Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any time I meet with any federal minister, including the prime minister, I stand up for the people of the Northwest Territories otherwise I have no reason to be there, Mr. Speaker. In honesty, though, I will bring it up to Minister Vandal again. I had spoken to him this afternoon at lunch time, spoke to him about our needs, and I will continue to speak to him about your needs. I'll talk to him about some of the problems that we have with CERB as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to the CERB payments, I do know that the Member had asked the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about what we could do here. I don't know if it's just looking at the CERB payments when I lobby the federal government. What I've been lobbying the federal government is, even before COVID, is that our costs are high. The Speaker really outlined that yesterday in the House. I've asked to get a copy of his notes, actually, so I could use some of the statistics when I go to Ottawa. It's important that the federal government realize that the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is a good example. Like I said, I'm just learning about it, but it's an example of many things that have happened in the Northwest Territories. There's been, you know, either there's been mines, like you used the example Giant Mine. There's been uranium mines in the Northwest Territories. One of the mines my father worked at and died of cancer, but he was also a smoker so I can't trace if that was smoking or if it was working in the uranium mine. But many people in the Northwest Territories have examples of cancer that have impacted us because of we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I again, I think that it's always a concern when the majority of problems are in one community and we have many communities that we have to take care of. I know that we do try to make sure that we have regional positions for all departments within the communities. But I do think that there's more work to be done. And I don't think that it's only this government. I think that it's going to have to be work done for many governments to come. We need to look at the jobs. We need to look at the departments. We need to look at positions. So it's ongoing work. Our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, usually I don't trump my Ministers but this time I'm trumping them.

This is the bill we've all been waiting for. Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 85, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a couple of things that are examples that have actually carried on into this Assembly that have been from previous Assemblies, though, such as the priority hires. It's still a priority. Every position that comes across the Cabinet table is always scrutinized. Are they a priority hire? If not, why not. So that's one example. The other is, again, from previous governments that we continue, secondment so that both ways so that if, for example, Indigenous governments need a worker in their community, we will second from the GNWT and vice versa. That helps in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have quite a gathering here today in the gallery. We have a lot of Indigenous leaders and some of their officials because we're doing the first reading of bills on the United Nation of Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, the Implementation Act. So they're here for that.

Just telling committee, there will also be, during the break of Committee of the Whole, we'll be having a small reception with the media. People are welcome to attend.

But the visitors here are excuse me, if I say these wrong

Ayoni Keh Land Corporation and SSI Incorporated board member...

Mr. Speaker, the COVID19 pandemic challenged our entire society on a fundamental level, forcing us to grow and adapt in the face of unprecedented threats to the health and wellbeing of our loved ones and our communities. Three years since the outbreak of the pandemic, it is still easy for many of us to recall the fear and the uncertainty of those early days, as the world searched for answers amid reports of the rapidly rising death tolls. Almost every Northerner has a story to tell how the pandemic touched their lives in some way. Some lost loved ones or were forced to miss out on major life...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the Speaker this morning started with that get in order but I'm feeling generous today, so I'm kind of feeling a little bit generous today. I already committed that I'd bring up the carbon tax as an issue. I will tell the Minister that the Regular Members would love to meet him. But I'd like to get confirmation, perhaps in another time because we're at the end of oral questions, that the chair of AOC would also write to the Minister because I think it would help if there was both of us doing that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely we are a consensus government, and everyone has role and responsibilities within this government. Like I say, I struggle to get meetings with federal ministers. My time is short. If anything, I'm trying to get meetings with the Indigenous governments with federal ministers. However, I would like to put it back, Mr. Speaker, and say that the chair of AOC should send a letter to the Minister and invite him to meet with the committee in the spirit of consensus government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.