Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And just to get a bit of clarification, I believe the Minister said building standards framework. Is this going to be a Building Act, or are we talking about something different? Because I know the city of Yellowknife has been asking for a Building Act with accessibility standards built into it, so can the Minister provide some clarity on that. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. And this is, just to be clear, not a reduction in service, it's just the program needed a bit of extra money to bet launched?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Human Rights Commission recently presented its 20222023 Annual Report to the Standing Committee on Government Operations. In keeping with trends noted in previous reports, the commission noted that disabilities were the basis for 59 percent of complaints brought before them. The commission went on to highlight that there is a gap between the National Building Code standards for accessibility and an organization's responsibility to provide accessible spaces and accommodation under the NWT Human Rights Act.

In past responses to commission...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll leave with a comment, and that is just that, you know, I see the business plan as a live document. I know that there's going to be updates brought to it every year. And so I just hope that Cabinet and the Premier can kind of work with the Council of Leaders, identify some targets that we're going to work towards so we can be focused in implementation of our priorities. And I'll just keep hammering back on that focus item we if we're not focused, if we're trying to do everything, I think it's going to be much harder to achieve our goals. So that's my comments for now...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I do appreciate the Premier providing that clarity because I think it'll help the public kind of better understand what we're trying to achieve. And maybe if we just push a little bit, I mean, does the Premier kind of have any updates for committee on whether there's any indication that we will see a settled claim within the term of this Assembly? Are we moving forward, or are things currently stalled? I'm kind of curious to hear some more comment on that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, the Premier's right. I just realized that I am asking questions related to a page that's coming up so I'll keep those questions for that time. I don't have questions on this specific page. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your indulgence in allowing us an extra kind of to finish up our statements. I will try to be quick like I was yesterday.

So I left off on ITI and speaking to the economic vision. And just a few thoughts on that. I think I would like to see a timeline. I'd like to see that timeline be short and towards the beginning of this Assembly as opposed to toward the end. If we need to develop a vision, if we need to be implementing a vision, I want us to be implementing that vision, you know, today, and if not today, as quickly as possible, because I think if we're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I think that my last question I'd like to say let's imagine a scenario where a community comes to MACA this summer and says, we don't have the capacity to host other communities, but other communities' local EMOs are saying they're going to be evacuating to that community. So how is MACA going to manage that situation if a community is telling them we don't have the capacity to host?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm happy to hear that MACA is there to kind of help communities identified. But in the interim, we're in a situation where there is a bit of a gap. So, Mr. Speaker, how is MACA coordinating with communities for the current fire season and ensuring existing gaps, particularly related to hosting evacuees, are addressed in the shortterm while we work on these longer term solutions?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, MACA has recently released a new emergency plan, which seeks to better clarify roles and responsibilities for the GNWT, NGOs, and municipalities during emergencies and evacuations. I appreciate the department's work on this, and having read through the plan, I acknowledge that it is clear about roles and responsibilities; however, in terms of current reality, I think there is still a fair bit of work to do to figure out the fine details of how this plan will work on the ground, particularly in relation to local emergency management organizations. I also...