Katrina Nokleby

I am really glad to hear that, particularly the idea of critiquing things that have happened in the past and looking at things through a new lens. My next question is a little bit redundant like the first, but I would like to know what the GNWT is doing. We have seen a lot of evidence of police brutality, derogatory treatment, and incarceration of Black and Indigenous people across the country and here in the North. What is the GNWT doing itself, or internally, to address anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in law enforcement and in the criminal justice system?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that. It's more just me trying to learn, sometimes, what the budgets are and how the GNWT operates. More of a comment. I just want to say that I think it's actually great to see increased budget to A Brilliant North, and I do also support the School of Community Government. I hear what my colleague is saying, but this, to me, seems like internal training, almost, for community members, a way to train community members on the operations of the government. Maybe I could ask if that's a correct assumption to make in this area. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to take advantage of the Minister being responsible for both ECE and Justice and, as well, make him answer a few questions that his colleague, the Minister of Finance, may have input on. My first question is: what is the Minister doing to work with local organizations, such as BACupNorth, in addressing systemic racism, not only in the public service, but also in the criminal justice system across our territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just sort of back to my question one before, I know that there has been a lot of replacement of the water treatment plants over the last while. I know there has been an issue with training workers and at times communities have stayed on boil-water advisories, not so much that the water is actually bad; it's more that the testing in order to prove that the water is good does not get done. I know maybe a little bit out of this, but is there a need to increase, maybe, this budget line item in order to do more training or to increase or to deal with any aging infrastructure...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I am really glad to hear that. Good luck with getting the solid-waste facilities in there. I think it's a good move. I look at the numbers for this item, and it is a constant number so far in the last couple of years. Does the department anticipate having to increase any of this funding in the next while? Is there an aging infrastructure issue at all with the water and sewer services that would sort of fall under this line item? Thank you.

Thank you for that, and I do appreciate the department is working on this. I'm not trying to say that's not the case. When I look at the budgets and we're asked to approve three times the amount of money for 811, which is only expected to go for the next eight months of the year, and that is looking to decline, to me, I would rather see us approving $1 million for 811, knowing it's the one that is going to phase out, versus us underfunding 911 right now and saying we're going to give all this extra money to 811, which might free up and then become available. Then again, it goes back to the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am looking at the 911 program funding on page 345. I note that it sits at $1.24 million, the revised estimates from last year, where this was the same. There is no increase to the funding for 911, despite conversation back in October session. I look at the actuals for 2019-2020, and there is already a $1.7-million line item there, so already within the estimates we know we are under, $500,000 underfunded. Then when I look back at revenues for 911, there is a significant discrepancy between the $397,000 collected in 2019-2020 on page 328 versus the $1.027 million...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would actually even ask maybe a little bit further, if this funding is not accessed for specifically National Indigenous Peoples Day or the Treaty Days, that you do just open it up as a general pot to the communities to put on well-being events or high spirits type of events. I can't get my language right after five days of this. I really do think that the more the government can do to raise the spirits of our people by funding events in communities, that will not only put dollars into those communities, they have an effect of raising people's spirits, and I think...

Thank you, Madam Chair. First off, I would just like to make a comment that I am glad to see this is one area where the travel budget has gone down for once, so perhaps there has been a little bit more of a COVID lens put on that one. As well, I am really happy to see that there is an increase in funding, or more than was spent in 2019, towards the Metis organizations. I guess my question is around the NWT friendship centres and the fact that we are no longer funding money there. I know that I have been approached by friendship centres, EDs et cetera, asking for that funding to continue. I...

Thank you for that. I agree that we don't want to just give people money and set them up for failure. However, to go from such a large amount to nothing, and then just from the conversation that I have had with them, it sounds like this is hurting them and their bottom line and their ability to deliver services. While maybe that $250,000 was a one-time thing to do a certain role, they are crying out for money and funding. They provide good services, so I would like to encourage the Cabinet to think about adding a line here at least to give them some additional funds, particularly in light of...