Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the increasing concern of a dangerous superbug in the Northwest Territories. It reported in the Globe and Mail, October 13th, on Saturday, that this bug is probably one of the most dangerous superbugs that we can have here in the North. It had quadrupled in the Northwest Territories since 2007. This bug is mostly spread in hospitals, but now they’re starting to find it more in the smaller communities.

I want to ask the Minister of Health what he is doing to help the smaller communities who maybe do not know about this dangerous...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate all the elected councillors and mayors that just recently had their elections. I take my hat off to the people who put their names forward to serve their people.

The Premier talked about the year now that we’ve been elected, and we are elected by our people to fight for our people when we come to the capital in Yellowknife here to look at the conditions that we live in in our communities. We know the conditions because we come from these small communities.

When we come into a larger centre, we start to see some of the equalities that happen. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe we should all go to Ottawa and tell the federal government some of the issues here that are important here to us in the small communities.

Can the Minister tell me if, once he’s made some contact with our MP or the officials or the Minister in Ottawa, that he can inform the people through the chief and council in Fort Good Hope that this issue has been looked after once and for all?

The elders in Fort Good Hope are going through this a second time. There’s a glitch in the federal government’s system and I’m glad the Minister is on top of this issue. I want to ask the Minister if he’s working with his colleagues for this situation where some of the elders do not have the money to pay for some of their bills that the territorial government has issued, the power bill or some other bills, the housing bills. So is the Minister helping our elders in Fort Good Hope with the bills that are being poured on them by this government?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulation Ms. Phebie Kenny of Deline, along with her team at the NWT Housing Corporation, on receiving the Premier’s Collaboration Award today. On behalf of the Sahtu region, I would like to congratulate Ms. Kenny on her continuous efforts and contributions toward her community.

Ms. Kenny is known for her hard work and her constant teamwork. The community of Deline is fortunate to have such an exceptional individual. I encourage the Sahtu to continue much of the appreciated work with their communities and members.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a petition from Fort Good Hope opposing the GNWT charging rent to seniors in public senior housing; 106 signatures.

Mr. Speaker, when the agencies in our communities are telling me and us that enough is enough, we are getting tired of seeing the incidents, I want to ask the Minister, with the amount of development that possibly could happen in the Sahtu, part of our region is out-of-control drinking. That’s what’s happening right now, so we want to work on this issue here. Would the Minister work with his colleagues, departments of Justice, Health, Education, Housing, Economic, even the Premier, to see what are the impacts now you are seeing in the Sahtu? Go to our court dates here in the Sahtu and you will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to ask the Minister of Finance, since the lifting of the liquor sales in the Norman Wells liquor store, I’ve been receiving phone calls from the communities since February. Recently, I received phone calls in regard to the amount of alcohol that’s coming into the community, and the agencies, the RCMP and the nurses are very, very concerned now. I want to ask the Minister on this issue here, the people are waiting to see if there is some possibility of working to change the restriction of the Norman Wells liquor store, so that we can look at a regional concept...

Thank you. This week is Elder Abuse Week. We should send that message to Ottawa. There’s a glitch in here and elders are taking quite a bit of abuse here. So I want to ask the Minister, is he going to inform his counterparts in Ottawa that enough is enough and that this is the second time, and somehow the elders in Fort Good Hope are going to be reassured that there are other alternatives that can be used to make sure that the elders get their cheques on time. Can the Minister do that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning I heard on the CBC News and I had a phone call yesterday, actually, from a person in Fort Good Hope, that the elders are wondering what happened to their pension cheques. They’ve been waiting for a long time. So I want to ask the Minister responsible for Seniors if he’s aware of this and is he helping the elders in Fort Good Hope to find out what happened to their pension cheques from the federal government.