Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Bill 47: An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, No. 2, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on March 28th, 2021, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.

On May 10th, 2022, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and completed its clausebyclause review of the bill. The committee received no submissions on the bill.

And I'd like to thank committee for their efforts in reviewing this legislation. Individual Members may have additional...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 2nd, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that pursuant to section 91 of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, the Legislative Assembly recommends to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories the reappointment of Mr. David Phillip Jones as the Northwest Territories Integrity Commissioner, effective June 2nd, 2022.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it's worthwhile noting that there's definitely a sense of frustration in that a lot of us in this room came into this House with promises of pursuing procurement reform within the GNWT and a lot of changes that have whether they've come out of the review from this Assembly or a previous Assembly have not been implemented yet. So there's definite frustration out there. And I think if we fail to reform procurement for the GNWT, it's not going to be a success for any of us because I think that maintaining northern benefit is a common...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the review suggested incremental changes to GNWT procurement policy and processes. So I'm wondering while we don't have a work plan here today with a concrete date, I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what changes have taken place with procurement in the NWT thus far? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northern Manufactured Products Policy provides incentives to support production within the NWT of goods purchased. But if the NWT is not making the effort to buy the products that the other arm is incentivizing, then the policy falls flat. Instead of manufacturing, innovating, and growing, northern manufacturers are setting up shop inside government departments to get their attention or in their inboxes to work through the application process.

Here in the NWT, the territorial government remains the most significant economic driver. And this government...

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has the GNWT explored the projected costs of expanding fertility treatment supports to employees? And so the GNWT definitely has a very generous leave package for parents and for people who are going through any type of medical needs, but I'm wondering about the fertility treatment itself. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like Newfoundland, the NWT does not offer fertility treatment in its own jurisdictions, and the travel for this can be quite expensive, and I know that the Minister did reference working with a specialist, getting approval from a specialist and travelling south. But there seems to be a bit of some gray area between what some see as being a chronic illness and what some see as being an elective process. And so it means that not everything is covered and not everybody has access to medical travel. And so is the Government of the Northwest...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to apologize to the Minister because I'm going to ask a question that I did not provide in advance just in relation to what she said.

So the pieces of treatment that are covered, will medical travel pay for any medical travel associated to access those services because a lot of those services aren't available in the territory? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one in six Canadian couples experience infertility. The costs of fertility treatments are financially, emotionally, and physically exhausting. Most companies, policies, and initiatives focus on issues like duration of parental leave, post leave integration, and work life balance. While pregnancy and child birth are highly visible and often celebrated, fertility challenges tend to be invisible, silent, and devastating.

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