Shane Thompson

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I can tell you the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is not doing lip service. We have youth contributions. We have youth core. We have youth centre initiatives. We also have children and youth resilience program. Youth the regional sports programs. And, you know, the NWT Youth Ambassadors. And we're also working on developing a youth strategy. So we are actually taking it to committee of Cabinet within the next month. Then we're going to bring it to committee to have that conversation. It's part of the youth our youth strategy, but it's...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Arctic Winter Games trials are for the Arctic Winter Games. It's like Team NWT. However, what the Member is asking is there's opportunity to piggyback on other regional events, other regional opportunities, then that is something that the regions and the communities work together on. So the money is for the communities to decide how they want to do it. We as the government and we as the department don't tell them well, you got to do hockey, you got to do this. Again, the recreation association, the communities work together, come up with a plan to...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, Grace Leona Berreault was born on the 5th of October 1980 to Mabel McLeod and Lawrence Berreault. She passed away on May 29th, 2022, in Fort Liard. Today Madam Speaker, I am getting to share part of her eulogy that was developed by her best friend Alana.

Grace was truly extraordinary. Her life could be all kinds of chaos, but she never wore it on her face. She was a true fighter and an energy force to be reckoned with. Grace could and would steer focus towards the lighter side of things, always finding the humour. This is a trait she had at a young age...

Thank you the preamble to the Member's question saying well, Yellowknife Dene is supportive of it, it's a little bit more complicated than that and I don't want to get into the House and have we have to recognize the consultation process of it and we are working with that. And the Member is right there, there some land withdrawals within the municipal boundaries that Yellowknife Dene have interest in. But in regards to his question, the department is more than willing to meet with council. We are more than willing to have that conversation but we just need this new elected council to reach...

Well, MACA doesn't deal with that, Madam Speaker, but the Minister of Lands, I guess that comes with me here.

I can tell this House that the department has been working with the City of Yellowknife to discuss potential land transfers. We have also worked, as MACA has worked with the city, to come up with a bulk land transfer agreement there. We are also in the process of finalizing and MOU which outlines which lands the city wants. So the city, when we first talked about was the big chunk of bulk land and then they realized it wasn't the bulk land that they were looking, the big chunk, they...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm more than willing to work with whoever we can get our youth engaged on, whether it's the education system, whether it's the schools and communities, the local sports groups. I do kind of disagree with the Member about making sure attendance and that. Sometimes the only reason our youth are coming to school is to be part of the sporting team. I can tell you from my experience as a coach, we lost youth because they didn't make didn't have their attendance. It wasn't 70 percent. It wasn't 60 percent. And what did we do? Those youth when we went and...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So what the Member's asking is to piggyback with Arctic Winter Games. Arctic Winter Games are very trials are very focused on the competition to get the teammate up for NWT. However, the opportunity, if communities want to work and provide opportunities, these communities can work together to provide that opportunity and if they are able to put it in the same weekend, they can do it. Right now the Beaufort Delta recreation association does have money for opportunities to give youth to have competitions within the regions. So they can have that opportunity. So if the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, today I would like to provide an update on the 2022 wildfire season.

Wildfires are a natural and important part of the boreal forest. They help keep ecosystems healthy, and they burn off excess fuels like dead and dried out foliage that builds up within the forest, which can lead to more extreme fires. That is why our fire crews do not fight all wildfires, particularly if the fire poses no threat to values at risk. When communities, cabins, infrastructure, and other values at risk are threatened, however, our wildfire management team is ready to take...

Yes.

Thank you. As I said before, we're working with NWTAC and working with the municipalities, we're fixing the policies. And as we moved forward, we're also reaching out to the federal government. So we got a number of prongs moving forward to address this. Thank you, Madam Chair.