Julie Green

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me make a clarification of my own: the evaluation was completed by a by a member of the Department of the Executive and Indigenous Affairs. I'm not talking about the staffing at the campaign schools.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering, given the fact that the Minister is encouraging the council, working with the council, directing the council to refocus its role, whether she plans to consult the public about this refocus and whether there will be an opportunity for people to give their views on the Status of Women Council and its mandate? Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister's answer. Where I'm coming from is that I think, as a matter of principle, we don't want civil servants to train future politicians. We want that to happen at arm's length. The Status of Women has have lots of experience in this area, and I think that, once they are back up to speed, they should be the go-to group.

Now, there was a review of the campaign schools in 2017. It has never been made public. Can the Minister commit to making it public?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the clarification from the Minister. My last question on this is we have recently had a couple of successful campaign schools. They were organized by the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and I understood that this was the case because the Status of Women currently is very short-staffed. Can the Minister confirm that the move of the campaign schools to government, in the form of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, is only temporary? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the commitments that the department made in its response to the Office of the Auditor General was to update the Fire Protection Act. Could the Minister tell us about the progress on updating that act? Thank you.

I appreciate that response. Can the Minister tell us in how many communities this assessment tool has been completed and whether that list includes Norman Wells?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's good news that the fire marshal is travelling the communities of the NWT to assess their needs. Could the Minister tell us when his report will be ready and whether the needs will be funded in the next business plan? Thank you.

I'm talking more about fire departments. As I think we're all aware, firefighting is a dangerous undertaking. I appreciate the Minister's response that community members are willing to pitch in. I think that having trained firefighters is a better solution.

It's my understanding there aren't trained firefighters in every Northwest Territories community, so I'm wondering whether the Minister is considering making changes to ensure that there are fire departments and trained firefighters up and running in every community?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister has now provided a more clear and forceful response on this question, but my question still remains: what would happen if there was a fire in Norman Wells? God forbid, but if there was a fire in Norman Wells, how would the community respond if they put their fire department on hold? I know that the Minister is working at arm's length on this, but I would like to hear that there is a plan for response and that it's going to take effect immediately. Thank you.