Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, February 14, 2011, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories revise the school staffing funding formula to ensure that all schools with at least 10 full-time equivalent students enrolled in grades 10 to 12 receive funding for at least three secondary teacher positions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I want to ask the Minister about his statement that he’s very proud of the Sahtu. In the last four years the funding level has not changed once in the Sahtu for the on-the-land program in the Sahtu. It’s been in the...(inaudible)... Costs have increased with the program. Will he look at putting this into a permanent program with the inflation costs of running the program? Because right now it’s something that is desperately needed in our region. Would the Minister look at that?

I want to ask the Minister about the programs that they offer at the North Slave Correctional Centre or any other correctional facility in the Northwest Territories. It seems like we’re having people enter back into the system. Once they come out, they come back to it again. It’s been said in the House here that we seem to be recycling some of the inmates and it seems like we’re not giving enough resources to rehabilitate them properly so that when they get out, they stay out. I want to ask the Minister of the type of dollars that are committed to programs to help the inmates while they’re in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Justice what the average cost is of housing an inmate at the North Slave Correctional Centre.

I hope the department can rectify this situation as soon as possible. As you know, students who leave small communities and come back to do their practicum or to go back to work, it’s a good incentive for other students to continue on their education and role modelling. I would ask the Minister again if he would commit to see if this resolution can be done sometime within the life of this government.

I look forward to the report the Minister is going to release.

I want to ask the Minister about this budget line item on medical travel. In the 2010-11 revised estimates, there’s $19 million. In the 2011-12 main estimates, it’s $15 million. I want to ask the Minister what justified the lowering of that number? What happened there?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier tell me as to why the AIP wasn’t released earlier in terms of letting the people understand and read it, rather than being posted on the CBC website? Just recently it was released to the public.

Thank you. I guess there are the various figments to the history of the bilateral agreements and negotiations. So I’ll leave it at that.

What I’ve been hearing is that the Aboriginal governments that are not signatory yet to this agreement have some questions and they want to assess and analyze the agreement. My understanding is that if we have some of the Aboriginal governments come on side, then that puts them into some funding arrangements. If they do not come on side to sign the AIP, then there’s no funding available to them. Is that a true statement to the Premier?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I will speak about the devolution agreement and the impact on my people and our land claim. Mr. Speaker, the Premier and the federal government signed this AIP without the majority of the Aboriginal governments. How did we justify this action? Yet the Premier has said, come be a partner in building our future together. How can the Premier say come to the table when only after you signed?

Mr. Speaker, I believe the signing of this agreement was rushed. For reasons unknown to me -- I can only speculate -- the AIP was signed without 75 percent of the Aboriginal...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the explanation. I want to ask the Minister about the billing issues in medical travel. Do we still have some disputes with the federal government in regard to medevac or any type of billing issues? I know we have a history and we used to have some issues there. Do we still carry on with some of the outstanding issues that we had in the past with the feds?