Shauna Morgan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I -- I think the Minister perhaps anticipated my second question here, but. And I would just point out, you know, that home care clients may be a different audience or different group than specifically people supporting seniors with dementia and Alzheimer's.

But can the Minister explain what is done to consider the feasibility of opening up day programming beyond the live-in long-term care residents at our long-term care facilities and whether other, like drop-in clients could be included in some of that programming. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I do look forward to following up with the Minister to pursue this further. But my final question is just that given that the women's centre has a policy now stating it can't safely support intoxicated individuals during the daytime, even if they rent a room within that space, if these folks are being turned away at the sobering centre and they can't go back to their room at the women's centre, is the Minister aware of anywhere else those folks can go if they're intoxicated to safely get off the street? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I wanted to ask the Minister about the policies of the GNWT-run day shelter and sobering centre here in Yellowknife around how and when they might restrict access to prevent individuals from using those spaces for reasons other than immediate safety threats. And I just wanted to especially note that the day shelter is the only co-ed space available in Yellowknife for social connection and community support.

Can the Minister confirm, do the day shelter and sober centre have policies to refuse access to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as I understand it, the role of the GNWT-employed scientists is to give their input and expertise internally before that gets fed into the process. Does the GNWT employ any traditional knowledge experts that the GNWT's scientists can engage internally with to have that dialogue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak today about environmental assessment as a way to make projects better and how it makes projects better.

Sometimes we talk about environmental assessment as if it's just an obstacle, as if it's some GNWT employee sitting in an office tower gatekeeping, checking off some boxes, and could they please just get it done faster because we have mines to develop and roads to build and jobs to create. But it's not that at all.

Environmental assessment is central to our co-management systems. It's enshrined in modern treaties. It brings Indigenous governments and the federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 13th, 2025, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the Member for Monfwi, that the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly undertake a comprehensive review of healthcare management practices, bargaining structures and labour policies, in consultation with nurses, labour unions, independent professional associations, frontline healthcare workers, and other key stakeholders to identify and implement measures that:

reinforce workplace protections for nurses and healthcare workers, including...

Okay. Can the Minister confirm whether the sobering centre restricts access to intoxicated individuals if they already have a room allocated to them, for example, at the women's centre or the Salvation Army? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suppose I'll assume, unless directed otherwise, that the government is not employing traditional knowledge experts directly to have that internal dialogue.

But the final question is while I understand that government-employed scientists are still allowed to participate in responding to information requests, are those scientists allowed to collaborate with any other parties in issuing information requests as part of the environmental assessment process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So following up on my Member's statement, my questions are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

So even for those projects we may have decided are necessary, like roads, we need environmental assessments with full and open participation by scientists and traditional knowledge experts in order to make them the best they can be. So on a project like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, once the GNWT's already submitted its developer's assessment report, as the government did in 2023, are there any further opportunities within the environmental assessment process...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess my final question on that is is there much competition in this sector of diamond valuators? Do we have, you know, various firms that are bidding on this kind of a contract, or are we kind of stuck with just one option in this case? Thank you, Mr. Chair.