Caroline Cochrane

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stated earlier I will follow up with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and actually all of Cabinet will have the discussions and see what we can do. We're not trying to penalize people. We're trying to support people. And that's why the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment said, yes, there's issues but we've increased this Cabinet, the first time in many, many years that we've actually increased the payments for income support people because we recognize the high cost. So I will follow up and see what we can do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do know that the I was just talking to the Minister of housing, that the CERB payments aren't being deducted from the housing payments. We're trying to do what we can. I'll have a discussion with ECE to see what the issues are. However, I do want to say that the federal budget just came out yesterday and I spent my lunch hour this afternoon talking to Minister Vandal who is coming here tomorrow, and we'll have more conversations with Minister Vandal. We talked about what's in the budget. There's supposed to be increases for the Northwest Territories around health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't speak for the federal government, but I do believe in my heart that the federal government is talking about reconciliation and trying to figure out what that looks like. So, again, I'll look into what's happened with this, but I can't commit that the federal government would do a public apology. I'm just hopeful, I know they're listening that actually they will consider that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also can't support this motion. I do also want to recognize I understand the intent of the Member. If I wasn't into the last government, I would have stood by this Member from Hay River and agreed with him. However, I was in the last government, Madam Chair, and in the last government, people were struggling financially as well. We have heard all day today about how expensive it is in the Northwest Territories, and that hasn't changed in the last couple of years. It's been expensive here for a long time. It's getting more expensive, but it was expensive here. I know...