Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take it that the Minister will look at a territorial-wide initiative in terms of just the one issue of fish, in terms of how we can get this into the government facilities.

I certainly don’t want to go back in time. The residential school days, according to my uncle, they served rotten fish there, so I’d like to just leave it at that there.

I want to ask the Minister of ITI, in terms of even just for the one issue on fish here, in terms of working with the Minister of Health and Social Services at the Stanton Territorial Hospital serving fish for elders who are in the hospital, who want fish broth, who want some boiled fish for their recovery. The Minister is responsible for traditional economy and, you know, they have wonderful fish in Great Slave Lake and Great...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is asking if I can assist. I can certainly do that, Mr. Speaker, in terms of going forward with putting programs in place for young people. I can do this through the request from myself in terms of also the leader from Fort Good Hope in terms of having a Sahtu education symposium where part of this discussion can be on the agenda in terms of going forward, and actually have other leaders to assist to make sure we get training on the ground for the people in the Sahtu.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister did talk about the Labour Market Agreement. Also in the binder that I’ve been reading, the department is going to be developing a new framework, multi-year annual plans and program guidelines. I want to ask the Minister in terms of this initiative going forward in terms of involving the people in the Sahtu. Would he involve the people in the Sahtu in terms of going forward to have training programs in place, implemented and ready to go within the life of this government for the young people in the Sahtu region?

Mr. Speaker, in the Sahtu region we have many young people under the age of 25 years old. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, 45 percent of the entire population of the Sahtu is under 25 years old. That’s an amazing fact, Mr. Speaker.

We need to develop and implement a solid plan for training so that our young people get the best training for the future. Our young people are eagerly waiting to contribute to our communities and to the North. Many young people are making their best efforts to participate in upgrading and employment training programs, and we need to have a regional training centre...

Thank you, Minister. That does tell me with the new structure now I feel that Ministers have heard our concerns on this side here and a tightening of the belt, so to speak, in terms of how we proceed to conclude the construction of the bridge here with the corporation.

I guess there are a lot of things that we really can’t say because of the sensitivity and the negotiations and the confidentiality of some of the issues here, so I guess I’ll wait to see in terms of on a going forward basis dealing with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, because they were one of the key players in this whole...

Also I just want to ask the Ministers about the role of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation in the new arrangements and setup going forward for the corporation and the status of the corporation for this bridge here.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

How have pupil-teacher ratios been impacted at a territorial, regional and community level since the legislative changes were initiated in 2000?

What impact has the decline in enrolment had on funding/services/teacher numbers?

What evidence is there of a link between pupil-teacher ratio and student achievement in the Sahtu region and NWT?

What accountability mechanisms are in place to guide, monitor and report on the implementation of pupil-teacher ratio funding?

What accountability mechanisms are in...

Once this has been confirmed, as I said I just had a discussion with the chief of the Yellowknives and he is the man. He is the head of his people here and, like I said, they have different players on both sides. Sometimes they cross boundaries and that’s part of the whole issue here with the meetings. The Minister said the deputy minister and the assistant deputy minister on the GNWT’s side. If that can be confirmed today, can they have negotiations or have the meetings hopefully between now and Friday. Would that happen?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Congratulations on your success in the Tlicho region. I’m talking about the Yellowknives Dene and their issue here. I’d like to ask the Minister again if he would commit all his time and effort to his officials to sit down with the Yellowknives Dene and the Dene Nation involved here, sit down, go somewhere, hammer out a deal, hope that by this week we can have a deal. Listen to both sides, come out with an issue. This is a critical issue here. I ask the Minister if he can commit the time and effort and resources to hammer out a deal with the Yellowknives Dene.