Norman Yakeleya

Qualified naturopathic doctors practicing in the Northwest Territories have requested legislation regarding practice to ensure public protection. Given that the naturopathic doctors have a high level of education and training on par with family doctors and are recognized in nine jurisdictions with the legislation working in the health field, I want to ask the Minister, she said it’s possible that these naturopathic doctors or the medicine can be legislated in the future. I want to ask why not include it with the four others that she indicated? Why not for a short trial period?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to speak about the naturopathic doctors and the new legislation that’s going to be coming to the Northwest Territories, but, Mr. Speaker, I will save my questions for the Minister in question period.

I want to talk about two elderly gentlemen from my region: Mr. Edward Gardebois and Mr. Tony Grandjambe, that recently passed away over the weekend.

I was very saddened to hear over the weekend that these two members from Fort Good Hope have left us. I want to say, what can you say with a two and a half minute statement of these two men here. I do want to say...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today has to do with the failure of the Food Mail Program in my region.

Mr. Speaker, having enough healthy food to eat is necessary to have healthy people and healthy communities. I’m hearing concerns about a shipment of food to the Sahtu communities, especially Deline. Right now Deline’s groceries are packed in Yellowknife and shipped through the air through Buffalo Airways to the Sahtu. As soon as they arrive, someone goes up to meet the plane and picks them up, but lately somewhere along the line the boxes of fresh products are freezing...

I want to ask the Minister what are the implications of the devolution AIP for this development.

Mr. Speaker, last week the very big news that came out of Indian and Northern Affairs that the largest parcels of land in the Northwest Territories were up for grabs: 11 parcels in the Sahtu, a couple of parcels in the Mackenzie Delta and I think there’s a parcel up in the Beaufort Sea. This is historical, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of ITI, in light of these bids that are going up that have been an issue in a nine-year period, what is ITI doing to anticipate possibly a big boom in terms of oil and gas exploration and development?

Mr. Speaker, I am hoping this cold weather would be cleared up as soon as possible, because one of the situations that the Food Mail Program runs into in this 40 below, it is very hard to keep the products warm and fresh. It is no fault of anybody. That is the situation that we run into with the Food Mail Program. When the Minister has the opportunity to talk to the federal Minister, when she gets the details from me that she could again relay this to the federal Minister, when will the Minister have the first opportunity to discuss this with the federal government?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is probably to the Minister with Intergovernmental Affairs to deal with the Food Mail Program when they are meeting with... Sorry, maybe to the Minister of Health, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health, then, for the Food Mail Program. When a constituent of mine phoned Yellowknife and got the order, the order was then delivered to Buffalo Airways. When it was shipped to Deline, the food was pretty well all frozen and it was pretty well spoiled. In terms of this Food Mail Program, if there is a monitoring as to where can people go to register...

I think the federal government caught a lot of people off here in terms of announcing these bids here. The bids on these parcels, on one parcel had a minimum bid of $1 million, Mr. Speaker. Two of these parcels of land are right on the Sahtu land, surface and subsurface rights belong to the Sahtu people and we must get ready for it such as finalizing the Sahtu Land Use Plan and preparing other agreements, and also for training and employment. I want to ask the GNWT how do these work bids fit into the overall land use planning framework.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope it doesn’t take a week or three weeks. I hope the Minister and I could talk right away after this session here, get the facts and she can come back saying I can get a hold of the Minister tomorrow or next week and we will have this discussion. It is not too complicated. It is very simple. That is what I am asking the Minister so I can go back to Deline and my constituents and say we are acting on the issue right away. I hope it doesn’t take a long time. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister sits down with the federal Minister on this program here, can the federal Minister and the Minister talk about this type of situation that can be blamed here and simply for residents in my region when situations like this happens, that they can pick up the phone, either in their own language in Denewa or in English, to register a complaint or can say the food that they have received is spoiled and they need to do something different right away?