Bob Bromley

Are there additional obligations, though, to check in with the Aboriginal governments who have not settled but on whose land access is being completed? Thank you.

That sounds good. Thank you for that. Sorry, I had one more. The regime should not apply in those regions where Aboriginal land rights have not been recognized or settled. Is that the case currently? Thank you.

The board should reflect a co-management model where Aboriginal and public governments each appoint half of the members. Is that the case in the board created by this legislation? Mahsi.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, when an exploration company, for example, wants to stake mineral claims inside a community, which has happened inside some of the Tlicho communities, obviously, and understandably, people were very upset, and a clear basis for denial of access, but I believe there is archaic legislation related to a free entry system that does provide a right to exploration companies to do that. Am I correct in saying this legislation does not correct that injustice and would not be able to deny access in that case? Thank you.

That’s really all I had on the general comments. I think, obviously, we and the general public would be interested if there was a schedule available as of April 1st or whenever the Premier could come up with it to help the public and Members prepare. I think that’s just a notice that that would be appreciated as soon as that was available.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate this opportunity to comment and ask a couple of questions. Several times now I have heard a clear commitment from the Premier to conduct a review, and basically, as soon as possible starting or immediately after April 1st, and I appreciate that. I think the Premier would agree that there are plenty of good reasons to do this, not the least of which is, really, including the opportunity for the public to become familiar with this legislation and to provide their comments on it and also to assist in their role of providing oversight and input based on their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re talking about Yellowknife here. I asked, what’s the Minister’s assessment of the impacts of this on the services to the students? No answer. He went off in a different direction. I asked what collaboration and support. I didn’t hear any collaboration and support. They’ve had meetings, dictatorial results.

Will the Minister commit to working with our school boards to provide the new investments required with these new responsibilities that he is asking of them? Mahsi.

So, essentially they’ll be slightly less at the end of this time and, of course, the Minister forgot about the cost recovery programs that are in place that he’s requiring that they drop. So a net substantial loss. In the third year, obviously, with 120 extra people, small children to look after, they’ll be expected to provide junior kindergarten with no new funding in year three. This will be on the backs of services currently provided to our children, as I’ve mentioned.

What is the Minister’s assessment of the impact students will have to bear from this failure to provide new support for...

I appreciate all those clarifications and responses. Those are all the questions I had. I think there were some heads-up and pointers that could be considered as we work towards a review of the legislation. I appreciate this information. That’s all I had. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ECE Minister has given us a schedule for rolling out free junior kindergarten service across the NWT. It begins with small communities in ’14-15, followed by regional centres next and, finally, Yellowknife in year three.

Unfortunately, the Minister is funding small community programs this coming year by removing funds for our students here in Yellowknife. The Minister will say schools have a surplus, but in fact our schools raise funds through taxes on Yellowknifers to cover costs not covered by government. While the Yellowknife students are funded on a much lower...