Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as an elected official, I believe it is my duty to utilize every avenue available to speak up and advocate for my constituents. For that reason, I would like to use this time to respond to the Commissioner's address before the end of the 19th Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, there is only so much time allocated to MLAs to make a Member's statement on each day during session so there is not always enough time to share information with my colleagues. Therefore, I'm going to share my view on a variety of topics that I have not yet had the chance to speak or...

Keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, the GNWT educated these students. What is the GNWT and ECE taking to take responsibility for the abuses that happened at Chief Jimmy Bruneau School? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on August 16th, 2023, the GNWT issued an evacuation notice for Yellowknife, N'dilo, Dettah, and Ingraham Trail residents to leave by noon on Friday, August 18th. This decision was made without consultation with Indigenous government and without even involving all MLAs. Left out were MLA for Tu NedheWiilideh and Monfwi.

After August 18th, the four Tlicho communities were the only ones left in the North Slave. It became clear very fast that the GNWT had no plans on how they were going to provide basic necessities for our communities. There was a huge gap in...

Okay, I support this motion too. I just want, you know, to close this and move forward. And I know that, Mr. Speaker, there was a process in place, and I know there was a lot of people that were stressed from the fire and, you know, like when I mentioned earlier, there was three people that were affected by the whole forest fires that was took place for about three weeks, or two months for some, the business people, people left behind, and the most vulnerable. So I know that had a lot of impact on us, the one that were left behind, the one that were abandoned. So there was a process in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, every child matters in NWT, especially those in small communities with limited services. These young children, they have the same rights as children living in larger regional centre with regular dental services. And I thank my colleague for introducing the Private Member's bill. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, we cannot wait four years for our young kids to have proper dental treatment. We have kids as young as like she said, as young as 12 years old needing dentures. That is unacceptable. That is unacceptable. And it is the year 2023. We should have all these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason why I brought this up is because the community of Whati are very concerned, especially the leadership. So that's why I brought this up at this time. And they would like to see the work completed as soon as possible because it is if you drive on it, it is not good. The last section leading to the Whati road, to Whati to the community of Whati is not drivable. So that's why I brought it up because the chief from Whati would like to see this completed as soon as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho highway to Whati was built only to the preexisting Whati access road used to connect Whati to the winter road. The access road does not meet modern engineering standards that consider things such as ponded water, drainage, and drivability. It is not up to the same standard as the rest of the Tlicho AllSeason Road. With this in mind, the community government of Whati would like to see this deficiency corrected.

Can the Minister tell me when will this section be constructed and, if it's not in the works, commit that it will be included in the next...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge and recognize Tlicho interpreters/translators Jonas Lafferty of Behchoko and Mary Rose Sundberg of Dettah. And the other interpreter/translator, Sarah Gargan, Mary Jane Cazon, Bertha Catholique, Tom Unka, Sarah Cleary, Therese Etchinelle, Lillian Elias, and Susan Pepper, for doing the important work and preserving our Indigenous language. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I support this bill too because prior we used to have dental therapists and dental assistant workers in our communities working in our school with elementary to higher grades doing more of a preventative work. And it wasn't just only open for the school, but it was also open to the communities at large. You know, a lot of community members took advantage of it because they're they're there, they provided the services. And now when we look at it, the only people that benefit from dental services are children of GNWT workers or other workers with a good dental...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there seems to be no reference to the Tlicho AllSeason Road in the 20242025 Capital estimates. This is very troubling as the highway has been left incomplete in terms of connecting Whati with an allseason road. The last few kilometres are missing. There is an access road that is substandard. It would not be allowed to remain if it is would not be allowed to remain if it was on the major road into Yellowknife. The Minister must ensure the concerns of Whati are heard. Will the Minister invite the representative of Whati to the next working group meeting...