Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize some ladies here from the Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories. Starting with Lorraine Phaneuf, executive director; Tina Gargan, president, representing the Deh Cho region; Georgina Jacobson-Masuzumi, Beaufort-Delta. We also went to school together way back when. Doris Camsell, representing South Slave; Su-Ellen Kolback, vice-president, from the North Slave; Samantha Dechief, community development coordinator; Annemieke Mulders, program and research manager.

I will convey that to them. With the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic link that will connect all of the communities through the Internet.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe I read the same media release/media reporting that the Member is quoting from. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess, first of all, we don’t go back and review all of the Hansard to make sure there were no incorrect statements. But going forward, if we have staff that track Hansard to make sure that if there are incorrect statements that are not consistent with government policy, they bring it to our attention, either to the individual Minister or to Cabinet. Then we take the appropriate action to make sure that the statements that we make are accurate, correct, and up to date.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess it depends which government you’re referring to. If it was made in previous Assemblies and it was inaccurate, I don’t see how anyone could expect it to be a commitment that would have to be followed up at this Assembly, especially if it was an incorrect statement.

Mr. Speaker, International Women's Day honours women's advancement towards equality and reminds us of the vigilance required to ensure that equality is maintained in every aspect of society.

Every year the Status of Women Council celebrates this day by announcing recipients for the Wise Women Awards. These women, chosen from five Northwest Territories regions, stand up of what is right for women, children and families. They work tirelessly behind the scenes or on centre stage to make a difference in our communities. They never give up their effort to encourage women to become leaders in...

I will do that. This federal government is very responsive and I’m sure they will address this concern on a timely basis, but I will communicate that concern to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think we’re saying the same thing. We’re planning to go the communities. In the regions we’re going to partner with our Aboriginal governments. We’re also going to go to the regions where the Aboriginal governments haven’t signed on. They’re going to come with us, their regional government, whoever is representing them. Even though they haven’t signed on, we’ve done that before where we’ve gone to the communities. For example, in the Deh Cho we’ve gone to the communities with Dehcho First Nation representatives. Then we’ll be going to all the communities and regional centres as well.

One more...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess we came up with this policy when the Metis Nation no longer existed. At that time we tried to find a consistent approach, and the government of the day decided that they would take the money that was available for funding the Metis Nation and divide it up amongst the 17 Metis locals that were in existence at the time. The money stayed the same for all these years and the last few years we took an approach whereby if some of the money was not disbursed, we would disburse it before the end of the fiscal year to those Metis locals that were in good standing...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left I have Penny Ballantyne, the deputy minister of Executive and secretary to Cabinet. To my right I have Lisa Turner, director of Finance with the Department of Executive. Thank you, Mr. Chair.