Frieda Martselos

Thebacha

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 90)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, December the 9th, 2021, I will move the following motion:

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, December the 9th, 2021, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, February the 2nd, 2022.

And further, that any time prior to February the 2nd, 2022, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 89)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, on correspondence with the former of Minister of NCPC regarding a regional superintendent in Fort Smith, he stated twice, A regional approach to supervision for multiple functions is not considered best practice in the utility industry.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 89)

Madam Speaker, the former NCPC Minister said in a July 24th, 2020, email that the NTPC superintendent position never existed in Fort Smith despite the contrary, because I'm aware of a Fort Smith resident who was the former superintendent for NCPC for nearly 20 years. Can the Minister explain this discrepancy of information? Was there or was there not a superintendent in NCPC in Fort Smith at one point? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 89)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there is one issue that I have tried resolving off the floor of the House. But today, I have not had sufficient responses on. Perhaps here I can get some clearer answers. The issue is about a position within the Northwest Territories Power Corporation which used to exist but has since been changed or terminated. That position is the regional South Slave superintendent.

Madam Speaker, I have tried asking now two separate Ministers of NCPC to reinstate the South Slave superintendent position at the Fort Smith NCPC office. The last Minister told me that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)

Mr. Speaker, has the Minister engaged with any Indigenous or community governments about any potential partnerships in building a recovery centre or aftercare facility within the NWT, specifically in any region outside of the capital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister consider opening a satellite wellness and recovery centre that's related to the one in the capital but situated in a different regional centre in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to speak again today about the need for more access to aftercare services for people in recovery and for those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Mr. Speaker, assessing mental health and addiction issues in the NWT can be tedious and an intimidating experience for our residents. That was true before the pandemic hit, and it's even harder now for the people to access these vital supports during these uncertain times amidst this pandemic.

As I said in my Member's statement last week, it has been reported and researched by many entities, mental...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)

So that's what I'm trying to get at, okay. So 12 units at, say, $180,000, yet one unit somewhere else could be a million. You know, so when you're passing a budget without the detail, you can't do that, okay. So, because 12 units is only $180,000 out of all the out of all that's allocated for the retrofits. So we're comparing apples to oranges with each community.

And the other question that I want to ask while I'm at it is who decides which units are going to be retrofit? You know, is it the Housing Corporation, or is it someone else in project management, and how is clarity and who decides...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)

Well, you know, how could you pass a capital budget with without the detail, especially when we're so compassionate about housing. You know, I have people out of Fort Smith who have been trying since for over a year now, since 2019, since 2020, July, to the same people are still trying to get into public housing and they still haven't got public housing, yet there's 12 units that are that are vacant in Fort Smith. There just seems to be a disconnect in gaps that are not being filled. I'm happy that we have an incredible board that has been put in place now. But the work still has to...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)

Thank you, Madam Chair. The reporting with resource royalties to Indigenous governments that signed on to devolution is a percentage of the entire royalty that is received by all resource development in the North, and it's per capita to all those who have signed on to devolution. So there is a way of looking at this in a different way, and the Indigenous governments would not be willing to share those kind of that kind of information. It's an agreement between the federal government and Indigenous governments when they signed on to devolution. And maybe that's one of the reasons why this...