Vince McKay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have an issue with releasing any information on the work we've been doing. I think we've been pretty open and transparent right now with everything we've been doing, so I'm more than committed to work on a press release that we could use, both as the MLA for the Sahtu and the department, to share with the residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Declaring a local state of emergency or state of emergency doesn't guarantee us federal funding. My counterpart, Minister Sajjan, Minister of public safety, is not here. And I have spoken to him recently as yesterday in regards to the issue in Norman Wells. We have had discussions on this. Unfortunately, this type of emergency does not fall under the federal regulations or the federal disaster -- federal assistance arrangement. So we are continuing dialogue. And the Minister has committed to reaching out to his counterparts to see if there's any other solutions for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be more than happy to have that conversation with the Member to see what we can do. However, I think it's well aware with the Member, also my Cabinet counterparts, the work that's been going on. We've had a lot of federal engagement with the federal Ministers in regards to the situation in the Sahtu. I've received messages every day from the Member in regards to what's going on in the Sahtu. We are actioning it. I know my department's on it just about it every day at the capacity that we have. So I'm more than willing to discuss this with the Member and we could...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm more than happy to share any correspondence I've had with the Minister. I'm also willing to sit down with the Minister, give him a briefing on what discussions our department's had with the community, and also any of my federal counterparts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has received the local state of emergency that the town of Norman Wells has declared. To say that we have a documented support of that local state of emergency, we don't, but we are supporting -- as a government, we're doing everything we can to support the region. We have our staff on the ground working with the town of Norman Wells, regional superintendent. We have all our departments -- I can't speak for anybody else, but I will speak for myself to say that our staff have been very engaged in this in trying to help the situation there in Norman Wells...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to table the following three documents: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 33-20(1): Municipal Funding Gap; Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 33-20(1): Municipal Funding Gap; Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 35-20(1): Emergency Plan Support for Municipalities and Community Governments, and Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 38-20(1): Consideration for the Hamlet of Enterprise to Receive Top-Up Federal Funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So with that, like I said we distribute the funds to the communities. You know, they -- it's not for us to tell the communities how to run their programs and services within the municipalities. At the end of the day, it's up to the communities. We are supporting safer communities. The Department of Justice, I know has done numerous things by adding, like, more officers and also another program to support the fight against organized crime essentially. So the department of MACA does not have the funds available to add to the services of, you know, fighting the drug...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am unclear of the issue that he's speaking of, if he can clarify that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome back my friends and colleagues to the House. I look forward to this session and working with you all to continue moving the NWT forward.

This August marked one year without any evacuations for the community -- well, evacuations and emergencies for the community of Hay River. We are one year evacuation free. It's been a while since we could say that. Hay River, like no other community in the North, has experienced troubling events. But my community is resilient, and we will continue to move forward. We are still...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I don't disagree with the Member. You know, these are issues throughout all of the territories and all the communities. My home community is feeling the stress of illegal and drug activities. But the department of MACA, like I said, it's kind of out of our department so this may be -- I do support it. I am -- you know, my moral values tell me that these are things that we need to tackle and as a government it's something we said we're going to do. But it might be something for myself, the Member, and the Department of Justice to sit down and have discussions and...