Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that commitment to come and take a look at their operations. I think it's always good when you can see things firsthand. Let's keep it on vein of saying yes.

Can the Minister commit to providing Home Base with emergency funding to expand support hours to 24/7 and to keep their shelters open? The reason that this is so crucial right now is the temperatures are dropping, and they do provide a very important service for youth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As a Regular Member, I'm active on our social development committee which has identified children and family services as an area of focus. From this work, I have been learning so much about the issues facing families and youth in the NWT. One area that I am becoming more familiar with is the foster care system, and I want thank everyone who has taken the time to speak with me about this topic as it's a sensitive one.

Mr. Speaker, when I look at our social problems, I can see the gap that youth and young adults are falling into. Agingout or kicked out of foster care, they often find themselves...

Sorry, Madam Chair, I just got really into my committee work this season. So I just wanted to say that I think the way that I see this moving and the work being done on Aurora College with the inclusion of the councils, and such, that I believe it's in the right faith of what we discussed as a group when we first met back two years ago around this time, I guess a little bit earlier, to discuss our priorities and mandate. And so I'm excited to see that this is a piece of legislation that will now incorporate Indigenous voices and NWT voices in the college as it moves forward. So thank you...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I too do support this bill. It was one of the first or sorry, this report and recommendations is one of the first ones that I worked on with this committee, and one thing I've noticed with the pandemic it is really highlighting the division in our territory of the have and have-nots and the need for infrastructure. I'm often pushing for the road infrastructure, which I think is just as critical, but the internet infrastructure and the telecommunications is key as well. If we don't address this issue now, we're only going to have our havenots fall further behind...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister's answers sort of speak to my next question as well.

Can the Minister commit to assisting or working with her colleagues to look for core funding for the Home Base program so that we can keep youth from not experiencing homelessness as well as ease the burden on social services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yeah, I never thought that the Minister didn't support the resource sector; I guess it just needed to be said to the public sometimes about how important it is.

Can the Minister commit to providing relief funding that does not require operators to financially contribute first? As two years without any business anymore means that they don't have any ability any further to provide money upfront to get their relief funding. So I would ask that the Minister considers 100 percent funding for relief for tourism operators. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm pleased to hear that from the Minister as well. I do encourage her to have that direct conversation with the operators themselves. As we all know, within one organization, certain voices can become much larger than others. So to get that feedback from the grassroots, I think is really key here.

Moving on, great seque to my next question, what is the criteria for reopening tourism for outofterritory residents? How is the department working with the office of the CPHO to set that criteria? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I am doing my part to help out with what the Hay River South MLA is saying.

Currently, Madam Speaker, our outofterritory tourists are not permitted to enter the NWT for leisure travel unless they are travelling directly to an approved remote tourism location. According to operators, to gain this designation they must submit a rigorous COVID plan that includes additional insurance for medevacs, plans for isolating guests, and provisions to bring doctors to site should a COVID diagnosis be required. After almost two years of literally no business...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, me and the Minister can debate whether sciencebased decisionmaking is happening at another time. My question here is how much did the tourism sector add to the GDP prior to COVID versus its current contribution; and, given this information, how realistic is it that we are moving away from a resourcebased economy any time soon? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ITI. Can the Minister commit to forming a direct focus group with NWT tourism operators to find out what supports are needed to sustain them during the time it will take for us to rebuild and reopen the territory?

Just a piece of information, Madam Speaker. According to the Northwest Territories tourism association, it may take two to five years to build our international reputation again. Thank you.