R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're honoured to be joined by some folks from Hay River here today, both on the floor of the House and in the gallery. I want to recognize Sonya Campbell, who is joining us in the gallery as a chaperon. For our page from Hay River North this sitting, Molly Campbell. We're happy to have them and look forward to working with them. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Partnership and Business Names Act; and, a Statement of Consistency for Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Partnership and Business Names Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Partnership and Business Names Act, will be read for the second time.

This bill will amend the act so that a name registration, which is under judicial review, is not stayed during the review period to avoid unreasonable and unpredictable delays in registering business names. In addition, the amendments seek to make the language more gender inclusive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Later this month there is a short phone or video meeting with the Council of Leaders just to prepare for the meeting in June. It's mid-June, I believe. I will report back to the Member directly on the results of any conversations. I don't want to necessarily commit to putting people's names to those conversations unless those people want to have their names shared with the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a Member of the Council of Leaders, I would say that the resources of the GNWT are better spent elsewhere at this time given all of the challenges that we have. That being said, I'll start having some informal conversations with some of the other leaders at the table and go from there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Partnership and Business Names Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have an appetite to direct GNWT resources to this. This is the kind of initiative that would take significant consultation, in-person consultation in every community in the Northwest Territories, and so I'm the one who doesn't want to do this. I'll just put that out there. What I mean by having informal conversations with some of the leaders at the Council of Leaders table is I'll have informal conversations with them, and I'll see. If there's real opposition, then there's no point in putting it through the formal process of going to the secretariat and getting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we are expecting the report back from the camp operator in the coming weeks, so we'll have a look at that and see what it says.

I will note that a number of the participants at the camp appreciated that it was a sober camp, and that helped them in their journey. So I think that's something that we need to consider, is that there are spaces if you -- you know, you aren't sober, but there really wasn't a lot available if you were, and so this offered people that opportunity. There is going to be a working -- there's going to be meetings coming up in March with the city...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it was in the last fiscal year there were two positions added to the detachment in Behchoko. Last year -- this fiscal year I think there was one in Whati, and next year there's another one. And so there's a number of positions going into the Tlicho region. What we -- the way we work with the RCMP is that they identify the pressures in different communities, and we work with them to resource them as necessary. And so there are pressures around the territory, but we have recognized those in the Tlicho region and responded.

The RCMP have also implemented their new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member is correct, I have announced that we are looking to introduce three pieces of legislation to help with public safety. So the first is the SCAN legislation, and that stands for safer communities and neighbourhoods. And that's the type of legislation that allows for buildings to be temporarily shut down and if there's residents there, those residents would have to find somewhere else to go if those buildings are causing harm to a community and that can be proven on a balance of probabilities in court. So it bypasses the Residential Tenancies Act and the...