Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to ask the Minister of ENR about the issue with the Yellowknives Dene and the news he had yesterday. I want to follow up, this being the last day of the House. I want to ask where the deal is with the Yellowknives Dene. Are they closed or still ongoing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to say to the mines that I appreciate them choosing Norman Wells as a pickup point for the workers coming out of the Sahtu. I want to ask the Minister about new development going forward on diamond mine training. Could he look at one community in the Sahtu bringing in new training programs in the next couple of months to develop a program that would have the NWT mining society work with the Aurora College to look at programs they could have in the Sahtu region?

I certainly support the Minister in increasing the workforce in the North. I want to ask the Minister what his department is doing with the NWT mining society to get into communities such as the Sahtu to encourage workers in the Sahtu to come to the workplace here and to set up training programs with the NWT society. I don’t think I’ve seen them in the Sahtu. I only hear of them in the Yellowknife area. What is the Minister doing to encourage the NWT mining society to get out of the Yellowknife area and into the Sahtu to set up training programs there for the people in my region?

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister does do the checking, in terms of the defibrillators in the community arenas for community functions, can she also check to see if people other than her staff under the Department of Health and Social Services are trained, such as recreation facilitators or people, also, who just recently got hired on from the hamlet, if they can get trained if they haven’t yet been trained in terms of First Aid or on how to use these defibrillators?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the question on safety standards for community arenas. I’m not too sure who I should be asking, which Minister. I want to ask the Ministers, in terms of the safety standards, in terms of the defibrillators in the arenas. I know of some instances in my region where there was some medical attention and there were no defibrillators. I want to ask the Minister if there are defibrillators in the community arenas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do thank the Member for the reference of my home community of Tulita. I also represent four other communities in the Sahtu where there is certainly much need for these types of programs. For example, the family support centre in Hay River receives $430,000 to reduce the incidence of family violence. The Alison McAteer House receives $600,000 for their programs. The NWT Council for the Disabled receives $300,000. We want to look at those types of dollars for the Sahtu in order to coordinate these types of dollars for families in the communities to help with the goals...

The Minister indicated there are other sources that can be tapped into of NGO-type of funding by the band councils or regional corporations. I want to ask, I know there was a request by the band council of Tulita for emergency shelters to the Minister, but we just couldn’t get $10,000 for the community and now we have to wait again for another fiscal year. These type of situations that we run into we have to get our foot into the door with NGOs. I asked the Minister about working with the health boards in the communities to establish strong NGO support in our communities where we can get the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last couple of decades many programs that were once provided by the NWT have been turned over to non-government organizations to deliver, known as NGOs. NGOs would also offer additional programs. These programs are vital as they improve the quality of life for people in the North. Many are programs that provide social services. For example, in the NWT our family assistance and counselling, emergency and transitional housing for homeless families, shelters for women and children, services for adults with disabilities and mental health issues and quite a few...

Would the Minister then inform the House and myself as soon as there is a deal that’s going to be satisfactory to both sides on this issue?

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 8.

---Unanimous consent granted.