Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I would like to request that the Minister work with his colleague in ITI and provide us with a forecast of what is happening in the area of oil and gas such that we can evaluate properly before we get to the point where we need more money and more resources and can't hire those people for the Northwest Territories, that we have some idea of where this is going so we're not playing catchup and reaction yet again. Thank you.

Yeah, and that's what I thought it probably was. Again, I know it's a small line item but definitely one that I think is important.

I may have this a little bit mixed up so maybe I'll just ask for an explanation. But with this language proficiency testing, is this the testing that immigrant immigrants or people who are coming to the Northwest Territories that have to that are going through the immigration process need to take, their English proficiency, and is that offered here in the territory, and why is it no longer there any money there? Thank you.

Is the director executive director a technical person; does that person have a scientific background to understand this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm concerned if or confused, actually. If the Minister is open to hearing feedback and response, then I'm quite surprised to hear that she never actually read what the whistleblowers had to say about the sobering centre. I did, and I actually spoke with them, and what was said to me was quite concerning.

So does the Minister commit to ensuring that her colleagues with WSCC have a more proactive inspection going forward with the new contractors such that we're not in this situation again in a year? Thank you.

So we often hear that there's no crystal ball in this Chamber. So, you know, to talk to government people about where they think things are going and deciding to cut, again, a regulator, I have concern with that.

The executive director is not a technical person who has not been in that role for very long is my understanding. Where are the technical people within the department of this or this regulator? Were they consulted about whether they felt their jobs were necessary? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I actually think that's going to help some of my constituents at Norseman who complain of people leaving the day shelter and then wandering into their apartment building at night. So I'm happy to hear that.

Next, can the Minister or tell me if her and her department are willing to engage with the past and present employees of the sobering centre to ensure that their experience and their knowledge is being captured and retained in order to inform future operations but also to help with the award of the RFP? I think these are the people that are the most situated to know...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I appreciate that. I guess then again I feel that that is a silo again. You know, we have children that have a need, and it would be nice if we could figure out some way to provide them with the services sort of all around them. But that's more of a comment than anything. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last year Cabin Radio reported on allegations of unsafe conditions and mismanagement at the sobering centre. I asked then WSCC minister about the centre's inspection frequency went and how the allegations would be addressed. Minister Thompson responded that there had been seven contractorinitiated inspections since 2019 in response to incident reports, and that there were no outstanding issues with the sobering centre.

Mr. Speaker, this was in stark contrast to what a then employee described after contacting my office. It was surprising to me that the centre...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am looking at the line item for the Office of the Children's Lawyer, I note that it is more than the 20212022 Actuals, which is great. I can't say enough for the good work that this area is doing and have had friends who have utilized the services of the children's lawyer for the benefit of their children.

I think this is an area where we would want to see more money being put into, and perhaps a lot of people don't even realize, or I'm not sure how it's communicated to them, that there is this option for them. And given perhaps what I said earlier about the stresses...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I should probably know this but if we don't have some of that work that the department has been doing around the victim services and the action plans coming out of that, I would really like to see that information. I'm a big firm believer in collecting of statistics. So again, I just want to really stress that I think your partners there at the YWCA and victim services could be, you know, obviously providing a lot of feedback to the department.

I guess my next question or my next category I just wanted to talk about was the guns and gangs strategy. I'm really happy...