Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. As I mentioned when we were talking about the coroner's report, I have heard numerous times of people presenting at emergency rooms across the territory and either not even making it in to see anyone given that it's not considered to be high in the priority list when you look at triages in an emergency room situation, the emergency the people working there are going to prioritize physical threats to life that are immediate, such as, you know, injuries and wounds, over mental health concerns. And I'm not saying that's right, but that is what is happening.

I have heard...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I too just wanted to thank to take a moment to specifically thank or staff and anybody that did contribute to this report and the work that we've done. It was very weighty work and very heavy work at times and not only I think for us listening but for people who have to actually come in and share trauma. And it's known that people having to relive and over and over telling their stories that that in itself at times can be very traumatizing. So I do really want to thank the staff particularly because I think there was a real sorry, I'm a bit out of breath, Madam...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the willingness of the Minister and the department to try and rectify the issue that we had raised and clearly was listening to what our concerns were. Again, though, this I don't necessarily, though, agree with 3(b) as authorized by the director. And the reason I have concern there is further to what I was saying yesterday about the way that this is going to be set up that it does allow for there to be an arbitrary GNWT employee who is making decisions about people's livelihoods in an industry. And I just don't see that we have a lot of that type of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I also just think this is a great idea for our people. I also think that there is an economic benefit for forgiving people's debt. And I've mentioned it here before. We've heard the conversation in the US around forgiving of student loans and how that will actually help with stimulating economy because money that would then be spent on interest and principal payments will then be back into the economy and being spent by people. And I'm always struck by how the communities operate, from what I see anyway, is that any time someone is doing well or has the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier in this session I rose to acknowledge my page, and I realized I did not use their preferred name. So I would like to recognize my page Andy Sieben who is here from Great Slave, and all of the pages who have done a wonderful job. Thank you.

I'll keep it short. I just wanted to say that we have seen examples of these types of programs working, the women's society doing the Spruce Bough program, the YWCA. I'm so excited for their family centre to finally be open again, which will then replicate some of what was lost during the Rockhill fire, which really the model we want to see, is that people don't need to travel to get services; they can help each other out; there's supports and education pieces right in the building that they're living in. It's just wonderful, the things that they can do. And so I think, again, the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Like the previous motion, this one is very important, and it does need to be addressed in that this is a marginalized group of people that are not always even going to be able to access or feel comfortable accessing traditional supports that might be in place. You know, I have heard as well from people that were renting places or were about to sign leases and things and then made the sort of innocuous comment of, as woman, my wife will be coming, and then finding out all of a sudden they no longer have that lease and that there really is still a degree of prejudice...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree with what my colleague has said. And for me coming back to the young man and the youth I was speaking about before, you know, in trying to help him access funding for tournaments and such, often some of these things just don't fit into either what the Indigenous organization that he belongs to, what they need to have happen, whatever the government will provide for. And where I see sort of an example of this is if it's a tournament or one where it's not like an invite or a team that's going from the territory and the youth wants to go by themselves because...

Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I want to thank the young man that I have had the pleasure to get to know over the last while who has really driven this situation and issue home for me. And honestly, I don't think I would have had the fortitude at the age of 16 to go out and advocate for myself the way that this young man has. And when I look at the absolute lack of response to his situation, again, I come back to the word shameful. You know, my response to the inquiries I got about him was that he could go to the youth shelter my colleague mentioned, or he could find himself a place to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, we've heard time and time again from this Minister and department why we can't have anything here in the territory and it just isn't going to work. Well, when I look at youth who can hardly even sometimes have the ability to move on out of the territory to go to school, who are children that are moving to a positive situation, I don't even understand how we remotely think we should be sending our children away when they are in their most vulnerable position. We pay more attention to the kids going away on SFA and give them more supports than we do with our...