Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that Clause 13 of Bill 68 be amended by deleting proposed subclause 19.2(2) and substituting the following:
(2) An operator shall not
Retaliate against a complainant under section 19.1; or
Disclose the identity of a complainant under section 19.1 except as is reasonably required to respond to the complaint.
And, Madam Chair, I request a recorded vote.
Question has been called. All those in oh sorry, no, you didn't request a recorded vote. So all those in favour
Okay, so what we are voting on right now is the amendment that Minister of ECE has made to the motion that Member for Kam Lake put forward. So we're voting on the amendment, okay. So all those in favour of the amendment to the motion? Thank you. All those opposed to the amendment of the motion. All those abstaining?
All right, so the motion is defeated. The motion has been defeated.
Defeated
Members, we will now consider the Member for Kam Lake's motion. To the motion.
Committee, as chair, in case of a tie, I cast the deciding vote. By convention, I vote in a way that allows further debate. So in this case, I vote to defeat the motion to amend the motion as the amendment could be brought forward in further debate in third reading.
All right, so now we will go back to the original motion. To the motion? And this is the motion that was put forward by Member for Kam Lake. To the motion?
The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Nunakput. The Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. The Member for Monfwi. The Member for Great Slave. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Thebacha.
All those opposed, please stand.
The Member for Nahendeh. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Sahtu. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Hay River North.
All those abstaining, please stand.
The Member for Yellowknife North. The Member for Hay River South.
The results of the recorded vote are: seven in favour, seven opposed, and two abstentions.
Committee, as chair, in case of a tie I cast the deciding vote and by convention, I vote in a way that allows for further debate. In this case, I vote to defeat the motion to amend as this amendment could be brought forward for further debate in third reading. Thank you, Members.
Clause 13, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 14, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 15, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 16, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 17, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, to the bill as a whole, does committee agree that Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Day Care Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that this concludes consideration of Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Day Care Act?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister, and thank you to the witnesses. Sergeantatarms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
We will now consider Tabled Document 69419(2), Northwest Territories Coroner Service 20212022 Early Release of Suicide Data. I will now open the floor for comments. MLA for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, after the coroner's report was publicly released in September and then was tabled here in the House, committee wanted to immediately move it into Committee of the Whole to have the opportunity to discuss it at a later date if needed because committee wanted to be able to give attention to this very, very serious concern. The coroner themselves were quoted in local media as releasing this report for the purpose of drawing attention to it and to the increase in suicide in the Northwest Territories so that the government would have the opportunity to make immediate action. And the Standing Committee on Social Development wanted the opportunity to advocate for that same action to the Government of the Northwest Territories. So that was the purpose of moving this into Committee of the Whole. Since then in at the earliest possible time, in the fall sitting, the Standing Committee on Social Development tabled a suicide prevention motion. The response to that motion was received into the House during this sitting, and then this week the Standing Committee on Social Development continued that conversation by tabling a suicide prevention report, which we will also have the opportunity to speak to in Committee of the Whole this week as well.
What I wanted to point out here, Madam Chair, is that the coroner's report has some information that committee or sorry, the coroner's report could have some information that committee feels would be helpful in further and future reporting of suicide in the territories so that the GNWT can be a lot more targeted and strategic in suicide prevention going forward.
The coroner's report currently doesn't have any information on race or ethnicity or on regional distinction of suicide either. The information that committee has on who is being harmed by suicide in the territory was just from who we know in the territory as MLAs because the territory is a very small territory and we are all connected at the end of the day.
And so I'll leave this at that, and we'll have the opportunity as committee to further discuss the work of committee when we discuss the suicide prevention report that committee tabled. But I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the coroner for publishing their interim report and for pointing out and raising the alarm bells as far as suicide in the territory.
I think it's worth pointing out and giving credit to the coroner where credit is due, that until this interim report from the coroner was released, it was never validated that there was a mental health crisis in the Northwest Territories. And following the release of the coroner's report, the government validated what it had been hearing from members of the public, that there was a mental health there was and is a mental health crisis in the Northwest Territories. So thank you to the coroner for that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further comments? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And to follow up further on what my colleague said I also do want to thank the coroner for raising this alarm. However, it speaks volumes to me that it took getting this report out early for the government to pay any attention to the fact that we were in a mental health crisis and continue to be so and had been for quite a while I think before the end of 2022.
We wrote to the Minister, we had made people aware, we raised the issue at early as 2020 that there were increasing numbers of people that were having suicidal ideation, that people who had not previously shown to have mental health issues were now identifying themselves as needing help and finding very much that the help was lacking. To me, there's nothing more appalling and shameful as a government that when somebody is asking for help, whether it be in our addictions and our suicide rates, in anything, that they don't get the help that they need. And I can't tell you the number of stories that I hear of people showing up at the hospital under some sort of emergency situation from a mental health perspective and being turned away. In fact, the government has flown people to Yellowknife to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and then just release them with nothing and sent them back home to their home community. To me, again, very appalling. I think that this government and the lack of response from the Department of Health and Social Services to the increasing alarms of the mental health problems as early as 2020, that a lot of this is on them and that they are responsible for what has happened here. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Chair. No, I just want to also thank the coroner for bringing this report forward. And I really we've been hit hard in my communities that I represent with suicide, and it's still a lot of attempts are going on and any help that we could get from our government which we were really lucky that we worked with our Minister to get that done. I still thank her for today in regards to that, for all the help that she's done for my riding when this was happening. And I know my leadership all back home are thankful for that too. This is a really touchy subject, you know, since COVID COVID was with us two years ago, and the effects it has on our people in regards to, you know, the stresses of, you know, a place to live, for food, everything. It all has a rippling effect of what's happening with our the people that we work for, who we represent.
I lost a lot of good young people in my riding, and it's really tough for me to sit here and to talk about it because, you know, you just want to keep moving forward and helping everybody else around you. But I know the intention of the government is trying to work with us to get this done. But, again, we have to put the people first in stuff like this. And to be able to have the assistance and the funding to support our communities of getting making sure that we have people that when something like this happens like they did back home with having people that they could talk to and listen to listen to them in regards to the grief that they're going through, because it's not only when the person does that, it's the whole family and the community that hurt and we just keep lifting up each other to try to work together to you know, to help the family in their time of need. And I know that on both side of the House, I know it's sensitive and all Members are we're not all of us dealt with this, one or two in our riding. You know, I dealt with six and that's really tough. But I want to like I said, I want to commend my Minister for all the help that she's done in my time of need in my community and my riding of Tuk and Nunakput as a whole. And, you know, we just got to work together. This is too sensitive to be playing politics with it. And but I really want to thank the person that brought this forward and bring it to our attention. And any time that we dealt with it in the House and any time that I called my Minister, she's always been there for us. And, again, thank you for that, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Any further comments? Committee, do you agree that you've concluded consideration of Tabled Document 69419(2), Northwest Territories Coroner Service 20212022 Early Release of Suicide Data?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Committee, we've agreed to consider Committee Report 5019(2), Strengthening Community Supports, Lifting Youth Voices: Recommendations on Suicide Prevention. I will go to the chair of Standing Committee on Social Development for any opening comments. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the committee's report was read into the record on March 27, 2023. In October 2022, the Office of the Chief Coroner released the 20212022 early release of suicide data to raise alarms on the upsurge of deaths to suicide in the Northwest Territories. According to the Office of the Chief Coroner, the majority of those impacted were males between the age of 20 and 29 in the Beaufort Delta and North Slave regions of the NWT.
In response to the loss of life among youth to suicide, the committee prioritized speaking to youth on the topic of suicide prevention efforts and advocating for accessible resources and supports.
I would like to thank the youth who shared recommendations and also their lived experiences courageously with the committee. From you, we learn and we take your lead.
In this report, Members will see that youth were clear in their responses. Youth know what they want. It is up to this Assembly to hold the government to account to provide what youth need for suicide prevention strategies.
The recommendations in this report are in direct response to what committee heard from the youth of the Northwest Territories. Madam Chair, youth need action taken now, not tomorrow, and not in 120 days.
Madam Chair, I'd also like to thank committee. Committee members all live in the Northwest Territories, and every single one of us are either directly or indirectly impacted by suicide in the Northwest Territories. And this was incredibly heavy work that committee waded into. But committee also made commitments to the people that they serve to step in to heavy work without delay on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories. So with that, I would also like to thank staff.
We have Indigenous staff who work with us at the Legislative Assembly as well who agree up in small communities outside of Yellowknife, in some cases know some of the people that we were speaking to when we were speaking to people who lost their life to suicide last year. And so this was very heavy and very difficult work that the staff followed us into wholeheartedly and participated in. So I also want to thank staff who partook in this. So thank you. Thank you, both.
Madam Chair, individual committee members might have comments at this time. Thank you.
Thank you. Now I'll open the floor to general comments on Committee Report 5019(2). Do any Members have general comments? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I too just wanted to thank to take a moment to specifically thank or staff and anybody that did contribute to this report and the work that we've done. It was very weighty work and very heavy work at times and not only I think for us listening but for people who have to actually come in and share trauma. And it's known that people having to relive and over and over telling their stories that that in itself at times can be very traumatizing. So I do really want to thank the staff particularly because I think there was a real sorry, I'm a bit out of breath, Madam Chair. A little bit there was a real insight and wisdom I thought that was provided to us that to help us do this job in a much better and respectful manner. And I don't know that I would have had the insight or some of the thoughts necessarily to have carried it out in the manner that was suggested to us. And I just can't say thank you enough for that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further general comments? Seeing no further comments. Member for Kam Lake.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from Hay River North, that Bill 60, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.
The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Sahtu. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Yellowknife North. The Member for Nahendeh.
All those opposed, please rise.
The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Nunakput. The Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. The Member for Monfwi. The Member for Great Slave.
All those abstaining, please rise.
The result of the recorded vote: Nine in favour, eight opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried. Bill 60 has had third reading.
Carried
Third reading of bills. Minister responsible for MACA.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, second by the Honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 66, An Act to Amend the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member for Nahendeh. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Sahtu. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Nunakput. The Member for Yellowknife North. The Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. The Member for Monfwi.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise.
The result of the recorded vote: 16 in favour, zero opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried. Bill 66 has had third reading.
Carried
Third reading of bills. Minister responsible for MACA.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, second by the Honourable Member from Yellowknife South, that Bill 67, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member for Nahendeh. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Sahtu. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Nunakput. The Member for Yellowknife North. The Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. The Member for Monfwi.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise.
The result of the recorded vote: 16 in favour, zero opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried. Bill 67 has had third reading.
Carried
Third reading of bills. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, I move, second by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 73, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 4, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
