Frame Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , (day 25)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the document entitled Renewing the Labour Standards Act of the Northwest Territories, A Consultation Paper, October 2004. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , (day 25)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that I would agree that this is totally separate. A company that is responsible for making a large amount of money from our resources in the Northwest Territories has a responsibility to help us deal with the social issues that arise from that money coming into the Territories. Therefore, one of the things that we are trying to do is to bring social issues into socioeconomic agreements with the company. We believe that we have to work with companies to support gender issues when we talk to them about the socioeconomic agreements as well....

Debates of , (day 25)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has a good point and it’s an issue that this government is quite aware of and is working to make sure that we keep in mind whenever we talk about issues like development in the North. In fact, the special joint committee on the pipeline, it’s part of its mandate to provide direction to the government on the negotiation of a SEA, and issues such as this are certainly the sort of thing that we want to see talked about during the negotiation with companies in the socioeconomic agreements. So we will make sure that we keep this sort of thing in...

Debates of , (day 25)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know I’ve talked to the college too about the facilities in Tuk and told them about the Member’s interest in seeing those facilities used for training purposes. So I am sure the college is taking a look at whether or not that provides an opportunity. The funding that is part of the Aboriginal Skills Employment Partnership Program will be administered by the committee that has been set up to oversee that sort of funding, but I will make sure that the Education, Culture and Employment representative on the committee keeps the opportunities in mind for...

Debates of , (day 25)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Labour Standards Act lays out employment standards for non-unionized businesses in the territory. It was first enacted in 1968 and was based on legislation in effect across Canada. It has been amended over the years on a piecemeal basis and now the act is disjointed and at times difficult to interpret.

The Department of Justice has initiated a review of the legislation and later today, at the appropriate time, I will table the document: Renewing the Labour Standards Act of the Northwest Territories: A Consultation Paper.

Mr. Speaker, in this...

Debates of , (day 24)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue is complex and it does involve or require a cross-jurisdictional, or cross-departmental response. One of the ways in which we’re hoping to deal with that is that the social envelope is working together to try and improve on case management so that we have people in the communities who work in the different departments, whether it’s Justice, Health and Social Services, or corrections, to deal with people in a case management process. We are hoping that we are going to be able to improve the way in which we deal with people who have challenges that...

Debates of , (day 24)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the last five years, the complement in the region has been increased in the Fort Liard detachment. I am not sure that in the region there has been a dramatic change. That may have something to do with the position the Member is asking about. I did commit already that I would check with the RCMP and see what I can find out in terms of any extra funding and allocations they may have made.

Debates of , (day 24)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to announce the establishment of the Official Languages Board and Aboriginal Languages Board. The establishment of these boards is a major achievement for this government with respect to our commitment to the NWT official languages and the revitalization of aboriginal languages.

During the last Assembly, the Special Committee on the Review of the Official Languages Act set out 65 recommendations. Members of the 14th Legislative Assembly sent a strong message by accepting all 65 recommendations.

Mr. Speaker, this government has acted on those...

Debates of , (day 24)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a wide range of programming available for young offenders in our facilities, everything from schooling to special programs aimed at troubled youth. The On-the-Land programs have had a bit of a setback in the recent past because we haven’t had enough people incarcerated to have the interest in going out to that kind of facility. The other problem we face, of course, is there has to be a willingness on the part of the person incarcerated to attend an On-the-Land program. They can’t be forced to attend it. But we have, in the past, offered those kinds of programs...

Debates of , (day 24)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, most communities in the Northwest Territories have a youth justice committee and, for the most part, young offenders are diverted to that committee. So residents in the community can decide what is an effective and appropriate manner of dealing with offenders. What it takes is an agreement or acknowledgement by the offender that they have committed an offence, and a willingness to work with the community to deal with that offence in an appropriate way. That is by far the biggest option that we have for young offenders in our communities across the North...