Weledeh

Statements in Debates

Debates of , (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For sure, I cannot speak for Grand Chief Herb Norwegian. I mean, I’m not 100 percent clear what the deal would be that he would find acceptable. Mr. Speaker, I can say that whenever we come to an agreement like this, there will always be people who feel that a better deal could have been gotten if we had done something differently. That’s always the case. My view is that this is a good deal. If it goes through from current agreement-in-principle status to final agreement, then I think this is a deal that gives us a lot more than what we’d get today, for sure. Is...

Debates of , (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The short answer is no, this does not affect it at all. The four aboriginal organizations, governments, and our government have signed the deal and I think it sends a strong signal to Ottawa that if we work in solidarity on our positions and we want a share of those resource revenues as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I will never criticize those who choose to take a different path. That’s their choice and if they go along that path and find that they get a better deal, then, as I say, you know, good luck to them; I hope they can do it. Mr. Speaker, on the other hand, the arrangements, the agreement-in-principle we’ve signed with the three land claim groups and the Metis is one that is open and, at times, if people want to join on, they can join on and sign up too, if they choose to go that path.

Mr. Speaker, I’m going to continue working with those who have signed...

Debates of , (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m assuming the Member is referring to negotiations on an agreement-in-principle about the bigger issues or on land use and so on. But, Mr. Speaker, no, I don’t have anything specific to report. There was a briefing provided to the Akaitcho people last week, the Akaitcho leaders. The chiefs there, again, the same as with Dehcho, have taken a position that they would like to negotiate their own deal; they feel they can do better on their own. Certainly there is nothing that our government is doing to try to frustrate that. If they feel they can do better on their...

Debates of , (day 6)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to mention first that we work along with a lot of other partnerships like with NGOs and so on. So it’s not always our decision or direction in terms of what will happen.

The people on the Coalition Against Family Violence feel quite strongly about the conference. They feel a need to build that awareness and at the same time do some training. The conference will accommodate 120 participants from across the North. It’s broken down into four sessions. Each session focuses on one action that has impacts in communities. They will use some expertise, as well as...

Debates of , (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, this is a recommendation to Cabinet so we will not be voting on it, but certainly there are many implications to the motion that deserves serious consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll refer this question to the Minister of Transportation. Thank you.

Debates of , (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we don’t have guidelines for that infrastructure money. We don’t know exactly what the federal government means by trades-related initiatives. At this point, as I say, we don’t intend to use capital money for the Deh Cho Bridge. The plan right now is one that the Department of Transportation and the Combined Community Alliance and the proposed contractor can do it as a P3 project without using capital money. So, Mr. Speaker, at this point I’d have to say that, without knowing the guidelines for the $25 million a year for seven years, that we don’t plan on using any of...

Debates of , (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, I don’t have a fixed schedule for it, but I can assure the Member that this summer we will do the essential repairs. I don’t know the exact schedule of which will be done where, but some things like leaking roofs and standing water under the buildings, those are things we have to fix right away. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, the report deals primarily with those seven areas of deficiencies. The recommendation in the draft report is that the building be replaced, but that in the meantime we do some renovation to last us five years until we get a new building. There’s concerns with the building in the areas -- I won’t go through all those seven areas -- but there’s also concerns with the site that it allows for too much accumulation of water and is creating problems for us. So, Mr. Speaker, the draft recommendation right now is to do the repairs. We will do them by the Housing Corporation and then plan...