Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I’m looking at two sections. The first one is the Inuvik-Tuk road and, of course, the other one the Minister and I personally had experience on from Fort Good Hope to Fort Simpson.

My question is directed to the Minister of Transportation. If the project is approved by both governments, do you think that we’ll be able to get the people in the region working right away? We want to see some action.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have two questions to the Premier regarding the intergovernmental affairs relationships engaging with the Metis groups in the North. My first question is: What is the GNWT’s policy or position when it comes to engaging with Metis groups and how long ago was that established?

Completing the highway and connecting Canada from coast to coast to coast will be a big boost to all Canadians in establishing a year-round transportation link to our Arctic coastline. It will also be a major step to protect our Canadian sovereignty. We think it will lead to further investments in other regions such as the Sahtu.

I am very pleased to be able to support this project. Truly, we stand here and say the North was built by Northerners and will continue to be built by our own people in the future. We have a dream.

I was notified, just saying that the bands were going to be, right across Canada get 10 percent. I didn’t really get into it until I got to Tulita and sat down with the chiefs and they started talking about some of the information, so I’m glad the Premier would be open to some discussion, if it does happen, with the chiefs and the councils and looking at the impacts of this funding that will be taking place here. It’s preliminary right now, just having an early discussion, and we’re not getting our feet dirty and our hands dirty on this issue here. I’m looking forward to the GNWT’s support to...

The Premier is correct on the partnerships and I guess he’s looking at the different aspects of the Gwich’in, Inuvialuit, Sahtu, and how to work with them. When in Rome do as the Roman’s do sort of concept. I’m looking at the GNWT and I guess that’s how it will be done. It has to happen with the Akaitcho or the Dehcho, even in Yellowknife – there’s a large population here – Hay River, I guess, looking at those types of support for communicating the Devolution Strategy. I look forward to the draft communications strategy and I’m pressing to him to say yes, okay, we can maybe look at something...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister, in regard to preparing a training plan, I believe we have the assessment. Would his department start going into the Sahtu while the winter roads are open in Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope, Deline, and Tulita and Norman Wells, and bring them together? Cut down the cost, be efficient, be effective. Can the Minister do that within 25 days to get things moving?

I look forward to working with the Minister in the Sahtu. The winter road is going to close down within, what, 25 days or so? Equipment is going to be sitting idle. However, we in the Sahtu want to start to look at next month.

Can we start assessing, start getting different types of training for the various different programs in the region? I want to ask the Minister if we could speed up the process, inform his department, the oil companies, and the communities and everybody. Let’s sit down in April, May and June and let’s put together a training plan that we can look at starting in July, and...

Madam Chair, the crime stats with the alcohol in the Sahtu in the last year, I want to ask the Minister. I appreciate that Tulita is going to get an extra RCMP and they are going to get a victims crime service worker. I’ve talked to some of the RCMP members. They are pretty well worked. They certainly provide, from eye-witness accounts and speaking to them, there is a lot of business. It is pretty heavy. They are doing a good job with the resources they have. I want to ask the Minister, in his analysis, research, has the Minister seen an increase with the crimes associated with alcohol abuse...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were a couple of spots that we went on the Mackenzie Valley Highway. There’s one called Washboard Lane and Pothole Valley. I want to ask the Minister, is the Arctic paving program going to increase the dollars for the oil companies, because those number, maybe 1,500 or 1,600 trucks are pounding the roads in the Mackenzie Valley. If the Minister can look at some funding to increase the Arctic paving program in the Mackenzie Valley, that will certainly help our people and probably will save a lot of lives.

Maybe I can ask some questions now that the Minister’s mind isn’t blank anymore. I want to ask the Minister with regard to the justice committees’ strategies and philosophy, and Tough on Crime Initiative by the federal government and the way things are looking around the community with regard to what he heard from the Sahtu. Maybe he heard different in the other regions.

Is the department looking at the way restorative justice is looked at, the diversion programs, the restorative justice healing programs, victim services?

I say this, and also with crime prevention, because I’m reading a book...