Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Well, Mr. Chair, I can definitely say that the staff that work on trade within ITI have had an incredibly busy year. We currently sit -- the Northwest Territories is currently the chair on the committee of internal trade, and we've already had three meetings this year at a federal, territorial, provincial level, which I know is a lot of time for staff but I will say huge props to those staff. They are absolute rock stars. They have supported me every step of the way. They have done incredible work not only on behalf of the Northwest Territories but on behalf of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the income security programs for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment underwent extensive review and changes in the 19th Assembly. We were able to implement those changes just last year, so they still have not undergone a full year in the new system. And so I think this is a time where we are certainly watching to see how those changes are being implemented so that we can establish if changes -- further changes are needed in the future. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, nothing is off the table with the review. We intend to do a very wholistic review of the program from start to finish and everything in between. The program, as it currently stands, does have both of those things, and so that will be a very natural input into the review. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would say that it could be different from different communities. But certainly, you would want to ensure that the community is aligned in that request and ultimately working together because then you have certainly a better product at the end of the day if you have community support for it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, for the facilities that are owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Department of Infrastructure does have an asset disposal policy. While it is imperative that we follow that policy, I also feel that it is imperative that we also speak with communities to find out what their intent is as well, to make sure that we have an open conversation about those assets. We have had outreach from some communities indicating what they would like to use their local community learning centre for, and so continuing those conversations is paramount.

An...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question. I'd like to start off by acknowledging that it has certainly been a very difficult time for the Sahtu with the cancellation of the barge season and the impacts of climate change on Sahtu communities.

The barge cancellation program was a one-time program that we launched in recognition of the very difficult season that the Sahtu endured and certainly we, you know, hoped that water will come back. We know that it's predicted to be another dry year, and so we continue to encourage people to get insurance, especially...

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Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we had some funding that was allocated to this work and, unfortunately, that funding has been sunset and so we no longer have that funding within the advancing the knowledge economy section. So those contributions were for planning, research, and public engagement on advancing the knowledge economy, enhancing business support services in NWT regions, and the development of regional economic development plans. And as we've already talked about as well today, those regional economic development plans are now available online. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. We have an excellent relationship with Tourism NWT who does wonderful work. We also have -- sorry, and I should toot their horn a little bit. They've done a tremendous amount of work promoting even on things like Good Morning America. And as soon as they have done that work, we've seen access to our tourism operators shoot through the roof and some of those people, of course, are using our parks. We also have a tremendous amount of marketing on social media. We also have information in visitors centres in other jurisdictions. And a great way to also promote it...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Certainly as previously committed to in this House, that is an aspect of the agreement that I'm currently looking into with the department. Thank you.