Norman Yakeleya

The community of Tulita and the people in the Sahtu, even government departments came and said, what can we do within these couple of hours we have. The hamlet did a fantastic job. The government showed up with resources. They allowed their people to come and help us. That’s the right thing to do in the small communities.

I want to ask the Minister, with regard to the emergency search and rescue funding, can the Minister bring forward a type of initial discussion paper to see how we can fund these emergency search and rescue efforts in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A terrible tragedy affected Tulita this past summer. As many may be aware, this past June a young woman named Nicole Horassi went missing. Nicole’s remains were discovered by a search and rescue volunteer the following month. On Friday, July 13th, Nicole’s body was found floating in the Mackenzie River.

Nicole’s death was heartbreaking for everyone that knew her. Nicole was a beautiful, bright young woman that died far too young. Nicole’s passing showed us that tragedy can, and does, strike at any moment. In many instances it happens suddenly, without any warning.

I’m...

Madam Chair, I wasn’t too involved with committee on this bill and my first question to the Minister would be on the Aboriginal rights, I guess, in these areas. I know there’s some discussion in some of the parks that we are establishing in the Sahtu and I know the fire restriction has to do with safety and precaution. People, when we go out on to the land, we like to make our fire and have some tea or whatever and sometimes these areas that we are protecting are used for public enjoyment. So I’m not too sure what provisions there are or how it’s being looked at in regard to having some of the...

Just a few comments, Madam Chair. Congratulations to the Minister and the team, and to the Tlicho. It’s quite something when you work it out on a government-to-government relationship, especially with the Tlicho people on a new path to governments in the Northwest Territories. Now, seeing this, would this also be similar to Deline, once they finish their community self-government. Would this type of process also be undertaken?

In the North and in Canada, we are always changing and so we’ve got to look forward. I think we need to look at a new level of provincehood or the way the Constitution is, but the way it looks now, it doesn’t look in our favour. However, I’m not too sure if Canada and the Canadian people will say, let’s not give the right to the Northwest Territories people then. We can do things differently. We certainly passed the hurdle of the devolution. It’s still in its draft stages. I have hope and I have hope for my people. I believe in our people. We can do this. I want to ask the Premier, is that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about what’s next after devolution. This morning on the radio station I was listening to the chairperson from the Sahtu Secretariat, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, talking about the next steps in the progression of becoming a province that will have its own rights and meanings of being a part of the Confederation of Canada. She talked about a constitution in five to 10 years. I wanted to ask the Premier if that is the progressional steps we take in the evolution of becoming a province. We’re just about there, but we’re not quite there. We just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We in the Sahtu want to live up to our fullest potential. It’s in our nature. We are hard workers and we believe in our families and we support each other. We love the land and we respect it. We live by Yamoria’s laws and traditions that our elders have taught us. This does not mean that we do not want to change. Our elders tell us that we must adapt to changes if we are to survive as a nation of people. They say that we will be strong if we work together.

Our goals in the Sahtu are the same goals set out in the 17th Assembly. In the Sahtu our goals are in our hearts and...

Like I said, I certainly send my prayers to the people who have to deal with this issue. So far the Minister said there are two individuals. That’s half a million dollars for each individual to seek this type of specialized treatment. Certainly, no individual in the Northwest Territories can cover the cost for this type of treatment program. Certainly, we do the best we can in light of the other pressing issues that we have in the North in regard to how we prioritize our costs with treatment and medical needed by people in our communities or in the North. I just want to make note of that.

It’s...

Mr. Chair, anybody that needs medical attention or services, certainly my prayers go out to them. I just want to look at the numbers here. Is this not recoverable to any type of federal government program? This is our cost to our own for having the best health care services in Canada?

On page 7 it says to provide funding to reflect the impact of projected shortfall for costs of blood and plasma protein products. Do you know how many people in that that reflects on the cost here?