Rylund Johnson

Yellowknife North

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 12)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice, regarding cannabis. Madam Speaker, we find ourselves here, a year and a half after cannabis legalization, with the promise being, after one year, we would have private cannabis stores in the Northwest Territories or at least be along the road. My question is: when will we see our first private cannabis store in the Northwest Territories?

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize that the RCMP control their hiring practices, and I do appreciate the Minister's commitment to continue working with "G" Division. However, I think there is a bit of a political aspect missing from this conversation. I am looking at the federal financial committee's recommendations on budget 2020, recommendation 29, thanks to our MP, Mr. McLeod. It says, "Recognize Indigenous police services as central services under the law; ensure they can obtain long, stable term funding like other police services and expand these services in the northern territories." I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just building on my colleague's comments regarding corrections, I think there is large recognition both professionally and best practices, that, if we can avoid putting people in corrections, we save money. We are spending millions of dollars constructing this new facility in Fort Smith. I question whether we should have just provided housing and addiction treatment to those people, but that is a different question. Can the Minister just explain, I often hear the new Fort Smith Correctional Complex referred to as a therapeutic model, how that is different from North Slave...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 12)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Our job here is to be legislators and to debate policy, and I am consistently frustrated that I find myself getting into the implementation and the operations of our departments. Earlier today, I heard the Minister of Lands commit that the land within municipal boundaries, there is a working group in place; hopefully, within a year, we have a process document; and then after that, we may see the land transferred. Unfortunately, I have to ask questions of every Minister to ensure that this is happening, so my question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 12)

I appreciate the Minister of Justice's response that we will see those RFPs out this month, and I will encourage my constituents who are interested to apply to that process. I had a constituent attend the uptown liquor store the other day, the only place to buy cannabis legally in town, and there was, in fact, no cannabis there. My question for the Minister of Finance: why, 18 months after legalization, do we still not have our procurement process in order?

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 12)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. In light of Starlight Investments and KingSett Capital's recent intention to purchase Northview Real Estate, thus making the two largest landlords in Yellowknife. One, I wanted to read an open letter to CEO Jon Love of KingSett Capital and CEO Daniel Drimmer of Starlight Investments.

Congratulations on your intention to purchase Northview Real Estate Investment Trust for $4.8 billion. I wish to inform you that, upon closing this deal, you will own a small city in the subarctic called Yellowknife.

Yellowknife also happens to be the capital city of the Northwest...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank our Minister of Finance for our budget address this week, and before we move it into Committee of the Whole, I wanted to provide my response.

In reply, I want to pose some fundamental questions for this Assembly, questions of what kind of territory we want to be and our place within confederation. I want to share some thoughts on where we're at as a territory and what I believe we must do to move forward. I will focus my address on the question of what it means to be seated here in this House and what it means to be a Northerner.

Given this is a...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe I was well aware of that when I asked that question. Would the Minister be willing to share the reports or the work that the Internal Audit Bureau does with the appropriate standing committee?

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

No more questions, Madam Chair. I will take that as a commitment. I believe that I will have questions on that after being provided the breakdown.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. One of my issues is we keep getting commitments to have technical briefings with confidential committees, and the whole point of sitting in this House is to be more transparent. I believe the Affirmative Action Policy has turned into the sacred cow that we're all afraid to touch due to the fact that there's a potential Charter challenge for people who reside in the Northwest Territories to have preferred status. That is not Indigenous people, that is indigenous to the North; Indigenous, not Aboriginal. It is the fear of that Charter challenge that has prevented us from...