Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to stand today to support this motion on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories and my fellow Cabinet Ministers. The residential school system has had long-lasting effects on the people of the Northwest Territories, their families and their communities, and on Aboriginal people across Canada. Generations of children were separated from their families at a young age. They often lost their language and their culture. They sometimes suffered abuse. Instead of growing to be strong, healthy peoples and good parents, they struggled with addictions...
We have had input from the standing committee and they have advised that they want to see the number of MLAs attending be staggered over a four-year period and we will be organizing it accordingly.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very pleased to advise the Member that we have booked conference rooms or a ballroom in the Chateau Laurier and we will be holding NWT Days at the same time that the Winterlude is happening in Ottawa. We are doing business plans for 2013-2014 at which time, with the support of the Members, we’ll be asking for funding to upgrade our Ottawa office.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to make a few comments with regard to the motion. Specifically, it is my understanding that this should be a matter for the Board of Management of the Legislative Assembly.
An ombudsman must be independent. It must have the independence necessary to allow him or her to investigate complaints against the government impartially. Therefore, the ombudsman must be an officer of the Legislative Assembly and not part of government. This is the case in all Canadian jurisdictions where there is an ombudsman. As the Member stated, all jurisdictions in Canada, except the...
Mr. Speaker, later today I will table a document that represents a major step toward fulfilling the 17th Legislative Assembly’s priority of building a strong and sustainable future for our territory by strengthening our relationships with Aboriginal governments.
This document, titled “Respect, Recognition, Responsibility: The Government of the Northwest Territories Approach to Engaging with Aboriginal Governments,” is the foundation of our government’s engagement approach, upon which all of our actions and commitments are built. Respect, recognition and responsibility is our formal commitment...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following documents, entitled “Respect, Recognition, Responsibility: Government of the Northwest Territories’ Approach to Engaging with Aboriginal Governments.”
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In this area we make sure that we provide high-level coordination to make sure the work gets done, and also we provide support to all of the issues that you raised and also to all the Cabinet committees. In terms of resources that we have there, maybe I’ll ask through you, Mr. Chairman, to have my secretary to Cabinet expand on that.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Members, for your comments. Perhaps the best approach is to address each of the comments raised by the individual MLAs.
With regard to relationship with Aboriginal governments and our employees, this is something that we’ve taken as a very important priority. We will be releasing our Aboriginal Engagement Strategy, I think maybe tomorrow. The reason we haven’t released it yet is we were translating into all of the Aboriginal languages. We’ve managed to get that done now. Our whole Aboriginal Engagement Strategy is based on respect, recognition and responsibility...
I think our objective in tightening up the criteria, in the past we’ve had political groups and environmental groups applying for funding, and there’s a whole bunch of groups out there that look for funding, and I guess we tried to tighten it up so that it addresses those that we want to reach out to. After every fiscal year or every call, and after the money’s been given out, we review the program on an annual basis. We will be reviewing it again after this year.
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.