Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to follow up. I didn’t hear a response to my question in general comments, so I thought I’d follow up here on the Inuvik-Tuk Highway Project. I believe we committed $2.5 million at the last minute in the 2011-12 just before year end. I think the goal was to seek out gravel resources and I have heard that they had low success there. What was the result of that work? Did all those dollars get expended? Were the objectives achieved? How does this money relate to that money and the results? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also rise to support this motion. I want to start by thanking my colleagues Ms. Bisaro and Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this forward. There has been, indeed, perpetual interest and discussion on this, and that discussion needs to be resolved. There is an obligation of government, clearly, to provide the full opportunity for their citizens’ voices to be heard. This is a proven mechanism, and clearly across Canada there is good recognition of the need to fill this responsibility. We would certainly be consistent with them in doing that.

I know my colleagues and, certainly...

I appreciate the Minister’s comments there. I know it’s tough. Resources are tight and so on, but I’d say the evidence speaks for itself here. Increasing the number of community shelters is also a critical need. Shelters now exist in only three communities. Lack of a place of refuge frequently means that women must stay in their homes and be subjected to repeated assaults. Not only that, funding for outreach programs has been cut for communities lacking shelters. What steps is the Minister going to take to provide women and children with places of safety from abuse and assault?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Justice, recognizing that the issue of family violence has to be dealt with across many departments. As I noted, the numbers speak to a dreadful situation of family violence and suffering in our communities: 223 family violence cases; 483 children witnesses; the second highest rate of family violence in the country and so on. The need for action is clear and desperate. Will the Minister of Justice commit to making action on family violence one of his foremost program priorities, and implement a plan to carry out the 19 recommendations...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On April 11th the NWT coroner issued her report on the tragic death of Alice Black in February of 2009. Out of respect for Alice Black and all our victims of family violence, we mustn’t let that report pass without comment.

The report details a horrific sequence of events leading to the brutal homicide of Ms. Black. In her comments and recommendations, Coroner Cathy Menard pointed out the devastating impact of family violence on people and communities, but said it is largely preventable using interventions developed in many northern communities. Ms. Black’s case, the...

That’s exactly the sort of concerns we had when we raised the issues in discussing this, it was being rushed. It was a rushed job. The deputy minister has confirmed that, so we have thrown $2.5 million out there. I’m sure the truth is somewhere in between there.

I guess I’d like to know from the Minister that we’re not going to continue with that sort of approach. We have so many important priorities. We want to do this project, but we want to do it at the appropriate scale and pace to make sure that the dollars are being spent well. I’m looking for that assurance from the Minister. The proof...

If I can just try, in plain language, the project was primarily defined as gravel of the nature you needed for the project and you were disappointed in the results. Is that right as far as that goes? Thank you.

So we were successful. That means the bore holes were successful. How does that relate to the $2.5 million that we are now proposing again for this year? Was it $2.5 million or $3.5 million last year? We approved $2.5 million at the last minute. I thought maybe we’d had a million dollars already approved. Some clarity there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do want to comment briefly on these items. The $105.7 million carry-over for infrastructure, representing projects that were not done or completed, at 35 percent of our total expenditure for the last year is quite a large carry-over.

During the 16th Assembly we did have a special deputy ministers committee on infrastructure that did a lot of thinking and implementing of a new approach to deal with our challenges, which are many in the sort of whimsical northern environment that people have to deal with, problems of access and so on, and that included moving to Class C...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister. I know the protection orders mechanism has certainly been much appreciated and seems to be helping the situation. The 2008 survey of attitudes towards family violence shows too many people still think that family violence is a matter to be handled solely within the family. That’s the same place violence occurs. The need for a campaign of public awareness and education is a primary recommendation of both the Coalition phase 3 recommendations, as the Minister has mentioned, and of Ms. Menard, in the coroner’s report on Ms. Black’s death. The...