Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The tours that I’ve been having in the Sahtu region – and I know this came up in the 16th also – this issue here is with the district office in the Sahtu. One of the questions that came up in our communities was the value of having the district office in the Sahtu situated in Norman Wells.

I know the communities talked about moving some of the techies to the communities because the issue came that when the technician, it might improve. Some of the technical staff members come into the communities and they only stay the limited period of time and seem to watch the clock...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. One of the factors of the issue of diabetes is the amount of sweets children are eating or people are eating in the schools and especially with the younger children. Is the Minister working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment with the health curriculum in the high schools, when students pack in chocolate bars upon chocolate bars and pop and all the stuff that they’re drinking and eating, that risk possibly being diabetic one day at a young age. Is the Minister working with the Education department to see if this curriculum is being given the...

In the communities that I represent, people are now starting to realize that there’s not only two or three people but five or six that now have diabetes in that community. Sometimes it seems to be hard to get some services, either getting them out to a facility here in Yellowknife or in Edmonton where they can take the one-week Diabetes Education Program. Not only for themselves but also for the families. Has the Minister looked at this type of program where it can be readily available for the people of the Sahtu?

Madam Chair, I appreciate the Minister’s flexibility on taking this question, because sometimes it gets into the courts and to legal services. So I just wanted to know if there is some legal aid training for the interpreters or translators. Sometimes we just pick them off the streets in our communities and we tell them to translate, and sometimes they’re hearing some pretty detailed, sensitive descriptions of some of the crimes, and sometimes they’re traumatized or sometimes they internalize some of the stuff. Sometimes they just don’t have that proper training to interpret properly what the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I heard from the seniors that this might be a good thing for them. I’m representing seniors who have come and talked to me and said we needed to be consulted. The cost of living in the Sahtu is high. Everything is high and our dollars don’t stretch as far as down south. We need to be consulted. That is basic respect for our elders and our seniors, they might have an idea that it might have to work out, but they feel that they haven’t been consulted and properly talked to about this issue. That’s the issue. Other ones, that’s good, but I’m speaking specifically for the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I was going to ask some of those questions. I will follow up to some of those questions Mr. Bromley was asking the Minister regarding the resource development RCMP, I guess you can call it.

There is family violence RCMP and now we have resource development RCMP. I hope this position can somehow make its way into where the Sahtu is having some oil and gas activity that increases a whole bunch of other things that RCMP only can deal with.

One of them is that the Norman Wells liquor store restriction has been lifted since February 1st. We have been...

I’ve seen some notices up in the communities where they have a big poster saying that they’re going to implement the new rent scale. I want to ask the Minister, prior to making changes or looking at the changes or implementing some of the changes of the people in the Sahtu, the seniors who are living in these public housing units, prior to this, maybe six, seven, eight, nine months ago, has the Housing Corporation talked to these seniors who are in these units, saying that in the future we’re thinking about or we’re going to charge you rent? Does the Minister have a record of this in the five...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a short question here. The Aboriginal Court Challenges, has that been a good uptake? Are we getting a good uptake on that program? If not, why? Is it because it’s too difficult or there are too many roadblocks in place? I know there are some people who were really interested in it but they said it was just difficult obtaining that kind of funding. I’m not too sure if that’s true or not.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Earlier this year the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation announced changes to the public housing rental scales for July 1st. The changes include charging rent to seniors who do not pay rent now unless they have younger adults living with them. The new rent scale will start at about $75 a month, which many elders will be asked to pay. This may not sound like a lot of money to some people, but the cost of groceries and other necessities are very high in the small communities, especially in the Sahtu and further north. Our elders are on fixed incomes...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My comments are similar to some of my colleagues who have spoken, so I won’t stay too long on them.

Mr. Chair, the Minister’s department, one of the main objectives, I believe, is to protect the consumers in our communities. I was back in Tulita and it was very disturbing to me to do business in the Northern Store and they us their LINK card in the Northern Store. If you don’t really know the complexity of the LINK card and English is your second language – and these older people just use the LINK card to get in and out of the store or check their account – the Northern...