R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide a personal explanation to clarify why I, as Attorney General, made the decision to intervene in the Supreme Court case relating to Bill C92, an Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, Metis children, youth and families.

Yesterday, it was stated in this House that the intervention was an indication that the GNWT reversed its support for the law passed by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation pursuant to this federal Act. This is not accurate. The very first sentence of the oral submission to the Supreme Court of Canada was, quote, "Let me begin by saying that the...

Thank you, and I will amend what I said. Those officers are dedicated to those communities, but they are not stationed in those communities. As the Member points out, they don't have detachments. Like I said, we've added a number of positions. We're always working with the RCMP to enhance their ability to do their job, and we will continue to do that. We are exploring options through the First Nation and Inuit Policing Program with the federal government. So we recognize these concerns, and we are looking at ways to address them. There's also, you know, other ways to address some of these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I've heard these concerns directly from the teachers. I met with the NWT Teachers Association a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago now, and, you know, they were expressed directly to me, so I have been asking conversations with the department who was very alive to this. You know, most of them are teachers themselves so they understand this. We have been working on the online courses, which teachers will be able to access at their leisure.

There are professional development days. ECE is providing facetoface seminars. So there's a number of ways that we are working with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think there might have been some miscommunication. There is no expectation that we need to fully transition to British Columbia's curriculum before the contract with Alberta Education ends. The contract ends in 20252026, marking the last year of diploma exams and the last year that students in grade 12 will use the Alberta curriculum. Implementation of the BC curriculum in all grades is anticipated for the 20272028 school year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, if the money is issued, that's one thing, but I can't control when it's processed through the banks. So if I could will it to happen, I would, but the Minister of Finance has also informed me that she has her staff looking into this to make sure it's not an issue on their end. So we're taking an allofgovernment approach to deal with this issue. Thank you.

That is for the law clerk, I believe the Member said?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The RCMP don't share those kinds of details about investigations, with myself even. So what I can do is I can try I will reach out again and see what type of information is out there. I will say that it's my understanding that the RCMP are in contact with the family and when there is anything to update to the family with, they do that. But I can get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. So that would be a question for the Minister of health. I don't have an answer. But I don't believe that is the case. And I don't believe that, you know receipts are submitted and then the GNWT reimburses, I don't believe that's the practice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I had the honour today of inducting a number of people and an organization into the Education Hall of Fame, and we have a number of individuals today who were part of that ceremony. So I'd like to begin by recognizing Kelsey Wrightson who is with the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning. Dechinta was inducted in the category of postsecondary education, and they received the Minister's choice award.

Charlene Liske from N'dilo. She was inducted in the community outreach category.

Lima Baroryee She was inducted in...

Yes, I would.