Inuvik Boot Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 76)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Everybody knows the Blueberry Patch was used for family housing units for the Aurora College.

Has the Minister been speaking with the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment on creating family units to replace these ones being demolished? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 76)

I also understand that the Housing Corp will be taking over the responsibility for the land that the Blueberry Patch currently sits on. Has the Minister’s department decided or proposed what to build on that land?

As I mentioned, housing is a concern across all communities across the Northwest Territories, and if we are going to decentralize and start creating jobs and oil and gas kicks back up, we need some houses for residents and people who move up there.

I would like to ask the Minister what he is proposing to put on that land once the Blueberry Patch is demolished. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank all my colleagues who spoke in support of the motion. It is a very important issue that we have in the Northwest Territories and right across the North and Canada, and I think the direction we’re giving to government is the right step to address this issue. I did mention earlier about all the different organizations working on, when a death occurs, the work that they do. This feasibility study will bring all these organizations together to understand that, yes, we’ve got to work together, we’ve got to make the recommendations so that it stops now...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

WHEREAS the Northwest Territories has the second-highest rate of violent crime in Canada;

AND WHEREAS numerous deaths have been caused by domestic violence in the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS risk factors and long-standing patterns of abuse are typically evident before domestic violence results in death;

AND WHEREAS the purpose of a domestic violence death review committee is to establish a forum for experts, community advocates and family members to study trends, risk factors, and systemic concerns and to recommend changes that will prevent future tragedies;

AND WHEREAS death review...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned in my Member’s statement, a person’s health and life is at stake when we go this route. I don’t think putting ourselves at a financial risk should be the indicator for seeking a second medical opinion. The policy in itself is a barrier for this second medical opinion. He mentioned, and he is going to say again when I ask again, that I’ve stated that it’s in our policy that we will reimburse upon return.

I am asking the Minister if he would look at reviewing that policy so we don’t reimburse upon return, but be able to support someone to go seek that second...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

I would like to thank the Minister for that very comprehensive response to a second medical opinion. They’ve done a lot of work and I agree that residents shouldn’t be afraid to offend any medical practitioner or physician in seeking a second medical opinion. He did mention something and I was going to ask a question in terms of the lack of physicians in the Northwest Territories in some of the regions and the medical costs. He understands the situation we are in, where some of the regions don’t have physicians and we have locums who continue to come through.

Would he be looking at reviewing...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 22, 2013, in Committee of the Whole, I asked the then-Minister of Health and Social services, during the review of the main estimates, questions on the right to a second medical opinion. There were some good questions and there were discussions of the review of the right to a second medical opinion. I bring this forward again today only because I’ve had discussions with people who were concerned about their medical results and their diagnosis and weren’t sure if they were getting the right treatment. Every resident in the Northwest Territories should have...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

Thank you, Madam Chair. We did make the comments in the House yesterday when we read the report in. I do have a motion, Madam Chair.

I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are very honoured to bring this motion forward. We don’t have to scratch the surface very far to find family or domestic violence, which has very devastating impacts on individuals and communities.

Family and domestic violence almost never occurs without warning. In most cases there have been repeated incidents of violence and indicators of risk as well as opportunities for agencies and individuals to intervene before death.

It’s important to try to understand the factors that lead to such tragedy and lead to needless deaths when intimate relationships take a fatal...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 75)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Ms. Bisaro.

Since the 2009 review, the department has done a great deal of work to restructure the delivery of official languages programs and services in the Northwest Territories. The Minister has referred to this as the department’s “new approach.”

In the absence of a final response from ECE to the 2009 review, the standing committee has struggled to reconcile the direction that ECE has taken with this “new approach,” with the vision outlined in the standing committee’s 2009 report, which was based on the development of an official languages services model...