Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I get clarification in the question again?

Thank you, Madam Chair. At the beginning of this Assembly, we did have a presentation to the Executive on the negotiations. They do have mandates. They know exactly what. As stated yesterday, Madam Chair, the difficulty is that, when it becomes too financial, monies et cetera, they need to actually come back to the executive for approval. The negotiators are not executive. They do not have that authority to make excessive decisions without a Cabinet approval. That is a common process. In the last government, they said that they would all be done; probably not the best commitment to make on the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm trying to think back to when I first started. It was one of the first documents I actually looked at, and I had concerns with it, as well, Madam Chair. I brought it to my staff and I asked them what this was about. I recognize in those conversations that it's about basic standards of care. There are things about children having rights to, I can't remember, basic rights that children should have. I felt at that point that they were pretty basic and standard across, but I also respect that Indigenous governments might have taken offense to it and said, "How dare you...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I have witnesses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to turn that to the deputy minister, Martin Goldney.

Again, we can't change the past, but we need to learn from the past. As stated to Members when we spoke in other times, I made a commitment. I did. I talked to all of our Ministers and said, "Please, don't leave unless it's extenuating circumstances." People do have extenuating circumstances, medical travel, loss of family members, horrible stories have happened over COVID-19, and I wouldn't want to penalize anyone for those things. That's not the goal of protecting our residents, is to penalize people; it's to keep people safe.

I had spoken to our Ministers, and I had spoken to all of our...

Thank you, Madam Chair. If you can pass that on to Deputy Minister Martin Goldney.

I will start by saying that no Minister, no elected Minister in this House, left during Christmas because I believe that, as elected officials, all of us, all of us in this House as elected officials, are responsible for being role models to the residents of the Northwest Territories. We cannot change the past, but I do know that the public was hurt. I also know that over 1,500 people from the Northwest Territories left the NWT for leisure travel during that time. I also know that it was not an order; it was a recommendation, so nobody broke the law, even the residents who left. No one broke...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I need to clarify that it's kind of at a draft. The Akaitcho needs to go to their membership. There is a process that happens within that, and out of respect, Madam Chair, I can't give a timeline. They need to go back to their membership. They need to talk about what the offer is on the table, and then they need to come back. I want it done. I want it signed. I do believe that self-government is the right answer. I've said it many, many times that, if we support self-governments, it helps us. The more money that they have, the more jobs they can get for their own...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise the House that the Honourable Diane Archie will be absent from the House to participate in a conference call with federal-provincial-territorial Ministers of transport and highway safety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.