Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are two different things I'm being asked to commit to.

With respect to bringing things under one shop, that was one of the items that was recommended in the review. It is something I certainly have spoken about the importance of. But as to how that will unfold, I am still going to abide by the process that we are in the middle of, which includes a defined process of engagement with Indigenous governments. So I'm not going to make any formal commitments other than to refer back to things I've already said in that regard.

And as to the philosophy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this again is timely to have this conversation in the House. It's timely to have these questions. ECE and ITI, of course, have released the arts strategy not long ago and are indeed, as I mentioned, undertaking a review of all of the programs and the funding associated to it. So in the course of that, we can certainly commit to working together to look at whether or not there is funding that's available that's perhaps not being utilized, whether there are programs that could be better advertised to those who need it, or if in fact, there's a gap and that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm also well aware of the problem. It's certainly not new. It's been raised to our offices as well.

At present, Mr. Speaker, there are arts council grants through the Department of ECE that can be certainly directed to all artisans in the territory. The Department of ITI provides supports for hide camps, tanning camps through  generally through seed funding and funding that can go to the communities. So I anticipate that there could be more  that the Member's looking for something more, but there are some creative ways that we can support those  these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I'm not mistaken, that infographic grew out of a series of questions here in the House maybe this time last year. I've also had positive responses to it. If we can improve it, I'm committed to doing that. So let me start by saying perhaps I'll check in with my colleague to see what gaps she sees, and we can continue to improve the report card that we have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's always been my intention and vision, and I've said this before, to make changes as we can. And when we saw that there were changes that were implemented with respect to the contracting terms over the last year to see what that might do, and we are already working on vendor performance management. So there's things underway already.

As far as what the next date for the next changes might be, I  my hope is that early 2022 some small things could start to be impacted. Again, I'm mindful that as this process has unfolded, a complementary process working...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm certainly happy to take up a conversation with another colleague. I know that ENR does have a lot of programming in place to support traditional harvesters in the communities and around the Northwest Territories. And the Department of ITI, of course, is responsible for the NWT fur program. So we'll certainly take it away and see if there's more that can be done with our own fur program and of course to confirm with my colleague what better response we have to this. The opportunity to have homegrown and homesourced hides really is the ultimate solution, and of course...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has not suggested that we're going to mine our way out of the climate crisis. In fact the responsibility for climate change, that the climate change action plan sits with my colleague behind me but all of the departments, the LNR department, Lands and Natural Resources and ITI, we are working together collectively to see what opportunities we have to be part of adapting to climate change, responding to climate change, and that's really where the critical minerals part fits in for us, is that it's an opportunity...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am more than thrilled to speak about this. It's a topic that, you know, a little over a year ago when I took over this portfolio, critical minerals, although a huge issue in the world, wasn't necessarily being talked about with the same vigor as it is now here in the territories so I am thrilled to say that we had this workshop. I am very pleased that the Member was able to attend. And most definitely there will be a "what we heard" report.

I am happy we got to the place of having a workshop with such a variety of attendees. But that's just that's really...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I have enough responsibility but. But, Mr. Speaker, so various forms of this question have been asked I think through the week and, again, I want to ensure colleagues in the room, but particularly the public service, that we do take it very seriously well, two things we take very seriously is first of all the collective agreement and our relationship with the union, which means whatever we're doing in this front certainly needs to involve engagement with the union before we make any policy changes or any proposed changes that would impact on those processes which are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Employee Engagement Satisfaction Survey is actually done roughly every two years, and it was postponed when there was collective bargaining back in 2018 and then postponed with COVID19 so it is actually a regularly done survey.

As for what has been done with it in the past, this is the first one that's coming to me so I can't speak to what may or may not have happened to it in the past, but it's the first one that I'm going to see. And Mr. Speaker, Minister Green and myself have met already before the current crisis facing the obstetrics unit. We have...