David Ramsay

Thank you. We will continue to work forward with the process that we have in place. We’ve received submissions and we will be bringing forward amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act later this year, which will be debated in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the summer of 2013, the Department of Justice distributed a consultation document on potential amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act. In response, we received 17 submissions to that. Submissions were received from housing organizations, landlords, territorial and community agencies and some individuals. The deputy rental officer and the NWT Housing Corporation also submitted responses to the consultation paper. Suggestions for improvements to the act were also received from MLAs and will be considered as part of the consultation.

The time, energy and careful...

I will commit to go back to the department and have a discussion with them about how fast we can move forward with a review of the criteria, and if there are individuals that have had applications in whether that new criteria could apply to those applicants or whether they’d have to reapply, we will try to sort that situation out for the Member in the Inuvik region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his questions and his concerns regarding the Harvesters Assistance Program that the Department of ITI has. We have $15,000 earmarked for that program on an annual basis and we are currently reviewing the criteria for claims to be filed for access to that funding. We are going to continue with reviewing the criteria.

In the last couple of years, the Member is correct, we’ve had flooding both in the Inuvik region and also in the Sahtu and we’ve had to find funding from within the Department of ITI. Two years ago it was close to $80,000 and three...

Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart, shock and sadness that I speak to you today about the tragedy that occurred last evening in Moncton, New Brunswick. Three RCMP officers have lost their lives and two officers have been injured in the line of duty in a way that makes no sense to any of us.

I know that I speak for all of us in extending our deepest condolences to the families of the members who gave their lives, and to the families of every RCMP officer serving in New Brunswick, in the Northwest Territories, across Canada and throughout the world. I have family in Moncton, so this strikes...

Thank you. I certainly do care about people. I’ve been in this position for almost 12 years now and I do take my job very seriously. If the Member is so inclined, he has got the opportunity to move a motion on the floor of the House if he wants to pursue his idea. Thank you.

Thank you. I will check with the department on whether or not it’s too late to get another submission from the Member. Thank you.

Again, I thank the Member for raising the concerns today. It is important to note, as I mentioned earlier, that the federal government is looking at a five-year time frame for the remediation. They’re also looking at an additional five years for monitoring, after the end of that initial five-year remediation period. But we have to continue to move forward and seek the means to have that land transferred to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Once we do that, the Member is right; I mean, it has to be co-managed. That’s certainly a recipe for success that the Government of the Northwest...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; we are looking at putting a cable crossing across the Twitya River. The good news is the remediation work will start next summer. The federal government has made a commitment to look at the remediation beginning next summer. That’s a period of approximately five years that they feel that they need to spend remediating the area. There are a number of waste sites, four in particular that were classified as Class 1 waste sites that would be targeted immediately for cleanup and remediation.

The beauty of that Canol Trail would certainly rival anything that Banff...

We do have the Take a Kid Trapping Program, Take a Kid Harvesting Program. It’s $125,000 a year. We also have the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program at $600,000 a year. We also have the Western Harvesters Assistance Program, or WHAP, that’s $15 million a year. We also support local wildlife committees. We also look at the Community Harvesters Assistance Program, that’s another $1 million that we put out there. We do also have a Harvesters Disaster Compensation Program that we run through the Department of ITI, all there to assist people as they pursue traditional lifestyles on the land...