Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess the answer really is whether or not there is an organization in the territories that might bring that idea forward, because the fund isn't one to which the Department of Justice can direct. The Department of Justice, myself, we don't get to say to the committee what they should spend this money on. They are responsible for making those decisions. We have a lot of department support that we use to support the committee so that they can engage with communities, so that they can help the communities to develop programs. Indeed, Community Justice helps directly with...

The short answer is "yes," Mr. Speaker. I would be naive to think that that is going to satisfy the nature of what is really being asked here. Surety bonds are a little bit different. A lot of times, securities are held with what is called an irrevocable letter of credit, but in this particular case, these surety bonds are more like an irrevocable letter of credit than what they might be in some other circumstances. Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has the ability to call in the bond if we had concerns about it. In addition, if, in fact, the bond were to be cancelled, again different...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can reassure the Member I think in this case that, while I don't necessarily know all the reasons why the past iteration of the committee might have been hesitant or in terms of what they're funding, there are two things that are happening that I think are positive. The biggest one is that the committee members have now met in person. They met in person; November 25, 2019, was the first time they met in person in, I'm told, quite a long time. I had the opportunity to meet with them. They sat down. They were really brainstorming around where they want the committee to go...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I suspect many of the other creditors might still be fully compiling some of the data, we are in no different of a position than many others in that regard. I can say that in 2019-2020 the GNWT did collect $14.6 million in terms of taxes. Obviously, I'm not sure if that's necessarily the same. With COVID-19 some of the reporting dates have been deferred and delayed so that data is going to still have to continue to come in. We do, again, have the royalties that do come into us. Again, that reporting date was delayed. In addition to which, under regulation, I'm unable...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We certainly can provide the metrics in terms of the reduction in wait times. There have been reductions. I'm looking back to 2017-2018, and it's been by 22 percent the one year and then to 29 percent after that. The wait times there are only one metric. That is influenced by the fact that there are now two part-time rental officers hearing that. That changes the wait times, but it doesn't necessarily change some of the other metrics of the service, wait times to a decision. There are other ways of measuring the effectiveness of this public service, and I want to be...

There are three priority needs that are related to broadband and telecoms that have already been identified from the GNWT. The 50 and 10 megabytes per second, that's the speed which has been spoken recently in the House; the importance of resiliency and redundancy in our networks which hasn't come up here but has certainly come up in the past in the House; but the third one is cell coverage. I certainly want the Member to know that I know that this is a priority. It's already a priority within my department. As far as providing that as a service that we have to increase the ability to have...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do know that those numbers, the lag time between the filing of an application and the hearing date has been continuously dropping, and indeed, I believe as of February 2020, it was roughly at five to seven weeks, which is an improvement over the last few years, certainly. Some of the initiatives that were undertaken in order to get there were around the fact that they do not need to conduct in-person hearings, and that certainly made it a lot faster. There has also been an attempt to increase the staffing, although I don't know that we are quite yet at two rental...

I am not a risk analyst, and I'm not going to pretend to provide to the House or to the people who are on that highway my own personal views on what is or isn't a risk or how much of a risk it is, but I do acknowledge the point that's being made that there are people on that highway. It's a stretch of highway that, while frequently travelled, still has lots of parts where there are risks in terms of it being a highway. There can be an accident, and then there is maybe no one there coming along who has a phone or a satellite phone. I certainly acknowledge that that's a reality and that there...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Right now, that legislation, I was just going back to double check where it might be landing in terms of on our legislative worksheets. Certainly, there were recent amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act just last year, so it likely isn't going to be high in terms of a further review. That said, certainly in terms of the commercial tenancies and the residential tenancies, both of those pieces of legislation have been called to task, if you will, for their lack of modernity during COVID-19. I am certainly now aware of that. I was aware of it before, but I am more...

I can certainly say that the Department of Human Resources will be looking at all of the programs that rolled out, looking at the way in which we supported our employees and looking at the returning to work plans that we have. Frankly, it's beyond simply looking at students, but looking at the way in which Human Resources was responding to the pandemic. We will undertake that project in order to be even better prepared for whatever emergencies we may face going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.