Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I too wish to reiterate the comments of both my colleagues here. It is so important that we take action now on suicide prevention as it's well documented that suicide is contagious, and I think that, you know, we can look at the instances in my colleague's riding to know that is true.

I think one of the key things here that we really need to note is that we often speak about how Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations know what is best for their people, and so a key part of this motion that I support is the removal of the hoops or reporting...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Given that I did some rough calculation or number crunching there around how this actually would benefit the territory from a population growth perspective, can the Minister commit to looking at the numbers and seeing whether or not the cost benefit analysis does show that providing fertility treatments in the Northwest Territories would actually be good for our bottom line? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for Human Resources. I wanted to follow up on my questioning of last week around fertility treatments and subsequent benefit payments. So can the Minister speak to whether or not fertility treatments of any sort are covered by the GNWT's employee benefits plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I'm glad to hear that those supports are in place for people while they're in the criminal justice system or within the facilities themselves. Can the Minister speak to what's given or offered to inmates after they've left the facility as far as mental health and wellness counselling or supports go? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. According to Statistics Canada, the national suicide rates are higher among Indigenous people than the nonIndigenous population in Canada. The NWT Office of the Chief Coroner 20212022 Early Release of Suicide Data Report does not include any data on race or ethnicity, and the absence of this data does not allow the government to target supports and resources to those who really need it. So can the Minister of Justice explain whether or not the chief coroner tracks this data by race or ethnicity? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, on October 3rd, the chief coroner released the 20212022 Early Release of Suicide Data Report to raise the alarm on the escalating rate of suicide in the territory. There had already been more suicides by September of this year than in any year total in the previous two decades.

Madam Speaker, Indigenous youth that identify as male were among the majority of those who turned to suicide due to the stress of their daily life. What does this say about the state of our territory and the kinds of resources, supports, and opportunities the government is...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm glad to hear that there is still time to input on this. I guess at times, though, in this era of overconsultation and survey burnout, it is tough sometimes for the public to realize that they still can input on things and other times when things are inputted on, the government just does what they want anyway. So not a question, just more of a comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm glad to hear about the tool. I think that's really useful, and people can answer their own questions before they come to us to ask. I guess my question would be that data provided by the NWT Bureau of Statistics, how old is that data? I'm curious because we've really seen over the last year or two, postpandemic, an escalating rise in the cost of living. So I'm wondering if the last two years, that change, has been factored into these thresholds. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, apparently, I jumped the gun when I recognized my page the other day; she wasn't here. So I would like to recognize Carys Lyall who is a page from Great Slave riding. And as I said, I really enjoy having the pages here and thank them all. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I would like to request unanimous consent to return to recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you

Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I would like to recognize the crew of 62 Degrees North, a medic company here in Yellowknife, that was instrumental to helping us during the pandemic, including the production of hand sanitizer locally. So we have Matt Vincent who is the president and CEO. And with him we have Cody Earl, Brian Johnson, Kim Bailey, Sebastian Rapid, and Alex Purcell. So welcome to the gallery, I hope you enjoyed it today...