Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment devise a certificate program to certify elders to teach in NWT schools in time for the start of the new school year in the fall of 2011. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, MLA Ramsay listed off one of the costs to house an inmate. We are paying for it here in society, Mr. Speaker. These inmates at these adult facilities, they have it good. They get their meals wheeled to them. They eat. They get programs there for them. We need to put them out on the land and do hard time. Do the wood cutting, learn this. There is $21 million going into adult facilities, $5 million in the budget for youth facilities, the wilderness camp has $135,000. This Minister says he wants to do it. Let’s put his words to action and say I want to put at least $1 million into...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement to the Minister of Justice. Also, Mr. Speaker, I heard MLA Ramsay talk about the amount of millions of dollars that the Department of Justice expends in terms of housing inmates. I want to ask the Minister of Justice, with the programming, the cost of housing, with the revolving doors within our correctional centres, can the Minister inform the House if his department is looking at more permanent wilderness camps, bush camps that really needs to happen in the Northwest Territories other than spending millions in our...

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...

Mr. Chair, I want to add my few comments to the department. I do want to say the maintainer’s position was advertised and filled by a local person in Tulita. I’m very pleased with this program and the other communities that do have it. It’s something that we should continue to look at to expand in other communities. It’s a valuable program. I do want to thank the department for going ahead with this and filling these positions as quickly as possible.

As my colleague Mr. Beaulieu indicated, that the Apprenticeship Program is something that’s very valuable in our small communities and that there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is certainly showing me a little love here in terms of putting this Sahtu trades centre. Would the Minister bring forward this discussion to the next Aurora College Board for serious discussion to look at a trades centre in the Sahtu in order to move it to the next step of putting it in the books?

Thank you. The Minister indicated that they are working on gathering information; and being quite familiar with the process of moving it through the stages to a vote for capital needs, that’s quite a distance away. So I want to ask the Minister when you are gathering information within the time frame of this government, would this continue to the next government in terms of having a clear picture on whether the Sahtu will receive some good news to say that a Sahtu trades centre is coming down the tube and putting it in the books for some discussion in the House?