R.J. Simpson

No, there is not right now. The government has a lot of artwork. There are a lot of government buildings, and they have lots of things on the walls. That means there is artwork that could be worth virtually nothing, and there could be some large pieces, like the Member has referenced, that could be worth quite a bit. There was an inventory taken by ITI, I believe, about 10 years ago, that looked at all of this, but nothing has been done since. I think the reason for that is because this massive artwork, it would cost more than all of the work combined is worth to inventory it, so I think that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are trying to work with the other Minister and the Member to get some answers for her questions here. When it comes to public artwork, it is the responsibility for the department to care for it, to maintain it, to store it, and they can always reach out to the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre for advice. That is where the experts are. That is the situation right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I've already done that work. Thank you.

We actually have less staff now than we did when the Member asked that questions. There are dozens of employees from ECE who have moved over to Health to help with those efforts. There are employees working from home who are having issues accessing government files, and things like that, so we are in a worst position to do that type of work, especially given what we have.

I appreciate the Member's comments earlier that we could start this program tomorrow, if we wanted. This pandemic has shown that departments can be responsive, and they can move quickly. However, I don't know if we can move...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document: "The Northwest Territories Public Utilities Board Annual Report for the Year Ending December 31, 2019." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On a regular basis, I badger the Minister of Finance and the Premier to give me more policy staff so I can pursue some of these types of initiatives, but, in the end, ECE does a lot of work. We provide a lot of people with a lot of support, and that's what the focus is on right now, especially during the pandemic. I would love to be able to go out and get some more policy staff to do this type of work in the background, but I think that the staff we have right now are doing a great job at delivering services that are needed and being adaptive and responsive to the situation and, in this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have said before in this House that we could always do better with every program in the territory, and the Income Assistance Program is one of those. The Member asks whether it's working, and that depends on what exactly people want out of the program. There is a seniors' component where seniors are supported, and we are not trying to incentivize people who have aged out of the workforce to get back to work. There is a program for persons with disabilities who just can't work. We are not trying to incentivize them. The program is there to help people with their basic...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following nine documents "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 34-19(2), Income Security Client Banking Issues;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 62-19(2), Improving Income Assistance Administration;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 97-19(2), Income Assistance;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 111-19(2), Mental Health and Suicide Resources for Students;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 147-19(2), Day Care at Ecole J. H. Sissons;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 156-19(2), Women in Trades;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 170-19(2...

The Member is hitting all of the high points here. These are a lot of hard conversations that we are having. There are some people who are from communities where, perhaps, the Internet doesn't allow them to take distance learning. I got an email from someone the other day saying that they max out at 2.3 megabits per second on their Internet speed; they need 2.5 in order to take the program at the U of A. There are some real issues out there. We are looking at how we can support those students. Opening up residence for people is one of those, but that is an ongoing conversation. There are a lot...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Emerging Wisely document, I believe it is phase 3 that the colleges can open. What the college has been planning for is for distance learning, come September. However, we don't know exactly where we're going to be, and we would like to be able to provide some in-person instruction for people who absolutely need it. The work is ongoing to try to figure out if we can do that, but the plan right now is distance learning for the most part. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.