Caroline Cochrane

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no problem that's okay, Minister Green. I have no problem apologizing to the other side of the House. I believe that sometimes that if we do things wrong, we need to stand up and be strong. And if the Members are offended because I was offended because I thought that they were attacking my Cabinet, then I shall apologize to the Members if that's not what they meant. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize also it has been a long day. I was offended when the comment came that if these children were Caucasian that it would be different, we would have given an allofgovernment approach to it. The majority of our Cabinet are Indigenous. The majority of the Members are Indigenous. And so I took offence to it, Mr. Chair. Then when the second Member stated it again, it was like a slap in the face and so I rose again, Mr. Chair. But recognizing it's been a long day and we have important business to do, I did want withdraw the statement but it was too late because it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a shame to hear that the reserves in the Northwest Territories do not get treated the same as reserves in the south. It's something I do not believe is fair. I will commit that if Salt River Reserve bring forward their questions, their requests for the federal government in this regard, I will carry that forward, as I've carried forward to other Indigenous governments that I've met at the intergovernmental council table and said, let's work together. Tell us what your asks are for the federal government and if it falls within if it's not unethical, immoral or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm hoping there aren't any roadblocks at this point. I do know that there was contention over it in previous governments in previous years, and maybe even a bit now, about whose responsibility services are on reserve, because reserves have a special category versus selfgovernments in the NWT. But I think the Member is well aware when she was the Chief, and she brought it to my attention in the last Assembly, and said we've never got a housing program in our reserve since the conception, 50 years Minister Chinna said today. So 48 years then, or something, 46 years. And...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've put a really strong focus in this Assembly on building relationships with all governments, federal governments, Indigenous governments, etcetera, municipal governments. So we've really feel that we have a solid, strong, positive relationship with the federal government as it stands today. If there was a time that we needed to, things weren't getting met in NWT; you bet, I'd be the first one knocking on other doors. However, in saying that, when the election was coming up, the federal election, we did send a letter to all of the all of the parties to say what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Realizing that we haven't yet had to take advantage of it, I always say that any kind of bill or program or federal investment that puts a stronger focus on the northern needs of the North, we're always in favour of that. So that's one area that for sure we'd like to do.

But no matter what what the outcome of the Bill C245 comes, we are pleased with our relationship with the federal government so far and the accessibility that we have to the officials with the Canadian Infrastructure Bank. So we're not seeing any issues at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't like to guarantee anything that I can't make sure happens, but I can guarantee that we have the full intent to make sure that the rights that Appendix C of the Salt River Treaty Land Entitlement claim is fulfilled to the best of the GNWT's ability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, the GNWT has been actively working with Salt River and Canada on the implementation of Appendix C. Appendix C requires that all parties establish a trilateral working group to discuss the delivery of programs and services to ensure that the programs are available to all residents, and that includes Salt River First Nation members. So the trilateral working group meets regularly and discusses areas of concern that the Salt River might have with the implementation, as it relates to the GNWT programs and services. In fact, the official steering committee...