Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much. I certainly look forward to bringing the Minister to Trout Lake, because the community has always seen it as their project and they want to continue to benefit from whatever work is left there. So, we’ll just leave it at that until we get into the community to meet with the leadership on the Trout Lake Airport.

A couple more questions under airports. Trout Lake has also been asking for a snow blower and that’s something I’ve been raising for some time. I think there was a plan to move a blower in there about two years ago. Can the department tell me about what plans there...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I submit one more time that I think one of the better strategies is to increase the visits, increase the number of days of service to the smaller communities. I’d like to ask the Minister if he will take that into consideration and look at that in his overall strategy. I believe that’s one of the musts that we should do.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Just in this year’s capital budget you do have a planning study for Trout Lake and their need for a replacement school. That’s how I’ve been approaching the community. The community has always said they want their own stand-alone school and they certainly do want to see renovations there. In fact, kudos to the community of Trout Lake, one of the fastest growing communities in the Northwest Territories. Many young families are moving back and that has resulted in many children now. They’ve actually got 20 in the school right now and those numbers are only going...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not a case that there never were nurses there. There were nurses there, there was RCMP there, so I would like to once again ask the Minister to look into the situation, take into account the increased development in that area and start planning or accessing the need for restoring two nurses back to the community of Wrigley. Thank you.

Thank you very much. He was talking about models. Is there an actual policy that says the smaller communities cannot have nursing? When I’ve initially asked these questions, well, ever since I became MLA 10 years ago, there was an issue of having the support of policing as well. Is that still the issue here for returning nursing to Wrigley? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As previously mentioned in this House in many of my Member’s statements, the people of Trout Lake need a stand-alone school.

Officially known as Charles Tetcho School, the school is currently housed in a multi-purpose building. The building is also used as a community hall. The school portion essentially consists of a single classroom. For the number of students, the school is overcrowded and the facilities are inadequate. The Minister of Education has toured the school with me, so he has witnessed the problems firsthand.

Trout Lake has grown in size in recent...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, I think the Minister laid it out there, but it still doesn’t squash the concern that there’s no capital in the future years upcoming. I think the only thing I saw in the books is 2018 or 2019, but I’d like to see it certainly moved up and the community would like to. So, if there’s any further remark, it would be that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

The committee heard that the department should help residents understand significant changes under the new Wildlife Act and avoid inadvertent violations of the new act by promoting awareness of the roles, responsibilities and authorizations it contains. Recognizing the complexity of the Northwest Territories’ wildlife and habitat management system, the committee recommends that the department conduct an extensive communications campaign to ensure all residents are aware of the new act and its provisions. The committee highlights the importance of ensuring clarity surrounding the process for...

I guess the case here, as well, is that the community is expected to have increased development, increased traffic to the community, so the health and wellness of the community will be an issue here.

I would like to ask the Minister, will the Department start considering that and start planning towards that for restoring nursing to the community of Wrigley. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions about nursing services in the community of Wrigley. When the highway was first opened up, there were two nurses in Wrigley only because there was increased development expected from traffic, et cetera, in the community of Wrigley. Since then, the two nurses have been removed. They have been removed for well in excess of 10 years now. But now, again the community is faced with the pressures of development as traffic and business increase due to the development in the Sahtu.

I’d like to ask...