Norman Yakeleya

The band council began constructing the camp this spring. The community hopes it can be a wellness and healing camp where people and youth can be comfortable, learn about the traditional Dene ways of life, reconnect to their roots and give them strength for the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, June 3, 2013, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Tabled Document 70-17(4), Electoral Boundaries Commission 2013 Final Report, be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration.

We have about 850-some-odd days left of this Assembly, roughly two years, and we have two cycles of our infrastructure, two cycles of O and M. That is giving us a short window of opportunity to work with the people, work with the people in Deline and this department, this government. Can the Minister commit within a two-year time frame to sit down with the leadership in Deline and say this is the type of design, what type of design are you thinking about if you were to take this project and go through the capital plan process so that within two years we know that they could look forward to a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. In the 20-year capital needs infrastructure plans, I see that that the ?ehtseo Ayha School is not scheduled for new construction until 2020, 2021, or 2018; I’m not too sure. They have two different dates on here. I want to ask the Minister, in regard to this project, if he would be willing to work with the people in Deline and if he could look at moving this project to a closer date other than seven or eight years from now, in regard to the new school.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to talk about the investment of our children and the people in our communities, especially in the community of Deline. Investment in our education, in our people, is very, very critical. I met with the Deline leadership this morning and they talked solely on the investment of their children, to the point where in 1995 was the first time the government said to the community we want to bring Grade 12 into your communities. The people in Deline said yes, providing you bring the resources that allow sufficient Grade 12 programs. Nothing to this date has honoured...

The Minister is correct; the positive side is that we’re racking up the infrastructure to support the thousands of truckloads that the oil companies bring into the economy of the Northwest Territories, specifically into the NWT into the Sahtu. So I want to ask the Minister about the carry-overs. Does the Minister have a suitable, qualified personnel to say yes, because this is happening we’ll have someone saying you need to get this contract in place, we need to look at this, we need to look at if there’s applications for permits or water licences, we need to do this and put some emphasis into...

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the Ministers’ responses and note the activity could maybe be ramping up in a section in the Fort Good Hope area because of the parcels that are going to possibly be taken by the oil companies. There are already two that Shell is going to be working on in that area. I’m certainly looking forward to the Minister’s announcement if the federal government does help us with some federal infrastructure.

I also see some other issues with the Mackenzie Valley Highway environmental assessment issue coming up. I want to ask the Minister with regard to the activity and safety of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to ask a quick question on the health centre and long-term care facility replacement in Norman Wells. I want to ask the Minister when this facility will be completed. I understand it’s stretched out over a number of years to a regional plan and I wonder if that’s to help the financial situation that the government is in. It doesn’t do much for us and I’ve been hearing some of the people in the leadership saying why are we stretching it out so long. This facility is greatly needed and appreciated, and I’m just asking about the rationale as to why it’s done...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the Minister’s commitment is to sit down with the Deline leadership to look at the ?ehtseo Ayha School and the new school for that community. In the Minister’s meetings, can he also sit with the leadership and talk about what kind of support this government can give for parents who are sending their kids to Yellowknife, Smith, Inuvik, Hay River for a higher education and to see where the government can possibly help these parents who are now paying for their own kids to get an education by sending them outside of their community?

The parents of Deline are sending their children out of that community. There are other communities in the Northwest Territories where they’re seeing that their children are getting better education in the larger centres such as Yellowknife, Inuvik and Hay River or Smith. The facility in Deline, the school is not adequate to give them the same type of equivalent education as the larger centres. If we can look at that issue here and help the people in Deline look at a proper facility with proper resources, proper students, then the parents would keep their children in the school.

I want to ask...