R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, I must begin by acknowledging the plane crash that occurred in Fort Smith on January 23rd. I send my deepest condolences to the families and friends who have been impacted by this tragedy, and to the entire community of Fort Smith. I visited Fort Smith shortly after the accident, and it was clear that the people we lost were loved deeply and will be sorrily missed. I hope the families are able to find some comfort in the outpouring of community support that I witnessed.

Mr. Speaker, I must commend and thank all of the first responders involved in the efforts that day, as well as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I said, this is work we need to do. So they are I think they're well suited. I think they're designed to get that information. The reviews are going to include feedback from NGOs, the NGOs that were participating in the evacuation that were assisting the vulnerable populations. So we need to know the issues that they ran into, and we need to figure out how the government can better assist them going forward. One of the biggest issues that I saw during the evacuations was communicating and planning. Often people didn't have a plan. There wasn't a plan in place...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to task the department with a bunch of work at this point. Once we get those priorities in, then we're going to have the opportunity to do that work and we will be looking at positions all across the North, funded positions, unfunded positions, vacant positions, filled positions. We really want a good overview of the positions that we have and how they're working and how they're supporting the regions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to take a moment to thank my constituents and the people of Hay River. You know, we've had a tough few years in Hay River. It's almost surreal when you think about what has happened. And, you know, even though I'm in a new role now, I want my constituents to know that I will continue to work to address the issues that we're facing now and to prepare so that we don't have to face those issues again in the future. So that work will continue, and that's my commitment, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank my family for the support they've given me. And I want to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department actually recently completed a review. I guess we completed it back in June. It came to this House. We came looking for more money. We found more money internally, and we really enhanced the SFA program. The Member speaks to completion rates of postsecondary students. So one of the things that we've done is we've removed the barriers to completing programs in terms of the financials. So sometimes residents, they might not do very well in a semester. We're not going to punish them for that. We're going to continue to fund them so that they can move forward...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member's pointed out that, you know, there is a gap between what the jobs that are going to be in demand that are needed and the education and skills of a number of our residents. And the fact is that has been the case for a long time. We bring a lot of people up from the south because there are a lot of jobs here already that our residents can't fulfill. So, really, this is the land of opportunity. You talk to people who come up here from the south, and they'll tell you oh, I can't believe, you know, the opportunities. If you want to work, if you want to work...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize some people I have in the gallery here who I've been working with at the Assembly for four years. My ministerial special advisor Rona Sherigan, my EAC Sheila Kotchille. They were a team that was already together when I became a Minister, and I was so happy that I was able to hire both of them. Working with them in the last Assembly, I knew that you know, I knew what a good team they made. I think all Ministers probably think this, but I'm sure we have the busiest office here in the Assembly of all the Ministers, and they manage to keep it organized...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is a mandate of this government to increase our education outcomes to the same level as the rest of Canada. And we've taken a number of steps to advance this goal. This month, we began trialing an adapted version sorry, Mr. Speaker, last month. This was written before the evacuations. Last month, we began trialing an adapted version of British Columbia's curriculum. It will be fully implemented in all our schools over the next five years. This partnership has been years in the making, and I am happy to see it come to fruition.

British Columbia is one of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will keep this brief. I think I am the last on the list, we have been going over three hours, so I will do my best to keep this tight.

I just want to say a few thank you's before we finally and mercifully put the 19th Assembly out of its misery. Better late than never, Mr. Speaker. And I am just joking. I think that today has shown that despite a lot of the issues that, maybe even the public have seen over the years with some of the, you know, way that we interact with each other that this group, while maybe not as cohesive as it could be, everyone is working towards...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so I don't have any specific programs for former students of Chief Jimmy Bruneau that I can point to. But there's definitely a recognition in the Northwest Territories of the effects of colonization and residential school and just the Western ideologies that underpin, you know, the Northwest Territories. And so everything that this government does or tries to do has a focus on reconciliation and supporting the residents who were impacted by things like residential school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.