Norman Yakeleya

I actually have a copy right here, and the Premier was right on the priorities. We also have a goal for a strong and independent North built on partnership, and if we don’t have those types of partnerships, how can we build a strong and independent North? We only have a few of the partners on board.

I want to ask the Premier, when they’re looking at the Devolution Agreement, is the Premier and this government going to look at a referendum where people will have a chance to say this is a good deal or not a deal we should be signing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to talk about the issue of devolution and the importance of this issue here in the Northwest Territories. In our communities we are not hearing enough on it. For example, once devolution, whenever it gets completed to a final deal, will it be a vote throughout the Northwest Territories to say yes, people in the North want this deal to go through, or will it be like in the last government where seven Cabinet Ministers said this is what we’re going to do, we’re going to sign it with the majority of the Aboriginal governments not participating or wanting our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues.

WHEREAS Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, which marks 60 years since her accession to the throne on February 6, 1952;

AND WHEREAS Her Majesty the Queen will become only the second United Kingdom monarch to mark 60 years on the throne;

AND WHEREAS Royal Jubilees celebrate significant periods in monarchs’ reign and national life;

AND WHEREAS such important milestones in Her Majesty’s personal and public life should be celebrated widely;

AND WHEREAS such events help reinforce the sovereign’s role as a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to do my best with a verse here that we worked out this morning.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through this House

Not a Member was stirring, not even a mouse.

The coffers were built in warehouses with care,

In hopes the Finance Minister soon would be there.

The Members were comfy, all snug in their chairs,

While visions of schoolhouses danced in their heads.

And I in my moose hide, and Jane in her wrap,

Had just steadied our brains, for a whole new load…

Oh, and just a moment, Mr. Speaker. That’s a whole new load of promises, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly applaud the Minister’s messages to the health centres. Too often people in my communities go to the health centre, they’re given some mediation and then they’re sent home. I’d ask again if the Minister would let the health centres know that when people come in and they are requesting some further testing, that that can be done as soon as possible so that the people then can know that they can catch the disease or whatever they have earlier so it can be treated.

Right now in Good Hope there’s a cancer scare and that’s not good for people. I ask the Minister if...

Exactly what the Minister has indicated is what the people in Fort Good Hope want. They want to know if there’s some sort of proper testing that can be set up in the community because of the increase of cancer recently by the health care on our residents. It was done in Aklavik several years ago. Certainly it can be done now in Fort Good Hope. So I would ask the Minister if he would begin working with our health board and the staff, to start implementing some guidelines to the health centre so people then can be assured when they go to the health centre, if they request a test that this test...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to as soon as possible looking at some of the plans that will ensure they increase the services of dentists in the Sahtu, or any type of program that takes care of the peoples’ teeth.

I want to ask the Minister what type of support is he giving to people who have emergencies in cases such as the ones we have been dealing with in the past, the ones that we’re looking at to support people. If they cannot wait, they need to be flown out to the larger centres to have their teeth fixed. Sometimes it has to come out of their own pocket to pay for the travel, and...

The Minister has made some very valuable points that are noted here. Finding a dentist can be a very difficult task; however, we’re talking about lives that are so important that we need to have the dentists in our community. We’re playing with people’s lives if we don’t have the proper care.

I want to ask the Minister what plans… If during this difficult task of finding great dentists, is he working with some northern dentists where the prices may be somewhat higher but we have the services in the Sahtu?

People need them. It’s not like putting a bridge across the Mackenzie River. These are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the honourable Judge Shannon Smallwood, the first female Aboriginal appointed to the Supreme Court in the Northwest Territories in history.

Judge Smallwood is originally from Fort Good Hope, as an only child of her late mother, Mary Jane Elvey, and father, Ted Elvey, who is currently living in Calgary.

Ms. Smallwood worked previously as the Crown prosecutor where she was admitted to the Bar in 2000. She moved south to get her law degree, but eventually moved back to the North to pursue her career. On behalf of the Sahtu region and the community...

A number of my community constituents talked to me while I was in Fort Good Hope. They said when they go to the health centre and they complain about a sore back or sore stomach, the nurse usually refers them to Tylenol, Extra Strength Tylenol. She says, here, take this and come back. Usually when they come back, it’s serious. It’s sore and she again gives them Tylenol. I want to ask the Minister if this method can be stopped and the Minister can ask the health centres if they ask for testing, because we don’t have doctors all the time in the health centres, that they could go for further...