Bob McLeod

Since the coalition of 14 groups presented a number of documents to the previous Premier in the 16th Assembly, which was in December 2009, there has been considerable work undertaken in this area. It is our expectation that we will have this by the middle of 2012.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Taking action to improve the well-being of Northerners and reduce poverty in the Northwest Territories is a continuing priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories, although it is not something this government can do alone.

Earlier this year an interdepartmental team consulted residents about the root causes of poverty. Residents told us that the root causes of poverty included lack of wellness, lack of education and skills, housing challenges, lack of employment, high cost of living, and programs that create dependency instead of encouraging independence. In...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to recognize Mr. Scott Messenger from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology department of marketing and communications. Welcome, Scott.

I think we’re following normal procedure in developing an Anti-Poverty Strategy. We will be developing a draft Anti-Poverty Strategy and will be coming forward to committee. Also, as I indicated earlier, we are meeting with the Anti-Poverty Coalition on January 19th. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are committed to reaching out to Aboriginal governments to develop a working relationship or a better working relationship, and right now we are following up to the Detah meeting and have had a number of meetings and phone calls with all of the Aboriginal government leaders. We’re also following up, trying to do bilateral meetings with each of the Aboriginal governments in order to have a follow-up meeting.

As a government we’re developing what we’re calling an Aboriginal Government Engagement Strategy and as part of that we’ll decide whether we’ll continue the...

Yes. As a government we are already engaged. We have put together a team of deputies to examine options, to look at what the possibilities are. We will be putting forward a decision paper for Cabinet probably very early in the new year.

We will make sure that we put out the call for applications as soon as we know what the budgets are this year. For example, we won’t have our business plans and funding approved for 2012-13 until the end of June or middle of June, so we would put the call out as quickly as possible.

I was referring to a protocol that was put in place where we had to respond to committees by the end of July of 2011 I believe it was. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I should clarify exactly what I said. As a government we are working to have a development project in every community. In that way we can increase employment and create more jobs in all the communities. So for Aklavik we hadn’t specifically found a project, although we had expected that the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline would fit that bill quite nicely. We have been working with the community on the access to gravel and noting that it is a community responsibility.

Over the years our Department of Transportation has worked in partnership with the Hamlet of Aklavik and the...

Right now, as I understand, it’s primarily between the Prime Minister and the Assembly of First Nations and their leadership. I’m not sure exactly how the meeting will be structured. I have written to the Prime Minister in follow-up to our phone call requesting a meeting with him. I’m also planning and we’re trying to set up a phone call with Minister Duncan. I have been texting with the grand chief of the Dene Nation who has been involved in the discussions along with the grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations to see how we can work together. So we expect to be meeting with him sometime...