Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS the chair of the Stanton Elders’ Council has called upon the Department of Health and Social Services to include a wellness centre at Stanton Territorial Hospital to provide a blend of traditional Aboriginal and western medicine;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the government provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess he’s calling it facilitation. Apparently there’s a process laid out. I guess the Dehcho is willing to go down the facilitation road or mediation road.

How does this process kick in, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you very much. I’d like to thank the Premier for that answer, but that’s not the position that the Dehcho First Nations has seen or had seen.

I’d just like to ask the Premier once again – I think on Monday I noted his great negotiation ability – does the Premier see a way to get back to the negotiating table? I know, like any negotiator, Mr. Premier of course doesn’t want to negotiate in the media, but he must have a way in order to continue the talks. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to go to item 7, oral questions, on the Order Paper. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

Natural justice must prevail. I clearly laid out in my Member’s statement with regard to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that people are innocent until proven guilty, yet here the Minister is saying perhaps they are breaching a code of conduct. They’re actually not. It has to be proven in a court of law. I would like to cover off in other departments, Justice, maybe RCMP, people are actually not suspended without pay. They are delegated other duties in their department.

Why are we taking a hard-line position, especially when we’re not following any natural justice process? I think we’ve got...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Human Resources some questions about the department’s position on employees who have been charged. I’m not too clear if they’ve got a policy or a guideline or a procedure or how it works when it comes to our employees. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing me to speak to the motion.

I spoke on this issue last week, and I felt it was deserving of a motion to speak about a wellness centre to be included in the Stanton Renewal Project.

I think at that time, too, Mr. Francois Paulette, the chair of the Stanton Elders’ Council, had been calling upon the Department of Health and Social Services to include a wellness centre at the Stanton Territorial Hospital for about eight years, and now the Stanton Elders’ Council is in full support of designing a facility like that.

I’m pleased to...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that this domestic violence death review committee motion, I certainly will be supporting it. As the motion states, and the mover of the motion as well, it’s just reviewing these situations. We’ll learn from them. It has benefitted many jurisdictions and I think it’s time for us to start doing that. Even though when you review it, it’s for a large, general population, but I believe it can work in the smaller communities as well. It’s about establishing and learning from the risk patterns that are out there and protecting our people as well...

I’m glad that Mr. Premier mentioned the whole area about facilitation and mediation. That’s getting back to the first question.

Does the Premier see a role for mediation when it comes to a perceived impasse as it were? Mr. Premier and Aboriginal Affairs doesn’t see it as stalled talks, so despite that, is it their way to get mediation happening, look at both sides’ positions and come to some resolution and try to continue to move forward with the talks? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you graciously, colleagues. I spoke to the Premier in his role as the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs on Monday, but I’d like to ask Mr. Premier about the GNWT and the negotiating table for the Dehcho First Nations. I know that they haven’t actually been negotiating since January.

How does the GNWT intend to respond to the Dehcho First Nations for their request for mediation to resolve the current impasse to get negotiations back on track? Thank you.