Daniel McNeely

Thank you, colleagues, Mr. Speaker. I am very proud to announce that four students will be graduating from Colville Lake School this year are.

Rachele Blancho,

Devin Kochon,

Bobbie Lafferty, and

Troy Tutcho.

The entire community of Colville Lake and the Sahtu region want to congratulate these young fellows or young adults, graduates. We wish them the very best in their education journey and career choices. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we conclude the last two days of our spring sitting of the Legislative Assembly until October, I'd like to express my heartfelt recognition of two important dates that hold significance for the Indigenous peoples across Canada and, more particularly, here in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21st, is a day to celebrate and honour the diverse cultures, unique heritage, and outstanding achievements of Canada's First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples. This day has been celebrated since 1996 coinciding with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I support this motion as a seconder. It's an increase to the existing options available to the students. Some of the assistance that I've -- and that's based on cost. Everything else is going up, hopefully we can increase the threshold in some programs we deliver. So it's an option there for the average student to take. Whether they choose to do so, it's entirely up to them. But I learned a lot of finding out through the assistance of students that I helped to survey their options, and I'm quite satisfied -- I would say probably more so satisfied with the programs and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too will be supporting this motion. Anything to do with facing the challenges and the problems. Just recently, in the last number of hours, I received a couple of calls that there's many drugs coming into the Sahtu as we speak. So it's a continued crisis, the problems that are being faced, seen in public, it's terrible. So it's a terrible situation, and we need all the tools in the toolbox to move ahead, and if it's going to be an added solution to the crisis that's out there, yes, I will support that. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two pages originally from the Sahtu, the beautiful community of Deline. It's Neva Takazo and Jaylin Gaudet. Mahsi.

Okay. No, thank you, and thanks to the Minister for that response. I think quality control is very critical to the completion of these schedules, and it may minimize the carryovers and the delays. I know this is a department that's facing a lot of challenges, like many other employers out in the communities, with the workforce difficulties. But there's always room for improvements, and I see this as one. And if the department's doing that, that's good. It shows that you're looking at the construction costs per square foot. That's good. And if it went on time and in different areas you're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 13th, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the Member of the Mackenzie Delta, that the Government of the Northwest Territories update the business case to complete the Mackenzie Valley Highway immediately;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories use the updated business case to formalize Indigenous partners in the project and to lobby the federal government in partnership to secure the funding requirement in the upcoming federal budget to develop this critical...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for recapping the efforts that we had accomplished in July of 2019. It was a very well attended strategy session on how to upgrade and develop a plan moving forward to support education, and I'm glad to hear that the Minister supports that as a starting point to update our education journey for the young folks of the Sahtu.

And will the Minister provide staff supports there to help organize and put together the appropriate meeting packages in preparation for that session? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community of Tulita is proud to celebrate seven graduates from the Chief Albert Wright School for 2024. They are:

Damian McPherson,

Gosahte Bird,

Jaiden Wrigley,

Tristan MacCauleyAyah

Jaden Lennie,

Lacey Wrigley, and

Rachel Horassi on their achievement.

Tulita celebrates their success, and we wish them very well in the coming years and their next steps on their education and career journey. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My statement is more of a comment here. Having seen a number of projects here out in the communities under construction, during construction, after construction, is it part of the housing department to have a followup review, a completion review after the project is done to see how it went, was it on schedule, was it done safely, was it done within the budget? Thank you, Mr. Chair.