Norman Yakeleya

WHEREAS the Northwest Territories Official Languages Act recognizes 11 official languages;

AND WHEREAS, under the Official Languages Act, residents of the Northwest Territories have the right to communicate and receive services from any regional, area or community GNWT office in any official language spoken in the area, other than English or French, where there is a significant demand for service in that language or where, due to the nature of the office, it is reasonable to provide service in that language;

AND WHEREAS GNWT Policy 71.10, Official Languages, states that a government’s ability to...

What the Premier is saying is indeed good news. We can get the motion in gear and have some discussion with our leadership, land corporations, and look at some maps and see what needs to happen in terms of a good conference to get a good, accurate assessment of what is in the Sahtu and what areas we can look at to improve the development of a mineral strategy that the Sahtu region can work towards in five or 10 years as to how to extract or develop a mineral strategy and something like the Selwyn-Chihong operation that is expected to go into a billion dollar production sometime in the future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. I want to ask a question to the Premier in light of our economic opportunities in the North.

Knowing that oil and gas is not going to be looked at for a while due to the global world prices, has the Premier’s colleagues looked at a mineral assessment strategy in the Sahtu given that Selwyn-Chihong is going to be racking up their business with their mine close to the Yukon/Northwest Territories border? There are other areas in the Sahtu we haven’t looked at with regard to a Sahtu mineral strategy.

This being the last session of our Assembly, I want to thank the people in the Sahtu for the privilege of serving them for these number of years. I also want to thank the support and staff through my role as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, Ms. Lorraine Bezha, who has been there to support me through thick and thin. I also want to thank Mr. Andrew John Kenny, my confidant and elder who stood by me through some very hard times in my personal life.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank my two colleagues who are leaving us and taking on a different role in their lives. Although Mr. Bromley and I at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to thank the mover, Mr. Bromley, and seconder, Ms. Bisaro, for this motion here. I’m going to just make a few points.

I had an earlier conversation with Mr. Bromley and I wanted to say to the House that, certainly, this issue is up in front in a lot of people’s minds in our communities, and at points of our discussion that Mr. Bromley and I agreed to disagree in how we looked at these issues. I’ve mentioned to Mr. Bromley that I probably needed some more time to understand what the issues are, and I appreciate his openness and willingness to hear me out.

I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I enjoyed the tour with the Premier when we had that visit into the Sahtu. I know other areas in the Northwest Territories are rich in minerals. When we look at the Sahtu mineral strategy, we are looking at also the types of infrastructure that can help us with our mineral strategy. One of them is the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Is that something we can look at in all aspects of the mineral strategy, so we can get our people to look at the area, look at the environment, look at the infrastructure and say we have a plan for the Sahtu to extract, develop and produce some of...

The Premier is dead on with this exchange. Within the realm of our government, an election will be happening soon, and something the government can look forward towards, and maybe put together, is a Sahtu mineral strategy conference in region so we can have a good, accurate assessment of what is there in the Sahtu with regard to a mineral strategy.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to also recognize the family members that have come today to support the Members in this House here. It’s very nice to have them come. I know the sacrifice they have to do so that we can do our work with the fullest attention to our constituents.

I also want to recognize Chief Sangris, Mr. Bromley’s constituent, with the Akaitcho. The Yellowknives people here wanted their ancestors here so we can stand here and do this work.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to recognize Geraldine with Mrs. McLeod here. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Geraldine. I had to ask the Premier,...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement is going to be consistent with my Member’s statements in the last 12 years. I’m going to do a Member’s song following the song from the legend George “Awesome” Jones. The title is “I Don’t Need Your Rocking Chair.”

Mr. Speaker, I don’t need your rocking chair, but it would be nice to get medicare, such escorts for our seniors’ care. No questions asked, our health care. I’ve still got politics in my veins. So does Michael and Jane.

---Laughter

This grey hair doesn’t mean a thing. I do my rocking in the hills, mile 222 to Norman Wells. My body is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a report by the Special Committee on Transition Matters – Passing the Mace: Recommendations to the 18th Legislative Assembly.

Transition is when one group of people willfully hands over political power to another group of people.

This year the Northwest Territories (NWT) will transition from the 17th Legislative Assembly to the 18th Legislative Assembly. This process will begin with the dissolution of the 17th Assembly on October 25th, followed by polling day for the General Election on November 23rd and the appointment of a new government soon thereafter.

The...