Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, the Premier as Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment spoke about the government’s efforts to support the mining industry. My questions about that today: the federal government recently renewed its mining tax credit, but it remains consistent throughout the country. I’m wondering if the Premier has discussed creating a higher credit for the North out of that tax credit and working the federal government to further incentivize the mining industry by expanding that tax credit for the three northern jurisdictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, that’s correct. The mental health and addictions contribution in the amount of $450,000, and it’s described as “funding to support organizations in the delivery of mental health and additions programming.” I note that it is in the 201415 Actuals. It was $277,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Minister’s department is also responsible for a great deal of heritage funding and certainly LGBTQ history is a large part of our heritage going back to Bud Orange and the Klippert case. We have great festivals here, and this will be fifth year of Pride NWT, proving yet again that the LGBTQ community is very much integrated into our community. Can the Minister speak to if some of those resources can be made available and if they are currently being done so?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister. I am interested in kind of that deeper dig into seeing the… I didn’t hear a date on when we can expect the work to be completed. I know these things take time, but I can only assume that the department has a timeline it’s working on; it’s not just an infinite date. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. We must continue embracing our fellow Northerners for it is love that makes us stronger; it is love borne from our diversity and borne of our love of freedom. We must reflect our unique identify in our schools, in our communities, and in all aspects of public life. As leaders of this government what we can do is to celebrate our diversity and speak out against hate whenever we see it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Chair. The evaluation, can the Minister speak briefly about the evaluation criteria and whether or not we’re going to clients on their experiences with the program and the successes of the program directly and how they had an effect on clients’ lives in treating some of these issues? I appreciate that it’s a success in terms of rolling the funding out and getting the programs offered, but I’m looking to see if the department is taking a very critical eye to how effective these programs are and then can share those successes with our own Indigenous governments and governments...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note that under contributions we find the on-the-land healing fund. That’s at $1 million. I’m more familiar with the ontheland programs through the Department of Justice, but I know there are some difficulties with rolling those programs out. What is the department’s experience with the on-the-land healing fund? Is most of that money accessed and spent on these programs? How successful are those programs, based on feedback from clients? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note that our colleagues in Nunavut have taken some action on suicide prevention in their territory. I wonder: When is the last time the Department of Health and Social Services studied our suicide rates and the efficiency of our prevention programs and kind of drilled down into the information? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Earlier today, the federal government announced $70 million in new funding over three years to address the health and suicide crisis involving Indigenous people living on reserve and in the Territories. It does appear that most of these, the largest parts of this funding, are going to be addressed towards Nunavut. I’m wondering if the Minister has been in touch with Ottawa about this and if we know some of this money is going to be Northwest Territories to help with our mental health problem. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that there is no difference today regarding other funding, but if we wanted to make a policy change to Metis benefits now, could we do that theoretically on our own, or is it rigidly mirrored, or could we make those minor corrections? Say if a Metis client in the Northwest Territories had some trouble. Could the Minister, our Minister of Health make a policy change to that program, or does that not happen currently, if there was a gap in coverage? Thank you.