Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I bring up one specific issue in Fort Good Hope; there are many in the Sahtu on helping the elders. Maybe in other communities they may be the same. I am asking the Minister if she is now looking at the 17th Assembly to look at this. Is there anything in the works that could bring this discussion? I know we are both hoping to do it right away. Can the Minister look at some type of paper or discussion as to how we could help the seniors on various issues?

That’s the point I want to make with the Minister. What mechanisms would make her familiar with some of the issues that the different departments have to deal with seniors? It seems like things are still not quite yet connected as the Minister responsible for Seniors, in terms of giving them a strong voice within the departments to tell the Housing go to Fort Good Hope, fix this senior’s house up. This senior’s wife is crippled. The senior was living on the land. The senior comes back and yet the house is not done. What is this Minister doing to make sure that there’s a strong voice for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister in terms of the timelines. It is usually about springtime, I guess, and hoping that by then can I get a commitment from this Minister that we would have a person in Fort Good Hope that is hired and working in the community to help with the youth on their issues and work with the families.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House as to when the position will be recruited and hired for Fort Good Hope?

Thank you. I’d like to recognize a friend, Delores Lacorne.

The point I wanted to make, again, reflects to the many priorities within health care, many priorities within this specific budget item we’re talking about and that health care is not quite equal across the North here and they’re doing their best. I know that some of the health centres have the technology to hook up with some of the other larger hospitals to look at issues such as diabetes. My point is, I’m hoping that this Minister, within the life of this government, makes some strong recommendations to look at the seriousness of diabetes in our small communities and makes some strong...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just by hearing the Minister’s comments I think the government has a heart. Today is happy Valentine’s Day, so I think they have a heart.

I want to take the opportunity, also, to wish my sweetheart a happy Valentine’s Day, while I have the floor.

Mr. Speaker, certainly, when you look at situations like this, this is the reality of some of the smaller schools and some of the quality of education that students have to do Monday to Friday, day in and day out. That’s what we’re up against. We have larger centres and this does not impact them. There’s the critical mass there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a motion.

WHEREAS Members of this Legislative Assembly have repeatedly raised concerns about the quality of high school education in small community schools and the need for many high school graduates to receive upgrading before continuing on to post-secondary studies;

AND WHEREAS graduation rates remain low in small communities relative to the Northwest Territories average;

AND WHEREAS schools delivering grades 10 to 12 need a minimum of three secondary teacher positions in order to deliver the required range of programming;

AND WHEREAS schools with fewer than 20...

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister, in terms of being a responsible Minister and being responsible for the seniors, there doesn’t seem to be a very strong voice for the seniors, coordinating the different departments to help the seniors. As, again, a case in point, this senior, his house was frozen up. It’s been like that since even last Friday. It doesn’t send a good message that we’re taking care of our seniors. How does it, within the government, coordinate these types of issues to get looked at as a priority for our seniors? It doesn’t seem like it’s working, no matter what type of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for Seniors. I want to ask the Minister in terms of working with the seniors, working on their issues. We have an issue here, Mr. Speaker, in Fort Good Hope where a senior had to wait almost a couple months to get his house fixed, in terms of frozen water and sewer lines. That senior had to wait a long time. I was up there last Friday and the senior was still waiting for somebody to take care of his place. I want to ask the Minister what type of mechanism is in place to help our seniors in terms of what things within her...