Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has indicated that there is some initiative to look at what type of RCMP officers they could have without any communities that have RCMP members. I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the creativity that he brings or his colleagues bring, to ensure that the people in Colville Lake know when they go to sleep at night there is someone there that they can call and respond as quick as possible. I want to ask the Minister what other ideas he can bring to Colville Lake to ensure the safety there.

I want to make a few comments to this infrastructure here. I’m very happy to see that the Minister has seen some fortitude to put in some preliminary work with the Canol Heritage Trail. I know I would have liked to see more development; however, they are in a very complex process right now with the Canol Heritage Trail and the Doi T’oh Canyon Park and the Doi T’oh Territorial Park. They are working closely with the federal government; however, the government has agreed to look at how they continue working in the preliminary stages to begin developing the heritage trail that is in the books...

Would the Minister come to Colville Lake and work with the people of Colville Lake on a specific type or if there’s a protocol that we can use to help the people know that their issues, when the call gets into a detachment, that it’s taken seriously and some issues that can be resolved as quickly as possible so the members know that their community, their people will be safe?

At this juncture of our budget approval, it’s very hard to accept Mr. Neudorf’s answers on my question. Surely he must know the numbers that they estimated. He’s got a lot of smart people in the department; they have consultants. They surely must know what they’re paying or what they estimate for anything like this to go forward.

I can’t believe the government’s going to operate their operations on this type of answer to my question; a simple question. He said this is about $1.7 million to complete rebuilding the whole system. He’s saying that southern institutions, southern people have the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Justice on the lack of RCMP officers in the 10 communities. There is a list I have of all the small communities in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister, in his discussions with the federal Minister on other issues, did this issue come up and how can we rectify or look at some of our small communities, such as Colville Lake, to see if there’s some type of law enforcement that can be put into Colville Lake to ensure the safety of the people is foremost and that we take this issue very seriously.

I look forward to going into the communities that have somewhat struggled with these services and see how these services are going to be improved to the people in the communities. I look forward to that and will get back to the Minister once I visit the communities.

I want to ask the Minister on just what the deputy minister has said. I asked how many dollars are spent with the southern contractor in this activity.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again I rise to talk about the lack of RCMP detachments in our communities in the Northwest Territories. Presently there are 10 communities without RCMP members. The RCMP serves these 10 communities from a larger detachment. For example, in Tsiigehtchic the RCMP from Fort McPherson serve that community; in Gameti the Behchoko Detachment serves that community; Colville Lake is served by the RCMP Fort Good Hope Detachment. It has been a long-standing issue with the communities that do not have RCMP members in that community. It at times can be very frustrating. It can be...

Can the Minister maybe advise me within the next four years if he has any type of indication that we could be receiving or we are eligible for any type of infrastructure funding other than advising me that there are some discussions going on with the provincial Transportation Ministers and the federal government? If we can receive some infrastructure dollars for our winter roads.

Not at this time, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Can the Minister outline the process, with measurable outcomes, that will be used to ensure that water sources are safe to drink?

Can the Minister provide a departmental work plan that will guide this government to build and implement safe drinking water sources in our communities?

Can the Minister provide a strategic plan on how the community of Fort Good Hope can be involved in developing new water sources for the community?

Thank you.