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Mr. Speaker, homelessness is a complex, multifaceted tragedy experienced by many individuals and families in the Northwest Territories, and is an epidemic across Canada. It was my desire to see our government do more for our most vulnerable residents, including those who experience homelessness, that led me into politics. I am very proud to say that later today I will table A Way Home: A Comprehensive Strategy to Address Homelessness in the Northwest Territories.

As part of Housing NWT’s Renewal Strategy, the GNWT is launching a pilot program in Fort Resolution and Inuvik to enable public housing clients to receive a positive credit rating when they make on-time monthly rent payments.

The program will allow clients to opt in to have their payments reported to credit bureaus. Only positive credit ratings will be disclosed.

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) has released an Innovation Action Plan to serve as a stepping stone towards the development of an NWT-based knowledge economy.

The plan identifies goals and actions in five priority areas, critical to the eventual development of the NWT’s knowledge economy. The five priority areas are:

- Greater collaboration

- Development and attraction of skilled workers

- Research, development, and commercialization of knowledge

- Entrepreneur and business development

- Improved connectivity

Today is World No Tobacco Day and this year’s theme is “We Need Food, Not Tobacco,” which focuses on growing sustainable food crops instead of tobacco as a way to address the global food crisis. You can find out more about it here.

Media are invited to a media availability with Premier Caroline Cochrane in advance of the tabling of the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) homelessness strategy.

When:             May 31, 2023

Where:           Legislative Assembly, Beluga (Cabinet) Room

Time:              12:30PM – 1:00PM

The fire ban in effect at the McKinnon Territorial Park in Norman Wells has been lifted.  

NWT Parks reminds parks users that campfires should only be lit in designated fire pits and must always be kept control.  Keep a bucket of water, sand and a shovel handy.  Be sure to extinguish your fire before you go to sleep or when you leave the site. Remember that if your fire is too hot to touch, it is too hot to leave.

Use the SOAK, STIR, SOAK method to put out your campfire.

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Mr. Speaker, enhancing road safety is a priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories. We all want our highways to be as safe as possible for everyone who uses them.

To support this effort, I would like to announce that as of June 1, 2023, the Hours of Service Regulations will be amended to make Electronic Logging Devices mandatory for commercial vehicles weighing 4,500 kilograms or more.

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Mr. Speaker, water is life and our government is committed to ensuring we always have an abundant supply of clean and safe water.  

This year has been challenging to say the least. Earlier this spring we learned of large wastewater spills and seepages that had occurred in the Alberta Oil Sands.

To our dismay, these spills had not been communicated to the GNWT or Indigenous governments in the territory. The NWT is downstream from the oil sands, and water flows here so we need to know when these incidents occur.  

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Mr. Speaker, three years ago I was mandated to initiate a review of our government’s Student Financial Assistance program with the goal of improving access to post-secondary education for all Northwest Territories residents by reducing barriers and ensuring benefit levels are meeting the needs of students.

I am happy to stand here today and say that we have completed our review, and are now taking steps towards implementing necessary, significant changes to the program to better meet the needs of students.

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide an update on the territorial emergency response that is underway to support the Kátł’odeeche First Nation and the Town Hay River as some residents of these communities return home following a second year in a row of evacuations caused by natural disasters.