Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have legislation at our disposal. My follow-up first question to my statement is addressed to the Minister of MACA. Will the Minister of MACA accept the humanitarian state of an emergency issued by the town of Norman Wells? Mahsi.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of MACA.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has received the local state of emergency that the town of Norman Wells has declared. To say that we have a documented support of that local state of emergency, we don't, but we are supporting -- as a government, we're doing everything we can to support the region. We have our staff on the ground working with the town of Norman Wells, regional superintendent. We have all our departments -- I can't speak for anybody else, but I will speak for myself to say that our staff have been very engaged in this in trying to help the situation there in Norman Wells. So thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for those comforting words. The residents of the Sahtu very much appreciate the words of support and acknowledgement in receipt of that state of an emergency declaration.
The unique opportunity is here. And my next question, will the Minister of MACA provide this notification to the federal public safety Ministers while they are in Yellowknife today or tomorrow or whenever they leave? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Declaring a local state of emergency or state of emergency doesn't guarantee us federal funding. My counterpart, Minister Sajjan, Minister of public safety, is not here. And I have spoken to him recently as yesterday in regards to the issue in Norman Wells. We have had discussions on this. Unfortunately, this type of emergency does not fall under the federal regulations or the federal disaster -- federal assistance arrangement. So we are continuing dialogue. And the Minister has committed to reaching out to his counterparts to see if there's any other solutions for the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that reply. Would the Minister provide a briefing or backup documents specific to the state and the discussion happening between his office or this government and the federal government and provide that to my office and the mayor of Norman Wells? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm more than happy to share any correspondence I've had with the Minister. I'm also willing to sit down with the Minister, give him a briefing on what discussions our department's had with the community, and also any of my federal counterparts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister. That information to the leaders would be beneficial.
Now for the public residents, will the Minister support a press release on the state of emergency and the actions taken and future actions to be taken? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have an issue with releasing any information on the work we've been doing. I think we've been pretty open and transparent right now with everything we've been doing, so I'm more than committed to work on a press release that we could use, both as the MLA for the Sahtu and the department, to share with the residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.
