Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Thank you. Yeah, thank you. It's more like a family preservation program too as well, yeah.

So another one too is that to provide funding to address the impact of costs associated with the tuberculosis outbreak, so it's probably mostly the Indigenous people here because the majority of the people that, you know, living in Yellowknife too, it's half/half but, you know, probably mostly -- I don't know. For that one, the funding, is it just only for -- was that money only assessed only Yellowknife or, like -- or was that, this cost association -- associated, was it only for Yellowknife only, or...

Thank you. Is entrepreneurship in general being promoted by ITI on the ground in our small communities? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for programming such as the SEED program, the artist to market programs, or financing programs, can the Minister confirm if representatives from ITI and Prosper NWT go into the small communities to promote programs? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's it for this section.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're talking about money that's already been spent. So you know and I know the majority of the people living in small communities are Indigenous people. And for some of the small communities, we know that without agency nurses or contract staffing for nurses, we will be without nurses. We're not going to have any services. We have a health centre but we're not going to have any staff, nobody to look after the small communities. So I do support some of -- because of that, you know, I do support where we do need -- and here we're crying, we're asking for more doctors, we...

Thank you. Besides funding opportunities, what type of educational programming is available to develop business skills for residents in our small communities? Thank you.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Today I am going to be talking about promoting entrepreneurship in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, quote, the Indigenous economy is about to take off. Mr. Speaker, this is according to a MacLean article from December 2024.

It is estimated that the potential value of the Indigenous economy in Canada is more than $100 billion. This is great news for the Indigenous population and businesses who, for far too long, were isolated from financial opportunities and success.

Mr. Speaker, a strong economic foundation is a priority of this Assembly. The Government of the Northwest Territories...

This $12 million -- I mean, well, there's the, you know -- this does affect the small communities, people living in the small communities, because majority of us, I think, you know, uses this NTPC power, or it does provide the services to many of the small communities, so this $12 million. So I just wanted to ask the Minister, so is this -- if we approve this as it is, is it to keep the rate down in small communities? I don't know. Like, I would support it if it is going to help keep the rate down. Thank you.

Thank you. So does the department have a plan to expand services for academic upgrading and basic programming in small communities to something more developed such as GED certificate programs or partnership with the college to offer more trades programs locally? Thank you.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain what the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has done to consult residents in small communities about the closure of the community learning centres? Thank you.