Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to continue working with the Minister on this issue and probably many other issues or situations like this in the Northwest Territories. In terms of a situation like this, can he work with his counterpart Minister Robert C. McLeod and look at low cost housing units and their thresholds to help a person like this make a living in the North?

I go back to the specific questions on increasing thresholds on GNWT programs, specifically to low cost housing. It’s staying the same and I’m not sure if this Minister can answer for another Minister. However, programs like that, Legal Aid, child support payments, those types of programs certainly help single parents out there. Is there some general type of communication plan that this Minister will put out in terms of thresholds of programs in the GNWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You go back into communities. This question always comes up to us as Members in terms of the authority of the federal government, the authority of the territorial government, even the authority of the federal government in the region. I guess I want to ask how come, instead of going to the Members across here, this government decides to go to the courts and look to seek authority? Certainly they could have come to us, consulted with the Members and talked about this issue here. Now it is fighting our people. I am not here to fight my people. I am here to support my...

Thank you for the clarification, Minister. So it’s the barren land caribou. The barren land caribou covers a wide range of jurisdictions. I want to ask, in terms how it affects the Gwich’in, the Inuvialuit, the Sahtu and the Tlicho in the Mackenzie Delta in terms of the authority, because we certainly have land claim agreements that speak to the authority. I want to ask the Minister in terms of how this is going to be impacted on the various other land claim groups and also the groups that would have treaty rights, groups that are not in the land claim discussion right now, in terms of Treaty...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 7 of the orders of the day.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Mr. Speaker, with the sunsetting of funding with the Department of Health with millions of dollars that are not going to be renewed with the federal government, the federal government is also increasing our funding for social housing in the Northwest Territories. There are other programs that the federal government is going to be cutting back in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Premier in terms of raising the level of this issue, the urgency of this issue in terms of our revenue leaving the Northwest Territories every second of this day here. How do we get the attention of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier in regards to my Member’s statement on the amount of resources that are coming out of the Northwest Territories. In particular, I made mention of the Sahtu oil and gas minerals of $500 million leaving every year from Norman Wells to Zama and the state of the people living in the Sahtu, in terms of the poverty issue. I want to ask the Premier about giving hope to the people in the Sahtu and the people of the Northwest Territories having a sense that our resources here in the Northwest Territories are going to stay here in the Northwest...

With regard to the question I am going to ask the Minister, this person does not qualify for low cost housing because their income is $5,000 too much. They probably won’t get a low cost housing unit. So this person has to go from pay cheque to pay cheque, paying $1,700 a month for rent, fuel is about $300 -- probably a little more in the small, isolated communities -- power is about $200, water is about $100, phone is about $40 and food and all that. How can we help a person like this, a mother of three daughters, with the example of low cost housing units?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Minister in terms of the announcement of increasing the minimum wage in the Northwest Territories. However, the next day, Mr. Speaker, I had a question from a single mother of three. She has young daughters. She was reading the press release and had some concerns. They wanted to ask the question in terms of the wage increasing, the cost of living increasing. Are the income thresholds going to increase with the GNWT programs that he administers?

Mr. Speaker, that’s a very disturbing answer from the Minister in terms of banning caribou. This is right down the Northwest Territories. We certainly have agreements that speak to the authority and the management of caribou. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister, through his wisdom, in terms of we passed a motion to consult. How come he didn’t come to us to talk about we want to have this discussion and pose the questions to the Supreme Court of Canada? I never had him once come to us and ask us. You are putting a question that is going to be fighting our people. How come he didn’t come to...