Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke in my statement earlier about the need for a youth advisory council to give young people in the Northwest Territories a voice in the government decision-making and to advise government of policy issues. I have brought this issue before the House before, but today I would like to ask the Premier, as most of these youth councils are creations of First Ministers, if the Premier has made any progress with his government on developing a youth advisory council for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to redirect the question to the Minister responsible for Youth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Youth.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree that the Youth Parliament is an exciting opportunity for young people to become engaged and involved in politics. I think we had a really good opportunity to see that during the most recent Youth Parliament.
Beyond the Youth Parliament, I don't think that there has been any action taken to establish a year-round youth council in this government or previous governments. As the Minister responsible for Youth, I will be happy to receive any recommendations from the Member, or committee, or any Member of the Legislative Assembly on how we can address getting something like this started up. I do know that, in the past, for youth portfolios, we have provided support for such things as youth conferences, youth events. Through MACA, we have the Youth Corps program as well as youth ambassador training programs, but currently there is really nothing in terms of work that has been done around a youth council, but I'm more than willing to take recommendations and suggestions from Members of this Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'll ask this Minister if he recalls when he made a commitment on the floor of the House to look into this issue and work on a proposal or some sort of policy development for establishing a youth council. That is a commitment he made on the floor. Does he recall that and is he working on that?
Yes, I do recall making that commitment. Work to date, there hasn't been much work done on it. I will have to bring it to the Committees at Cabinet to look forward, but any other suggestions that the Member or standing committee can provide us in terms of what we should be doing, we would really appreciate that. We are obviously all working together to address some of these issues. I welcome any suggestions from the Members moving forward. I will bring that to Committee of Cabinet to look at how we can move forward on that.
Can the Minister responsible for Youth advise on why there have been delays in moving this along? He made a commitment in the last sitting of the House, which was several months ago. What are the factors that have contributed to the delay of developing a policy proposal for establishing a youth council in the Northwest Territories?
As the Member notes, we do have a very big mandate to address and work on and we have made that commitment as the government to get those mandate commitments done. I know that the Government of Canada has worked on a youth council, and that's something new that they have addressed this year. We are working on a mandate commitments as well as the general business of government, so it's when we are giving new direction on something like a youth council or policy. I mean, our priorities are making sure that we focus on our mandate commitments that we made at the beginning of this 18th Assembly.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister asked for suggestions. I mean, I'm not sure I have much more to suggest other than a youth advisory council. You know, Youth Parliament is a model parliament. It's not an advisory body. Youth Corps, all these volunteer activities, they're about engagement and getting people involved. Can the Minister commit to directing his staff to working with the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, which he is, to direct his staff, now that he's got them, in his department to prioritize this work? Because my understanding is there are three full-time people in his department who work on youth issues. Can they start putting something together? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First and foremost, I just want to thank my staff within MACA for the work that they do. They do have a very extensive work to do with all of our communities throughout the Northwest Territories, as well as youth and volunteers who we do work with. You know, I don't want to say that we are not fully resourced, but I want to make sure that the work that we set out in our mandate and the work that we do with our community governments and hamlets, that work gets done, because those are essential services that we provide to residents of the Northwest Territories. To take them away from that kind of work around essential services and some of our youth programs and development programs to start focusing on a youth council, I think we need to look at our priorities when it does come to essential services throughout the Northwest Territories. I will be working and chatting with them and continuing to support the youth programs that we currently have in place. As I mentioned, I want to make sure that my staff focus on the work that is needed for the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
