R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the leadership council has some specific requests, I'm happy to hear those. We're happy to help however we can. If it's assistance looking for, you know, federal programs that could help operate a facility run by the leadership council or by an Indigenous government, we can assist with that. If there's information about the existing facilities in the community that they may be able to use, we're happy to assist with that. So I look forward to hearing directly from them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So earlier this year, this Assembly considered the main estimates which is the budget document for the Government of the Northwest Territories. One of the items in there was the Fort Smith Correctional Centre, the men's unit, and there were deliberations in this House and ultimately that budget was passed. And so the work that went in to the lead up to that is that we had a look at all of the programs and services we deliver across the Department of Justice, looked at what was legally required to be done, what programs and services were legally required to deliver, what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to present to the House Bill 12, Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Finance Minister has answered the question twice now. So the Member can check Hansard once this is over. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act does require the Government of the Northwest Territories to work with Indigenous governments, and there is a working group actually struck right now that is working on developing that action plan. So that work with Indigenous governments is happening. I'm not sure if the Member's speaking of a group of MLAs, but we're definitely working with the Indigenous governments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, that's a big question, what's been, what progress has been made towards self-determination. It's not an easy path, as everyone is well aware, but this government, we've released a mandate that makes very clear that we intend to work with Indigenous governments as partners, not as, you know, vassals of the state. So we've done our best to implement that work. The Council of Leaders meetings have been, I think, more successful every time that we've met. We recently travelled to Ottawa with a number of Indigenous leaders to lobby on shared priorities. And I think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So looking at the inventory of programs and services and how those programs and services are operating and what their operational needs are is part of that work, and the number of staff, number of physicians, clinicians you need to do your work falls squarely in that, so that is part of the work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don't see the primary mandate of the health care system sustainability unit to be cutting of services. The health care system sustainability unit is going to be tasked -- is tasked with establishing a core services inventory for the insured and non-insured programs and services and quantifying their financial impact and their operational needs.

It's going to identify inefficiencies, duplications of resources, and unnecessary processes in health care operations, and recommend changes to enhance the overall efficiency.

It's going to establish continuous improvement...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there's no doubt that the Street Outreach program has been successful. I've spoken with the RCMP about it, and there's definitely a noticeable decrease in the types of calls that they have to respond to because of that team, and so I'm very supportive of that. Right now, the program is undergoing a review by the city of Yellowknife and so once we see the outcomes of that review, we'll have a better idea of what we actually need to do, what type of support they might need from the GNWT, and we can look at what types of funding that could be accessed at that point...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the department has looked at this previously. It was a few years ago, maybe around 2015 I believe. So currently there is an oversight body in the territory, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission. They review investigations into RCMP conduct. As the Member stated earlier, though, those investigations are conducted by other police bodies, whether it's the RCMP or perhaps a municipal police force. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is something different. It's not headed by a police force. It's -- there's a civilian essentially at the head of that, and...