R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I know the Member referred to these people who are stealing power and holding people hostage. I get if you are living next to an encampment and there's late night partying, that would be very disruptive and if that goes on continuously, that, you know -- that would aggravate anyone and rightly so, and I understand that. But the fact is that these are people who need a place to stay. I can't imagine that this was their, you know, destination in life, being in an encampment, in an alley, but that's the situation. So we are working with them, having conversations...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we certainly engaged with the business community. For that level of detail, I'm going to have to get back to the Member. Thank you.

Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, will be absent from the House for a portion of today's proceedings today to meet with the Forum of Labour Market Ministers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Member imputed motive, imputed motive twice in that statement, saying that the reason that I called the point of order was not to bring order to the House but to -- just to interrupt him. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Point of order. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could try and quickly find this but from what I understand, Members are allowed to ask their question and two supplementary questions. The soliloquy, the monologue, can be at the beginning of the first question but the next two are just supplementary. And I believe the Member's had about three Member's statements in this round of questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to update Members on the formal intergovernmental meetings that I have taken part in this spring and those still to come. These are valuable opportunities to advance our priorities and strengthen partnerships with Indigenous governments and with federal, provincial, and territorial colleagues. They are helpful in educating other jurisdictions about the Northwest Territories and our government mandate, and to ensure that northern perspectives are reflected in discussions of national importance.

Throughout April and early May, Cabinet participated in several important...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's an honour to be joined today by the grade 6ers from Hay River. They've been touring Yellowknife and having a great time, and we're happy to have them here in the legislature here today. So I would like to recognize, along with my colleague who will be reading the rest of the names, Hendrix Jones, Sofie Norn-Cardinal, Aaleyah Sabourin, Bailee McPherson, Chazlynn Lafleur, Kaelynn Lockhart, Raye McKay-Harris, Trent Sanguez, Ila Dean, Dyna Earle, McCoy Fraser, Jeremy Graham, Lexi Lafferty, Seamus Russell, and Addison Smith. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's no easy fix to this situation. There's some people in the public service who are, you know, emotionally scarred from this. And I hear the stories from across the public service of the work that was done, you know, heroic efforts. You might not have been on the front lines; you might have been in an office; you might have been in a hotel room with three kids and two dogs. It doesn't mean your efforts weren't heroic. So I completely recognize that, and I appreciate the work done by the public service during an unprecedented time. It's clear that we were not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member spoke about the collective trauma that we all experienced. And I agree, that is something that as a territory we have to come to grips with. The other day I was thinking that, boy, this is the best time of year. It was, you know, early May, it was spring, and I just felt like a punch in the gut because the last few years, you know, they haven't been great. It's been a really tough time. And I acknowledge that. And, you know, to the Member's question about the evacuation, I want to note there was evacuations. There were 12 communities evacuated a total of 14...