the chairs of those boards as well. As to the question of whether or not they were provided with the proposed language, I will hand it over to Ms. Wahlberg but first I'll note that the consultation with education bodies, and consultation in general I think, is to figure out the what not necessarily the how. And so when it comes down to the particulars of the, you know, the words used in legislation, it's our job as the government to ensure that those words achieve...

Yes, I would.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure government lawyers are always worried about court challenges coming and so, yes, they have definitely considered the possibility of a court challenge since day one. You know, this is a very unique situation and no one knew how far orders could go at the beginning. There has been case law around Canada, not necessarily in the territory, that has tackled some of these issues and the department is watching that. But it's always on the radar. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.