Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to the honourable Member for Nahendeh talk about Highway No. 7 and I was just envious of him because he’s talking about a highway that I hope someday the Sahtu people can have that opportunity to join among their fellow colleagues when they talk about highways. We want a highway.

My question to the Minister of Transportation is: Once the project description reports are completed… We’re waiting for two more and then they will go into one package to the federal regulators or the regulators who are responsible for the issuing out these permits and the other...

Thank you, Minister, for the explanation. With some of these future expenditures, are the regions also being upgraded in their computer capacity to be in line with the ePerformance or eRecruitment? I think that’s pretty well, but a lot of the communities also do not, and I appreciate the sensitivity. A lot of our communities also of Members do not use their computers or operate on their computers. Sometimes, for some odd reason, they still prefer the good old post a notice on a billboard and read it from there. But sometimes this hasn’t always been the case here. I just want to ask the...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, December 9, 2011, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that notwithstanding any rules or usual practice of this Legislative Assembly, that on Thursday, December 8, 2011, this House shall interrupt its regular business at the appropriate hour in order to receive an address from the Governor General of Canada, the Right Honourable David Johnston, together will all the introductory and related remarks, and upon completion of such address the House shall continue with the business before...

I believe the Minister is being very clear that this is a one-time event and that people really need to address their arrears. I’m hoping that the Minister has a good educational plan to help people become informed as to their arrears and how they can be able to start paying off their arrears. Can the Minister inform me in the House here what type of plans they have with the Shelter Policy review and the rent scale review?

I’ve received notice from Deline that there were a lot of people on the eviction list that have to go through that legal process. This government, through the Minister, has put a moratorium to not go through that legal process. I want to ask the Minister, given the time to educate the people on the arrears if the tenants are not quite there and given the amount of time that we have, and not honour their repayment plan or to look at what the Minister’s hoping to do, what are the consequences for those tenants not quite there to start working on their arrears?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two Languages Board representatives from the Sahtu: Dora Grandjambe from Norman Wells and Ann Orlias from Colville Lake.

I’ll continue on with the motion.

AND FURTHER, that this House shall welcome the representatives of the Aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories to enter the Chamber at the appropriate time to bear witness to the address from His Excellency the Governor General.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has talked about the arrears with our public housing tenants. A lot of our people in those units also are Aboriginal people with Aboriginal languages being their first form of communication. Can the Minister, through the Housing Corporation, talk about how to translate these kind of issues and do they have some form of plan to educate people in their own language? Other than having a non-Aboriginal person come to the community to talk about it, can we have some provisions there where people in the community could be looked at in that process to help educate...

I take this announcement as a golden opportunity to educate people in public housing units with arrears, to look at the responsible side of paying your bills and look at some of the consequences of not paying them. Some of the tenants that we have are fairly young. They think that whatever you damage or break in these units, windows and that, that the government will be there automatically to fix these places. What about the people – I just want to confirm – who are not being responsible for their units, through partying or damages? Will they be part of the evictions as the Minister has stated...