Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if his department has ever done a cost factor of somebody who has abused alcohol or drugs. What has it cost this government? For example, it costs about $90,000 a year to house somebody in our justice system if that person is in there for an alcohol-related crime. Has the Minister done a comprehensive cost factor in regard to someone using and abusing alcohol in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the Minister of ITI had an exchange on the Sahtu oil and gas exploration and the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars that are going to be spent in the Sahtu in the next couple of years. In Fort Good Hope, they actually closed off the bid there and Shell Canada won. I think it’s just over $90 million worth of exploration.

I want to ask the Minister, in regard to the Mackenzie Valley Highway, we’re going to do this in steps and, certainly, we in the Sahtu support the Inuvik-Tuk highway to go through. We’re also looking forward to some support to build a...

When the Minister provides the information, I want to ask the Minister if he would take it to his colleagues and maybe they could designate the trappers into the government customers pricing so the trappers can pay the $1.61 per litre rather than the non-government customers paying $1.76. I ask if they would consider categorizing the trappers into that item where government customers are only paying $1.61.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Public Works and Services on petroleum products. I have talked about the trappers and the increase in fuel costs to do the trapping. I want to ask the Minister why the prices are so high in the Sahtu. Other smaller communities just had a 10 cent increase, I think, in Tulita. The trappers are asking why the prices are so high again this year.

I’ve always supported the take the youth trapping. As I said, a young lad in Colville Lake, when we asked the young kids what they want to be and some were saying nurses and doctors and teachers, this young guy spoke up and said I want to be a trapper. That tells you that trapping is alive and well in the Northwest Territories, especially in our small communities. It’s an honourable position.

I want to ask the Minister, through the Take a Kid Trapping program, is that like an apprenticeship program where kids can apply for an apprenticeship to learn under the professors in the university of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have talked about the trappers in the Northwest Territories. In 2008 and 2009 there were 812 trappers. Of those 812 trappers in that year, 161 were in the Sahtu. People in the Sahtu understand the high cost of living, and trapping is a business. There is a market out there with the Russians and Chinese, who all want northern furs for their own product. Trapping is a business.

I want to ask the Minister of ITI, with the recent increase of petroleum products in the Northwest Territories, especially in the Sahtu where there is gas, trappers are asking if there’s any type...

The Minister speaks to a territorial commission with regional representation from the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask, if once this commission is in place, if there will be specific requirements that members are appointed or if it’s pretty well someone from the region that’s very passionate about this work and want to see this type of legal aid service in our communities emphasize in regards to the types of service now we are seeing from the legal aid services when they come to our communities for specific court issues. There are too many complaints from our region about the legal aid...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the honourable Member for Nahendeh for bringing this motion to the floor and having some discussion on it this afternoon. I have also been contacted by some people in the Sahtu region. I didn’t quite understand the issue until I looked into it further.

Regarding the rent scale, I applaud the Minister. We have worked through the issue of how to reduce the cost of living in our smaller communities up in the Sahtu, of Fort Good Hope, Deline, Norman Wells and Tulita. Further north the cost of living is very high. Actually, I was up in Ulukhaktok. I couldn’t...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a letter to Prime Minister Harper regarding the Financial Investment Protection Act, “First Nations lands and treaty territories cannot be sold out to foreign investors.”

I look forward to the Minister’s end results of that discussion. I guess I’m going to ask what type of commitment he can make here in the House that he will get back to me and other Members who also have trappers in their regions that could possibly benefit from this type of discussion, and what type of numbers we are looking at.