Shane Thompson

It went all to the communities. Thank you. Based on our formula.

First of all, I disagree with the Member that the communities know what they want. Communities understand what their needs are. They make some choices. So we need to be very respectful of that. I have a problem when somebody says, well, we need to tell them what to do. No, we need to work with them, we need to educate them, we need to also make them understand what the challenges are out there. So we work with the municipalities. I know the Member represents Yellowknife North. I represent small communities and they tell me what they need, whether it's a pool, whether it's an arena, whether it...

Thank you. We may not agree with what the numbers are, but we are working with NWTHC. We've reached out. We're having conversations. And that's the extent of what I can tell you right now. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. From the Municipal and Community Affairs side, with the bylaws, we would be more than willing to come with the municipal governments to come up with the bylaws that they need to do that. If it's something to do with lands, more than willing to work with the municipal governments, the Tlicho government, moving forward.

Again, I appreciate the Member asking these questions. And she's been very true to her word. She's been asking the questions numerous times, and I appreciate that. And all we need to do is work together to help solve that issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that there is not a Municipal and Community Affairs issue. I think that's very much about wills, about working with the justice system. But if the Member is talking about land transfer and that, that there is very much about a municipal government.

It's been very confusing, and I thank the Member. She's hit me a few times with this question, and I greatly appreciate it. It's trying to understand how it works in the Tlicho government, but it is my understanding land belongs to -- or is looked after by the Tlicho government, whether it's Behchoko, Gameti...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we move forward and as we learn from our experiences with this COVID issue, the biggest thing is that in my communications with leadership and that is for their SAO to reach out to our superintendent. Reach out to them. We're willing to work if there's some challenges or concerns that community have, then we can work with them.

We are trying to help as best we can, getting clarity where we're doing things. But the biggest thing I have to say is get the leadership to get their SAO to reach out to our superintendent, because they can work together. They've...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. Before I answer the question, I'd like to thank the leadership from Tuk. I had numerous phone calls, as well as the Minister from Health and the Premier. They worked very hard. I know there was numerous phone calls. Also, I'd like to thank the SAO from the community and the regional superintendent for Municipal and Community Affairs.

In regards to the question that the Member asked, so in regards, the community received over -- well, received $213,506 through three payments as COVID started in the territories. So we were able to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've been working with the residents. Some people want their homes to be raised. We're able to do that. Some of them have actually looked at potentially moving to another location. And with the homes that we are replacing, we're making sure that we can lift them up and move them should they wish to move to another location in the town.

Very much the community wants to stay close to the river. We have some locations that we're working with them. But we've also made a commitment to work with them to come up with a plan, a community plan, based on their needs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to answer the last part of the question first, and then we'll go from there.

So when the flood hit, the leadership from the department and local governments from Hay River and Yellowknife provided bottled water to the community. So we were bringing in bottled water to help address that issue. Then as the ferry was kicked in in Fort Simpson and people were moved back into their homes, or they were still in their homes that weren't impacted by the floods, we were bringing the water from Fort Simpson, the water truck.

Now we continue to do that. In July and August...

Thank you. Thank you, and the Member for Thebacha kept on reminding me about land issues. I asked them the same questions so I appreciate the commitment by the Member. I love it, I think it's -- that's how we get things solved here.

I'm more than willing to work with the municipal governments. Our staff is more than willing to work with the Tlicho government. Again, though, I just want to make sure we know what we're looking at, what we need to do. So if the Tlicho governments can work -- reach out to us, work with their MLA, we're more than willing to sit down and have conversations how we can...