Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t have a whole lot to add in terms of what other Members had said yesterday, but just a couple of comments.

I’m really glad to see the investment in the traditional economy programs. I know that some of our residents who used to work in some industries that used to be up and running and don’t have that opportunity anymore because the economy is pretty slow have looked at going into the traditional economy, whether it’s harvesting or trapping, and even though the investment is there, I’m not too sure how much of it is new dollars. I won’t get into the detail as we’ll...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Programs has reviewed Bill 36, Health and Social Services Professions Act, and wishes to report that Bill 36 is now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole as amended and reprinted.

Yes, one of the highlights that Dechinta University does is they have relationships with the U of A, U of Vic, UBC and McGill and have brought millions of dollars of research to the North. I know the Minister is aware of that as they’ve also worked in partnership with Dechinta. Within the Education Act, would the department look at committing, possibly by the end of this term, to making an amendment to the Education Act to recognize, along with leading universities in Canada, the Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research?

Would he look at amending that act so we can recognize the work that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start off with questions today in follow-up to my Member’s statement about the great work that the Dechinta University is doing. I know our government does partner with them in terms of getting research brought up to the university and also in terms of some of their programming.

In my Member’s statement I talked about the 100 percent completion and not having enough funding for all the applicants. What concerns me is the number of applicants that don’t get into the university. What options do they have and are they able to get into Aurora College or another...

There are a lot of good statistics and highlights that I’d like to recommend. I don’t have the time to do it at this moment, but what I do want to do at this moment is just thank Dechinta staff for their commitment to the delivery of quality education, traditional knowledge and culture, and utilizing our elders to do this, and also recognize them for the passion that they do in providing this work and for their dedication in making a difference in the lives of people across the Northwest Territories and in our young adults who are wanting to get an education and go back to school.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m glad to hear that that database does exist and now we’ve increased it by about 600 new emergency firefighters and that we’re still looking at starting that training early on in the season.

It was mentioned earlier about compensation for equipment lost to hunters and trappers, or even property, cabins. I’m not sure how many cabins or property were damaged during the last fire season, but rather than looking at increasing that budget and providing compensation to those that live on the land or those that keep their equipment on the land for hunting and trapping I think...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question I have for the Minister and department is just in terms of the fire suppression budget. The actuals in 2013-14 were about $20 million, and the revised for last year was $54 million. In a news article that was in one of last week’s papers, the Minister said that funding for the wildland fire management is based on a 10-year average of suppression expenses. With these numbers that are in place, especially with the revised estimates coming in this year, you would think the budget for the ’15-16 year would be increased if he’s, in fact, going by the 10-year...

Thank you. I know I’ve asked questions in the House at one time or another about the need to invest more into our traditional economy and into our harvesters throughout the Northwest Territories, especially up in some of the regions where we did have some development going on and possibly some work that has been going on in terms of having some of the animals migrate in different routes than they used to. In some cases our hunters and trappers have to travel further now to get either fur or to get the animals that they’re hunting. That needs to be addressed.

We do forced growth in a lot of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a couple of news reports here. The first one is from Northern Journal, October 27, 2014, and it’s entitled “Cultural resurgence at core of the Dechinta studies – all women cohort attends fall semester out on the land.”

The second one is from the Globe and Mail, entitled “Learning from the land in the North,” and it’s referencing the work that Dechinta University has done as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, 90 percent of the alumni go into the NWT labour force. I made a comment yesterday about the NWT Labour Force Framework.

Will the Minister work with Dechinta University and work with our alumni to get them into the labour force within the Northwest Territories as well as create jobs in our small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.