Bob McLeod

As I said, we have a significant number of programs. One of the most successful ones we had was the Western Harvesters Assistance Program where we partnered with all the aboriginal governments so that trappers could make some capital investments such as buying equipment and so forth. I think there is only one or two communities left that still haven’t accessed that program.

With regard to seniors, certainly we talk quite a bit about our SEED program, our Strategic Environmental Economic Development program. We have programs in there under small business and micro business where people are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of ITI has a long history of programs to support harvesters and trappers so that they can have a choice when it comes to maintaining a way of life. Certainly we have a number of programs, totaling in the neighbourhood of $2 million, that would help support the traditional economy and, certainly, as anybody involved in sports knows, the future depends on getting youth involved and we’ve invested a lot, along with our many, many partners such as Education, Culture and Employment, MACA, industry and so on, into our Take a Kid Trapping program to introduce a...

I’ll just clarify that I think our objectives are the same when it comes to increasing the employability of people with disabilities and, again, you know, somebody said there’s statistics, damn lies, but I’m probably misquoting it.

The statistics, if you look at the workforce for the Northwest Territories, it should be around 8 percent, and I think that’s something we can probably reach agreement around what percentage we should be working towards. But nevertheless, I think what we’re setting in place with the Employability Working Group with looking at best practices with sensitivity training...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated yesterday, it’s not something that we change overnight. It’s a process that takes some time and it’s a matter of working with partners and it’s a matter of changing the culture of an organization. Anecdotally, I know of at least two additional people with disabilities that have been hired, at least one of them has self-identified as disabled. So it’s our expectation that it’s an ongoing process and it will take some time to have some achievable results.

Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to update you on collaboration between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the three Northwest Territories diamond mines -- BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc., Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. and De Beers Canada Inc. -- under the Northern Mining Workforce Initiative Memorandum of Understanding.

The memorandum of understanding was negotiated to assist the Government of the Northwest Territories and the diamond mines to work their shared goal of increasing the number of Northwest Territories residents employed at the mines.

Collectively, we have two objectives under...

This is something that we are committed to and I think the whole Cabinet is committed to, so we will continue to work with all regions and all communities so that people will continue to be able to make a choice so they can practice a way of life and continue to do so for some time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We’ve had a long partnership with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and working with the schools and curriculum so that we could introduce school children to trapping, because it’s been not only my view but the view of a lot of people in the education system that this lifestyle and ability to go out and earn a living off the land is something that fosters a lot of qualities that help children become successful in later life. Attributes like decision-making, leadership qualities and high levels of self-esteem have been associated with Take a Kid Trapping. Certainly if you look...

Thank you. I could answer that and give my own opinion, but this is a government and we deal with the government policies. So right now, P1s, or affirmative actions, are the top priority. P2s, people that have lived more than half their lives in the Northwest Territories, are second priorities, and then we have P3s. I think that what we’re reviewing is what would it take to give persons with disabilities a higher priority in our Affirmative Action Policy, and that’s what we would be looking at. We are looking at ways and then, at that point, we would bring it back to see if we could change our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this year we announced the number of actions that ITI was taking to help small business, specifically with BDIC, those of our clients that are best clients that we are making reduced loans available to them. We also are helping with working capital for those companies that would be ordering for goods that they would be selling. We’ve made arrangements for some effective rates for them to take advantage of. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mining resources are owned by the federal government or else if they are negotiated through a land claim and they have subsidiary rights, as you indicated, then they’re owned by the Sahtu government. So as I said, we are prepared to make sure that Northerners benefit from development when they happen in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.