Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of human resources or Finance. What is the GNWT doing to eliminate systemic racism in its hiring practices? Will the Minister commit to setting numerical targets for the hiring of Black, Indigenous, and people of colour within the GNWT at senior levels of management, not just in entry-level positions? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am just looking at the court workers line item and noting that we do have the actuals for 2019-2020. We are at $894,000 but have gone up now in the last two years to $1.24 million on page 286. Maybe could the Minister speak to what that increase reflects, and is that just more positions within the court and maybe where those positions lie? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the department have any idea or indication: do we think that this is going to rise and that we would be looking to put more money there? I am looking: here, it's another $100,000 over last year's estimates. However, would it not make more sense to put more money there now in the event that they do need it as it is something that I don't think we would just not fund? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I actually had a lot of opportunity to see some of the work of the universities and such, and there is quite a bit of research work being done along the ITH, so I just want to continue to encourage the Minister to use that work to leverage funding, as well, from the federal government because it does not always necessarily, maybe we can get our road repaired if we train a bunch of students to do it, right, and they come up with some innovative way of fixing it. I urge the Minister to be creative when she looks at that type of work.

My last question is just going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This month, the Canadian Liver Foundation is recognizing Liver Health Month in Canada. The liver is the body's third largest organ and weighs in at approximately three pounds. Your liver can regenerate to 90 percent of its original size and serves as the body's filter, cleaning our blood and regulating hormone levels and cholesterol as well as vitamin and mineral uptake. The liver is our processor and, daily, performs over 500 functions essential to life.

When people think of liver disease or failure, there is often stigma attached. An automatic assumption is that it is...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am glad to hear that the Minister is interested in that, and I would be happy to discuss it with her further at a break at some point. My next question has to do with: there are three items that are lapsing or there is not funding for the upcoming or the last year, that are in the 2019-2020 actuals. This would be the Tulita Solar Project, the Arctic Research Foundation money, and the Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative. It is my understanding that these all would be federal funding pots that we no longer have access to -- I know I am speaking fast; sorry...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am just looking at this page. We have Arctic Energy Alliance has its own line item. As well, then, they are funded under some other pots of funding, including the year contributions are made to them, including under the community government retrofits and the community renewable energy program. Can the Minister or the department speak to the capacity or ability for Arctic Energy Alliance to carry out all of their work? How is the department working with them to ensure the staffing is adequate and that we're not putting all this money into an organization that, perhaps...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe the Minister could commit to providing a little bit of a summary at some point of what it did cost us as a government to move from working in offices to the virtual, in a breakdown of, say, hardware versus software upgrades and such that were needed. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for that. Before I move on, I'll just make a comment that if the Minister hasn't already been reached out to from a lot of charter companies that we compete with, I'm sure she will be soon. I'd like to go to technology service centre and just ask quickly. You've got all the rates, and I apologize for jumping back and forth a bit, 254. You've got the different rate chargebacks for the different departments. It's not my belief that the COVID money or the extra costs to TSC to move everybody virtually or online would be captured here. Can the Minister explain where that money would be...

I'm going to re-ask my question, then. I asked: do we anticipate we will have any charters in the upcoming year? Thank you.