Thank you. The department does feel adequately resourced to do that work. Thank you.
Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I know we are all looking forward to seeing the UNDRIP action plan, implementation action plan later this year. Will the committee be briefed on this plan prior to the fall sitting? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Yes, if committee's willing to accept the briefing, we will be definitely be briefing committee before the fall. Thank you.
Member for Great Slave.
Well, I'm always personally excited for briefings but I can't speak for committee. So fair enough, I suppose.
And further in this area, I'm curious if the Minister could please provide a status update on the Intergovernmental Council Secretariat coordinating with the IGC governments to advance the seven-year review of the 2014 intergovernmental agreement on lands and resource management. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you. The group met in September, and there was agreement to proceed with that work. So the work is not proceeded -- is not yet started, but there's an agreement to proceed. Thank you.
Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that answer. I will admit my -- I am not as well versed in this area as the Minister. But is it planned that there would be work done on this file in this upcoming fiscal year and at what frequency throughout the Assembly? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
. Thank you. I'll ask the deputy minister to speak to that.
Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Our intention is to proceed with IGC direction on this. At this point, we'll be working through the secretariat to ensure that all parties are ready to proceed and are prepared. So we do have the intention, at least for our part, to advance this work during the life of this Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Great Slave.
Yeah, thank you for that, Madam Chair. And I recognize that the Minister is just one party at that table so I appreciate that he may not feel comfortable giving firm timelines or deadlines, but I am glad to hear that that work will continue in this Assembly. So nothing further. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, would you like to respond? Thank you.
I take the Member's comment. Thank you.
Thank you. Next, I have Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to quickly ask: I know we're maintaining a leased space in Ottawa for, you know, business that happens in Ottawa and intergovernmental affairs in that way. But can the Minister confirm whether we're -- we still have a staff person based in Ottawa that is managing that office? Like, do we still have an office manager or are we just leasing the space? My understanding is that we're trying to find creative ways to, like, share that leased space with other groups, like Indigenous governments who might want to use it from time to time. But do we still pay an office manager? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you. So that position has been eliminated for the future fiscal years. So there is not a solid plan on who is going to fill that role or how that's going to be filled. That's still in discussion. Perhaps the deputy minister can add some more detail to this issue. Thank you.
Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Premier mentioned, as EIA's contribution to fiscal sustainability, the position in the Ottawa office was eliminated. What we are exploring at this time is with our counterparts in other territories, looking at whether they would like to also utilize the Ottawa office, share the space, and use it for their engagements with the federal system as well. And, of course, we always maintain the office as available for NWT Indigenous governments should they be in Ottawa for meetings or negotiations or what have you. So it does provide an opportunity for us to support some of the partner governments. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That was what I was interested to know, but it's good to know that we have looked for efficiencies and we're also trying to work other territories as well as Indigenous governments to share that space. That's fine. Thank you.
Seeing no further questions,
please turn to page 144.
Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Indigenous and intergovernmental relations, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $7,714,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to Office of the Secretary to Cabinet on page 147, with information items on page 150. Are there any questions? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I want to preface this question that I'm very grateful to the Premier and his staff on the work that they have done in quick order on the Way Home comprehensive strategy on addressing homelessness. It's much appreciated, the work that they conducted with me last year specifically with my riding and the encampment, and I know that the Minister and his staff know we have a long way to go, and that's okay.
But I am interested specifically in that strategy and whether or not Members of this committee and AOC will be seeing further work in this space to outline targets, timelines, more details about the work that we are expecting this year and beyond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you. And I believe this would fall under the governance and service integration section, but I'm happy to speak to it here. We are presenting to standing committee on this in the coming weeks, I believe -- yes, next week. And so we should have some more information for committee there, but perhaps I can hand it to the deputy minister to expand on this. Thank you.
Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Premier mentioned, we have a briefing scheduled before Standing Committee on Government Operations on March 12th. That briefing is intended to focus on the structure of the department, that is the unit that's focused on the work associated with integrated service delivery and homelessness, as well as anti-poverty now. But we also are planning to advance a separate briefing that would focus entirely on providing a government-wide update on the homelessness strategy, updates on each action, what departments and agencies have been doing, and what we're looking forward to be doing in the future and hopefully getting committee's feedback and comments on that work at that time. So we're hoping to have that ready to advance to committee probably late March, early April, depending on timelines. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And my apologies for getting the activity incorrect. I just saw the office of the deputy, and I know the deputy is where the buck stops on the actioning of these items. So my apologies. I think that is all for this section for me. Thank you.
Seeing no further questions, I'll move to Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Office of the Secretary to Cabinet, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $1,730,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. There are additional information items on -- from pages 151 to 153. Are there any questions? Thank you, Members.
Please return now to the department summary found on page 119 and the revenue summary information item on page 120. Are there any questions? Seeing no further questions, committee, I will now call the department summary.
Executive and Indigenous Affairs, operations expenditure summary, total department, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $35,026,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister, and thanks to the witnesses for appearing before us. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the chamber.
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 275-20(1), Main Estimates 2025-2026. We will now consider the Department of Justice. Does the Minister of Justice wish to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, I do.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chamber.
Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.
Thank you. To my left is deputy minister of the Department of Justice, Charlene Doolittle. To my right is James Bancroft, director of corporate services.
The committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?
Agreed.
Committee, we will defer the departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary beginning with community justice starting on page 306 with information items on page 309. Are there any questions? Member for Range Lake.
