Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 80, Dental Hygienists Profession Statute Amendment Act, be read a second time.

Mr. Speaker, Bill 80 amends the Dental Auxiliaries Act and the Health and Social Services Professions Act to

Require the Minister to recommend to the Commissioner regulations under the Health and Social Services Professions Act on or before March 31st, 2024, to regulate the practice of dental hygienists;

Designate the profession of dental hygienists as a profession to which that act applies, effective April 1st, 2024;

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, anybody that was either present or listening to Committee of the Whole yesterday may have noticed that it was basically an extension of a Standing Committee on Social Development meeting here for most of the day. And two of the things that we covered in Committee of the Whole yesterday were reports that were done by the standing committee, but those reports could not have been in the way that they were done without the participation of the residents of the Northwest Territories. They really are the voices of the residents of the Northwest Territories. And...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last three and a half years, I have spoken about oral health on numerous occasions in this House. I have focused on the need of the GNWT to change and modernize the Dental Auxiliaries Act and the regulatory environment of dental hygienists to improve preventative oral health in small communities, and I have focused on the cost of the NWT's lack of equitable access to preventative oral health care. What I want to tell this House why it is important that I am moving forward with this bill.

We live in a unique part of the world with unique needs. In...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's pretty obvious that that first phone call that we received the very next morning after we were elected is a memorable one because it's definitely my first memory of talking to Tim. I had never met Tim before, and I had never spoken with Tim before. And I remember being so terrified on the phone that when I hung up, I realized I had absolutely no idea what he had just told me.

Mr. Speaker, Tim has a lot of passion for his role as Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, and that is very obvious. He has a lot of love for the Northwest Territories, and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services expand the eligibility for projects under the community suicide prevention fund to include sports, arts and recreational programming; culture, language and on the land programming; and informal elder/respected community memberyouth mentorships. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that Housing Northwest Territories develop a first right of refusal clause in leasing agreements to ensure family members of tenants receive the first opportunity to lease a public housing unit before the unit goes to market. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are in year two of the UN's decade of Indigenous languages. Here in the Northwest Territories, we have 11 official languages, nine of which are Indigenous languages. Half of our 6,800 Indigenous language speakers are over 50 years old and onefifth are over the age of 65.

Mr. Speaker, the UN considers all nine of our official languages endangered. During the standing committee's engagement on official languages, committee heard that young people are losing their traditional language and language teachers shared concern over students being able to maintain...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that Housing Northwest Territories establish a women's housing fund by the 20232024 fiscal year that provides sustainable multiyear funding to Indigenous governments and nonprofit organizations to purchase, operate, and manage housing for women and their children who are at risk of violence or have experienced violence. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I know that this is a very big topic that we have heard about throughout the life of this Assembly. I know that there were questions asked today by the Member for Yellowknife South on the floor of the House today and that in response to one of those questions we did hear that the Minister of Health and Social Services is working with Indigenous governments to find out what Indigenous governments would like to see. And so I really hope that within the response to this recommendation that we learn more about what is happening in those conversations, what...