Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations has been reviewing the Official Languages Act over the last two years. The committee's report was read into the record on March 27th, 2023. Since the act had not been changed since 2003, it was the committee's goal to

Collect input from Northerners on the effectiveness of the Official Languages Act;

To recommend changes to better protect and revitalize official languages; and,

To ensure changes are implemented.

The committee heard the desire for change during its outreach with the public as well as from past reports on...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. In Nunavut, a beneficiary can apply at any time to a job that a nonbeneficiary has, and if they get it they remove that person. Committee didn't quite go that far. But we're thinking but we want the same level of planning with P1s, that if you have a nonP1 position in the government, the succession planning should be to put a P1 in that position and there should be a complete plan to make sure they have the education and they are trained and they are identified to get into that position. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We heard from Indigenous language speakers they just want to see their language around more. I think a signage policy is pretty low hanging fruit. I'll note here in the Assembly, as we have replaced signs, we have included an official language. It's just simply about making it more visible. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Technically there is no time limit on the reply to the Commissioner's address. My life is in your hands, but I will try to keep this brief.

Mr. Speaker, as March madness comes to an end, and we have passed our last budget, it is time to celebrate fiscal new year's, when all those lovely program budgets get replenished. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to use my reply to the Commissioner's address to state that that will be my last budget as I will not be running again in the upcoming general election. Band before I leave, Mr. Speaker, I will try to impart some...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends to the Government of the Northwest Territories that all departments have in place support for Indigenous employees and look to the Indigenous patient advocates positions implemented by the Department of Health and Social Services as a model to how to provide support; work with the Indigenous employee advisory committee and the diversity inclusion unit to provide support; offer pathways to leave to access counselling and addiction services; and, apply traumainformed language and practices as a norm. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. First off, for the principle of substantive equality and the idea of Indigenous language rights being remedial in nature is something committee stole from the federal Indigenous Languages Act. They've actually surpassed us in the way they are treating rights. And right now the vast majority of complaints to our Official Languages Commissioner are about French language, they're not about Indigenous languages. And the right is, you know, it's you will have significant demand in the area and then it depends on the nature of the office which to me, Madam Chair...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it's a point to know that yesterday the Minister committed to a nonpublic business case. Mr. Speaker, there's a public debate that needs to happen here of whether we are spending billions of dollars. I actually have no sense of how much this project is going to cost. Can the Minister give us a timeline of when an updated figure can be provided? I just think it is inappropriate for us to be using 2013 figures and keep saying this is a $1 billion project when we all know it isn't anymore. When can we see that? Certainly if you go through the environmental...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories requires all departments to conduct exit interviews with all Indigenous employees, including interns and summer students; ensures exit interviews with Indigenous employees leaving a department are conducted by Indigenous staff of the diversity inclusion unit; and, requires that all public service annual reports include a section with an analysis of why priority 1 employees are leaving the public service. Thank you, Mr. Chair

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. You know, the most inspiring things we heard from committee were those cases where there were language nests for preschool children. Their brains are sponges. That's where we were learning. That's where we heard cases where you have young children talking to elders, and they are learning the language. And I think we have fortuitous timing that we are rolling out universal child care in this next few years and we are spending, you know, unprecedented dollars on child care and building spaces. And so I think it's important that we should try and prioritize a...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would really encourage the department to take a look at that. I think our Indigenous harvesters have a right to commit some sort of commercial activity on the lake. I know that's a complicated question, but I think it's a very kind of similar case to Miqmaq fishers with the lobster fishery, where the Supreme Court gave them essentially a moderate livelihood test. They were allowed to go out and do as was their tradition. I've spoken to many fishers on the lake. They will get licensed, they will go through the commercial applications, but they do view it as their...