David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I strongly recommend to the government and this Cabinet to do away with the bickering and get on with the process. We went through a whole process on Species at Risk. We did a good job there. We allowed consultation. We allowed involvement of the aboriginal groups at that table to be part of the drafting team. I think we have to do the same thing in regard to the Wildlife Act. I’d like to ask the Premier: can we put aside our differences, move forward with a table to start these negotiations, get them concluded, and agree that we basically have to...

I think, as a government, we already have an avenue to try to resolve this issue. It’s trying to amend the NWT Wildlife Act to ensure that these situations we’re in now can be avoided in the future and, more importantly, entrench those legal obligations we have to First Nations people in regard to hunting rights, and spell it out in the NWT Act so that we know it’s clear that there is a process that when we have this situation we will have dialogue, we will have discussions and we will have a process to resolve our outstanding issues through a legislative process. Right now we don’t have that...

Aboriginal people have come a long ways since 1960. In 1960 they weren’t even able to vote.

Since then, Mr. Speaker, the aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories and Canada have progressed to a point where we’re finally recognized in the Canadian Constitution under Section 35, which recognized the right as aboriginal people and acknowledges their treaties, Treaty 8 and Treaty 11 in the Northwest Territories, and also upholds the land claim agreements that we negotiated. I believe by not finding the legal opinion on what grounds you made that decision on and not falling back on Section 35...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again I would like to raise the issue I raised yesterday in regards to the ministerial authority to take the action that he did and exactly where did that authority come from. We have the NWT Wildlife Act. We have the NWT Act. We have treaties. We have land claim agreements. We also have Section 35 in the Canadian Constitution that recognizes an inherence to aboriginal rights in Canada in regards to treaty rights and the rights of First Nations people. I would like to ask the question, under what authority did the Minister make the decision to move forward and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of privilege and feel my privilege as a Member has been threatened in which I feel that a Member has the ability to do his job without being threatened.

Mr. Speaker, as I left the Chamber after requesting a short break in Committee of the Whole, as I walked out the back of the Chamber with the Premier, Minister Miltenberger, Mr. Robert McLeod and other Members of the Cabinet, after stepping out of the doors, I was told by Mr. Robert McLeod, I hope you feel good. As I walked away, Mr. McLeod called me a bitch. Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that I will be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.

I will now rise and report progress.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. At this time, I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if she’d like to bring in witnesses. Ms. Lee.

Does committee agree?

Communities do want to try to maintain their loved ones and their elders in their home communities as long as possible and hopefully live out their days in their home communities without having to leave. I think it is important that we do find a way to accommodate our elders and ensure that they are having some sort of special living arrangements and also looking at ways of accommodating them so they do stay in their home communities. So I think it is important that we do find a way to work around it. I know that you mentioned 40 beds. Is there any idea of where this facility may be located?