Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say that when I visit my communities, and I also heard from many people in the North, they are saying that the alcohol abuse issue in all of our communities is getting worse, and the drug issue amongst our youth is getting worse. It’s actually getting out of hand, as some of the people have said. It’s no longer a Friday or Saturday event. It’s a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday event. Now people are saying it’s getting worse and out of hand because there are younger and younger people in our communities that are using.

Bootlegg...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

1.

Please provide a list of all community parks and territorial parks located in the Sahtu region.

2.

Please provide a breakdown of the budget for the expenditures that will be contributed to all aspects of parks and other tourism initiatives for 2011-12.

3.

Please provide a strategy that outlines a plan to increase the presence of GNWT parks and other GNWT tourism initiatives in the Sahtu for 2011-12.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to the orders of the day, item 5.

---Unanimous consent granted

As the Department of Executive, when they’re looking at taking care of the people in the Northwest Territories and the services in the smaller communities, I want to ask the Premier if it makes sense that this department take the initiative to look at this, or is he quite satisfied by having the departments go line by line to see if it makes sense and if we could actually afford a nurse in Colville Lake or have the RCMP present in Colville Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to speak for the small communities I represent in the Sahtu.

Mr. Speaker, the community of Colville Lake, like Tsiigehtchic, Gameti, Sachs Harbour and some other smaller communities in the North, is in desperate need of fair services in their community. Mr. Speaker, I was reading a note this morning from Colville Lake from last year, and these elders were talking about fair access to nurses in health care centres. These two elders stated that when they went to the hospital, because these other people in the community that are trained mainly as the CHRs are...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister again, Mr. Brown has written to me and he’s asking me to urge this government here to consider helping him, along with myself -- I support him -- to look at declaring the facilities that he has built in Colville Lake as a Canadian historical site. He is afraid that these buildings won’t be maintained once he’s passed on to the other world. At this stage we’re asking if this government will look at an initiative like this to bring to the federal government’s attention.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the Minister’s reply to that question.

I want to ask the Minister what steps is his department taking to increase the parks in the Sahtu, in Good Hope, Colville, Deline or Tulita. What things can his department do to establish some sort of community or territorial park?

The Minister and I are well aware that the challenges that we have established in the Canol Park, the territorial park, and once established, that park will be the largest park in the Northwest Territories. I wanted to ask the Minister about the parks, because in his ministerial statement certainly the Sahtu region was dearly missed in his statement, and I want to ask him if he would direct his bureaucrats to keep their eyes and ears open, and maybe they should read my Member’s statement to note some of the good things that would attract visitors to the Sahtu. Would the Minister give a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, honourable colleagues. Outdoor adventure enthusiasts from all over come to the Sahtu, come to experience some of the finest whitewaters in North America. In addition to our rivers, Mr. Speaker, our trails have also become famous within the hiking circles. Last summer, through a partnership between ITI and the Tulita Land Corporation, a beautiful hiking trail from the Mackenzie River to the top of Yamoria on the top of Bear Rock was developed. The trail offers the finest view of the Mackenzie of all NWT traditional trails around Fort Good Hope that have been...