Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a little bit of a list here today. So I'd first like to start with recognizing Jennifer McManus, the vicepresident of the Red Cross for Alberta and the Northwest Territories who has provided a lot of help to us over the past few years through climate change events as well as COVID19.

Next, I'd like to recognize Mr. Raymond Pidzamecky, who is a registered social worker with health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health branch. Mr. Pidzamecky has been working in the North with families of residential school survivors for several decades now, I believe.

And then...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we haven't picked on travel too much yet this sitting, and it's been a big topic of conversation in the past. I note that we had a little bit less for this one in the 20212022.

Can the Minister or the department explain why that was less? And is the $219,000 here for the travel, is that so that the executive can get out to the different communities and chat with local staff, or maybe they can explain a little bit about what they're travelling for. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that one of the things that I'm realizing, and I'm hearing from my colleagues, is there is a bit of a disconnect between LHOs and what they're telling people out there and sort of, I think, the direction and the want of the department. Like, it's my understanding these opportunities just really aren't available in all of the communities. And one of my colleagues just mentioned that to me. Also I have had instances where I have communications with the department about a client or a constituent's file, and then what they're being told from the LHO side is much...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, it's actually a really live problem given that some people's rent just recently went up $1,000 a month here in Yellowknife, in the Premier's riding actually. So I'm not sure if she's done anything about it, but I'm highly doubtful, so does the Minister my apologies, Mr. Speaker.

Does the Minister have any plans to deal with the Birchwood Apartment situation that is ongoing right now? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. I've inquired with our legal team, and I'm looking around the Rental Tenancy Act and I'm finding it very confusing. So the Act allows for public housing clients to be charged a maximum security deposit, which is equal to the maximum amount of one month's rent. Given that public housing clients are subsidized and some of them are paying like $80 in rent, most of them cannot afford a $1,600 security deposit.

So my question is, since the Minister spoke in March of this past year and agreed that there was a lot of...

Mr. Speaker, Happy Friday. I rise today, like many of my colleagues, to acknowledge the wonderful work of all of the athletes, staff, parents, etcetera, that attended the Arctic Winter Games in Wood Buffalo. I had several constituents from Great Slave that participated, and I would like to acknowledge them here today. So we had Arctic Sports. We had Danicka Taylor in basketball. We had Abigale Nevet Jazard, Ashton Mercado, Emanuel Ramos, and Francesco Stefanos. And I'm probably going to butcher a few more names here, Mr. Speaker. We also had Adam Clinton and his coach Steven Dunbar, who we're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, clearly the Minister does not have his ear to the ground. It's the only thing that I've been seeing all over social media right now is this increase in rent which can only really be called a forced eviction. It's shocking to me to hear a Minister say that he is not live to the situation of what is going on here in the capital.

I'm going to move on, though, because I think my opinions of this Cabinet are pretty clear.

News articles have pointed out that there is a new tenants’ association being formed. Are any plans being made to collaborate with this new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've seen on social media that a petition has been started to instill a maximum rent or rent cap for the NWT. Is this something that the Department of Justice could work on proactively ahead of receiving this petition? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I recognize my visitors in the gallery, I would like to say that I misspoke during my statement and didn't realize that Oliver Williams was in fact Cabin Radio's Ollie Williams, and I would like to just clarify that. I was sent a memo just to let me know that that was the case.

I would like to recognize CKLB's reporter Ian Down, who is in the gallery today, and his parents, Richard and Valerie Down who are visiting Yellowknife for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has been paying increasing attention to the opioid crisis due to the recent upsurge in death by overdose, or as the department sanitizes it, "drug poisoning" or "opioid contamination." As already mentioned in this Chamber by my colleagues, in 2022 six opioidrelated deaths were tracked in the community of Hay River.

Regular MLAs have repeatedly raised concern over the escalating drug crisis in the NWT. Crack cocaine is rampant in all of our communities, and the number of people who have lost their lives due to opioids is soaring, particularly in the community of Hay River...