Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Madam Chair. The $105.7 million carry-over for infrastructure projects that had been approved and lapsed in the 2011-2012 period, certainly we see the benefits in our communities. Certainly, the Minister has my support for these projects. They’re worthwhile. They’re beneficial to my people in the region. We look forward to the completion of them. I’m not too sure how much I want to go into the detail of the planning and how we get these projects to completion, but it does show the federal government influence in our budget when they gave the money to us to get some of these project...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, June 11, 2012, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the Legislative Assembly thank the members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for the work they have done in the Northwest Territories and across Canada;

And further, that the Legislative Assembly honour the survivors who have shared their suffering with great dignity in order to promote healing and reconciliation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Premier.

Please provide the number of positions that will be transferred to the Government of the Northwest Territories from the federal government on the Devolution Agreement Implementation Plan.

Please provide a listing of all federal government positions, including a regional breakdown, which will be transferred following implementation of the Devolution Agreement.

Please provide a summary of the funding that will be transferred to the GNWT along with the transferred positions.

I think the communities have been saying this. We need to work with the department. I again challenge the Minister, for example, young graduate Samuel Kodakin, next year I want to ask if the institution has talked to him, the department, have you gone to school? If not, why not? Are you working? Has it helped you? Those type of things to see where the graduates have gone once they finish school. Maybe he’s going back to Aurora College to do upgrading to further his career in another field of specialized knowledge and needs to do that. I want to ask the Minister, that type of tracking, keep...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve made my Member’s statement on the graduates from the Sahtu. There are about 25 students this year. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if there is any mechanism within this department to track graduates that are graduating this year to see how successful they will be in post-secondary institutions, or what they will be doing a year from now or two years from now. People like my nephew or other people in other communities that are graduating this year.

The Department of Transportation has some well dedicated staff. Maybe they might be overworked, because we got a lot of money from Transportation and the federal government to put projects right across the Northwest Territories. We certainly, in the Sahtu, could also help with some of these projects here, with the transportation, the design, the work. We can also even take some of this project management. They did a wonderful job in Colville Lake. The department and the community put together a good team and they put the airport there. It can get done. I think the department needs to give a...

Madam Chair, I want to ask the Minister on the bridges that are being worked on in the Sahtu region, because of the increase of the traffic over the winter season, and it’s going to get worse in a good way, that we need to look at the bridges. I want to ask the Minister on the bridges in the Tulita area and outside Norman Wells that those bridges need to be taken care of. Will that happen this winter?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to thank Ms. Bisaro for bringing this motion for discussion in the House here. I think the timing is right in terms of creating an ombudsman office here in the Northwest Territories. It is an office that would be independent from the government, at arm’s length. It will have the powers to look into matters and issues on behalf of our people, and it will have the powers of, hopefully, the full scope of the government services that we provide. It will be centred around people much like our jobs here in the Assembly.

I see this office here having a lot of...

We had our meetings here as a committee and we had the NWT Seniors’ Society come and meet with us one fine, early morning and talked about the rental issue with the seniors and the Housing Corporation. I want to ask the Minister if the NWT Seniors’ Society asked for a meeting with the Minister and staff about this new implementation, especially the delay. Would the Minister be able to entertain having a meeting with them?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize my sister-in-law Doris Camsell and, of course, Ms. Jacobson Masuzumi.