Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of Lands, and it's going to be changing a little bit from what I was looking at doing here. I am going to come back to what the Member for Deh Cho was talking, these positions. So we heard the other side say that we should maybe put the positions in Hay River. Hay River has six, just like Fort Smith, so can the Minister please look at doing this, instead of pitting two small communities against each other, take one position and put it in the Deh Cho? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that answer. So my next question is: how are Commissioner's land and territorial land fees determined/calculated?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been some confusion about Commissioner's lands and territorial lands in my riding and across the territory when you talk to people, and my questions will be to Minister of Lands. My first question is: what is the difference between Commissioner's lands and territorial land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that brief explanation. My next question, Mr. Speaker, is in regard to the residents who are part of the Dehcho First Nation process of the Acho Dene First Nation process. Does the department recognize this and honour it, and if they do, will they remove the threat of legal action until both are resolved? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that answer. Mr. Speaker, is the department looking at harmonizing the Commissioner's land and the territorial land together, and if so, when?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, this is the Minister who thought 10 per cent was reasonable when we were talking about leases. Now, we have it down to 5 per cent, which is a little bit more reasonable.

When we talk about the Deh Cho, Lands Department has Fort Providence and Kakisa being serviced out of, guess what, South Slave -- the Fort Smith office. Will the Minister look at this and quit worrying about the position in Fort Smith, but help the residents of the Northwest Territories, i.e., Fort Providence, and they're really close to Enterprise, and put the position where it needs to be, in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I spoke about some of the things that the community of Fort Simpson has done to address the tragedies that have occurred in the past year. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services to hopefully clear up some stuff. Can the Minister tell us what the department has been able to do in response to the number of tragedies in the Deh Cho region in 2017? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks, colleagues. As I said, LKFN will be operating a four-plex housing unit that will be housing four people who have been homeless for 180 days in the past year. The program is called Pathways to Housing, and it is a solid beginning to solve our homeless issue. The project will be fully under way by April 1st.

I would like to thank the various departments that help with these projects; Municipal and Community Affairs, Education, Culture and Employment, Health and Social Services, Housing, and Environment and Natural Resources. If I missed any other departments, I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I think it's a very positive step. How will the youth from the smaller communities be able to address their concerns? How are we going to be able to address that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that answer. In this House today and during the budget, we have heard about the Departments of Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment are partnered together to create this new position called Child and Youth Career Counselling. Where are these positions going to be located during the school year and non-school year?