Frieda Martselos

It is extremely important that the Government of the Northwest Territories makes policy with the federal government to ensure that enforcement on reserve lands is a priority. The people who belong to the Northwest Territories, just because we have an affirmed land claim, does that mean we are different, even though we are residents of the Northwest Territories? I would like to ask the Minister: is there a timeline to ensure that there is enforcement on reserve lands?

Madam Speaker, there can be no more gaps, no excuses, no nepotism, no conflicts of interest, no hiring our friends, no tailoring job descriptions to match certain people's resumes, only strictly professional, neutral decisions based on qualifications. Will the Minister commit to changing the way senior management and human resource superintendents apply the Affirmative Action Policy to accomplish its original intent? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Minister must also be able to discipline those senior managers who are not following the policy. This should be done through job evaluations or disciplinary letters on their work files. Strong, decisive action must be taken to address this issue. Does the Minister agree?

In closing, Madam Speaker, at the end of the day, I am happy that the Government of the Northwest Territories has the Affirmative Action Policy. However, as I just outlined, there are still some real gaps within this policy that must be filled. This policy was meant to provide Indigenous people an equal footing with non-Indigenous people in the public service. It has helped with that, but until Indigenous employment reaches 50 percent to match the overall Indigenous population of the NWT, we have not hit our mark. I will have questions for the Minister of Human Resources later today. Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to be supporting this expenditure, and I am doing it because I have just been in contact in the last 10 minutes to reinforce exactly what the three leaders have said in the community of Fort Smith: the chief of the Salt River First Nation says they support the secretariat; the Fort Smith Metis Nation support the secretariat; and I was also in contact with the mayor of the Town of Fort Smith. I will be supporting the supplementary in full.

I know there are other issues that are of concern, especially the housing issue. Because the housing issue is a major...

The last time I asked the Minister about this topic, he mentioned the development of public land regulations on the way. Can the Minister explain how he intends for those regulations to ease the financial burden on people from the new rent minimum cost?

Madam Speaker, can the Minister explain if there are any plans to change or delay the current minimum land lease rent costs for territorial land leaseholders? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak once again about the issue of the unreasonable minimum price of lease rent costs for land leaseholders on that will lands in the NWT. Madam Speaker, this now marks my third Member's statement on this topic, and I am determined to continue to revisit this topic until I see some substantive changes to the current regime of minimum rent costs.

The primary reason why I continue to bring up this subject is simply because it's an important issue for my constituents. I know several people with land leases, and they're all very concerned about the new rent minimum...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we had a briefing on this whole item at one of our meetings. My concern is that there is no enforcement on reserve at the Salt River First Nation reserve. We have to follow all these rules, like the Wildlife Act and some of these other things, and we do not have any way of enforcing but they want us to follow the act. I want to make sure that the Minister knows about this issue. I think I mentioned it to you during the business plans, and then we put these positions in other places. It's a major issue for both reserves. Enforcement on reserve is not -- the...

Madam Speaker, will the Minister admit that this whole situation could have been handled better, and will he commit to improving the decision-making process for future decisions like this issue? Thank you, Madam Speaker.