Norman Yakeleya

Just a short question as to if the Minister can provide me the number of water testing sites, I believe, along the Mackenzie that fall within the jurisdictions of the Sahtu region.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to ask about one position in the Sahtu that deals with the water quality. The application by Imperial Oil and 10-year renewal licence for their operation indicated that they are going to use a lot of water from the Mackenzie River over the 10-year period. The big issue for me is I believe it’s downstream from the Imperial Oil at Fort Good Hope where the quality of water has been questioned. Imperial Oil is using not millions but billions of litres of water that’s going to be used for their operation and they’re going to be pumping a lot of water back into...

Thank you. I’ve noticed how much the people in the Sahtu appreciate the Minister coming in and driving a section of that winter road and seeing firsthand the conditions that people have to drive day in and day out.

Given the limited amount of time that we have on our winter roads, given that Fort Good Hope is going to experience a lot of traffic this weekend because of the hand games, a lot of people are coming in for the hand games and a written e-mail from one of my constituents who is in the department is working that section, so people can call that Transportation person and make comments...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I had questions to the Minister of Transportation. I’d like to continue my questions. Bassett Petroleum will be doing 120 loads of delivering fuel to the community of Deline. In the assessment by Bassett Petroleum, operators of those vehicles, they’re asking to see if the department is going to put kilometre markers along the road to Deline, even to have a few pullouts on that road to Deline.

Does the Minister think that’s something that can be done this year in regard to these two items?

Mr. Speaker, for the Minister’s information, there are a lot of “worst spots” on the winter road. We also have people who are servicing the Sahtu. We have a fuel company from Hay River, Bassett Petroleum, starting to haul fuel into the Sahtu. Their operators have given a list of situations on the winter road.

From the observations of Bassett Petroleum who have been on the winter road because they’re doing the fuel haul to Deline and the other communities, is the Minister taking their comments to heart to look at areas that they’ve indicated that need some tender loving care?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This being anti-bullying day, I thought I’d try to twist my questions into questions to the Minister of Transportation in the Sahtu. Our roads are rough, rough and rough. We have 1,444 kilometres of winter roads. That’s leading from Wrigley to Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake and to Deline.

I want to ask the Minister, given his recent awareness of our winter roads, especially from Norman Wells to Fort Good Hope, and the annual hand game tournament this weekend in Fort Good Hope, what is the Minister doing to fix the potholes, to fix washboard alley? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the Globe and Mail article it talks about the Aboriginal Literacy Pilot Project that dramatically improved the test scores in Ontario. I wonder if the Minister is aware of this First Nations reserve school in Ontario. It was struggling with the basic literacy test scores, and they have done a pilot project in that community that has greatly improved the results of these test scores for the young students.

Is this something that the Minister would be interested to investigate and to see if this could be done in the Northwest Territories in looking at a pilot project in the Sahtu communities?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand what the Minister and the deputy minister are saying. I want to point out that I’m not talking about homeowners. I’m talking about operators who have lodges that they’ve invested half a million, a million dollars, and these are fairly expensive lodges for the outfitters. If there is part of their licence requirement that if it’s a season like this, you make sure it’s there because these sprinklers can be used somewhere else in the area for homeowners who are living on the land. We can’t mix apples and oranges here. We’ve got to put them apart here and say...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to recognize the Dechinta students here and also to the special family here, the Austin family. I want to say thank you to all the people who made this event happen for the family on behalf of the Sahtu. Congratulations.

I also want to recognize two of the elders from the Deline leadership, the elders Andrew John Kenny and Leon Modeste.

I have a question for the Minister. When we have tourism outfitter lodges and that, is it part of their requirement to have a sort of fire management sprinkler system? From last year’s fire situation, have we as a department been lending our fire sprinklers to the lodge owners? They don’t have that when they are in that situation. Is it part of their licence? I know it’s part of ITI, but the Minister has responsibility also for the fire protection.