R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, the cost of delivering health and social services is increasing faster than our resources can handle, at a time when our government is also facing additional costs related to climate change and inflationary pressures. This is why the delivery of sustainable health and social services is an important part of this government's mandate and the priorities of the 20th Legislative Assembly.

Through the mandate letter I provided to the Minister of Health and Social Services, we are addressing several initiatives that aim to deliver a more sustainable health and social services system. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to present to the House Bill 12, Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Finance Minister has answered the question twice now. So the Member can check Hansard once this is over. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act does require the Government of the Northwest Territories to work with Indigenous governments, and there is a working group actually struck right now that is working on developing that action plan. So that work with Indigenous governments is happening. I'm not sure if the Member's speaking of a group of MLAs, but we're definitely working with the Indigenous governments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, that's a big question, what's been, what progress has been made towards self-determination. It's not an easy path, as everyone is well aware, but this government, we've released a mandate that makes very clear that we intend to work with Indigenous governments as partners, not as, you know, vassals of the state. So we've done our best to implement that work. The Council of Leaders meetings have been, I think, more successful every time that we've met. We recently travelled to Ottawa with a number of Indigenous leaders to lobby on shared priorities. And I think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for letting me address this issue. So across Canada, health care services are strained. The North is no different. We hear all the time in this House, I hear from my own constituents, there's issues in the health care system. That's not news. That's nothing new. That's an acknowledgement that I want to make clear that I am making today.

One of the things we're doing to address these issues is the establishment of the health care system sustainability unit. Now, this is a unit that is positioned within my Department of the Executive and Indigenous...

-- point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'll have to get back to the Member with some specific details about what meetings they plan on holding but there -- as I mentioned, this is not something that we're doing alone. And this unit is not there to make decisions about how things are going to work. They're there to look at, examine, investigate the system, and bring forward recommendations for the decision-makers to be able to make decisions about how things work. And the best decisions are made with broad input. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the unit, it's not fully staffed up yet, but the staff members that they have have been pouring over all of these documents that the Member's referencing. A lot of work has been done. There's work that's been done 20 years ago that the staff are looking at. So we are really taking an approach that we don't need to start from scratch; a lot of work has been done. And even if there's, you know, letters from the medical association or things like that, those also offer insight into what issues we might want to focus on, so those documents are definitely being looked at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is speaking about individuals who are not on the floor of this House, not here to defend themselves, referencing that the hiring of deputy ministers and said we don't need deputy ministers; we need smart people. I think that's clearly out of line. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.