Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, just seems rather mysterious to me, but okay. I want to move on to the external advisory table that I think this is another place where I can raise that, or is there a different activity I'm supposed to raise it in?
Sorry, which?
Thanks, Madam Chair. So there's an external advisory table for NGOs that EIA had committed to establish, it seems like a long time ago. There was a public call for people to submit names. Where are we at with this, and is this the right activity to ask questions about that? Thanks, Madam Chair.
If it's not, I'm sure you'll have the answer. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It took me a while to figure out which committee as well. So yes, the NGO advisory committee, we did ask put an ad out, ask for people that were interested to sit on that committee. We got quite a few interested actually and so we've just picked the committee members. We tried to be as diverse as possible within that and representing all the regions as well, not just in from Yellowknife. And so we're just I believe this week/last week they've appointed. They're letting people know now. And they have one month to be able to do that work and then bring back recommendations to us on what we should be doing differently with the NGO sector. As soon as we find out more, so we will actually be willing to meet with committee as well and update committee. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. So can the Minister share the membership of this external or the NGO advisory group with Members even on a confidential basis if necessary, or announce it, even better? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I will have to check. I mean, that work has just been going on. So we'll check to see if they've all been notified first, which I know that they've been working on the last week so hopefully they've all been notified although sometimes people are hard to get. So I'm not too sure if it will be made public. I don't see a reason why. But the least I will commit to is that if there's any reason that I can't, then I will share the names of all members with MLAs in confidence, if there's any reason that I can't. But I don't see at this point why I can't. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I'm all for doing it publicly. Like, I would think that this is something you'd want to give yourselves some credit for, so. In any event, I think I heard the Premier say, though, that this group is only going to be around for a month? It seems like a pretty short timeframe to look at some of these issues and I would have thought that you might want to have some kind of group like this maybe on an ongoing basis, maybe they meet, you know, once or twice a year to bounce ideas off them. They might have some advice, suggestions, for how we improve our relationship and funding of NGOs. But did I hear that right, just one month to do some work? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, this group that we're bringing together now is a working group, Madam Chair. All of them should have experience within the fields, hopefully years of experience within the different fields. So we're really looking from them from an experience viewpoint of what do they need, what do we need to work on now. I agree with the Member that perhaps this should be something that's long term. I don't think that at this point I'm ready to commit to that. This is going to be a group that will receive an honorarium for their work done. I think that in general, Madam Chair, that the NGO sector has not been consulted appropriately within governments, this government, past governments. This government had COVID in fairness but past governments as well. So I think that the Member is right. We should be looking at some kind of a forum that we can actually have more engagement with the NGO sector. They're valuable, they provide incredible amount of work, and we do need to recognize them. But this work is to meet our commitments, our priority, and it's really structured workfocused and paid work. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess I'd like to get a commitment from the Premier then that the report recommendations, whatever, from this group are going to be made public and that there's going to be a response from the Cabinet to those recommendations that can also be made public. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. At this point, absolutely the report will be public unless there's things that are confidential under the Privacy Act that I have to redact, I think is the right term for that of course. But other than that, like, if there's names etcetera, those kind of things, but other than that the report should be public and the recommendations. I mean, what's the use of doing it if we don't have some kind of reply to the recommendations. So, yes, I will commit to that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks. That's all I have on this one. Thank you.
Are there any further questions under cabinet support? Seeing none. Please turn to page 124, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, cabinet support, operations expenditure summary, 20232024 Main Estimates, $2,290,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We'll now move to corporate communications, beginning on page 127 with information item on page 128. Questions under corporate communications? Seeing none, please turn to page 127, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, corporate communication, operations expenditure summary, 20232024 Main Estimates, $1,512,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Directorate, beginning on page 130 with information items on page 131 to 133. Are there any questions under the directorate? Seeing none oh, Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I think this is the part of the budget where the government service officers are found, is that correct?
Thanks, Madam Chair. Are we adding any to the network in this budget? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. No, not at this time we're not adding any. I haven't received any requests on over to do that as well. I do know that, Madam Chair, that they would like a one stop kind of in Yellowknife but these really are for people in the communities so that they can access. A lot of it is actually translation services, elders, etcetera, to access programs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Well, the Premier jumped ahead a few of my questions there. But let's start with which communities don't have GSOs right now so that they can know that the Premier's ready to fund them when they submit a request. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I can't rattle off which ones I don't but I can rattle which ones I do based on the sheet. So we have them in Lutselk'e, Behchoko, Gameti, Whati, Wekweeti, Fort Resolution, Hay River Reserve, Fort Liard, Fort Providence, Nahanni Butte, Jean Marie River, Sambaa K'e, Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Tulita, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, and Tsiigehtchic. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that's it.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks. Well, I want to thank the Premier for rhyming those off all so quickly. But let's just this is a free advertisement so if your community was not named, you want a GSO, the Premier's happy to entertain the proposal. So, there. So I do want to talk about the GSO function or that sort of service in the context of the regional centres and even in Yellowknife. We actually do have that in Yellowknife for the Francophone community and, as I understand it, it's actually quite well used and provides good service. So, you know, we talked in the past about is there an opportunity to partner with the federal government as we do in some of the smaller communities as well with Service Canada, then these people doing some Service Canada work as well. There's a Service Canada office in Yellowknife and, you know, is there any further thoughts about trying to work with the federal government so that there can be a combined storefront single service window so to speak for the federal territory government in a place like Yellowknife? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that really the whole purpose of the GSOs, government service officers, was to be able to provide services in small communities. It wasn't seen as a regional or a headquarters initiative. I note that there may be some appetite for it. I'm not against it either. But at this stage and honesty, Madam Chair, we're at the end of the government. We got, like, huge things we're trying to get finished within EIA. We've got, like, not only the priorities, the mandates, etcetera. We've got, like, things going on geopolitically that we're also watching for. We just went through COVID, etcetera. So I would say within the term of this government, it is not something that I'm looking at taking on at this point. It might be something the Member wants to brings forward in the next Assembly again. Those things take time to do. And my focus right now is getting done what we've already got on our plate. Now, if the opportunity slipped by me and there was conversation, I would take the opportunity, but at this point it's not something I'm going to focus a lot of time on. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, the Premier knows I'm pretty persistent because I've been raising this now, I think, for about seven years. So maybe it needs to go on a transition report or something for the next Assembly to deal with. I think that's all I've got on this one. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. All right, so are there any further questions under the directorate? Seeing none, please turn to page 130, Executive And Indigenous Affairs, directorate, operations expenditure summary, 20232024 Main Estimates, $6,501,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Executive Council offices, beginning on page 135 with information items on page 136. Questions? There are no questions, please turn to page 135.
Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Executive Council offices, operations expenditure summary, 20232024 Main Estimates, $4,176,000, does committee oh, Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. You're just speeding through all this stuff so I commend you for that. But I think this is the section of the EIA budget, if I've got it correctly, where negotiations funding is found. And I'm just wondering what is happening with negotiations. You know, in the last Assembly, the Premier when he was a candidate for Premier, he promised to have all the negotiations completed at the end of four years oh, I'm in the wrong section. There's one more. I'll wait, Madam Chair.
All right. So please turn to page 135, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Executive Council offices, operations expenditure summary, 20232024 Main Estimates, $4,176,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Indigenous and intergovernmental affairs, beginning on page 138 with information items on pages 139 and 140. Member for Frame Lake.
Wow, thanks, Madam Chair. I think I'm on the right one now. So I mentioned, in the last Assembly there was a promise to get all the negotiations done by the end of the fouryear life of the Assembly. And the only thing that happened was an agreementinprinciple on selfgovernment for Norman Wells Metis. And so where are we at with negotiations? Look, I fully recognize that COVID was not helpful in terms of meeting and working together and so on. And I'm not asking the Premier to divulge I hope anything that's confidential, but I think there was a mandate commitment to get two agreements. Are we anywhere near that? You know, we got less what, six months, eight months left; are we going to get two agreements? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Actually, yes, so I'm going to try to do this politically correct because negotiations are confidential so you can't really share the process where they are. However, what I can say is that I'm just going to be bringing an information item to Cabinet within the next day or two, and then I'll be providing a confidential briefing, if AOC wants, to the Members to actually tell them where they are. What I will say, Madam Chair, is we're really close and we're a lot farther along than I thought we'd be. And if things aren't done in this government, it'll be really early in the next government. But that's all I'm going to say at this point without going further into that. But I am willing to brief committee at any time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
