Kam Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. One heck of a curler, too, Mr. Delorey.

---Laughter

Good to hear you’re here, Paul. When the coroners’ reports come in, if recommendations are directed to various departments, the coroner would follow up with the departments on their response to those recommendations. That’s how that works. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

We have promotional videos, we showcase some of the spectacular scenery of the Northwest Territories, the wild spaces, the clean air, and certainly when we’re promoting the Northwest Territories it isn’t just one segment of the tourism industry, it’s everything we have to offer.

It’s important to note that in Asia, specifically China, tourists from China really do like clean air, open space and the scenery. I think we’ve only scratched the surface of the potential in the Chinese market to get many more Chinese visitors here to the Northwest Territories and they won’t, hopefully, just be coming...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We had a deputy judge that was residing in Hay River up until last summer. We will certainly take the Member’s concerns back to the department and see what we can come up with. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I enjoyed listening to the Member’s passionate plea. It is and continues to be something of great interest to the coroner. As we move forward, I think it’s something, again, that we can look at. It won’t be very much longer until the 18th Legislative Assembly is in place. It’s only nine months, 10 months. We will also need to, and I want to highlight this, I think Health and Social Services will have to figure prominently into the rollout of such a review committee. They are responsible for the domestic violence prevention and that side of things, so we need to be...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

We’ve made a substantial investment in communities like Deline. Lutselk'e will be receiving $500,000 toward tourism initiatives there. We are making an effort to try to get the funding that we have across the territory. In the region, I know our regional tourism office, in collaboration with municipal and community partners, is involved in lots of initiatives to help grow tourism visitation and spending in the Beaufort-Delta region. In particular, some of the initiatives, if I could highlight some of them for the Members, are: revamping and enhancing Destination Inuvik promotional materials to...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

The Member is correct; we have to continue to have trappers help us promote their fur, the fur that they’re harvesting. We have a great relationship with Fur Harvesters Auction and we have taken trappers in the past. Just on our recent trade mission to China and Japan, we had Andrew Stanley with us. Andrew is a trapper out of Hay River and he was a really good ambassador for the trapping industry for the Northwest Territories. People loved talking to him about what it was like living on a trapline, trapping wild animals. He certainly is a great ambassador for the industry. We were happy to...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

Mr. Speaker, in every community visit, when discussing corrections and justice issues, we hear that on-the-land programming helps people heal and reconnect to their culture and values. In the Department of Justice, we know this to be true. This type of programming has long been a cornerstone of programming in the NWT.

In the Assembly last year, I talked about work the department has undertaken to ensure inmates are receiving appropriate cultural and on-the-land programming while in NWT corrections facilities. Finding capable partners with the right kind of cultural knowledge and experience to...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

Our hope is to have the facility in operation by December of 2016. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

I wouldn’t characterize it as the government not gaining anything. As I mentioned, we sold two buildings on Archibald Street for almost $2 million. We are collecting lease payments on those properties at the airport, so we are gaining in that regard. Again, our hope is that those factories are up and running soon and that we do have the Polar Bear brand back out in the marketplace at some point in time. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 58)

The Member covered off a lot of ground, but I’ll try to go back over it. We do have to continue our support to jewellery makers and we’re happy to have jewellery workshops. I know we talked a long time about having those and we got those off the ground last year. We’re happy to do that. We’d have to continue to support that sector.

Also, on the fur side, we are now responsible for marketing fur. The other side of that has gone over to ENR, and we will continue to work with ENR on that.

We continue to be, and have been, a major sponsor of the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik. I know the...