Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. With the fibre optic link on the horizon and education and social passing an issue in some of our smaller communities, I was wondering if the department had any initiatives that would bring e-learning into the communities, especially the ones that are sometimes hard to get into that would only have one or two high school students, and make it more cost-effective what they have on the horizon there for e-learning.

I respect the answer that the department is doing as much as it can. Is there an expected timeline that these surgeries can be brought back on schedule so that the people in the communities that have been waiting of the last couple of years have confidence in this government that they are moving forward and have that interest in getting them back on their feet and healthy and becoming society again.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is also for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Coming from Inuvik, over the past couple of years I’ve seen a backlog of surgeries, specifically joint replacement surgeries and the backlog has led to inactivity, sedentary lifestyles, which lead to people becoming overweight and can lead to obesity, which also leads to chronic conditions. With our ever growing senior populations, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health what is the reason for this backlog, specifically joint replacement surgeries.

One avenue that the Children First Society has taken is through the Aviva Community Fund. Should they be successful, they would receive a grant in the amount of $150,000. They’ve been doing a great job, working long hours and doing a lot of campaigning in this area.

As the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake riding, I’m in strong support of this challenge and in strong support of this facility. I encourage the people of the Northwest Territories to also jump on board and go to the Aviva Community Fund website and put a vote in on a daily basis to go for this Children First Centre.

I would also like...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of comments here. Being back home in Inuvik on my last time out, I had a few constituents approach me about the lack of jobs in the community and how some of them had to take their pride into consideration and go on income support. Creating these jobs and putting people back to work will affect some of our social concerns that we have in the Northwest Territories and also help with a good discussion we had earlier today on the Anti-Poverty Strategy.

I’m really happy to see that there has been $1 million earmarked to complete the planning for the Inuvik-Tuk...

With students coming out of their communities attending regional centres, specifically in the Beaufort-Delta, their culture and tradition are sometimes lost. They don’t get a chance to practise it. I’d like to see or find out what the timeline is that the department will be looking into getting this e-learning set back up into the community. It did seem between 2000 and 2005 that they did reach a lot of the students. I’d just like to see what the timeline is to have that brought back into the Beaufort-Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. April of 2012 we can expect people of the communities of the Northwest Territories, the ones that have been waiting for the last few years, to start moving through the process and getting their surgeries taken care of by this 17th Legislative Assembly and the government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With the new standard put in place, that’s probably been about the amount of time since the backlog started. It has taken awhile and I was just wondering what the plan in place was to address the backlog and what exactly is the plan that the Department of Health has come up with to address the backlog of these elective surgeries.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker I seek unanimous consent to deal with the Board of Management appointments motion I gave notice of yesterday.

---Unanimous consent granted.

WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly is required to appoint members to the Board of Management in accordance with Subsection 36(3) of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act;

AND WHEREAS appointments to the Board of Management are required to be made during the First Session of each Legislature.

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that the following Members be appointed to the Board of Management of this Assembly:

the Honourable Jackie Jacobson, Member for Nunakput;

Mr. Frederick Blake Jr., Member for Mackenzie Delta;

Mr. Robert Bouchard, Member for Hay River...