Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, I certainly look forward to the Minister’s budget address as to what stimulus could be happening in our region in terms of the economics. I would like to ask the Premier in terms of the discussions with the regional entities of the Northwest Territories, has the Premier also looked in turn to what type of opportunities funds could be available to stimulate the Northwest Territories in terms of stabilizing or having some security for people of the Northwest Territories? There is funding out there that isn’t within the privy of private Members to be involved in, but there are some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a question to the government in terms of the recent economic crisis that is happening around the world and also Canada and possibly here in the Northwest Territories. I would like to ask the Premier to see if there is any type of regional economic stimulus from the people of the Northwest Territories as to how they could deal with this crisis that has happened before us in terms of how we can incur economic stimulus in our own regions in terms of dealing with the recession. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last Saturday in Fort Good Hope a special couple celebrated their 50th golden wedding anniversary. Thomas and Denise Manuel celebrated in Fort Good Hope with family and friends from the Northwest Territories and I understand they had a wonderful time. So on behalf of the people of the Sahtu region, I’d like to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Manuel on their 50th golden wedding anniversary and we wish them another 50 years more together.

There are so many issues addressed to Members of the House in terms of the important issues that are coming up in this session here. I want to put forth in terms of the economic crisis that is happening in Canada, the Northwest Territories and people in our region, that for certain some things that have shifted from our people in our communities and have shifted in other areas that this government sees as a priority.

Lately I have been getting some calls from my region about what is going to happen, what is going to get done in our communities to feel some security by this government in terms...

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to all these good reasons why we should have a meeting ASAP?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was the essence of us having some further discussions. I look forward to a commitment from this Minister to direct his department to start making arrangements with the people in the Sahtu in terms of partnership business proposals, ideas in terms of how can we seek additional dollars to extend these two runways in the region. Because once you do that, you will see enhanced service in terms of aircraft and...

Certainly through the memberships and we certainly appreciate the time and records that the department has gone out of its way to assist the two communities. We want to ask, in this type of discussion here, when the department, in terms of responding to the additional requests of the two runways, specifically Fort Good Hope and Deline, in terms of additional runway requirement lengths that they’re asking for. Because we’ve already talked about some partnerships and we are looking forward to this department to respond in a positive way that will see a benefit in terms of stimulating the economy...

I do respect the confidentiality of this issue. But when the communities, such as my community, have elders come and talk to me…. The chief has come and talked to me; the families have talked about it with me. They ask how come the community hasn’t been notified and it hasn’t been discussed.

Small, close knit communities certainly know what’s going on. The elders said to me, “Why isn’t that child being looked after by our community? We could have done it.”

Again, the program is in place. How come, when we have this program, it’s not supported by resources? I’ll ask the Minister: would she look...

Mr. Speaker, over the last several months I’ve been working with some families in the Sahtu region. We develop policies at the Legislative Assembly. They are brought forward by the Cabinet, and we go through the policies and have them implemented in different programs. These policies are well written, they’re well thought out, but when they hit the community at the community level, there seems to be a disconnect there.

One of the things I want to talk about is foster care. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about when children are taken out of the communities as to the...

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister commit that PTR discussions could possibly be brought up in the preliminary discussions and business plans for the upcoming years? I know it’s a lot of work. I would ask the Minister if we could possibly bring some discussion to the business plans — have a PTR for elders that would be included in further discussions, that would identify funds to have elders brought into our schools.