R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Sexual assault is underreported in the territory, and I'm sure really around the world. Many survivors don't feel that the justice system will help them, or there could be other reasons why they don't want to come forward to the police. As such, there are some jurisdictions that have a third-party reporting system whereby the victim can go to that third party and they will let the police know anonymously what happened. That person can then access the support services until such time as they are ready to report this. The GNWT has been looking into this. There were some...

Yes, I would.

The antidrug initiatives are across government. It's not just the Department of Justice, of course. There are things with the department of education, things that are taught in school. Health has proactive antidrug campaigns. In terms of the Department of Justice, we're part of the opioid task force along with the RCMP. We work closely to try to avoid, and we have been lucky so far, the type of opioid crisis that we have seen in the South. We are also partners in the GNWT's alcohol strategy. We have seen a lot of drug seizures over the last number of months. Every time you turn on the news, it...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to second this bill. There was a time in this Assembly when the idea of reducing taxes on small business couldn't even be discussed. Not this current Assembly, but the previous one I was in. We heard today that small businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic, disproportionately perhaps. This is a way that we can help support them. Revenues are important. Revenues in the GNWT, of course, are important. However, I've had small businesses say to me that, "If I could have a bit of a tax break, I would be able to hire that apprentice." We...

As I stated, we expect spring 2021 for the act to be brought in. We will need the regulations by then. As the Member knows, the Department of Justice is creating a policy for the prepublication of regulations, and these are the exact types of regulations that I imagine would be shared and open for input. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Legal Profession Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The working group was formed. There was Justice, MACA, LGANT, and the NWTAC. They met in April, but like many other things, the next meeting was delayed. We hope to have that meeting prior to Christmas. That is when the working group will be looking at what resources are required, what is a realistic timeline to make this happen. Then, we can have a plan going forward. I don't want to put this onto the municipalities when they are not ready. It would be a disaster. It wouldn't be good for anyone.

Absolutely. I will look into that. The last time that subsidy program was updated was 2018, and that was done in consultation with the ATOC Board. We heard people around the territory, and we tried to think about how we can take this pot of money that we have, that would only cover about a quarter of what we would need it to if we wanted to fund everyone. The decision was made to spread it out over the early years. That being said, I am aware that there is a desire to change that and possibly expand it, so I am more than happy to look into that and hopefully expand this program in the future...

Absolutely, I am willing to re-examine that. I have heard from a lot of journeypersons and a lot of business owners over the years, and it is difficult to find journeypersons and apprentices. When you have an apprentice, it's hard to find someone to apprentice them. We do have the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupational Certification Strategy, and part of that strategy is focused on improving access. I am not sure about some sort of distance model that may be done virtually. I don't know if that would fly because we do have to have a certain level of supervision, but there are other innovative...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wouldn't characterize what's been happening as a comprehensive review. That indicates that there are working groups and there's a lot going on. We are working through this pandemic, which is still ongoing. We haven't gone through an entire season yet. We haven't gone through an entire fiscal year. We haven't gone through an entire budgeting cycle, so there's still a lot to be learned. As we learn things, we're making note of them. Thank you, Madam Speaker.