Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This being early in the fiscal year, I would expect that we haven’t used very much yet of our Student Financial Assistance allocation since the budget was only approved to be effective April 1st. Most of the money goes out in September for the rest of the year. We do typically use almost all of the Student Financial Assistance. In fact, many years we have gone over what we put in the budget and have had to reallocate from other budget line items or else come back to the Assembly for an increase in funding. This Assembly has never turned the department down when they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right that I have written to the Minister’s office. We have had no response to that letter. So I can’t promise that we will get a response even if we follow up again. I will ensure that we are in contact with Minister Solberg’s office to let him know that it is important that we see access to citizenship courts here in the Northwest Territories and that we would like to see that take place very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know specifically which policy the Member would be speaking of. I don’t believe that we have policies in place that are intended to harm our residents. I can say that while a regulation is in place, the Minister has no ability to overturn it, but a Minister can change a regulation. If regulations are brought to my attention that are causing problems with our residents or have unintended consequences, as soon as I am aware of that, I issue instructions that the regulations be reviewed and changed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This being early in the fiscal year, I would expect that we haven’t used very much yet of our Student Financial Assistance allocation since the budget was only approved to be effective April 1st. Most of the money goes out in September for the rest of the year. We do typically use almost all of the Student Financial Assistance. In fact, many years we have gone over what we put in the budget and have had to reallocate from other budget line items or else come back to the Assembly for an increase in funding. This Assembly has never turned the department down when they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right that I have written to the Minister’s office. We have had no response to that letter. So I can’t promise that we will get a response even if we follow up again. I will ensure that we are in contact with Minister Solberg’s office to let him know that it is important that we see access to citizenship courts here in the Northwest Territories and that we would like to see that take place very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important to note that the WCB recognizes chronic pain syndrome as a compensable injury. There was some difference of opinion as to whether or not it fits in the disability tables, but the issue is one of whether or not compensation is being paid. The WCB says, or will accept chronic pain as a compensable injury. Each case is dealt with on an individual basis and it doesn’t fit into a standard table as some of the other injuries do; for instance, the loss of a thumb or the loss of a foot in which there is a standard sort of response. Each...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason is because Mr. Valic and his solicitor have determined that the public interest representative on the panel, the appeals tribunal right now, who would be available to hear the case is not suitable. Their argument is that she was involved in the case. I have been assured by her that she has never even read the file, but they have decided that they wanted a new person. So in order to achieve that, we’ve had to advertise for additional members of the appeals tribunal. That’s been done and, as the Member noted in his statement today, it is the closing day...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The judge did not say that anybody wilfully did something that was not acceptable. The judge said that she found that they had made the wrong decision and that, in her opinion, it needed to be re-examined. So this is not a situation, if you care to look at the judgment, that there was any indication that an individual was found to have done anything wrong. So, Mr. Speaker, in terms of who is going to be held to account, the WCB has had the ruling of the court, it's looked at it, the Governance Council has agreed not to appeal the case, the appeals tribunal is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It had been the hope of the appeals tribunal that they could have heard this case much more quickly, and it was the opinion of the tribunal and their legal counsel that they could put together a freshly constituted appeals tribunal to hear this case right away when the decision was made to hear it. However, since Mr. Valic and his counsel have rejected one of the members, we are working with all due haste to try and put one together. I can’t say exactly when that hearing will be able to be held, but I can assure the Member that the appeals tribunal will work with Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me pleasure to recognize in the gallery a group of provincial and territorial directors from the early childhood education and care from across Canada ranging from Newfoundland to British Columbia, to the Yukon and Nunavut. With them are some of their northern hosts from the Early Childhood Program in Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause