Inuvik Boot Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 42)

We should have something early on in the New Year. If anything, by the end of this fiscal year, we should have something ready to present to committee and share with all members of the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 42)

As the Member said, the family member has already spoken with the teacher, so we will speak with the superintendent and try to get this addressed as soon as we can.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 42)

It was actually up to the parents choosing up until this fiscal year, but moving forward I'd ask the Member if we have families that are concerned in Aklavik to go and speak to the teacher. If it's not resolved with the teacher, to speak with the principal and the last resort is bring it to the superintendent, but we will speak with the Beaufort Delta Education Council about this as it is a concern and we do have two communities, Aklavik and Inuvik, that can run into that issue in years to come.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we do have that website that we launched. I know that all departments are working to get this out internationally. We just had some very good success in getting some businesses from out of the country come up to the Northwest Territories and start-up businesses here, in Yellowknife, as well.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 41)

Various ways, Mr. Speaker, radio ads, newspaper ads, we ask our MLAs to go out and promote it. Recently, we've been going out doing a lot of community meetings. We were just in Nahendeh. Every meeting that we went to we talked about the Senior Home Heating Subsidy. A lot of seniors that come to our open houses, we bring that up as well. We get our staff to promote as well in the communities so that seniors who are accessing the program, they can let other seniors know about what's available to them.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was just one change actually, and that was to clarify that seniors who maintain a residential land lease with the Department of Lands were eligible for the subsidy. What I want to maybe inform the Member is that we're actually going through a review, and we did get a lot of concerns from almost all the Members during our sitting earlier this year about the threshold levels, the amount of fuel that elders can receive. As the temperature drops below zero throughout the North, we want to make sure that this program is providing the best services to those in need, the...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 41)

Currently, we have three zones throughout the Northwest Territories, to get the maximum threshold for each zone, for Zone 1 is just over $46,000; Zone 3 is high as $56,000, and those are in the more rural and remote communities and the communities in the high Arctic, and those are what we're looking at, whether or not we need to change those so that more seniors can access the program and have fuel and heat up their homes throughout the full winter months.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 41)

We had 513 NWT seniors access the program last year. I believe 230 seniors used their full fuel allocation, not all the seniors use up what they're entitled to. As I said, we're reviewing the program so that those 230 seniors who've actually used up their fuel allocation might have some months where they need that fuel for the rest of the winter months. We're going to be looking at those threshold levels.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome Mr. Clarence Wood, long-time councillor for the Town of Inuvik, also His Worship Mayor Heyck, as well as a couple other leaders who have paved the way for us, Mr. Charlie Furlong and Ray Ruben. I'd also like to welcome my cousin William Greenland joining us here again today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 40)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled "Annual Report on Official Languages 2015-2016." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.