R.J. Simpson

Yes, no. I think we're on the same page. I mean, that's what we're doing. I've ate plenty of danishes in this building, and I drink plenty of coffee, and I contemplate things like this. And so I -- you know, I'm happy to hear that the Member's perspective on this is similar to mine and, yeah, I value the feedback. Thank you.

Thank you. So I believe we actually have an observer on the committee. We've been -- you know, and I've been in talks with the Premier of the Yukon on this and talking about how we can better collaborate, and as the three northern territories, we do collaborate on these types of initiatives. Every chance we get, we get up in front of a microphone and we talk about these security issues. You know, there's a good relationship at the official level between my deputy minister and staff in the department of defence. And I can say that I've seen that relationship -- I'll say it's improved in the...

Thank you. As shared with Members and reported widely in the press, the title is senior envoy to the Government of Canada. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate those comments.

Thank you. So we don't have a formal contract in place with such an entity but we have used services of, you know, firms in Ottawa, especially when we were travelling down for the -- with the Council of Leaders or as part of the Council of Leaders, and they helped, you know, set up meetings and even things like arranging media interviews and things like that. So, yes, we have used those services in the past. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So one of the issues is that I want to have a chance to actually meet with the Indigenous governments, talk about negotiations, learn from them what their issues and concerns are, familiarize myself with our mandates and our positions on the concerns from Indigenous governments or our positions on their positions. And, you know, we've been through a full year now. We've had a number of those meetings. And we are actively working on looking at ways to adjust our mandates, if necessary, to ensure that we can make some progress. And so I'm confident that in the first half of...

Thank you. And I know the Member is a fluent French Speaker, and so we do have Services TNO in Yellowknife which is sort of what the Member's referring to in some ways, a one-stop shop. But we are making incremental moves towards a -- potentially towards a service model like the Member is talking about. In different jurisdictions across Canada, they do have, you know, service, you know, whatever, whatever province you're in, that's the service department. And so that is an opportunity.

One thing that I didn't want to do here was try and overhaul everything all at once. You know, it's a lot of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and it's actually the regional partnership that really put the focus on Yellowknife. And so, you know, we're already working with them, taking their advice and insight. Of course, when you work at an NGO and you are doing this work on a daily basis day in and day out you have a lot of expertise and insight and, of course, we want to leverage that and work with these organizations. So not every organization's priorities will align with each other’s, and so going forward there will be some -- you know, partners who are probably happier with what we are doing and some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All opportunities to expand our transitional housing stock will be explored, whether that is renovation of existing units that we come into possession of or whether it is the development of new units, we're open to doing whatever we need to do to make things happen. We're not going to limit ourselves to one, you know -- to one way of procuring these units. And so in -- recently, we've done some more temporary measures. So the on-the-land camp, we are looking to set up a temporary transitional housing unit until we can get something more permanent in place as well. And...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, I mean, I don't even need to be involved in that conversation. That's a community-level conversation, and the community can have that. Through the Department of Justice, we can relay the Member's comments and the desires for such a meeting, but I think those are the types of things that can really happen at the community level.

Deninu Kue First Nation does receive $50,000 annually to hire a community justice coordinator. I understand that that position is not filled. But that's the position that would help coordinate these types of conversations among leadership...