Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being one of the volunteers that helped start up the Not Us! campaign in Inuvik and get the funding for it, I know how successful this program can be in empowering our residents, our students, our teachers, everybody that works with children and works in the community. Specifically, there is a very successful program called the Lights On Program that happens that we do in Inuvik but we don’t have the funding to keep it on or provide a safe environment for students in the school.

Would the Minister look at specific funding for the Lights On Program outside of the Not Us...

Mr. Speaker, I was going to ask how many communities are receiving funding and the Minister answered that. We have 13 other communities that can potentially have alcohol and drug-related problems. I want to know – and the Minister did state that he has enough funding to cover the communities that we have now – what about these 13 communities that continue to have these issues. How is he going to address those issues if he’s not committing any other funding?

Can the Minister let me know, and let the government know, and people in these other 13 communities, how is he going to address empowering...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That will be a tough act to follow there. I, too, would like to stand before the House and recognize and appreciate all the work that’s been going on in the education area, specifically to the Department of Education on their new renewal strategy. We have some new staff in there that’s doing some really good work and I think we’ll see some good improvements in the rest of this Assembly as we move forward in the education system and deal with some of our challenges.

Specifically, I would like to thank all the hardworking staff at the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority as...

Just moving further, Mr. Chair, at the Beaufort-Delta Regional Council meeting that was held in January, I know the leadership approved and supported moving forward with a women’s shelter in Tuktoyaktuk. I believe the building they have now was constructed in the 1960s and requires a lot of renovations and upgrades on a consistent basis. They are looking at getting new infrastructure for the women’s shelter. I just want to ask the Minister if he has that on the books and if it was something the Housing Corporation was looking into in the foreseeable future or near future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess my final question – the Minister did mention that it’s high throughout the Northwest Territories – what is the Minister doing to address it? I know they have the pro choices program, but what else is he doing to address this? He’s also the Minister of training and education. What is he doing to address and reduce the number of applications to get our people back into the workforce and off income assistance? What is the Minister doing to address these high rates of incidences of applications and dollars that have been going into this program? Thank you, Mr...

Just along those lines, I’d like to ask the Minister if there has been an increase in the amount of applications and an increase in the amount of residents that are now collecting income assistance in the community of Inuvik, has there been an increase in the amount of dollars that are allocated to this particular program. I’m trying to get to a point here, because with the lack of jobs and the downturn in Inuvik right now, we’re going to see more families, we’re going to see more people, more residents who are becoming dependent on government and income assistance. I’ve seen it through my...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to welcome Mr. Grant Hood, the SAO for the Town of Inuvik; and the current mayor of Inuvik, Floyd Roland, also former Premier. Welcome to the House and enjoy the proceedings.

Mr. Speaker, through my office I’ve had a lot of constituents come and express their concern about not being able to work or find contracts, and have to refer to looking at other social programs that can help them assist. I’m asking the Minister if he’s seen an increase in the amount for my community. If he has seen an increase, he kind of alluded to it in his last statement, but is there an action plan to address the higher costs of income dollars going into Inuvik specifically, so that more residents are actually having to, not by choice but having to, because of the economic downturn. Is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I guess basically it’s in terms of planning and getting ready for a region when we go through an economic downturn. I just want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if he has seen an increased cost in our Income Assistance Program and, if so, does he know the figure of how many dollars we’re putting in to the income assistance in the community of Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning I had the opportunity to attend an announcement made by the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. What she announced this morning is very joyous for the community of Inuvik in terms of community infrastructure, federal funding for the Children’s First Centre that we’ve had a strong group working for over the years.

That was great news in terms of making this project become a reality. The community of Inuvik and the staff at the Children’s First Society have been working very hard and have been very...