R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I was just on the phone with the mayor today of Hay River to talk about such a meeting where we bring together those organizations, and I'm happy to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If anyone's familiar with the war on drugs in the United States, I think they've spent about a trillion dollars over the past number of decades and they have more people incarcerated for, you know, possession of drugs than anywhere else in the world, and they still have problems. So if this is like I said, this isn't something we can arrest our way out of. Now that being said, the RCMP are well aware of the situation. I know a lot of people measure the success of the RCMP by, you know, the number of maybe drug dealers in their communities. But the fact is that if there...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Operating Plans for Northwest Territories Education Bodies for the 20212022 School Year Ending June 30, 2022, Volumes 1 and 2; and Annual Reports for the Education Bodies of the Northwest Territories for 20212022 School Year Ending June 30, 2021, Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And again, I can't really mandate glad things but we do do our best to develop the resources and provide the resources, promote the resources at no cost to educators. So the LGBTQ2S+ equity, safety, and inclusion guidelines training is available upon request from ECE. In addition, we have safe school regulations that mandate that all 49 schools in the territory provide a safe school plan which includes identifying LGBTQ2S+ resource people in the school and gender sexuality advisors. ECE works with local partners to put on the triannual rainbow youth conference...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, in response to the child and youth mental wellness action plan, such training has been developed, both traumainformed classroom training and culturally sensitive classroom training. It is not mandatory for all NWT educators, but it is available upon request and it's free to education bodies, and there has been significant uptake on those programs. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I rise on a point of order under Rule 3.2(3)(m). I waited until today to raise this point of order because I wanted to review Hansard, and I'm raising it at the earliest opportunity at the commencement of Committee of the Whole where the remarks at issue were made.

During Committee of the Whole yesterday while the Minister of the ENR and departmental officials debated the main estimates for the department, the Member for Monfwi asked questions about the barrenground caribou mobile management zone. In that context, the MLA said the following as quoted from the unedited Hansard: But...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being the Minister of Education is all about relationships. We have to work with the teachers; we have to work with all of the education bodies across the territory. And I think that we have a good relationship with both of those entities and, as a result, we're able to make things happen without having to mandate them.

I think there is desire among all educators to have this training. That's why there has been uptake on this training. The local school boards see the value in this training, and so that's why it happens as well. So I don't think this is a situation that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, I don't have the numbers in front of me, and it's not it's not as easy as just mandating training for educators. As I think we've learned over this Assembly, there's a strong separation of authorities between education bodies and the department. That being said, we always encourage training; we provide extensive training; we work with the NWTTA to ensure that their members are aware that the training is available. And as we go forward in modernizing the Education Act, this is definitely an area where we want to look at to ensure that all teachers receive...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I am sorry to ruin the theme day here, but I want to talk about a different topic.

As members are aware, it is Indigenous Languages Month and the Members may not be aware but the UN also declared 2022 to 2032 the international decade of Indigenous languages. I think this is a monumental event, and I'm always happy when I hear Members of this House speak in Indigenous languages. My colleague from Boot Lake, the Member for Yellowknife South I've heard, of course our Member for Monfwi, and I think that to mark not just Indigenous Languages Month but the...

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: 31st Annual Report 20192020 Victims Assistance Committee of the NWT; and 32nd Annual Report 20202021 Victims Assistance Committee of the NWT. Thank you.