Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Last Thursday, I asked some questions of the Minister responsible for the Status of Women about the NWT Status of Women Council. She indicated that the board, under her direction, is moving the council in a new direction that is contrary to its mandate. Following that discussion, I read the Status of Women Council Act. The legislation says the council has an outward-looking focus with the following purposes: to develop public awareness of issues affecting the status of women, to promote a change in attitude so women have equality of opportunity, to encourage discussion on...

To refresh the memory of the Minister, this work was undertaken by a member of the Department of Executive. She was the paid government employee working on the evaluation of the campaign school. I wonder if the Minister could take that into account when she's asking the question of her staff about making the report public?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have a few more questions for my colleague, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. I heard her say that the campaign schools were being offered by the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs in the short term. I'm wondering if she has prepared over the long term to commit to taking the campaign schools back to the Status of Women and asking them to re-tool the content so that it reaches people who are running for all orders of government? Thank you.

As I said in my statement, the Minister, of course, can ask the council for advice, including gender-based analysis.

Let's take a couple of these changes and break them down. Can the Minister confirm that the Wise Women Awards were not offered this year because the council is no longer eligible for the pot of funding that funded them?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women. As I mentioned in my statement, the Status of Women Council's strategic plan doesn't anticipate the changes the Minister is now fronting, yet it was created in her term. Why has she now decided to make these changes? Thank you.

I am failing to engage the Minister in any sense of urgency on this issue. My understanding is that this community is currently without fire protection. People are obviously worried about what would happen if there was a fire. They are also worried that their insurance may be invalid because there is no operating fire department. Can the Minister assure me that, when she leaves this Chamber, she will go and call the village of Norman Wells and find out how she can assist them to get their fire department back on track?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am appointing myself the honorary Member for the Sahtu, and I have the following questions on the fire department in Norman Wells for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. First of all, could she please update this House on the status of the fire department in Norman Wells? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, when we went on our tour, we had the opportunity to speak directly with people in the treatment centres, and housing was the number one topic on their mind after sobriety. Many of them were very concerned about where they were going to live when they came out of the treatment facility and, particularly, that they not return to their living situation that they had been in prior to treatment because they found that it was not constructive. So there is a real desire on the part of people who have gone through treatment to obtain housing on their release.

The other...

Mr. Speaker, now that the Minister has had some time to reflect on how this contract kind of went awry, what are the lessons that she is taking away from this experience?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, all four of the treatment centres that we visited operated on the 12-step model, and as you may know, peer support is critical to the success of the 12-step program.

What I have heard since I came back is that, in even the regional centres, let alone the small communities, people are reluctant to create AA groups, which would be the natural follow-up, because of privacy concerns, which I stated earlier. There really isn't a level of anonymity in a place that has 1,000 people, and not everyone is comfortable sharing the details of their addiction and recovery in...