Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Chair, the Aboriginal...(inaudible)...needing funds, I think the Minister is going to come forward with a detailed plan as to how this fund would be expended throughout the year, the $350,000. That’s for gatherings similar to the one we had at the beginning, the one at the beginning of the Assembly with the Caucus meeting in Detah with all the Aboriginal leaders. We started on our working relationship with the government. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, would the implementation planning involve the Aboriginal governments that signed on with the GNWT to do the planning post-devolution, et cetera, on this planning?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask the Minister about the relationships we have with the Aboriginal governments. I know we have an Engagement Strategy. I guess it’s two-pronged. One, are we going to continue to support the efforts made by this government to strengthen our relationship with the Aboriginal governments right across the North? It’s pretty diversified and quite challenging. However, this should be strengthening our employees to not be so complacent and go out and expand their ability to look at different points of view, the different nations and different governments. We are on...

The Minister is correct; he’s given me some numbers for Nats’ejee K’eh on the capacity and finishing and he’s very correct on the success rate. We can probably do it very bush league type and I can tell you how many people in the Sahtu went to Nats’ejee K’eh and how many stayed sober after six months, eight months, 12 months. I think what the Minister, I’m not too sure if I really want to know that, because that takes a lot of effort and energy and we want to do something that’s different, like prevention. Like you talked about before, how we can best use those resources, time, and effort. I’m...

Can the Minister tell us his reasons why the reduced rate for the first year of implementing the seniors’ rent charge starts on September 1st?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask some questions to the Minister of the Housing Corporation. The Minister just made a very important, significant announcement regarding the implementation of the seniors’ rental charges and delaying it until September 1st. I want to ask the Minister, between now and September 1st, what type of work he will do with the seniors in terms of explaining the reasons why the rental charges will be coming in, what type of consultation his staff or the communities or LHOs will be doing to see how we can talk and listen to the elders and see that the rent will be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to say it’s a good day today for the seniors of the Northwest Territories, and by thanking the Minister and thanking this government for delaying the implementation of charging seniors rent until September. Also, to go a little further, then to implement a two-phased approach to the seniors’ rent by giving them the opportunity to look at the reasons why we’re going to implement the rent at a lower cost than what the Minister and the government really wanted to do.

Today is the beginning of June and I guess there is Christmas in June also, because it’s a good...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister has been telling us, the people and the public, through the newspapers, and telling everybody that we really need to watch our financial spending for the next couple of years before we start to look at how we reap what we sow in year three and four. The Minister, for me, has his hands on the pulse of the fiscal. He’s like when these big planes are flown and there’s the pilot and the co-pilot and he is navigator. The navigator is there to tell you how much fuel you have, what kind of weather, where it’s raining, everything. The Minister is like that within...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to convey my thanks to the Premier in this area, the single-window service centres. I know when I spoke to the lady in Fort Good Hope she was very happy. People are very happy about this service. A very good move by this government and this Premier, to put this important service in our communities and that this type of stuff goes a long way to helping our people. I want to let the Premier know that, because the lady told me to say thank you to our government. She was happy that this kind of service was going to continue and that the Premier also indicated other...

Mr. Chair, just on the federal government’s contribution to support activities between Devolution Agreement-in-Principle, the Minister has indicated $2 million. So this number here, is this number still… When you divided up to the Inuvialuit, the Metis Nation and Sahtu and ourselves, just part of some of the Aboriginal governments have not yet to date decided to sign on. Is this for all of us that who are signing on to the negotiations? I’m just trying to figure out where this money is, how much is left of it. Thank you.