Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Can the Minister please outline the plan for the upcoming fiscal year with respect to highway projects and any plans for reconstruction efforts? What I would like to hear is: What is different about this upcoming year versus other years, and has there been an increase to budget for road works in the North? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We always talk about how the North is such a unique place, and one thing that makes it so is our reliance on our winter road network. The allure and mystique of these multi-million-dollar annual ventures is so powerful it even spurred an entire television series, helping to put the NWT on the international stage. However exciting these roads are and how beautiful they are to drive, it must be pointed out that we spend millions of dollars every year building infrastructure that melts, not exactly a fiscally responsible situation.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway was completed...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, you just reiterated what I said, which is that it's going to be dependent on that, so again, I really struggle with why we sit here and have these numbers that are not realistic, creating extra work for ourselves later on to come back and adopt. The answer coming back is, "Well, this is what we do." Well, you are the government; it's what you do. I do believe changes can be made. You just commented that this one could be made, so I am not sure why then that argument flies for other areas, such as travel, et cetera. Yes. More and more, I just feel like this creates...

I think I heard a commitment in there to ask us for our inputs on spending the extra money, so I am happy with that. Those are all my questions. Thanks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am just looking at the line for fees and payments, how in the actuals it was at the $9,000, and then it has gone up. I notice a few times we had actuals which were quite a bit lower, which makes sense given COVID. However, could the Minister speak to whether or not there was any exercise done to look at perhaps not going back to the original budgets before and doing a bit of a sort of fat-cutting or leaning of budgets now that COVID has sort of changed the operating world we are in? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I know what a contingency is. I am curious to know what you anticipate you would be now accruing or what would be occurring under capital leases. Do you expect to hire more people for the government and have to expand office space? I'm just curious to know why that's showing up there as a contingency. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure that the Minister actually listened to my statement today, so more of a comment that people, as stated, do not want to go to people in their communities and talk to them about their mental health supports so, if we are not facilitating the Health Canada counsellors to come through and help them, which is more anonymous, then I don't really understand how we can stop these people from falling through the cracks. Again, I'll just make more of a comment. I completely disagree with the Minister's characterization of her supports. Thank you.

I respectfully disagree with the Minister on her characterization of the supports the GNWT is providing for mental health. I am glad to hear the helpline is 24/7. There is a website somewhere that I came across the other day that said that it only operated from 7:00 to 11:00, so I'm really glad to hear that. My next question has to do with small communities. Are safe places being developed in small communities where victims can feel safe? Have they been vetted with a COVID lens? What is the department doing to protect vulnerable people in small communities where isolation may be causing more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is becoming extremely difficult for Health Canada counsellors who are contracted to provide counselling services to Northwest Territories residents impacted by the Indian Residential schools, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis, as well as day school clients, to carry out their work. They are self-employed contractors and work alone with no supports. These trauma therapists, employed under Health Canada's Indian Residential School Resolution Health Support Program, often travel into communities to see their clients, adding additional barriers...

Thanks for, again, listing all the resources you did yesterday. However, that didn't answer my question as to: Are there safe places in the Northwest Territories for victims to go to that are not in their abuser's home? However, I will follow up with the Minister on that one personally. My next question is: Are people in remote communities being asked to initiate the counselling documentation process from their communities when there is a known lack of resources to do so? How is the department facilitating the use of their services in small communities where the access to technology may be...