Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are losing services in our communities and when we go to regional centres to access treatment, our residents are being turned away and denied access to care. What is being done to ensure there are no systemic barriers to accessing programs and services? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, what I would like to see in this is that more consultation with the Indigenous government as well. Not only with the public government but with the Indigenous government, especially those with the Aboriginal selfgovernment that they have in place. So I would like to see more of that in this because this is important, especially with to lands and resources. So I know that this is important for the people who settled their land claims already. And it's just that I would like to see this the codrafting be done with the Indigenous government, not just...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know I'm grateful, thankful that, you know, Indigenous government were involved in drafting this Bill 74 to its current form. And it's good to see two sides of government working together, the GNWT and the Indigenous government technical working group developing this draft.

I know this is very this is important for the Indigenous people, especially people living in the area that deals with the lands and resources. So I know that it's respecting the rights of the people living in the area, especially Tlicho and other Indigenous people in the NWT therefore...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's good to hear that. Good positive change.

Will the Minister commit to review the income support policy to reduce administrative burden for elders and people with disabilities? And then he touched base on some of them already too. So that's good.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge today our grand chief, our Tlicho Grand Chief Jackson Lafferty, to the House, to the Legislative Assembly. I would like to welcome him. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know, indeed, we do need expert, but what just happened in Northwest Territories, how can an expert let 4 million hectares of land burn? In the past, a lot of people have said, even the veteran firefighters have said the same thing, and elders have said, in the past government used to pick up all kinds of people on the street to fight fires, and it was those people, because of them, our community is still here. A lot of them, it happened all over. And that was the only jobs that a lot of our Indigenous people had at that time. It's not like before. We...

But I do have one more question, sorry about that.

Are ECE and Housing NWT working together to create a more holistic approach to income support and social housing programs? Is there anything being done between the two departments to make it easier for people to access services? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that a person with a disability may receive extra funding to pay for things related to the disability; however, I am concerned still around the reporting requirements oh, okay. I thought sorry about that. Those with disability. Is the government looking to make this less burdensome on residents? I know they ask for utility bills, rent, disability assessment form, disability benefit from the federal government, notice of assessment from previous tax year; how often is all of this required? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time I have spoken in this House about the administrative burden with income support program. The government creates such an onerous process for residents that it becomes challenging to access resources.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about people who are unable to work because of a disability.

Mr. Speaker, we have many people across the NWT that receive disability benefits but also access programs and services through income support. Mr. Speaker, there should be a more streamlined way for these individuals to access benefits...

Thank you. Okay, the Frank Channel bridge is beneficial for everybody for the Northwest Territories. It's a busy, busy bridge, and I'm very grateful for that because it's going to be providing employment for the people in the regions. It's you know, like, and from Yellowknife as well too. So there's going to be a lot of people benefitting from that so, and that is part of North Slave region. And we are part of North Slave. And so there's nothing actually in the budget for Tlicho region alone. If Tlicho region alone was identified, there would be nothing. And we even had in there where Gameti...