Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister believe that industry representatives, i.e., the producers group, would be lead to believe that this fund, whatever it turns out to be that would flow to our government and aboriginal governments, is going to lessen their responsibility in terms of the negotiations on the access and benefit agreements that are being proposed by aboriginal governments up and down the valley? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, whatever the number was initially or might end up to be at the end of the day, was this amount of money considered to be some kind of an interim payment or down payment on a tentative royalty sharing program with the federal government? Is it considered a bridge or an interim down payment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 14-15(4): Closure Of The South Slave Correctional Centre Remand Unit

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one thing I was never really clear about or assured of was in fact that when the change in operations was proposed that the Harrington Report, as it’s called, and the coroner’s report as a result of the suicide that took place in cells had been taken into account in terms of the operation changes, because I think the staffing of the remand centre, the way it was, was directly precipitated by those two reports. Can the Minister speak as to whether or not those things were taken into account when these changes were proposed? If they weren’t, would he commit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, just for clarity, in my Member’s statement, I talked about the relocation and transfer of employees. Some other Members made reference to this being a move to offer employment to people who lost their jobs as a result of the Justice closure in Hay River. In fact, Bosco Homes is a private contract; there is no opportunity to transfer. It is not the intended purpose. The gap was referred to of 18 months, but was not the intended purpose to relocate to absorb the laid-off employees from the GNWT in a private contractor’s personnel group that would be considered...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Earlier today, during Member’s statements, we heard from Members about the concern raised about relocating the Territorial Treatment Centre program from Yellowknife to Hay River. The issue of access was raised. What is the government’s policy with respect to regional access to territorial programs? There must be a policy in place which addresses this, because I know I spoke to this issue about services south of the lake until I was blue in the face in the last session. How big of a part...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I devoted an extraordinary amount of air time during the budget session to the loss of Justice jobs, programs and services in Hay River. It potentially directly impacted a total of 40 jobs. It impacted the open custody young offenders' facility, our court registry and the closure of our remand unit at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre.

I am pleased to recognize that the planned closure of the court registry was reversed. The closure of the remand centre proceeded on April 15th, in spite of a unanimous motion of the Regular Members to reinstate the...

Thank you. I certainly recognize the fact that we lost approximately 20 government jobs at Dene K’onia, including permanent and casual, and that 20 new private sector jobs will go some ways towards mitigating the loss in the community. As far as Hay River goes as a community, has thought already been given to the profile of the community in terms of opportunity, education, and ways of integrating these young people in programming in the community? Has Hay River been assessed from that perspective? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the thinking that precipitated this discussion about relocating this facility and this program was related to the availability and suitability of infrastructure which the territorial government presently owns and has maintained and invested money in. I was wondering if the Minister could speak to that issue of the infrastructure to accommodate the program in Yellowknife versus Hay River at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize of Member of Parliament for the Western Arctic, the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Minister of State for Northern Development; and her spouse, Mr. Leon Andrew. Also I’d like to recognize His Worship Mayor Gordon Van Tighem, the mayor of Yellowknife.

---Applause