Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a motion. WHEREAS the Office of the Auditor General, in its 2011 report to the Government of the Northwest Territories, clearly indicated that the Medical Travel Policy is inconsistently applied;

AND WHEREAS the Office of the Auditor General, in its 2011 report to the Government of the Northwest Territories, clearly indicated that there is no sound mechanism in place for monitoring and evaluating the Medical Travel Policy;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories has had more than four years to respond to the Auditor General’s report;

AND WHEREAS...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the Report of the Special Committee on Transition Matters, “Passing the Mace: Recommendations to the 18th Legislative Assembly,” dated October 2015.

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Committee Report 24-17(5), be received and adopted by this Assembly.

I am honoured to stand here today to congratulate and recognize Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred and Lucy Jackson. Mrs. Lucy Jackson was the recipient of the first Order of the Northwest Territories, and accompanying her is her good, full-time, wonderful husband, Wilfred Jackson. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to just ask the Minister about the traditional economy. Now, that’s the backbone of our people. It was a way of life until we started to look at the European value of exchange. The economy is still strong. Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope have the best fur harvesters in the Northwest Territories.

I want to ask the Minister, is his department working with the trappers in the region, specifically around Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake, in regards to seeing that this tradition is continued to be passed on to the younger generation? The best furs, I may say humbly...

Thank you. The Minister clearly laid out the amazing potential we have in the Sahtu. I want to ask the Minister, has he and his officials looked at one area that he hadn’t mentioned today, which is the Selwyn-Chihong Mine that’s at the Yukon/Northwest Territories border? I understand this mine is going to go into production. There’s close to $1 billion worth of work there, potentially with 850 workers during the construction phase and around 450 permanent workers to operate that mine.

Has the Minister looked at how we can match the young potential workers in the Sahtu with this upcoming mine...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our North is rich in resources, and yet we have yet to fully untap the potential of our people, our youth. We have potential in our lands. The trick to any government is to connect that potential with each other. That’s the trick of any leadership, any people. How do we untap the potential of our young people, the ones who are going to school, with the opportunities that are rich in our lands? Through imagination, through initiatives.

The Sahtu sits in the midst of amazing wealth and resources, but we have not yet realized how we have access to this wealth and these...

Thank you, colleagues, for allowing this motion to be brought forward and have your views on it. I certainly know that this motion here, as Mr. Abernethy so eloquently laid out, is going to die. This motion may die here in this Assembly but this issue is still alive and will be still alive in our communities, with our elders that come and talk to us. I have a list of people who have e-mailed me on their experience with the Medical Travel Policy. It may sound that there’s not an issue, but in our small communities and our larger centres, regional centres, it’s an issue, so I hope that our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

AND FURTHER, that the Department of Health and Social Services ensure that a mechanism is in place for monitoring and evaluating the Medical Travel Program;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the government produce a response to these recommended actions for consideration by the House by February 2016.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to table a CBC News report on the Province of Manitoba lowering food prices in remote northern Manitoba communities.