Caroline Cochrane

I would like to defer that question to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have had discussions with Premier Silver from the Yukon Territory. He is more than interested in having exemptions for residents to go across the border. We are, as well, interested in that. However, I have to put it out there: Premier Silver has let me know that, if he was to consider having an exemption, not a bubble, but an exemption, then he would not be okay with us closing the border when they open up to British Columbia; and in conversations, it will only be a couple of weeks, he's assuming, before they open up to British Columbia. At this time, that is the underlying factor that is...

Mr. Speaker, March 8th is International Women's Day, a global celebration of the women and girls in our lives who have made immeasurable contributions to making the Northwest Territories, Canada, and the world, a better place for everyone.

A little over a century ago, women were fighting for the right to vote and the right to stand for office. Demanding better pay and voting rights, 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City in 1908. By 1911, the first International Women's Day was honoured by several European nations with more than one million women and men attending rallies in...

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has a moral and ethical obligation to root out racism in our institutions. This obligation extends beyond the overt, visible, and obvious acts of hate and violence that we can easily see and condemn. It includes the subtle, hidden, systemic racism that persists in legislation, policies, and practices.

Systemic racism is real. It exists in the Northwest Territories, and it exists in our government. Some of our institutions, policies, and practices continue to disadvantage or discriminate against black, Indigenous, and people of colour. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a fine balance. I would love to be able to accommodate every single person who wants to come to the NWT, whether they're residents or not. In fact, we started with that when we started the COVID secretariat. However, I am also conscious that it is taxpayers' money. It's a real fine balance between being empathetic and providing for every single person, no matter what reason, or being responsible to taxpayers. I heard MLAs; and I heard the general public; and I heard the business communities, and chiefs, leaders of communities, who were saying, "Don't do it anymore...

There's a conversation. Core funding is a sensitive topic, I understand. Core funding is something, that's an issue. Like I said, I came from the NGO world. The NGO that I was administrating got $30,000 a year core funding for 30 years, Mr. Speaker. We were feeding women hotdogs if we were lucky enough to buy them. NGOs got huge core funding. I'm not going to say that we're going to increase core funding right now. I need a formula that says, this is what's fair for NGOs, and that, I can commit to.

Kind of a second question within that is the friendship centres. Absolutely, I worry about them...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within my department, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, as long as the budget gets approved, there is extra funding for the Status of Women and Native Women's Association that we proposed for this Assembly. Also, in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the GNWT did increase the NGO stabilization fund by actually doubling it from $350,000 to a fund of $700,000 now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do appreciate that comment. I do think that it should be focused on federal funding, not only, but territorially as well. It kind of gave me a hint, and so maybe, I'll be looking at that position, a position, actually, that can work with NGOs, not just the friendship centres. I'm not committing, but I heard the remark, and I'm just going to start thinking my head around that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can't stand here and give direction to a department to actually increase their funding. Departments have various reasons why they do funding based on capacity, based on needs, based on assessments, all kinds of reasons. What I can say, though, is that I come from the NGO world before I came here, for many, many years. I hear what the Member is saying. One of the biggest things that I hated when I came in was that smaller NGOs that don't have the capacity often don't get the money. Larger NGOs that have either the capacity, or are smart enough to get MLAs on board, are actually getting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to defer that question to the Government House Leader, who is responsible for legislative initiative, Minister Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.