Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Can the Minister tell me if she's aware of, and what they are, the activities that her department is doing to celebrate Engineering Month this month given that all of the NWT or the GNWT's engineers typically reside in the Department of Infrastructure? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm doing a Minister's statement next week to acknowledge all the engineers so I'm very proud to be able to do that. In terms of what the department's doing, we've got a number of things happening I'd be quite happy to share with the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would appreciate that, but I'm disappointed the Minister can't tell the public right now what they are.
Another issue within engineering is that there are only about 13 percent of engineers in Canada who are women, and this is a very stagnant number. When we look at the Department of Infrastructure, it does counter a lot of the other GNWT departments in that it is not a department that has a lot women and particularly not a lot of women that are in technical roles.
Can the Minister speak to how the department is working to increase the diversity of the workforce, particularly around gender and nongender conforming people, in the department? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do recognize within the Department of Infrastructure that it is, you know, predominantly one gender positions and, you know, we are as a department looking out reaching out to try and get a more balanced equity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the events that NAPEG, which is the regulator here in the Northwest Territories for engineers and geoscientists, puts on during Engineering Month is the popsicle bridge building contest.
Will the Minister commit to taking part in the popsicle bridge building contest and constructing her own popsicle bridge for demolition during NAPEG's event week? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to have a chat with the Member just to understand what this popsicle event is because I'm off the top of my head, I'm not familiar with it. I'd like to understand a little more of it before I commit to doing this because yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, Mr. Speaker, I'd be happy to tell the Minister about what the popsicle bridge building contest is. So for years now the engineers have been sending out to all out of the communities, all the school groups, if they would like to participate a set and series of popsicle sticks and through that they have to construct a bridge. They are provided with the means to transport the bridges back to Yellowknife if they themselves cannot come to the event. I think Canadian North is usually a sponsor of that shipping. And then they bring them here and we use a machine and we crush them, and we see which bridge withstands the most pressure in the crushing. So this is a great way and a very easy way for children and youth of the Northwest Territories to be exposed to what engineering is and to really put their minds to how buildings and structures are constructed. So I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for the Minister to show her department that she is involved with this and is committed to it. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member's description of what this means. It sounds like fun. It sounds like something I should be a little more proactive in. You know, building bridges in the Northwest Territories falls within my department so I'd be quite happy to build with popsicle sticks. Perhaps when we get to actually building bridges, it's not with popsicle sticks. We'd rather do it with steel, which is going to cost money and so on, but I'd be quite happy to do this activity and, you know, invite anyone else who wants to build popsicle bridges with me, I'd be quite okay with it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
