Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time I would like to recognize Brian Desjardins, who is a long-time friend and who did great work in tourism up in Inuvik and he’s doing it now across the Northwest Territories and he does a really great job. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Would the Minister please provide a list of the communities that were consulted in the shelter policy review?

Would the Minister please indicate which community groups were consulted during the review?

Would the Minister please confirm the number of NWT seniors who were consulted during the review?

Would the Minister please provide an outline of the consultation process for the shelter policy review?

Thank you.

As recognized, this was an initiative put on by the former Minister and Premier. I just wanted to ask the Premier if he’s willing to continue working on such a document and such a very strong initiative with our youth leaders in this government to continue on such a great project. That it’s not a one year thing and that we continue to work with our youth and listen to our youth in how we can work to better a future for everyone.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just following up in regard to my Member’s statement. With the Forging the Future Youth Conference reporting, 42 youth from across the Northwest Territories got together last summer and they came up with a bunch of recommendations and talked about all the issues that we talk about in this House. It was an initiative from the former Premier and the former Minister of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. My question today is for our newly elected Premier and Minister of DAAIR. Is he familiar with the report and is he familiar with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to touch on in my Member’s statement today about the experience I’ve had since I’ve been in this Assembly. It’s been quite the eye opener in terms of reading reports, interacting with Ministers and with the government. There are a lot of things that I do shake my head at sometimes, and there are a lot of times where I do get a little bit overwhelmed with some of the responses that I do get, specifically around reporting.

In past governments and this government, that we can make a positive change here. We can put a lot of these recommendations that are in reports...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the tabling of the document this session, when can we start seeing some action put on that document so that people in the Northwest Territories have an idea of when they can start seeing some services in the communities and in the Northwest Territories? So, can he commit to a time frame of putting that action into place?

Last session I asked and got a written question asking for buildings in three of the northern communities, Fort Simpson, Norman Wells and Inuvik. I only received the one for Inuvik and that is a start for this government to move forward to look at these three buildings that can be used as a treatment centre, as the Minister of Health is willing to look at these buildings in Inuvik and look at creating some type of programs. The people in our region – the Beaufort-Delta region, the Sahtu region – that need the treatment have some place to go, that they are comfortable in the environment and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the mayor of Inuvik, Denny Rodgers, and Chief Jim Antoine, who both have been strong role models for leaders across the Northwest Territories.

With that said, we’ve got the buildings in Inuvik, we’ve got the O and M costs. In one of our previous sessions we passed a motion to look at the Old Crow model for programs, which is similar to any community across the Northwest Territories. We’ve got the programs, we’ve got the building, can we somehow put it together and start moving on this so our people who are suffering from addictions and that need the treatment and the help that they need can have someplace to go? Can I ask the Minister where is his department with that motion that we passed here in the House in the previous session?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to have a question for the Minister of Health today. In our Caucus priorities, we mentioned enhancing addiction treatment programs using existing infrastructure. Last year during the Forging the Future Youth Conference, they recognized as the number one recommendation was regional treatment centres, with the end goal of creating a full treatment centre for people of the Northwest Territories.

On March 26th I read an editorial that says, the Minister of Health says that a new addiction treatment centre might not be the best option. It raised a little bit of...