Henry Zoe

Mr. Chairman, I just had to make that point in terms of the comments of my colleague the Member for Sahtu raised with our Speaker. As you’re well aware, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Dent has made a statement today on our official languages. This month is the month to celebrate that; the whole month of March. What I said is I agree with my colleague that it’s imperative that we try to provide those services back again. I think it’s warranted so the people of the Territories know that we’re enhancing our own aboriginal languages, especially here in this institution. I think they have to see us taking the...

I was just going to remind the Speaker on what my colleague said about when we debated the Official Languages Act in Norman Wells. I spoke my language, and we had to shut down the whole House for the whole day before they got the interpreter. So the point I wanted to point out to the Speaker; I am sure he is aware of the rules that we have in place. He knows them better than I do, I think. If someone objects in a formal sitting on a point of order, we have to shut down the House in order for them to have that service available. I just wanted to note that, because it could happen....

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m going to rally through a whole bunch of issues. Maybe I’ll start off with part of the discussions that have already taken place. Parking, Mr. Chairman; I think we need to improve that service, not only for Members, but for the general public.

I know that the Cultural Enhancement Commission will be looking into beautifying the outside and the inside and stuff like that. I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity to give them some of my thoughts on how I see certain things to be done in terms of enhancing our cultural elements inside the building and outside.

On another...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mahsi. (English not provided) Mahsi.

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Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just on the issue of language services that the Speaker indicated that we don’t have a set schedule for the various languages. The onus is up to the individual Members to approach the Assembly to provide that service, but it causes a problem. We don’t know when we are going to have a big delegation of our constituents in the House. You can’t really predict. Sometimes, it is nice. If you see a large delegation in the House that you weren’t aware of and you want to speak in your own language, the opportunity is not there for you. I wanted to speak in my language, but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of my constituents from Rae-Edzo, Mr. Peter Husky who is in the gallery. Welcome to the House. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason why I am questioning the Minister and requesting this type of service for the small communities is that I don’t believe that the good work that the RCMP is doing is not what the Minister is indicating. I believe that the smaller communities may be occasionally visited by the RCMP, but not on a regular basis. They don’t thoroughly talk specifically about this problem we have with drugs. That is real. I would like to ask the Minister if he can provide for me, my riding and maybe other smaller communities also, statistics in regard to how many times the...

Thank you. I hope my answers aren’t like the ones that have been given to my colleague. Mr. Speaker, if I may, maybe I can kill two birds with one stone. My question is going to be for the Minister of Justice, who is also the Minister of Education. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement, I talked about crack cocaine and the programs that are being provided here in Yellowknife, which is called the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. My question to the Minister is, in the larger centres, they have programs like DARE, like in Yellowknife. Could I ask the Minister, in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to get a commitment from the Minister if he could, after he talks with the RCMP officials, implement my request as soon as possible. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, the Minister indicated that they don’t offer the DARE program in the smaller communities, but a similar program or when the RCMP are visiting the smaller communities, they do, occasionally, as he said, visit the schools to talk in general about drugs. But, Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if the RCMP would make this into a regular program and go into the various schools on a scheduled basis, so that the students at the various schools could really understand the ugly reality of drugs in general. I wonder if the Minister would undertake to see if these kind of scheduled...