Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I raise the issue of the Saskatchewan First Nations offered a program, and I guess I would say to the Minister that, you know, is something like this in general -- could this be worked into contribution agreements whereas in the GNWT works with the department of education through the Department of Finance under contribution agreements to find ways to bring NGOs supportive training up to a higher standard than what we're currently offering them, which is, you know, one-offs from time to time. So in other words -- allowing the Minister to get a second there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about training supports for shelter workers.

Mr. Speaker, finding ways to help de-escalate violence for shelter workers who work on the frontline is a goal of mine, and I'm sure it's supported by many of our colleagues here. We would like to see the de-escalation of violence long before it gets out of hand and the RCMP have to be called or anyone certainly gets hurt. And on that note, Mr. Speaker, from the RCMP they had mentioned that over 2,268 calls to shelters in Yellowknife over a period of two years, that's April 2022 to April 2024, of those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Sahtu, that Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, be read for a second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Student Financial Assistance Act in increasing the maximum amount of money that can be loaned to a person under the Act from $60,000 to $90,000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to save a lot of time by saying I agree with the amendment. So I'm not going to oppose it. It's not exactly the direction I was going, but it speaks to the exact intent of what I was going with, so I have no problem. I should point out there is no such thing as a friendly amendment. They are amendments, and I'm pleased to accept this one. So if you want to call that friendly, that's fine too. So no problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS local authorities are currently responsible for the development and implementation of their emergency plans;

AND WHEREAS the local emergency plan is the first line of defense to keep residents of the Northwest Territories safe and informed when responding to natural disasters or other similar emergencies;

AND WHEREAS Municipal and Community Affairs currently provides guidance to local authorities to create emergency plans but there is no requirement for the Minister to fund, draft, or assess these plans;

AND WHEREAS, the current form of community emergency plans...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to my colleagues for having this motion and on certainly supporting it to get it at least to this phase of the process. That said, Mr. Speaker, I've spoken at length about how important our RCMP are, and that's absolutely true, and I'll never change that, Mr. Speaker. At the same time, I'll also say that the RCMP, as they've acknowledged in this motion, and they've said themselves, you know, they're not social workers, and sometimes when the call comes in and they're the only one answering the phone, they cannot unanswer that phone. They can't let it ring...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a statement of consistency for Bill 8-20(1), An Act to Amend the Student SFA Act. And I'll just say the final statement notes it complies with section 35, which is very important. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement today talked about trying to find ways to help de-escalate violence in shelter and programs and opportunities that exist, and I even pointed at our First Nations -- Saskatchewan First Nations training program. Now, there's a lot of good in all of that, of course, but there's also opportunities. So my question will be directed to the Minister of Finance. And I'm going to give her a little second here or two.

The department, this section has the human resource department, and we do a lot of employee training currently right now. And so my question for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first off, I want to say thank you to the Member of Monfwi for sharing her concerns, being honest about her concerns in the sense of -- I respect that. And I don't have a problem that she has questions, by any means. And I think this is the debate I'm talking about when, you know, sometimes you find those arguments and challenges in debates, but I think the important thing here to focus in on is this: That could become some of the discussion during the review after second reading if it goes to committee and get some public feedback and maybe find out -- the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off, I'm going to thank and acknowledge the Minister from -- or sorry, the Member -- maybe one day -- but certainly the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh for seconding the motion. He raises some really good concerns, and I fully support the issues he brings, which is many of these small communities are so underresourced and they're piled on with more challenges, you know, they just have nowhere to go and they're challenged all the way around to find ways to move dollars around just to get the job done and, yet, here they are they're often struggling and one could say...