Caitlin Cleveland

Yeah, thank you very much, Madam Chair. And for anybody listening, I just wanted to acknowledge that while our report in full does use the 2SLGBTQ IPA plus acronym, that it isn't used here in this motion because the motion refers to a specific course name. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Day Care Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 3rd, 2022, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.

Bill 68 does not address the existing challenges of the Northwest Territories' early learning and child care sector or fix the damaged relationship between the sector and government. It does, however, put in place necessary basic rules, such as a certification process for educators, and allows the Northwest Territories to catch up with the other...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services expedite the application approval and reporting requirement process of the On the Land Healing Fund to uphold Indigenous governments and organizations selfdetermination and ensure allocation of annual funds. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment review and amend the career and education advisor job description to recruit Indigenous persons in these positions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday during Committee of the Whole's review of Bill 60, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, I had too much to say and ran out of time. So I am thankful for this added time.

Mr. Speaker, we can all agree that increases the cost of living for NWT residents is not what we want. But that is not why we are here. This bill does not decide if we want a carbon tax or not. The federal government imposed the carbon tax on January 1st, 2019, and only the federal government can choose to get rid of the carbon tax. This bill is to decide who will administer the...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I'll try to be very, very short. Does the GNWT plan to identify positions that can and should be staffed by Indigenous language speakers? Right now there are some French specific positions within the GNWT. There might also be a small number of Indigenous language specific positions but there's not a large number of them. And I'd like to know if the GNWT plans to be a lot more proactive in identifying positions where they'd like to see Indigenous language speakers and grow them in those positions. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in the work that committee did, I'm sure people have noticed by now that not everything in this report is solely focused on housing. And a lot of this work we wanted to be preventative and wanted to go upstream. And so we can't have a motion that speaks to safe housing in regards to family violence without going upstream as well and ensuring that healing is also supported there and so that's what this really speaks to. And I look forward to seeing the government's response on this. I know that this has been an issue for both the 18th and 19th...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that Housing Northwest Territories develop a supportive community housing strategy focused on youth and youth aging out of care. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report in 120 days. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, this is a good start but to reverse the decline of Indigenous language communities, the GNWT needs to do so much more. One key area for improvement is around the bilingual designation policy. The Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Action Plan talks about celebrating and recognizing employees speaking an Indigenous language but there's no reference to modernizing the bilingual designation policy, including to ensure that employees who speak or are learning their language are properly remunerated. So...