Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, I went and visited some of the inmates at the centre. They want to go on the land. They said, we want to go. There are programs in there. There are policies in there that prevent them from going on the land. There are roadblocks in that system. Can the Minister go to the facilities, meet with the inmates that want to go? Guys are in there for serious offences. They want to go. They want to go out there. The Minister keeps giving me, well, it’s long and hard too. I don’t take that, Mr. Speaker. I want to see what this department and this government can do. Put the inmates on the...

Mr. Speaker, I think when you look at some of the inmates that are in the facilities, they are getting fat. They have nothing to do. The lack of programs that are in these facilities are not doing them any good. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister if he can find any way that could make it easier for these inmates to get on the land and do hard time out there and get some real healing done. The Minister is putting some roadblocks up and I know inmates that do want to go on the land. Can the Minister find a more creative way to get the inmates out on the land?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement is with the Department of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, traditional camps are a good way to help heal people; people who will be returning back to their communities after serving time for their offences. I’m speaking about on-the-land programs to help restore Aboriginal offenders to their roots, refreshing both their skills and their spirits.

Camps like this have been run near Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake in the past, but there is currently only one six-week camp per year in the Sahtu region, Mr. Speaker. I would like this to be a year-round...

Would the Minister comment as to the request of the reports? I’m not too sure what details of the reports he can provide. If that’s something that he could comment on.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The demolition of the Chief Wilbert Wright School, now that everything is supposed to be where it’s supposed to be, the materials sent out, the area that they use for disposing of the extra is okay. Has that land now been transferred back to the hamlet through the municipal department? I know the hamlet of Tulita was hoping that this land now would be reverted back to them for the use of a recreational ball field.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Member for Nahendeh for developing and asking me to consider seconding this. I’m very pleased to second the motion.

I’ve also looked at the seniors home repair initiatives that this Housing Corporation has put into our communities. It makes it quite difficult, even though the programs are there, for the seniors to apply to them and receive help. Sometimes they’re lucky, they can get the support. Sometimes they miss out because they don’t understand the applications or the process itself. It’s quite foreign to them. Some of them don’t understand the...

Thank you. Has the department looked at other avenues to support this initiative, or partnerships in the region or in the North to look at where some cost savings can be looked at? Because there are other needs also. I hear from Members that want to have institutions in the North also.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being Education Week I want to ask the Minister of Education a few questions regarding the Sahtu. Mr. Speaker, education, either you’re on the land, and my people always wanted to be successful even on the land. Now today in the new world of making a living we want to be successful.

Mr. Speaker, on the land we had an open university. In the Sahtu now we have Aurora College centres. I noted that many of our students are now leaving the Sahtu region for other centres for their educational careers. I want to ask the Minister. When he is talking with his colleagues about...

I look forward to at least the Tulita report, Mr. Chair, and hopefully later on the Fort Good Hope report. I wanted to ask the Minister, I know there was an issue with the school in Colville Lake with the washroom facilities and the running water there. I know there was material there, material being ordered to get there and I think it’s already there and waiting to use it. Right now I believe that Colville Lake’s School is still using the honey bucket system and there are other issues that prevent them from hooking up the water lines and the washroom facilities. Can the Minister comment as to...

I raised the point and I noticed that the demolition went very well for the department. They had some good discussions. Actually, a lot of people showed up, surprisingly to the contractor, just maybe because he thought there was going to be maybe a dozen people showing up to work. Actually it was just over 50 people that showed up and wanted to work. So it went very well. So I’d like to congratulate the department for being flexible and open to a good possibility. I believe that the same type of discussions now are happening in Fort Good Hope with the old Chief T’Selehye School and I hope...