Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Members' statements. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later today, residents of Hay River will gather, as they do every October 6th, to remember the life and honour the sacrifice of Constable Christopher Worden.
Sixteen years ago today, on October 6, 2007, at 5:03 a.m., Constable Chris Worden of the Hay River RCMP detachment responded to a call for service. In the tragic events that followed, Constable Worden lost his life in the line of duty. He was just 30 years old, with a wife and 8monthold daughter at home.
According to his wife, Constable Worden would often say that he loved being a Mountie, and there was nothing else he'd rather do. He was described as a sheepdog, fearless when it came to protecting those who could not protect themselves. Mr. Speaker, for his sacrifice he proved his commitment to protecting others and serving his community. His commitment, as he proved, was unwavering and unquestionable.
Constable Worden was posted to Hay River in 2005. He was very communityminded and quickly became a member of the community, not just somebody passing through town. The impact he made on the community in the two years he was in Hay River is undeniable. This is evidenced by that fact that 16 years later, dozens of residents still gather for an annual vigil.
This year, the vigil will commence at the community centre at 12:30 p.m. and make its way to the Hay River RCMP detachment where there will be a brief dedication of a new plaque. Unfortunately, the House is sitting today so myself and the MLA for Hay River South are unable to attend, but on behalf of both of us I want to extend our condolences to Constable Worden's family, his friends, the RCMP, and the community. We thank and honour Constable Worden for his sacrifice. It will never be forgotten. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River North. Our continued thoughts and prayers with the family and all RCMP throughout our territory for the work they do. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by the Member for Monfwi on September 27th, 2023, regarding fire management policies effect on Indigenous culture.
The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is in the process of gathering information from departments, community governments, and other jurisdictions on the actual costs to date. Anticipated projections of the evacuation and fire mitigation measures will be reported to the finance management board in the Standing Committee on Government Operations on a quarterly basis. Until this information is gathered, I cannot confidently provide an estimate at this time.
The cost of actions taken to protect communities and infrastructures during an emergency response is separate and distinct from the work that is done on a yearly basis to prevent and mitigate the risk of wildfires to protect communities or wildlife habitat from wildfires.
The Department of Environment and Climate Change, or ECC, works closely with communities on an ongoing basis to provide advice and recommendations on wildfire hazard assessments and risk mitigations, which can include firebreaks, FireSmarting, and other measures to help protect their communities from wildfires.
Officials from ECC recently worked with all 29 forested communities in the NWT to update their community wildfire protection plan and the department regularly provides advice on implementation of their plans, including local fuel breaks or firebreaks.
Fuel breaks are one of the many tools used in wildfire prevention, mitigation, and response. It is important to note that they are not intended to stop the direct spread of wildfire. Rather, fuel breaks are intended to slow fires and can also provide fire personnel a control line to safely initiate forms and then possibly to remove fuel between the community and the remaining fire, or the main fire.
It is also important to note that with many groups and organizations involved, this work needs to be planned and coordinated. Local emergency management and community protection is a responsibility of community governments and those costs should be included in the community budget. It is also important to engage with ECC to ensure that any fire prevention work is consistent with the community wild protection plan.
Community government funding is provided annually and may be used for fire protection. The NWT, under the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, supported by ECC, was successful in obtaining federal funding to create firebreaks in the NWT communities.
2023 was an unprecedented wildfire season in the NWT and many places across Canada. The NWT saw record temperatures, severe droughts, extreme wind events that resulted in extreme fire behaviour. This resulted in many aggressive fires that burnt deeper, hotter, faster than we have seen in the past and where we and were very challenged challenging to manage. I'm proud of all the dedicated experience and welltrained firefighters who worked so hard to protect our communities and critical infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I have some family in the gallery today. Renee O'Reilly, my wife Suzette; they've had to put up with my ravings over eight years. So thanks for being here today, I and couldn't have done it without you. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize my son, Jozef Semmler, my husband Jozef Carnogursky, my sister Krista Carnogursky, and my grandmother Esther Semmler in the gallery today. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Mr. Speaker, it's not too often I get visitors here but I'm so honoured to have my wife, my rock, in regards to what I've been able to do in this House. She's so steadfast. And I just love her to I love her to pieces. But welcome to the House. And to my CA Vince Teddy. It's been an honour and a privilege to work with him and been really blessed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize my beautiful wife Elina Edjericon. She's here today and I didn't know she was going to be here, so I just want to recognize her. And I want to say I love you, my wife. I'm also I want to recognize the former MLA Steve Norn, who is also here. Welcome. And your daughters, Cynea and Deliah. Also, I want to recognize former chief Eddie Sangris as well and his wife Beatrice and family. I want to say welcome. Also the newly elected chief for Lutselk'e is Chief James Marlowe. I want to say welcome, mahsi. And I also want to I see at the back Manuel and Marta Jorge. I want to say welcome. I want to recognize you. And everybody else in the gallery, mahsi for being here. And also, Mr. Speaker, I want to say thank you to all the translators for being here today and all the ledge staff. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've got the names of everyone up there, and I want to go through them one by one. No, seriously, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize my wife Bette and my daughter Kayln who are in the gallery today. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Many White who has been filling in as my ministerial special advisor for the last two weeks. I'd like to thank Shaleen Woodward, Martin Goldney, and James Tulley, for all the work they do to support the executive council. There are a lot of people here who support the executive council. Thank you for everything that you've done.
Kenzi, you're here today. Thank you for being a page; I really appreciate it. And I would also like to thank Craig Yeo, my constituency assistant through most of my time in the Legislative Assembly. He's done a wonderful job of helping constituents. And finally to my friend Kevin O'Reilly, who I've known since before I moved to Yellowknife because he was talking about mining reclamation in Labrador when I lived there. So Kevin, thank you for this journey that we've taken together.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize my ministerial advisor Robert Collinson. He stood beside me for the last four years. Quyananni. He's in the gallery wearing his vacation shirt. When I walked in the office this morning, I said where the heck do you think you're going? One more day. So thank you, Robert. I also would like to recognize Valerie Daniels who's my EA, and also Corrinne Sanderson. Thank you for being with me here today. She was my previous EA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, unlike the Member for Nunakput, there's quite a number of residents that actually, I think, are from Yellowknife South. I'm not going to recognize you all. I'm going to do one thing. I'm going to highlight that we have these nice little forms people can fill these forms out when they come and visit us here in the Legislative Assembly and they can tell you where they're from, which constituency they are. So if you are from Yellowknife South and you didn't fill it out, I'm sorry, I'm not going to get to you. But one person did. Mira Dunn filled out this little form this morning.
Mr. Speaker, I do have a few more though.
Mr. Speaker, also in the gallery, and maybe not quite residents but nearby and near to my heart, are a few folks who have helped me in my ministerial office this not just this year, these last four years. Kelly McLaughlin, Mr. Speaker, she was one of the first people that walked into this building with me and if she hadn't, I think I might have turned around and walked back out. Solidad, she's been my EAC for the first three years of my time and, again, really, if I hadn't had her keeping me organized, I'm not sure I would have made it. Since then, I've had Etenda Yakeleya join the office and, Mr. Speaker, it's a lot that comes through our office and very grateful to have her. And Drew Robertson took over as my ministerial special advisor. He is a resident of Yellowknife South so I can recognize him doubly. And, Mr. Speaker, the amount and volume that comes through my office, as all of our offices, honestly, I don't know how I would manage but for these folks.
One last one, Mr. Speaker. Sarah KalnayWatson, the MLA from north and south for Yellowknife share a constituency assistant. As a Minister, I really don't know how I'd do my job without her managing what happens at our constituency office. I am deeply grateful for her work for our constituents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to read out a whole bunch of names today. I want to start by recognizing the family of Edward Sangris that are here to acknowledge his services as a Yellowknife Dene chief for the past 16 years. I apologize if I say some of the names wrong. I'm going to try my hardest.
His son is here, Gordon Sangris. His daughterinlaw, Roseanne Sangris. His daughter, Vanessa Sangris. His soninlaw, Heston Cardinal. His grandchildren, Alicia, Sysa, Maddie, Daylina, and Gordon. I also see his wife in the gallery. Welcome. We also have his inlaws. Elaine BaillargeonBetsina, George Betsina, Randy Baillargeon, Cyna Dauherty, and Afrie Baillargeon. Thank you, Vanessa, for providing the names, and I apologize if I said some of them wrong. But thank you; it was an honour to work with your father and your relative.
I also want to recognize one of my favorite nephews in the whole world and a city of Yellowknife councillor, Mr. Garrett Cochrane. Thank you for being here on our last day; end of my political career, beginning of yours. Go boy.
One of my best friends is here in the gallery. Ms. Arlene Hache, who has been strong with me for many, many years and one of my strongest supporters. I am so looking forward to regaining our friendship, being able to go for coffee again. It's been a long time. My heart is with you.
My staff, Brenda Fowler. I ask for a bodyguard all the time since I've been here, and they never gave me one. The closest I could get was Brenda Fowler. She's my bodyguard, and she's the keeper of my calendar. Trust her with my heart. Alex Kincaid is our hockey STAR. She needed those skills to be able to keep up on the BFs coming through the Premier's office. Kenna Gosselin, our gogetter. She's going places. She's young and dynamic, and she will go far in the government. Keep her. Shaleen Woodward, my right hand. James Tolley, Shaleen's right hand. Mira Dunn, another treasured friend of mine, the daughter of Arlene Hache, the woman that I worked with for many years in the Yellowknife Women's Society, a woman that cares deeply about people and honoured to have been able to spend time with her. Going to go for coffee with you too after. And Miranda Bye. Is Miranda here? Miranda worked with me as a ministerial advisor in the Legislative Assembly. This woman is dynamic. She's an Indigenous woman from the Northwest Territories. She will do wonders for the Northwest Territories in whatever position she fulfills. So thank you for being here, Miranda.
Communication staff, many of them, and phenomenal people. They took a beating through this Assembly. Everybody kept saying more communications, more communications, more communications, working day and night. You look pretty good, though, actually, working for all that time. And, again, some of them I might say their names a little bit wrong but I'm going to try my hardest. Egatta Aggie, is he here for me. Gokenska I should have that down. We were on every night on the TV but I'm still pronouncing that wrong. Jackie McKinnon lent me her red shall. I'll never forget. Jack Miltenberger, a newer Member to the Assembly. Great addition to the team. Nicole Bonnell filled in for Andrew when Andrew left. I didn't think someone could fill his shoes, but you got big feet. You've done a good job. And Kenneth, who also works in communications. Again, a gogetter. Like I said, she started in our office, moved over to communications. She's going places. And Krysta Pidborchinski. I'm sorry if I said your name wrong. I try my hardest. But the communications team was so vital throughout this government. The staff was so vital. Those who have come, those who have left, sincerely owe you a huge debt of gratitude. Thank you for being you. Thank you for working with us. Thank you for serving the residents of the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it's such an emotional day. It's our last day. The four years we've made complete history in the Northwest Territories and within Canada. I don't want to make this a Member's statement, but I want to recognize Bernice Neyally is here, of Deline. You give me a lot of strength with you being here. And just knowing what you've been through in the last year. Thank you so much for being here as well. It means a lot.
I want to thank also my staff. My staff, my strength, my pillars, they've seen me through so much. They've supported me professionally, emotionally. They've been my cheerleaders. Thank you to Kevin Whitehead who had joined me about a year ago. Great skills. Somebody to strongly rely on. Larissa Stewart for getting me ready, getting me organized every day. But when I first started this position, I did have a different team. I don't know if Heather Neykako is in the audience and Jean Yuris. When I first had started the portfolio, the strength from these ladies, extraordinary. And to get me prepared every single day, reading 800 pages a night, getting briefed constantly, and all of a sudden my brain can't even fill that capacity but then you learn how to speed read. I remember the Premier telling me that's a skill you got to learn, learn that basically overnight with you just had to.
And also, I just wanted to acknowledge that as Minister I tried to make the position available to people in small communities. I tried to give them the experience because working in this Legislative Assembly, it's pretty much based on who you know to work in the Minister's seat. I want to thank Joelene Menacho of Tulita, and I want to Felicia Bavard of Norman Wells. Both came up from the Sahtu office to come and support and maintain my desk while my employees were off on leave.
And also, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Natasha Takazo who was my constituent assistant as well too, that has been supporting me for the past couple of years. We've seen a lot happen in the region. There has just been extraordinary events that have happened in this last four years. But, also, Mr. Speaker, I need to acknowledge my constituent assistants that had worked for me. Like I said, I tried to make the opportunity available for everybody to be included in this position. Erin Goose of Norman Wells, Donna Erutse of Fort Good Hope, Les Baton of Deline, Sandra T'selle of Fort Good Hope, and Carrie Campbell of Norman Wells. I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting me and making this position as strong as we're able to make it become. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Sahtu. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to acknowledge Chief Edward Sangris. He will always be the chief of the Yellowknives to me. I also sat with him on the Akaitcho Territory which was when he was grand chief. We had lots of discussions. And, you know, the way the government is today compared to when it was at that time and I never had a lot to do with Government of the Northwest Territories at that time. It was mostly federal. And but what we had to do with government at that time was not as nice as it is today, so. And I'd also want to thank his wife Beatrice. She prayed for me a lot and kept me going, and I'm great friends with that family and will remain friends always.
I also want to recognize Chief Marlowe who is also part of the Akaitcho Territory. I look forward to a signed agreement in the near future because that's their goal, and I wish them all well, but especially the Sangris family. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize all of the Yellowknife North constituents in the gallery. They are actually very well represented in both GNWT staff and the Assembly, so I won't name them all. And I'd also like to recognize Yellowknife North constituent Arlene Hache for all of her work. And Yellowknife South constituent Sarah KalnayWatson for being a great constituency assistant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize some people I have in the gallery here who I've been working with at the Assembly for four years. My ministerial special advisor Rona Sherigan, my EAC Sheila Kotchille. They were a team that was already together when I became a Minister, and I was so happy that I was able to hire both of them. Working with them in the last Assembly, I knew that you know, I knew what a good team they made. I think all Ministers probably think this, but I'm sure we have the busiest office here in the Assembly of all the Ministers, and they manage to keep it organized somehow with ECE, justice, and my Government House Leader role. It's a lot of paper, and they do an amazing job.
Speaking of Government House Leader, in that role I worked with Kelly McLaughlin, who was mentioned, and with Heather Rivere, and I can't say enough good things about them as well. This job is you know, there's a lot of work that goes into this but we we can't do it alone. And if you don't have good people around you, you're going to fail and, you know, that's not acceptable at this level. So I really appreciate what they've been doing. And someone who never gets acknowledged here as well, it's Andrew who works the mikes here. I don't think anyone's ever acknowledged him. But, somehow, he keeps up with everything we're saying, knows you know, and knows what to do. So I appreciate his work as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River North. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that Yellowknife North and Yellowknife South like to lay their claim to fame to Ms. Sarah KalnayWatson but she is, in fact, a Kam Lake resident. I've known Sarah since we were in grade 5 and her parents moved her from Ontario to Yellowknife, and I reaped the benefits of that.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to acknowledge in the gallery Taylor Maxwell. Taylor Maxwell, I've known since she was a preteen. She is our committee clerk intern, but we like to call her clerk of everything because we have a lot of expectation on our interns, and she has fulfilled all of them. So huge thank you to Taylor for that. I'd also like to acknowledge Larissa Stewart and Kevin Whitehead, also known as team housing. And we all know I've not been kind to housing over the course of this Assembly, so thank you to them.
I would also like to acknowledge in the gallery today, and welcome, Manuel and Marta Jorge who are here. They have been huge supporters, and they have been huge advocates as well for the business and manufacturing community. So thank you very much for being here today. And to my surprise, my husband Jeffrey Bowden has joined us in the gallery as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I will probably miss some Great Slave residents in all of this. I can't see much of the gallery, so I apologize in advance.
First, I'd like to start with recognizing my friend and constituent Garrett Cochrane who is a city councillor and a resident of Great Slave. I would also like to welcome Mr. Ollie Williams. I'm not quite sure if he's always my friend but, you know, I do appreciate the work that he does and the relationship that we've had over the last four years as well as recognizing the efforts of his team and the other media throughout the evacuation. So thank you for that, Ollie.
I've been lucky to work with people here. Many of my constituents actually work in this building as well. So I would like to recognize Nicole Bonnell and Jean Yuris as my constituents as well. I think Corrinne Sanderson is my constituent, but I don't want to put her on the spot if she's moved in with her partner yet. So I'll just recognize her and say welcome back. So thank you so much to everyone that's here and anybody that I've missed I can see Jozef there as well. So thanks to everybody, and it's just been a wonderful four years. I've had ups and downs, but oh, I would be remiss to not thank the translators. I am going to do my mushy one later as well, but I am the biggest probably transgressor of fast speaking and trying to cram it all in. So I want to thank them. I will say this very slowly. I appreciate everything that you've done for me over the last four years and getting my word out to the small communities. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today you heard me talk about my Minister's statement about the NWT Active Living Framework. Up in the gallery is Aaron Wells, the executive director for Aboriginal Sports Circle. Billy O, or Billy Othmer as people call him. I just call him Billy O, executive director for Sport North. NWT Parks Association, Tim Van Dam, interim executive director. I just found out that Sheena's out there so he’s covering for her. That's great. And the Mackenzie Recreation Association, Delanie Vale, program director. And I've known Delanie since about there, but we won't say anything about that. But I appreciate these four people. The work they're doing. I was a colleague with them and spent a lot of time asking them a whole bunch of hard questions and getting good answers. So I thank them for that.
For the team that I was able to get, when I first started, I was told to find somebody that you trust. So I become your Minister of special advisor and I got Jeff Raitte, and then my EAC is Krista Ingram. We were able to tap into her, very lucky. But also Mr. Michael Gibbons, our communications specialist. We got a little bit busy this last couple months, so I thank him for the work there. There's three other people I'd like to thank. Pierre Cochrane, former CA for Mr. Kieron Testart. But he's now a city councillor and all the best with that. Steve Norn, a former colleague here. And my own personal pilot, every time I seem to get on the First Air flight that I have, see Mr. Jeffrey Bowden there. So thank you very much for my personal pilot. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.
I'm feeling left out here, so I'll recognize a few people as well. I'd like to recognize Jozef Carnogursky. He also attended school with Diane and Lesa and myself. And to this day, him and Lesa are still together. But one thing I'd like to thank is all the staff. You know, there's a lot of them joining us here today and, you know, we've it's a hard job to make all of us look good here but you do a wonderful job. You know, a lot of people don't know what happens behind the scenes of what happens in the Chamber here, but the staff are such a big part of it. And, you know, when I first got in, I was told, don't recognize the staff but, you know, right down like, when I was a Regular Member, research played a big part because, you know, a lot of the things that are brought up as Regular Members, they do all the research. Like, if you use the what's offered, they bring up all the history. You know, that's such a big help for especially new Members. And I know it's really appreciated. And all the staff, our clerks, Ms. Wickens, Mr. Rutland, Mr. Ball, and everybody in the back, yes. And our new sergeantatarms, Mr. Powder, doing a great job. Keep it up. Keep everybody on their feet. And also our interpreters, you're doing a wonderful job. You know, it's a great honour to have you all with us here in the Chamber and carrying on our traditional languages. You know, a lot of people throughout the territory appreciate it. We all do as well. And all the supporters of the Members, you know, it really helps to have that support. I know we wouldn't be here without your support. I'd just like to thank you all once again, and I hope you're enjoying our proceedings.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. On that note, colleagues, we will take a short recess.
SHORT RECESS
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members of this Assembly have spoken at length on the importance of hiring Indigenous people. Will the Minister at ECC tell us how many ECC firefighters there are in total and how many are Indigenous? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. NWT fire crews type 1 firefighters, we had 34 crews, which is 12 person crews, for 136 extra firefighters, EFFs were 324, for a total of 460. So if you look at the breakdown of Indigenous populations of the BeauDel was 89 percent. Deh Cho was 100 percent. North Slave was 100 percent. Sahtu was 99 percent. And the South Slave was 97 percent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very impressive numbers, and it's good to hear.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard about the challenges of certifying type 1 firefighters who were the frontline firefighters during the summer. Will the Minister tell us how ECC utilized these firefighters who were trained but not certified? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we talk about certifications, it's type 1 firefighters. Those are the firefighters that we certify so that if we have to export them, then it's a standard thing across Canada. So we had, like I said, 136 that were certified that were able to then be exported. We didn't export too many firefighters this year because of the season. But the 324 other ones that were trained, they were EFF, so they're our type 3 firefighters. So they mop up things. You see them out there working just as hard as our type 1 firefighters. So that's where we did. So when people took the training, we still utilize them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, we have heard about retired ECC firefighters coming back to this fire season to help with firefighting efforts, which I know we all appreciate. Will the Minister describe how many retired firefighters returned and what their roles and responsibilities were? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, due to this fire season, we actually brought ten retirees back in. Seven of them were Indigenous people. So most of these people, actually of those ten, were incident commanders. So they were actually the ones that were working on the fires. They were the ones giving the direction, how they were going to fight the fires. So we were able to do that. But I had an opportunity to talk to one in Fort Smith and a couple in Yellowknife and as well as one in Hay River. And I talked to them about the work there. And they appreciated that, you know, that they were able to come in. They saw what the fire situation was going to be, where the weather was, so they came up and they volunteered their time.
I also have to recognize there was one Indigenous contractor who is doing work this summer, and he saw the fires and the impact on the roads. So he actually came to the office in Hay River and volunteered his time. So his business, actually, got put to the side and he started fighting fires as a crew chief. And so he was out there doing that work there. And I know we can't recognize people's names and that, but I have to say thank you to all 11 people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
