Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to follow up to my Member’s statement, in terms of stem cell donor campaigns and awareness. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if the Minister is familiar with this program, and if so, is his department currently doing any type of programs that are similar in the Northwest Territories that they’re doing in other jurisdictions throughout Canada?

As I was saying, as it currently stands in Canada’s base for stem cell donors, there are 76 percent for Caucasians, 24 percent for ethnicities, and of those 24 percent for ethnicities only 0.9 percent are Aboriginal donors. That means if we have anybody that needs stem cells and is Aboriginal, it’s going to be very hard for them to find a donor.

Right now there is a special need for ethnic males in the ages 17 to 35.

Later today I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services to see what this territory is doing to help close that need for this type of help.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of living in the Northwest Territories, we have a high cost of living, we have a high turnover rate in the communities. In Inuvik, for example, some of the programs have been defaulted or delayed due to the fact that sometimes we don’t have any qualified staff in those positions, as well as having up-to-standard building codes. That was specifically mentioned in the Auditor General’s report. There are a lot of challenges.

What is the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment doing to address these challenges so that we can continue to deliver those early...

In regard to the 2001 Early Childhood Development Framework Strategy and Plan, I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment what the current validity is on the work that was done in that plan and what was successful about that plan. Have any of those action items actually been implemented within the last few governments, I guess? The 2001 plan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I first came into the session here, a lot of my colleagues gave a lot of congratulations to mayors and councillors that had been elected in their ridings or throughout the Northwest Territories. Today I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the mayor and council for the official swearing-in ceremonies last night in the community of Inuvik.

With that said, I would also like to take a few seconds here to congratulate and thank the former mayor, Mr. Denny Rodgers, for his strong leadership, his strong advocacy for the community of Inuvik and the residents...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Programs has reviewed Bill 5, Legal Aid Act, and Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Judicature Act, and wish to report that Bills 5 and 7 are now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole as amended and reprinted.

Early childhood development is a priority of this 17th Legislative Assembly or I wouldn’t be bringing it here on the floor as something that we bring up every time we come into the House and ask questions of the Minister.

What are the current action items that the Minister is currently doing or having implemented in the Northwest Territories, especially in the small communities that are having an impact on early childhood development and the investment in our youth, and not just waiting for this plan to implement and do these actions?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment did a Minister’s statement on advanced education initiatives, but really, is this really advanced? Do we continue to put residents through the education system only at the end to have to put more money to get them back to a standard of education even to get them ready for post-secondary job education?

This government has the opportunity to invest in the future of a new generation of healthy, educated adults and teenagers. What I’m referring to is the Early Childhood Development Framework, and I made a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. In regard to this supp before us, being from the Beaufort-Delta and understanding the course of the project as it has come before the Legislative Assembly since I’ve been in the Assembly, it is something that needs to be done and to get those kinds of reports brought forth so that we can make a good decision. This funding needs to actually go through the supp and get approved so that we can get those extra geotechnical studies that need to be done ,so we can make good decisions on whether this project goes through or not.

I’m not sure if this supp was not to go through...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted its public review of Bill 2, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, on August 23, 2012. The committee thanks the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill. The bill provides minor, uncontroversial amendments to several acts, most simply corrected translations and clarify wording in the acts. Following the committee’s review, a motion was carried to report Bill 2, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2012, to the Assembly as ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.

This concludes the committee’s...