Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment invests about $1.1 million on its own annually to train people in regional settings to assist them to find jobs in the oil and gas field. That will continue and that does take place throughout the region, including communities like Tuk. The ASEP funding is intended to serve all of the regions in which oil and gas is found and in which people may find employment. So there is certainly an intention to make sure training takes place on a regional basis. I can assure the Member that there will be regional training...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize a friend today: Major Karen Hoeft.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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.

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....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has funded one RCMP officer to work as a community liaison person. That position has worked with the organizations in Yellowknife, Inuvik and Norman Wells. So there is a resource available from the RCMP to help, for instance, organize committees like the Wellness Coalition in Yellowknife. So, yes, there are programs available to help communities. We generally try and work through the justice committees in communities, because we have the infrastructure there to focus our activities. So they tend to be the focus, but we do provide other...

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...

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.

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...

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...