The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is taking further action under the Emergency Management Act (EMA) to address the urgent need for a temporary location to provide shelter to vulnerable residents.  The decision was made following several attempts to secure a location suitable to provide this critical service to the city’s vulnerable residents, in Yellowknife after the flooding at the Salvation Army resulted in closure.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, R. J. Simpson, issued the following statement on the release of the first Aurora College Transformation Quarterly Report:

“When the GNWT committed to transforming Aurora College into a polytechnic university we did so with the promise that the process would be transparent.

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Mr. Speaker, when this Government committed to establishing a polytechnic university we did so with the promise that we would be transparent in the process.

Guided by the NWT Post-Secondary Education Framework, there were a number of key documents released last fall that explain the process of transformation and those documents, the Implementation Plan and Areas of Specialization for the polytechnic university, continue to guide the process. But transparency does not stop there.

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Mr. Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us all in many ways but none of us more so than within the health and social services system.

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is committed to building strong and collaborative partnerships across all levels of government.

The swift resolution to the recent cluster of COVID-19 cases in Fort Liard demonstrates how powerful those partnerships can be.

All partners in last month’s pandemic response worked together to quickly and effectively implement the orders of the territory’s Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) to help avert what could have become a widespread outbreak of COVID-19.

The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Paulie Chinna has extended the State of Emergency in the City of Yellowknife. This extension is being made under s.14 of the Emergency Management Act.

The extention continues through February 25, 2021.

This State of Emergency was initially instated to address the need for additional shelter space as a result of ongoing capacity limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is committed to managing public land responsibly and recognizes that unauthorized occupancy – or “squatting” - is a long-standing land management issue across the NWT.  Today, Minister Shane Thompson announced the Department of Lands’ new approach to addressing unauthorized occupants and outlined steps the Department is taking to address untenured structures.

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Mr. Speaker, last fall I spoke to you about how enforcing the rules on how public land is used is a critical part of making sure that land and resources in the Northwest Territories are well-managed.

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Mr. Speaker, when the Government of the Northwest Territories established the COVID-19 Coordinating Secretariat, we committed to bringing our pandemic services under one roof to improve our services and seek cost-efficiencies.

I am proud to stand here today and say we have done what we said we would do.

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Mr. Speaker, strengthening the government’s leadership and authority on climate change, ensuring climate change impacts are specifically considered when making government decisions, and increasing the use of alternative and renewable energy are mandate priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly.