Shauna Morgan

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And does the department currently have the resources to complete all of those facility assessments on a five-year basis, or do we have a backlog of facilities waiting, you know, longer than five years to be able to get their assessments? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I wanted to ask questions of the Minister of housing. I appreciated today's update on the homelessness strategy and the news that they expect to be opening up the transitional housing complex out near the airport, near the Folk on the Rocks site outside Yellowknife before Christmas. I wonder if the Minister has any updates she can give the House in terms of any of the regulatory approvals or logistics that they've been trying to get sorted out to get this project underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, thank you for that explanation. Next, I just wanted to ask about the deferred maintenance. And so that is to cover maintenance of projects where there is a life safety issue or a need to protect the asset. How much in total is budgeted for deferred maintenance projects? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I noted in my statement, and it was also one of the recommendations that the standing committee made in its review of the Mental Health Act, that the lack of a pediatric psychiatry unit at Stanton is a serious gap that needs to be addressed. Can the Minister tell us how she'll be addressing this gap in pediatric psychiatric care? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does the Minister know how much money is being saved through these retrofits per year in utility costs savings? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just finally can the Minister tell us how she's monitoring the success of these programs to make sure it's accomplishing what it's meant to accomplish? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And so that's right around the Reid Lake campground. But can the Minister clarify, does that include new chip sealing where gravel currently exists, or is it just repairing and working on the chip sealing part that already is there? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my first set of questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

So since the child and youth counsellors from HSS were shifted out of schools just over two years ago, ECE has given funds directly to the schools and education authorities for in-school mental health and wellness programs; however, many parents are still not clear what specific programs or activities are now available for their children. I understand the Minister has given considerable leeway to the schools to decide how the mental health and wellness funding is spent. Can she commit...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do appreciate that the Minister noted that to get to be ready for an EA, there would need to be a lot of studies and Indigenous knowledge, traditional knowledge studies, also a lot of baseline data collection, which can't be done sort of in the snap of the fingers and often can't be sort of fast-tracked in the sense of there are certain times a year where you need to collect environmental baseline data. And if you need to collect it in the summer, you need to collect it then, you can't just sort of do it in February instead just because you want to.

So just flagging that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point in session, many of us start to feel that we're losing our minds, so I thought it would be a good day to speak about mental health with a focus on our young people.

We hear from our education authorities, teachers and parents, that the mental health needs of youth have never been more challenging, both the severity of the problems and the types of issues:

Self-harm,

Depression,

Eating disorders,

Those struggling with loneliness and bullying and trauma.

Just over two years ago, the number of child and youth counsellors was reduced by about half and...