Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm certainly happy to take up a conversation with another colleague. I know that ENR does have a lot of programming in place to support traditional harvesters in the communities and around the Northwest Territories. And the Department of ITI, of course, is responsible for the NWT fur program. So we'll certainly take it away and see if there's more that can be done with our own fur program and of course to confirm with my colleague what better response we have to this. The opportunity to have homegrown and homesourced hides really is the ultimate solution, and of course...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it certainly is disheartening to think that after all that work, the hides would be sold at a deflated price. They are in high demand. I've certainly heard that is a barrier to some of our artisans as well.

At present, Mr. Speaker, in conjunction with my colleague from ECE, there is a review taking place, this fiscal into next, around all of the arts funding programs, certainly wanting to ensure that we are understanding where our money is going and understanding if there are gaps that we should be filling. Of course, alongside that there is the much bigger...

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to improving Indigenous representation in the public service, and ensuring Indigenous employees are genuinely included, celebrated, and given opportunities to succeed. We are committed to creating a public service that is welcoming, culturally competent, and free of discrimination; one that serves in a way that respects and includes the Indigenous peoples and communities of this territory.

Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department of Finance is launching the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework and Action...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: The GNWT's Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Action Plan; The GNWT's Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework; and, The Interim Public Accounts for the GNWT for the year ended March 31st, 2021. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a big question, and I'm trying to be brief, but it's an important one and I'm happy to have a chance to speak to it very, very briefly. But there needs to be a balance between being flexible and responsive and providing certainty to the business community. The business community needs to know what they're dealing with when they're making a bid. At the same time, things do change. COVID has showed us that things do change.

So it's certainly been my view in this role that we can have certainty and have clear processes, transparent processes, but also...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are two different things I'm being asked to commit to.

With respect to bringing things under one shop, that was one of the items that was recommended in the review. It is something I certainly have spoken about the importance of. But as to how that will unfold, I am still going to abide by the process that we are in the middle of, which includes a defined process of engagement with Indigenous governments. So I'm not going to make any formal commitments other than to refer back to things I've already said in that regard.

And as to the philosophy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this again is timely to have this conversation in the House. It's timely to have these questions. ECE and ITI, of course, have released the arts strategy not long ago and are indeed, as I mentioned, undertaking a review of all of the programs and the funding associated to it. So in the course of that, we can certainly commit to working together to look at whether or not there is funding that's available that's perhaps not being utilized, whether there are programs that could be better advertised to those who need it, or if in fact, there's a gap and that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm also well aware of the problem. It's certainly not new. It's been raised to our offices as well.

At present, Mr. Speaker, there are arts council grants through the Department of ECE that can be certainly directed to all artisans in the territory. The Department of ITI provides supports for hide camps, tanning camps through  generally through seed funding and funding that can go to the communities. So I anticipate that there could be more  that the Member's looking for something more, but there are some creative ways that we can support those  these...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the COVID money that was received from the federal government wasn't necessarily allocated for employees or staffing or specific to, you know, hazard pay or anything of the sort. There was a number of different very specific pots that we received funding under. I mean, this is what helped pay for our waste water sampling program. This is what helped pay for isolation centre costs. And we've certainly reported on those costs throughout the course of the pandemic. I will commit to getting another update to the House on where the costs have been incurred and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I sincerely hope that any public servant right now who is tired and exhausted and stressed is not going to stop taking the leave that they need to take. The fact that we're in a crisis right now in terms of the numbers of staffing at Stanton Hospital is not the fault of the staff and I do want them to continue to take their leave. They need to take their leave. The crisis we're in started long before this month and long before last month and, frankly, probably as a result of the fact that people are burnt out and they do need their time. So this is not the...