Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about the importance of engaging young people in future decisions and current decisions, as well. So I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Youth how this government goes about engaging youth in the Northwest Territories when they are making decisions around government spending, legislation, and other major policy decisions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Youth.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it's a responsibility for all forms of government, whether it's the GNWT or even our Indigenous governments that we partner with, to ensure that the youth have a voice. I am a strong supporter of this.
In fact, in our last government, the Member and Members would be glad to hear that, when we were developing our Safe and Caring School legislation in the Northwest Territories, we did engage with youth across the Northwest Territories. We had facetoface meetings with them in their schools and in their classrooms and got feedback on that legislation. It was great to have that interaction.
I know this Legislative Assembly, as well, does some really great programs. We do, on an annual basis, have Youth Parliament, where every one of our communities is represented, every one of our constituents is represented by a youth, as well as the Mace Tour, going out and letting youth across the Northwest Territories know how the Legislative Assembly operates, what our jobs are as decision makers, as the Member referred to it in his Member statement, and how to create legislation and bring up concerns from our communities.
I encourage all Members of the Legislative Assembly to engage your youth on decisions that are being made here, in the House, any legislations that will be coming before this House, as well as any other policies or strategies that are going to affect them and affect them into the future. I think every Member in this Legislative Assembly has that responsibility to take.
I appreciate the Minister's answer, in particular around the Safe Schools bill. That's exactly what I am talking about. I think it's great to get information out to young people and to students in particular about how government works, about how bills are shaped and what they're going to do to our environment, to our economy. That's really what I am talking about.
So one thing that they've done at different levels of government is establish youth councils that can provide a standing body of advice for government. Is that something the Minister would consider?
I do know that we do have youth participate at the national level, also bring concerns forward at the territorial level. In a lot of our schools, they have school councils as well. I know there are some of our Aboriginal groups who have youth that sit on national and international councils that bring concerns forward to the national and international level from their respective regions, even the territory, itself. That is something that we'd be willing to take a look into.
As I said, it is something that is important. I have known some 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds who have run for seats in this House, and I think that's something that we can definitely look at.
That is great news. Is the Minister in a position to commit to returning back to the House with an update on this work on looking into establishing a youth council? Can we get a commitment that he will bring this back to the House after he has done his work to look at this project?
I do believe it is very important that our next-generation youth who are coming up and going to be our leaders in the future do have that input and also bring some of the concerns forward.
I know that a couple of governments back, it might have been the 15th Assembly, they did have a youth symposium that brought youth from right across the Northwest Territories. That brought some recommendations to the government, and the government did act on those recommendations. I do believe that is important. Once we have those discussions, I will be bringing that information back to Members.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a vast territory and a geographically dispersed population, so bringing together all youthful voices into a youth council like this, I think, really speaks well to public policy objectives.
In addition to reporting back to the House, can the Minister commit to reaching out to schools, to Indigenous groups, and to young people in the general call for their thoughts and input into the development of a youth council so that we can get a sense of what it looks like from their perspective and what they want this council to do for this government? Thank you.
I am not sure if the Member knows, but, in previous governments, I have done a lot of work with youth in every position that I have had. We have a lot of smart youth out there and strong voices that represent their cultures, their languages, represent their people, and I am more than happy to reach out to the schools as well as some of the Indigenous governments that allow youth to participate in their daytoday business. We will be reaching out and finding ways to connect with our youth and getting their input in terms of looking at the possible development of a youth council for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
