R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question took a bit of a left turn there. It started talking about wellness. I thought it was going to go a different direction, so I probably need a bit of clarity on what was asked. I think it was about how the territorial government can work with the community to access some of these funds; is that correct?

The community can reach out, and we can have those conversations. That's not a problem. You know, we have a number of departments with relationships with the federal government that have awareness of different potential pots of money, and so either through the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, as a Cabinet, as Ministers, we engage with Indigenous governments quite often, whether it's a one-on-one discussion, whether I just get a text or an email or a phone call from an Indigenous leader, or it's through a more formal process like the Council of Leaders or the bilateral meetings that we as Cabinet have with Indigenous governments, and this is often a topic of discussion in those different forums. And so that's how, you know, we get a lot of our feedback.

I'll let the Member know that just the other day I was on a call with the federal Minister of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there is more than just one team doing work in the Northwest Territories. Throughout the Northwest Territories, there's dedicated groups of volunteer who might not be part of a structured incorporated group that go out and do this work on a quite regular basis, depending on the circumstances. But that group is -- you know, we don't have a coordinating body, as I said and right now the report itself suggested that the EMO, the emergency management organization, take over these functions. The EMO does not have that capacity at this time. And we'll be responding to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple years ago, a few years ago, the federal government offered us some money to undertake a review of search and rescue in the Northwest Territories, and so we did that, and the report came back with a number of recommendations. The responses -- the government's responses to those recommendations have been tabled in this House as part of a response to a written question that the Member made. And so what that written response says is that the government is not adopting those recommendations, so there will be no action plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will be no change in the cost of this position. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I generally don't talk directly to the detachment commanders, but I do speak with the commanding officer and I'm happy to have that conversation with him. I know that, you know, he is very invested in this divisional drug strategy, and he is doing his best to ensure that the resources are available to officers across the territory. And often that includes things like training. Just having the awareness of, you know, when someone might be using drugs if they're driving a vehicle, then that gives you cause to stop that person and then take further action from there. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the crime reduction unit has been established. They are still staffing up. I'm not sure as of today how many members they have staffed up. But despite -- even if they're not fully staffed, they have been doing work across the Northwest Territories and, you know, not just in drug investigations, also doing things like working with the post office trying to ensure that we can stop drugs going through the mail and different types of things like that. This is a territorial unit, and it's based here in Yellowknife, but it can be deployed and will be deployed throughout...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course logistics are one of the biggest issues we face here in the Northwest Territories. We've seen issues with climate change relating to supply chain issues with the Mackenzie River, and so when instances like that arise we have responded with supports to impacted communities. We are also looking at continuing to connect communities in the Northwest Territories by road. Of course, there's been a few -- those connections done in the past number of years. And we're talking about the Mackenzie Valley Highway as well which will have impacts on the administration of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We already have an office in Ottawa. There's actually a desk and a chair there already so there may be an increased cost with pens, staples, things like that, but there's not going to be a significant cost implementations for this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.