Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will. The problem is: the examples that I have are probably people when just decided to never get a tourism operator licence. And we all know that, as this legislation came on, there was going to be an education piece and there was going to be slowly walling people in. I think there is a reality that plenty of members especially in the communities are running tourism businesses without licences. I don't want, all of a sudden, us to crack down on them. The person who was just doing a small, part-time thing, all of a sudden, it's not even profitable for them. I think...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that gets to the heart of what the BDIC is. I think, in the past, we've seen a number of boards that have kind of not used it as a development corporation. It has a number of subsidiaries under it that simply lose money year after year, and perhaps the corporation's purpose is to be a make-work project, but I view it as something that should be really a world-class development and investment corporation. I think there's a significant element of venture capital missing, finding other private equity firms. I guess, can the Minister update me on plans to work with...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think the Minister would be very surprised at the number of businesses that don't operate with insurance. It's largely up to the business to decide whether to take on that risk or not. There are all sorts of businesses that decide not to have general liability insurance. It's an interesting decision by the GNWT to essentially step in and mandate that these operators have to have insurance. I can see reasons for it in certain cases. Perhaps the Minister can commit to review that section. I think, especially now, there are plenty of tourism operators who are paying very...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Another concern of mine is in regard to online map staking. I think this is a huge step, and I know that we are in the process of developing the software, but I am wondering if it's possible to speed that timeline up or if the Minister could provide an update of when we expect that to be in existence. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Additionally, we charged all of our tourism operators $500 to get started up. I don't think we should do this in the first place, but can we refund that money or get rid of that fee? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't think it is too burdensome for us to be able to track every time we lose a language speaker, and I don't think it's too burdensome to track every time we gain a language speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess I will ask this question one more way. Can the Minister commit to tracking how many fluent language speakers we have presently, and every time we lose one, that that is tracked somewhere and presented in the data? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would appreciate it. Perhaps, going forward, it's a corporate restructuring thing. Every time I am talking about mineral economy versus petroleum, they are not in one department, in one section, in one line item, because they are obviously very different conversations. If they are wrapped up in this $5 million, I would like to know what's going to the mining versus what's going to the petroleum. I would appreciate that response.

My other question is: I really support the work that the NWT geological survey does. It's really the backbone. Some of the permafrost work is...

I really look forward to seeing those results this summer. I believe the issue here is that, every five years, we get the data compiled, and there's no doubt that the languages are in decline. Absent them not being in decline, I don't know how we can paint anything but a bleak picture, Mr. Speaker. I believe we need much more comprehensive data year after year. Can I be informed how many new fluent speakers we are producing each year versus losing? Can I get a data statistic that shows me the net number of speakers we have in this territory?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I would appreciate some regular updates on that process. I think there is a lot of interest in the public to making sure and understanding. It's a very complicated process. I think a lot of northern businesses are nervous. I think a little more public outreach on what exactly is occurring and what the GNWT's role would be appreciated. I want to move to the $4,935,000 for mineral and petroleum resources. I have no issue with the first half, the mineral, but I have quite a few issues with the second half, petroleum resources.

At one point someone would pay you to take...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all have a collective responsibility to do more to make sure our Indigenous languages thrive. This is not an easy task. Young speakers under 25 are much are more likely to gain fluency than those aged 25 to 45, due to a result of intergenerational shame from residential schools and other complicated factors. We have lost a few generations of speakers. I believe there is much more we need to do. There needs to be more oversight in the programs we are delivering. I believe many of the single-class programs we are offering right now are simply failing. We need immersion...