Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will just get in one last plug to always try to put some of those positions out in the communities if we can and work on our mandate priority. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm really glad to hear all of that and would welcome, at any point, more information on that and to have feedback, et cetera, as well. One of the things that I remember discussing when I was campaigning was the idea or trying to come up with ways of increasing Indigenous businesses in small communities. Also, I was thinking around the lines of keeping elders at home, as well. Is there a potential or has the department considered creating small businesses in communities where there is like a small boarding home or such that the development corporation takes on and runs...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to start by saying I'm glad to see the increase in funding to the seniors fund. I think that's always worthwhile and just hope that there's also a mandate for a push alongside of that to ensure that the services are expanding out into the communities and are not just Yellowknife-focused, especially with additional money. I did notice that the respite fund -- maybe I could just first ask: there's a bit of a bounce around in numbers there, and perhaps, maybe the Minister of the department can speak to why the actuals were so low in 2019-2020 versus the...

Great. I'm a firm believer in not reinventing the wheel, and like I said, it could be a good PR move for Google. The deadline for the MAP applications that I mentioned in my statement was November 20, 2020. Can the Minister speak to the uptake of this program and what the success rate of applications was? How many pairs of mentors and apprentices do we have?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. When I was lucky enough to be able to still travel through Europe, I used Google Translate a lot to order food and not get myself lost. My question for the Minister: is there an online translation tool such as Google Translate to assist students in oral proficiency of Northwest Territories Indigenous languages? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No. I think that I am good, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to give the department a kudos in that, when I had surgery in Edmonton, I was actually told that we get in very high on the list over Albertans because the Northwest Territories pays their bills very well and on time, so I always thought that was kind of an interesting comment. I just want to know if maybe you could explain, if the department could explain to me or the Minister -- and this is just my own knowledge. We just have a line item here for the Health and Social Services Authority funding on page 190, and I am just curious to know: what function do...

Thank you for that, Mr. Chair. I am just looking at the active positions. Again, seeing that there have been 10 positions added to the headquarters, again, not to the regional offices, could the Minister maybe speak to why a decision was made to increase headquarters staffing versus putting those positions elsewhere? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to look at page 181. I am looking at the contributions generally to NGOs and other organizations to support Northwest Territories residents. I notice that we are really stagnant to our standard budget and not a lot of line item increases, other than the Health and Social Services Authorities funding. I am disappointed to see that. I think that we have had a lot of conversation around mental health and addictions supports and such. I know that NGOs are really good at making their money stretch and are being very effective in our communities, recognizing that a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. I do appreciate that there is a huge chunk of employment in this department that is not in Yellowknife. However, as we have adapted to COVID, we've seen we've been able to move to a more virtual and online world, so 82 positions that all sit in headquarters. Perhaps at some point, there could be a look to see if any of those could be moved out to communities, to give opportunities to people in other locations to rise up through this program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.