Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Chair, that’s very strange. We were going in one direction and the Minister is talking about going in the other direction, training nurses for palliative care. I thought we were moving along there. Was this supported by the community of Deline to say, okay, we’re going to go through some training, and training the nurses to provide palliative care to the community nurses? Something has gone a little wacko here. Can I get the department to respond to this?

Mr. Chair, I want to ask the Minister on this page in regards to the therapeutic services to the regions, and I’ll speak for the Sahtu in regards to the speech-language specialist pathologist coming in. Is that program being utilized in the Sahtu? I understand that when a speech-language person comes into our region they’re well received by our people in that area. It seems like we need to have more of her or him come in to do some work with our students. Is there an evaluation as to being in our region that this is what they are finding, either to request more support or say we need a...

Mr. Chair, thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister how many children, if he can possibly be able to provide me with a breakdown of the Aboriginal children in foster care in the Northwest Territories. There might be different levels of care for the children, if he could somehow get that information to me.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time also, people want to know that since activity is not up to where we want it to be, is there opportunity, from the Minister’s point of view, to work with other departments in regard to a planning session to train our young workers to be ready when the activity happens so that they have qualified, skilled labour ready for the oil rigs and other spinoffs due to oil and gas exploration. Thank you.

The people also want to know what the government is doing to mitigate the operational cost of oil and gas activity. One of the people I did speak to said that if you had an all-weather road going into the Sahtu, you would cut down 30 percent of their operational expenses. That’s just one oil company. That is what some of the people in the Sahtu want to know. What are some of the things that this government is doing to lower the cost of business? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s discouraging to hear that from the government. It’s no different than me fighting for the residential school survivors to get some decent treatment in the North or for them.

We are penalized because we don’t have an all-weather road. When we did have heavy equipment going with the oil and gas, there was lots of activity, yet we’re still not having any type of support from this department or this government. I am asking if the department could think outside the box; create a position, even if it’s temporary. Don’t shut the door in our face and say no, not until you...

The Minister is well aware of the Sahtu’s aspirations, and with the Mackenzie Valley Highway we’re hoping that we have some good news out of the federal government’s office. Also, the Sahtu, specifically the Tulita leadership, district leadership put a proposal in front of this Minister to look at a small proposal.

Would this small proposal be sort of an indication to say we need to get ready for the Mackenzie Valley Highway? Can you move towards creating the positions in the Sahtu with Transportation with the support of the proposal that’s in front of the Minister’s desk now?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Someone once said to me, “Hey, Norm, how come you keep bringing up the need for residential school survivors to get treatment and the need for the Sahtu to become an independent region?” Well, Mr. Speaker, I was thinking, what’s the connection?

Well, in both incidents we want freedom, or to be free from the shackles of being dependent on others. For the residential school survivors, it is the freedom of not being hurt, feeling the pain and knowing there is a better life, knowing that God didn’t create a person to live this kind of life and how can I break free and be a...

Mr. Chair, I’m certainly disappointed in the response from the department and the staff here on raising their hopes through discussion with the people of Deline and the palliative care beds. The Minister certainly gave reasons why this request shouldn’t be honoured and is making a left when he should be going down the right lane. I’m very disappointed by the department’s response and justifying why they’re not going to take Deline requests seriously as it was duly noted in my notes and the Minister’s meetings with the leadership and people of Deline in regards to this request. It’s been an...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask the Minister on the status of the requests by the Deline leadership community support on a sort of respite care or palliative care bed units in their community. There was some discussion with the previous Minister. I’m not too sure if this Minister is up to… We had some meetings with the Minister on that request from Deline. They’re asking for a bed or so for that community. I haven’t heard. It’s pretty quiet from the department as to what’s being communicated. This is an ongoing issue with the community and the Minister. Can I get a very brief update? Thank...