R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here to present the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs' main estimates for the fiscal year 20242025. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $1.405 million, or 6.1 percent, over the Main Estimates 20232024. These estimates support the mandate objectives, while continuing to meet the Government of the Northwest Territories' fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of the proposed estimates include:

Transfer of Integrated Service Delivery Program of $854,000 from Department of Justice;.

Continuation of...

Thank you. When we talk about economic reconciliation, we need to approach that from a number of fronts. We are working on an Indigenous procurement policy. We do have agreements such as with the economic agreement with the Tlicho the exact name escapes me at this moment. We are also working on the UNDRIP Implementation Act action plan. And I expect that there would be economic aspects identified in there. We are working with the Council of Leaders and the economy has been flagged as one of the major issues that the Indigenous governments want to address this term. And so I'm excited about...

The proposal the process is not yet closed, no. It's midstream. Thank you.

Yes, I believe so.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As with any initiative, I expect that the relevant department will undertake a thorough review and reach out to experts as needed. I just want to reassure everyone that the Northwest Territories has no shortage of lawyers. I think we have four times the number of lawyers per capita compared to the rest of Canada. There's plenty of legal advice out there for the taking. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it's you know, in the last government the mandate commitments were to settle land claims. Well, that's just what we're supposed to be doing. And so the way to do that is look at the negotiations, figure out what the issues are, figure out where the GNWT perhaps needs to change its position or align itself with an Indigenous government to work together to help change Canada's position, and then make those changes in the negotiating mandates. And that may be uncomfortable. That may be a departure from the way thing have been done in the past. But we need to push the...

Thank you. I believe it's in the procurement process. So we don't necessarily put the budget out before it has been approved. We want to make sure that the contractors are not bidding to the budget. They're bidding to the project. But the project itself is to create a website that is essentially a one window to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Right now, we have a number of different websites. We have a number of and the platform that's being used is actually quite old and not robust enough for today's modern internet. So just like physical infrastructure needs to be replaced...

Thank you. I'd like to hand it to Mr. Bancroft.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the children's lawyer provided great value, of course. That position is now vacant. But the person who was in there did a lot of work and it's very appreciated, those efforts. The children's lawyer would meet regularly with the panel of children's lawyers. So there's the Office of the Children's Lawyer, and they essentially oversee a panel of lawyers in various places in the territory, I believe one is also in Edmonton, and they assign cases to those panel lawyers. They would also provide some professional development opportunities, do research, keep up to date on...

Yes, thank you. So the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, it's actually a federal document. We think it's a good document. We just need some implementation from the federal government. There are pieces here and there, but we really want to see them invest in the spirit of that document. Perhaps I can get the deputy minister to speak some more on this. Thank you.