Steve Norn

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I just want to acknowledge Pink Shirt Day. I'm glad to see we're all wearing pink today and talk about mental health a little bit. I want to say that kindness, love, and support must shine through to fight these issues. I just heard a couple of my colleagues talk about crime and whatnot, so I'm going to segue into that.

Mr. Speaker, I last spoke about the Affirmative Action Policy and the hiring practices in November. At the time, I spoke of policy shortfalls, specifically Ministerial appointments, GNWT hiring practices. Today, I'd like to talk about individuals with...

Can the Minister advise what barriers people with criminal records face when seeking government employment and how can they overcome these barriers?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am just looking at page 362, work performed on behalf of others. There is New Building Canada Plan, Small Community Fund. There is a big jump from the actuals to now. I just looked on the federal website exactly what this is. It looks like it was established in 2014. I just wanted to get a quick description of what this is and then how long because, like any federal gift, there is always usually a time limit on it. If I can get those two questions answered? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry, Madam Primier, I tried. Can you just give me, also, an example, of what the parameters are for a disabled person, what are the parameters for that to qualify for that program? Thank you.

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Even for sewer services and stuff, that's all done through the community. Places like small communities, like Deninu Kue, we do not have a lot of mains, water mains, like waste water like we do in a lot of the larger centres. A lot of this stuff is all trucked in. Even in places like Ndilo, water is trucked in. I am not sure how that is going to go, but I think it's important to know that that is how our communities work. We need to understand that it's not like here in Yellowknife where you can just turn on a tap. You have to worry about your water; you have to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a quick comment: hopefully, we could just get ahead, this being one of our mandate items, to keep picking away and keep persevering. Like I said, our goal should be to try to leave the state of our house in a better state than it was in before, so hopefully we can make lots of headway on this. Marsi cho.

Yes, Madam Chair. That is correct.

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to deal with Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2020-2021 for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and, if time permits, the Department of Lands.

Thank you. I had my hand up there. I thought you forgot about me. Madam Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That leads me to my next question. I know the federal government, they usually have really strict guidelines for whenever proposals get sent to them. Let's say a project doesn't get approved by the federal government and that money is not allocated. What happens to those funds, then? Thank you, Madam Chair.