Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Those are streamlined in front of the rental officer.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. To my left is Karan Shaner, assistant deputy minister of Justice. To my right is Mark Aitken, part of the legislative counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to be here today to speak about Bill 22, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act. This bill will amend the Territorial Court Act to increase the monetary limit in civil cases from $10,000 to $35,000.

The Territorial Court provides an effective process for civil claims but the limit of $10,000 means that many lower-level civil claims must be heard in Supreme Court, which is much more complicated. Increasing the monetary limits will permit residents to bring forward claims in an affordable practical way and improve access to justice.

I would be pleased to...

Definitely, that’s one of the priorities that we have with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. That’s a first priority as early childhood development and also child care development. Definitely, this is an area that has been the prime focus in the childhood discussion among the forums in the Northwest Territories among the regions. We’ll keep the Members posted as we move forward. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I can definitely find out the actual detail of who they’ve talked with across the Northwest Territories. My understanding is that they’ve initiated discussion with educators in the Northwest Territories and those communities with or without the daycare or the preschool, because we needed to hear their perspective as well. But I can provide more detailed information to the Members. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize my leadership: Tlicho Grand Chief Eddie Erasmus is here with us; also Chief Alphonse Nitsiza of Whati; Chief Charlie Football of Wekweeti; and also an elder from Gameti, Louie Zoe is here with us. Also staff members along with the leadership: John B. Zoe, Bertha Rabesca-Zoe and Henry Zoe.

Also, I’d like to recognize another lady that came from outside the territory: Bonnie George. She’s a...(inaudible)...chief of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation of British Columbia. She’s visiting Yellowknife as part of a practicum towards her master’s...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. They have their own bills such as the one that’s before us now. Each jurisdiction has their own initiative to proceed with their lawsuits. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. To my left is Karan Shaner, the assistant deputy minister of Justice; to my right, Ian Rennie, legislative counsel.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here to present about Bill 23, Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act.

It has long been recognized that tobacco exposure is linked to serious health conditions in both smokers and non-smokers, including emphysema, heart disease and several types of cancer. The NWT has a very high rate of smoking and the need for many patients to travel south for treatment results in very high costs for our government.

This legislation would permit the GNWT to file a lawsuit to recover from past and future health care costs for smoking-related illnesses directly from...

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. The . Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Ontario, and Yukon have a limit of $25,000. Saskatchewan has a limit of $20,000. Manitoba and NWT, our jurisdiction, is $10,000. New Brunswick remains at $6,000 with plans to increase theirs to $30,000. PEI and Quebec respectively have limits of $8,000 and $7,000. So those are just some of the numbers we’ve received from other jurisdictions. Mahsi.