R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Increasing employment in small communities is an important mandate of our government. This week, across Canada, National Skilled Trades and Technology Week will be celebrated as we raise awareness of the many career opportunities in the skilled trades and technology sectors in the Northwest Territories and across Canada. This week, we also honour the 31 Apprenticeship High Mark award recipients and the 36 individuals who have obtained journeyperson certification this year in the Northwest Territories. I want to offer my congratulations to all the award recipients on...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wouldn't characterize what's been happening as a comprehensive review. That indicates that there are working groups and there's a lot going on. We are working through this pandemic, which is still ongoing. We haven't gone through an entire season yet. We haven't gone through an entire fiscal year. We haven't gone through an entire budgeting cycle, so there's still a lot to be learned. As we learn things, we're making note of them. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I can't speak for every department. I know that when this legislation was being contemplated, it was clear there were some deadlines that departments weren't going to meet, and I just referenced ECE as being one of them. We didn't want to be in violation of other statutes. That's the reason this was put forward. Like I said, it expires, I believe in December, so there's still some time. I know we'll get at least some use of it, but I can't speak for other departments as to why this was not used. Perhaps, they found other workarounds. There was a lot of attention put to other things during the...

The GNWT Interdepartmental Working Group on Family Violence commissioned the Aurora Research Institute to provide an evidence-based report for the GNWT to use as a guide to shape the actions and the investment of the GNWT in responding to the crisis of family violence. The results of this report show that we need an integrated, community-based approach to appropriately support families and prevent violence. They identified five main themes: education interventions; cultural integration; the justice response; the clinical response; and system transformation. This will require a change to our...

Thank you. I'd like to introduce Mr. Mike Reddy, the director of legislation.

Changes, not really changes over the past six months. However, as I mentioned, the gun and gangs strategy is under development, and I think that lessons learned during the pandemic will inform that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here today to present Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020. The purpose of Bill 15 is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified. Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:

it must not be controversial;

it must not involve the spending of public funds;

it must not prejudicially affect rights;

it must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

Departments responsible for the various...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The RCMP monitor the calls they get and what type of calls they get. Unfortunately, I do not have the data right now to compare the pandemic times to the pre-pandemic time, but when I have that data, I am as interested as the Member to see what it says. Anecdotally, we have all heard that there has been an increase in illicit drug use across Canada. I think, last time I checked, there was just over $100 million in surpayments that made its way into the territory. Just that amount of money, I would assume that there would be an uptick in all sorts of different sales...

Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The department is working on the materials. I do not have a timeline for training, but the departments that need training are receiving training upon request. Just recently, departmental staff trained with the Department of Infrastructure on how to process these requests. It's an ongoing process.