Julie Green

Thank you to the Minister for that response. Can the Minister confirm that the RFP will serve people with cognitive disabilities on some days of the week and people who are frail on other days of the week? In other words, will the RFP accommodate different needs by seniors in the day programming?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Four months ago, I rose in this House and I asked questions about the review of the day program for elders available here in Yellowknife. I was told the review was done. Subsequently, the report was tabled, and as we stand here today there still is no day program for seniors in Yellowknife. I would appreciate an update from the Minister on when his department plans to resume this service. Thank you.

Can the Minister advise us: of the 63 open cases in the NWT, how many of them have been resolved in the last five years?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. The Finance Minister announced $300,000 to establish a historical case unit within the RCMP in the budget that he presented last week. He said that two of our RCMP and one civil servant will "work to protect the integrity of the evidence in these historical files and to make further advances in solving these cases." Can the Minister of Justice tell us what this means?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reveal for us whether this contract is going to be retendered every year or whether this will be a multiyear offering? Mahsi.

I am very familiar with the "we don't want to rush; we want to get it right" answer here, but we are talking about almost a year-and-a-half delay in providing any kind of day programming for seniors in Yellowknife. I would like to think that this is highest priority the Minister has, in order to ensure that our seniors are well looked after during the day. Can he please give us some more specifics about not only when the RFP will come out, but when the service provision is anticipated to start?

Mahsi. I appreciate that clarification from the Minister of Justice. Of course, those cases are ones that need to be resolved. I wonder about the rate at which historical cases have been resolved in the last five years and, related to that, how success will be measured in this historical case unit. Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister of Justice for that answer. How does the mandate for this unit differ from the day-to-day work of the RCMP in solving crime? What is new?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spent many hours a couple of weeks ago listening to the testimony of Northerners at the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls hearing that was held here in Yellowknife. I want to congratulate everyone who decided to speak in public. It gave those of us listening an opportunity to hear from families directly affected by the loss of their family members and about the scourge of family violence.

Here are some of my takeaways. When her father murdered her mother, Lesa Semmler became an orphan for all intents and purposes after her father went to jail...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to introduce my partner, Janice McKenna, owner and operator of McKenna Funeral Home, and with her is Mr. Todd Reinholt of Edmonton. He is a specialist in grief and healing grief. He presented a public seminar on that topic in Yellowknife last night. Mahsi.