Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize Ms. Sarah Wright-Cardinal also, from the Aurora College, and thank her for the tour in the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister explain to me what it would mean if this Legislative Assembly delayed the implementation of the new policy that she’s bringing forward? What would it mean to us, what would it mean to the people in the Northwest Territories?

Mr. Speaker, just a primary focus of my question is on the coverage of these 2,200 people who are not receiving it today as we talk right now in terms of the coverage that other members of the Northwest Territories do enjoy. Now I want to focus on the concerns I am hearing around the table in the House here and in Yellowknife here, that there is a huge number of local people that are saying that a number of issues that they are telling us to not go ahead with it or scrap it or delay it or consider it again. I want to ask the Minister in terms of this policy here in terms of the people that we...

Mr. Speaker, in the CBC report it’s reported that Privacy Commissioner Elaine Keenan-Bengts says what apparently happened within the Sahtu Health Centre wasn’t good enough in terms of them checking the information as to where the fax was going and confirming that it’s going to a location, it also confirmed that it’s been received at that location. That wasn’t done. This simple oversight hasn’t been looked at. So, again, that’s why I asked Minister about this issue. I know it’s going to take a while to get the report done. Can something like this, what the Privacy Commissioner is saying, can...

If it wasn’t reported in the CBC, we kept it quiet and CBC didn’t report this, I want to make sure that in the future, for the confidence of the people in the Sahtu, that our personal medical records will be handled with the utmost professionalism, confidentiality and respect in terms of our staff in the medical field that are distributing our records. I wanted to ask the Minister what type of assurance can she give to the people in the Sahtu and the people in the Northwest Territories that this will never, never, never, never happen again in terms of the way this was reported on CBC?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On behalf of all the Sahtu constituents, I want to wish one of our lovely elders, Ms. Mary Barnaby, congratulations on getting her honorary diploma from Aurora College this year.

Each year Aurora College in Inuvik gives out an honorary diploma to a well-deserving elder who makes a huge contribution to education, especially to aboriginal education. Ms. Barnaby is well deserving of this year’s award. She is a role model to us all. Mahsi.

Certainly I’ve considered that also, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the use of the program there is for seniors is for free rent and people, when they do move in, take advantage of this in terms of the free rent. What we’re asking in terms of looking at a policy and maybe with the Health and Social Services or some kind of a program where there would be a subsidy or some payment for provisions for elderly care, maybe a reduced rent but not to look at where the elders would have a huge increase in the rent due to this initiative. This, again, looks at caring for the elders, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak about the importance of our younger generation caring for the elders. I’ve heard from a number of constituents on this subject. One man gave an example of a young person who could not stay with his grandparents or they would have to start paying rent. As well, he said that he had to quit his job to care for his mother when she was on her deathbed and because when he moved into her home her rent increased based on his income. He asked the departments to work together, rather than work against each other, to develop policies that accommodate more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, will be supporting the bill because I think we were faced with a challenge that certainly none of us wanted to be in, because when we first had some discussions with the Deh Cho Bridge it looked like it was good plan to go with and plans that probably would have worked out very well for the Deh Cho Corporation that involved the community of Fort Providence, members in Fort Providence, the Metis and the First Nation, the band.

Mr. Speaker, when things have gone astray or offside there, we had to step in in terms of how do we keep this megaproject on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about the elders and the care for the elders. I want to ask the Minister for the NWT Housing Corporation, in terms of a policy review or consideration, would it be possible that if a child or grandchild or an adult exchange a promise of assistance to support the elders in their homes in terms of a cost of rent increase, is that something that can be looked at? Thank you.