Frieda Martselos

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 2017 NWT Midwifery Stakeholder Engagement Report was 75 pages long. Can the Minister tell us if her department is ready to implement all 10 recommendations to ensure that all communities have access to births in their home communities within the life of the 19th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The midwifery programs in Fort Smith and Hay River have been providing excellent care since their inception. Data from the University of British Columbia demonstrates that health outcomes for patients using midwifery services are equal to or better than the rest of the territory and even the country. NWT communities with midwifery services have lower pre-term birth rates than those without, and even clients who choose to leave their home communities for birth have lower C-section rates and long breastfeeding duration rates. These excellent health outcomes are directly...

Mr. Speaker, overcoming racism is difficult, exhausting, and uncomfortable work. If our society truly aspires for reconciliation, then we must challenge racism head-on. However, in order to get there, it will take work, and that work will require the effort of all sectors of our society to pitch in and do their part.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate that I fully stand by my previous statement on this matter. The way I was treated was not okay. I don't believe I was treated with basic customer practices that people expect from organizations like the SPCA or other NGOs or entities...

Madam Chair, I just want to thank the Minister for thinking out of the box. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to turn to page 74. I just want to make a general statement first. Page 74 has a lot to do with traditional lifestyle. Traditional lifestyle of Aboriginal people is extremely important. I've sat here for two times now, and there hasn't been any increases in the CHAP program, which is really important to an Aboriginal organization. I know that, when I was at Salt River and Chief of Salt River, we were always asking for increases to some of these areas. The CHAP program is also very beneficial to the Metis Nation and all Indigenous people across the North.

It seems...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to clear the air about a few things in relation to my personal experience of racism at the NWT SPCA. To begin, Mr. Speaker, I would like to state wholeheartedly that I support the NWT SPCA and all animal shelters for their work in protecting animals. I thank the SPCA for their work in this area. For that reason, I am not in favour of taking away funds from them. I am an animal lover. I have had multiple dogs over the years and was raised living with large dog teams because of my father, who was a dog musher. Dogs were always around me growing up. It was...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm glad that the Minister said he'll start thinking out of the box because someone's got to start thinking out of the box. I know that, when I was in other leadership, that was one of the biggest concerns was that CHAP program, and I think many times even in discussions, even in the last business plan that we did, we wanted an increase to the CHAP program and some of these other programs that affect the people that believe in the traditional lifestyle. That's most of us in the territory and especially small communities and regional centres.

I find that the funding is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, we here in the Northwest Territories are a very fortunate population. According to the Department of Health and Social Services, the NWT is the leading jurisdiction in Canada when it comes to its first-dose vaccine delivery. Mr. Speaker, as of February the 26th, 14,520 NWT residents have received their first vaccine dose, which equals to 32.2 percent of the entire NWT population. In comparison, according to the Government of Canada, again as of February 26th, there has only been a total of 1.7 percent of the total Canadian...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Policing has always been a problem, with $47.6 million spent on the RCMP, and the visibility within the community is almost zero. That is a problem in my community. We haven't had any drug busts for over 20 years. They're not visible in the community. I've had a problem with that for many years, even as a chief of Salt River. I just feel that more could be done. That's a lot of money spent on an independent organization that doesn't have a lot of communication with First Nations. I have a real problem with that.

How to fix it? I don't know, but there has to be some...

Mr. Speaker, I think this motion is vital to improving how we deal with people of colour, Black people, and Indigenous people. Coming from the heart, I think that it's a very important motion, that we all have to recognize that things are not the way they should be all the time. Having a personal experience that happened to me on February 1st, I have never had that happen to me, and I never felt that way in all of the years that I have lived in the Northwest Territories. I have been very fortunate. A lot of the people that I represent, especially the Indigenous people of Salt River and all of...