Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. That, on its face, seems like an easily solved problem, so part of me wants to simply give the easy "yes," but at this point, again, I am not sure if there are other pieces of legislation, either domestic to the Northwest Territories, that we would have to comply with. I do not know the degree to which there would have to be associated amendments and associated regulation changes, et cetera. I just do not know the extent to which this is a problem or why it's the problem that it is. What I can certainly commit to doing is finding out why, why it is that we have this...

Mr. Speaker, I can say certainly, in the last eight months or so, I have not travelled that road, but in my past life, for some 10 years, I used to be on that road quite regularly, attending court in Behchoko. I am well aware that there are some spots where there simply is no coverage, and it's a safety risk. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That certainly is a larger question around the structure and the function of the department. We are small fry in some of these respects and in some of the tasks that are being performed, in securities, for instance. That is not to say that we do not have some obligations, and some of those obligations are going to be legal obligations we have to maintain these registries and legal obligations that we have to perform the function of registering securities. I think there is always a desire for efficiencies in conversations being had. How far they are going, I am not sure...

We are all struggling right now in the North. Even Yellowknife speeds are slower than what would be ideal. It makes it difficult in the time of COVID to be doing our work, to be in school, to be self-isolating when necessary. I am certainly alive to the challenges. As far as what is happening now, Mr. Speaker, I know that Northwestel, as a private industry partner, has been active and does have applications in to the CRTC. It's perhaps not really my role to speak to what they have on the go, but I would certainly offer to work with them to perhaps provide a briefing to committee of what...

That particular project, I acknowledge, simply was not looking to divert itself toward Lutselk'e. It was a project that ran up the Mackenzie Valley, and that was the design and intent of the project, to run up the Mackenzie Valley. To my knowledge, to be very honest, there is no understanding that I have right now that Lutselk'e is easily added to that. That remains a challenge. It is one of our satellite communities, and I anticipate that the next likely scenario that will see significant improvement is with low-Earth-orbit satellite systems that are hopefully coming online in the next couple...

All of the eight satellite communities, eight communities that are on satellite services, they are sadly stuck at 5 megabytes per second, as I understand, which is a slow speed. It is far below the standard that the federal government is seeking to bring all of Canada up to. There is going to be some significant work there to do. Again, though, we aren't a service-providing business; we are a government. That does change our ability and limit our ability to act as a service provider. That said, the Government of the Northwest Territories is very keenly focused on the national target and very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Internet speeds in small communities right now are subject to a target that was set by the federal government of improving to a national rate of 50 and 10 or 50 megabytes per second. We certainly aren't there yet, but that is a federal commitment, and it is the role of the GNWT in this regard to act as an advocate and a supporter; an advocate with our federal partners and a supporter of our local service providers to ensure that they are taking steps to achieve that goal.

With respect to the federal government, Mr. Speaker, there are some important funding...

Mr. Speaker, this seems to be a whole-of-government response. I think, perhaps, it is appropriate that I turn it over to the Premier.

For reference, I am looking at the summary of operations expenditures page, which is in the main estimates binders, and that does have a breakdown by department and also by expenditure category, showing a grand total of expenditures of $1,895,865.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been on people's mental health. Today, I want to speak to the fact that it can take strength, courage, and sometimes both to seek help for illnesses that may not have obvious physical symptoms.

Eight years ago, when my daughter was born, I experienced postpartum depression. It has taken me years to even be able to say those words, postpartum depression, and it still makes me uncomfortable. At first, I insisted that my behaviour and feelings were from a lack of sleep, but as weeks turned into months, I slept less...