Richard Edjericon

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my beautiful darling wife Elina Edjericon and children for putting up with me while she takes care of the homestead. Also I wanted to recognize my constituents in Dettah, N'dilo, Lutselk'e, and Fort Resolution. Also I want to recognize my constituent assistant Taylor Pagotto and Warren Delorme for all their hard work. And I want to thank my colleagues and ledge staff and cooks and technical people. And finally, I want to recognize Maro Rose Sundberg, Jonas Lafferty, Dennis Drygeese, and the interpreters. Without you, this would never be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the visitor of Canadian Space Agency astronaut Colonel Jeremy Hansen to Yellowknife and celebrate both his work to advance Canada's contribution to space exploration and his dedication to inspiring our youth, our educators, and all, indeed, northerners who dream of technology, science, and innovation.

Colonel Hansen is a highly respected astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency, will make history as the first Canadian set to participate in a lunar mission. His role is the Artemis II mission which will take humans around the moon...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too do have a problem with the GNWT affirmative action policy. It was created back when we were part of Nunavut and at the time it was done in a way that it catered to everybody that's working here in the Northwest Territories - P1, P2, P3. But my concern, Mr. Speaker, is that when this announcement came out when Cabinet made a decision, I was surprised to hear it as well that decision came from Cabinet. I got calls from my leaders, my community members, and members from different ridings of the Northwest Territories expressing their concerns about how...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Canadian Space Agency astronaut Colonel Jeremy Hansen; Annie Belanger from Canadian Space Agency; Anne Burrow and Dave Sharpe from Bear Claw Strategy. Also, Ted Tsetta, the former chief of YKDFN; Liza Peiper-Charlo, band councillor from YKDFN. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will be voting against the budget today when I cast my vote. It's not against the working relationship we built in this Assembly or against our hardworking civil servants. It is for my constituents. They need a budget that truly supports them and a government that listens. The people of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh tell me -- people, every day, that the government is not working for them, and I agree. I cannot stand by while my communities lose their young people to addictions and mental illness and why elders are forced to leave their home community due to lack of...

Thank you. Does the committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just find it hard to believe that, you know, we're still trying to deal with the problems in our community with alcohol and drugs, etcetera, and but we still got policies we got to work around. I'm asking the Minister if he could have a heart and take a look at how we could deal with these issues in small communities, especially when we have addiction in our small communities and drugs. So I'm asking here today what can you do to help our small communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we say that youth are our future. It also takes a community to raise a child.

Mr. Speaker, my communities are looking to establish a youth advocacy position that is urgently, urgently needed, who can connect youth in my communities to the many diverse opportunities that may interest them for sports, culture, education, and counselling. They may require some work between departments but MACA can provide the best opportunities for laying the groundwork by funding these positions through the hamlet, the First Nation offices.

My question to the Minister of MACA...

The motion is in order. The motion is non-debatable. The motion's in order. The motion's not non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my communities of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh are facing challenges on the scale they never experienced before. These challenges include serious increase in criminal activity, drug use, and mental illness, which are affecting especially our youth. As important as it is to provide our youth easier access to addiction support and keep the streets safer through increased RCMP resources, I am afraid that these solutions are only addressing the symptoms and not the cause of the problem. What my communities need to prevent our youth from falling into the trap of addictions in the first place is a...