Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can certainly consider putting extra money to support students to access programs into the business plan and take a look at how much support we have for that approach. I am prepared next week, when Mr. Scott is here, to raise the issue with the Minister. I would hope that the federal government would recognize their responsibility and live up to their responsibilities by putting some money into the program to deal with the current demands just from status people and that they would also fund the program so that Metis people could access it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m pleased to provide this House with more details about the NWT justice system and in particular how this government works with communities to meet their needs and aspirations.

One of our guiding principles has always been that an effective justice system is one that is accepted by the communities it serves. Community involvement leads to acceptance and a justice system that meets the needs and aspirations of these communities.

The department encourages communities to increase their involvement in the administration of justice through community justice...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I already committed in this House that by the time business plans are presented to the committees that I would update Members of the House on any actions I had taken to try and achieve this. As the Premier had noted earlier, there is an opportunity for all Members to lobby the federal Minister next week and I would certainly welcome the Members’ intervention on this issue as I would hope to intervene as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, it’s really tough to find one area that is the most important. If people don’t have economic opportunity, obviously their children are not going to enjoy the same sort of security that others would. You don’t have economic opportunity if you don’t have an education. You don’t tend to be as healthy if you don’t have an educated. There are a whole range of issues that we need to deal with in our society and we need to make sure that we have healthy people making healthy choices in healthy communities if we want to make sure that we deal with this. So we have a real...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Regarding mandatory death benefits, the existing wording excludes same-sex couples from those benefits.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I had a clear, concise answer for that question. I don’t. I can’t say that child poverty exists because of one specific reason. There are a whole range of reasons that there is child poverty. We have, as a government, put a significant amount of money, as the Member noted in his statement, into programs over the last few years and I guess we must be just having trouble keeping up with the growth and the cost of living in an overheated economy. Because one would expect with the kind of investment that we’ve made with our small population, that more of a difference should...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right. I’ve had some discussions with the deputy minister on this issue because it has been raised from the private sector over the past six months. We are, right now, in the process of trying to decide what level of consultation, and how much of the act we should take out for consultation or whether we should do a focused amendment or propose a focused amendment just for this one issue. Right now, that’s the stage we’re at, is trying to determine just how far to go with the proposed amendment. The answer to the Member’s question is, yes, we’re looking at...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Right now, under the Conflict of Interest Act, if two people are married and one person is a member of a board or a council, they have to follow the conflict of interest provision. I will just take an example that I am familiar with: the Legislative Assembly Executive Council Act. Under the conflict of interest provisions here, if a Member is married, they have to declare all of the interests of their spouse. They have to make sure that there isn’t a conflict of interest. However, if the couple is not married, it wouldn’t necessarily apply to them. So we are fixing...