Jane Groenewegen

I’m not aware whether there is an actual developed and formed territorial organization as yet, but I’m sure that even by bringing the awareness to this in the House today there could very well be responses to this. We would be following suit of other jurisdictions in Canada, such as New Brunswick, which I mentioned, which have already taken the lead to do this. I don’t think it’s something that would be costly to the government and I’m not exactly sure how the proclamation of certain days is undertaken, but I would certainly encourage anybody who shares an interest in this topic of remembering...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is a day of remembrance for pregnancy loss and infant death. Although this day is observed in many places around the world, it is still not well known. The Canadian Foundation for October 15th, known as CFO, is an official foundation leading the campaign to recognize October 15th as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Canada.

The goal of the CFO is to obtain an official day of remembrance – October 15th of each year – to ensure that all Canadian families who experience the loss of a child during pregnancy or shortly...

Mr. Speaker, I too will be supporting this motion as it is brought forward today. When we think of the agonizing role that parents play sometimes in trying to find solutions and comfort children that are being bullied in school, we figuratively say it is criminal. Mr. Speaker, it should be, literally, criminal. We should not allow young people to do things to each other that adults could not do to each other.

When you see the harm that is brought about by bullying, we need to take it to a different level. It is time to stop saying kids will be kids, or turning a blind eye to this. This should...

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, the Minister spoke of 33 positions, 65 applicants. Where are the 33 positions? Are they distributed throughout the Northwest Territories at regional centres and other locations, or are they all in Yellowknife? Thank you.

There also seemed to be a question about snow removal. This school is located on a very large lot, and of course, you get a lot of snow. Like anywhere in the North, you get a lot of snow there. But I guess in the old school maybe they had like a shed for snow removal equipment. I know this is a problem in Hay River too. I’m not even sure whose responsibility it is to clear the snow. Is it the schools or is it Public Works and Services? That was another deficiency that we observed and heard about when we saw the new school in Inuvik. Maybe the Minister of Public Works could answer that for us...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services. I think we as the government, through the Department of Public Works and Services, should allow for a local interpretation and local input into how they want their community infrastructure to look and the kinds of things they want to accommodate. But, Mr. Speaker, we pay top dollar for architects and engineers when we build these kinds of projects. I guess Inuvik particularly stands out in my mind just because of the sheer cost of it.

I am not in any way trying to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning had an opportunity to have a retreat in Inuvik – and I hadn’t been up to Inuvik for a while, not since the new school was built – and it was our opportunity while we were in Inuvik to tour some new facilities that were built there. Sitting here in the Legislature, I had heard a lot about the new super-school in Inuvik. I expected to be amazed. Now I can tell you the only thing that amazes me about that school is the price tag.

I hate to rain on anybody’s parade, but right from the outside of that school, it has...

I’d like to thank the Minister; good answers. There are always going to be deficiencies with new construction. Any new building, there is going to be a list of deficiencies of things that need to be addressed. I am just disappointed that such fundamentally required things like millwork or cabinetry to store things like kids’ shoes… All the way down the hallway, there were those $1.99 plastic boot trays on the outside of the hallway. Inside the classroom door, literally, were Rubbermaid white laundry baskets with all the kids’ shoes all chucked in there in a pile. I’m sorry, I’ve been in a lot...

Like I said, I’m not trying to rain on anybody’s parade on this, but we did spend a lot of money on this. We heard about all the consultation that went into the school. I just don’t know how such basic things that a school needs could have possibly been overlooked in this school.

On the same tour we saw the Children’s First facility, which I must say was amazing and lots of thought went into that. That was a Cadillac of early childhood development centres, but I have to say I’m disappointed with the school. They’ve got lots of things to work out, so I hope Public Works will get on that. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the last sitting of the Legislature, I did a Member’s statement on health care card renewal. Many weeks have gone by, and I have to tell you that this has turned into an almost fulltime job for us in our constituency offices to deal with the myriad of people who cannot seemingly get a quick response to getting their health care cards renewed. I’ve checked with some of my other colleagues and Hay River is not alone. At first I wondered if it was a conspiracy.

It gives me no pleasure to stand up here and complain, as you know. We must always express all the things...