Norman Yakeleya

In May of 2008 a Senator, Aurélien Gill, an elder and former chief of the Montagnais, introduced a private Member’s bill in the Senate. This bill proposed to introduce a third House, an assembly for aboriginal people, into the parliamentary system of Canada.

Senator Gill believed that such a third Chamber would give the aboriginal people of Canada a voice in political decision-making. This idea has history. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommends the introduction of an aboriginal parliamentary act. The concept of an Assembly for aboriginal people was also discussed in the...

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.

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about the elders in a parliamentary system that would require further discussions on a constitutional level. I want to talk with the Minister of Education and Culture about education and culture and do it one step at a time. Can the Minister look into a PTR system with our education schools in the Sahtu region in terms of how we involve elders in a system to help youth? Especially, can the Minister consider that as an option to get elders into our education system?

I look forward to the plans and to the reports in terms of the Assembly and the priorities on the initiatives. There are many initiatives set up by communities to own power. We are sharing the power, sharing responsibility with our communities — the same thing with the Power Corporation. Now it is the time to give that to the people, share the power with the people.

The question I have for the Minister in terms of this initiative is: would the Minister look at similar projects they did in Whati, where power information, educating the people in terms of how we best conserve, generate, save power...

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to welcome a constituent of mine who’s taking this valuable program for the people in the Sahtu: Ms. Dalphine Pierrot of Fort Good Hope, working in Norman Wells. I would also like to welcome Cecile Deneyoua, my sister-in-law.

Mr. Speaker, I’m very happy to hear that. The Minister made several references…. Certainly in the community of Délînê it was the same with our school. People said there was a school that was built on an underground waterbed creek. I’m looking forward to that type of information in terms of how traditional knowledge will be implemented into certain areas. Would this include education programs also in government-wide initiatives? Justice? Language? Housing? I guess I’m looking at the weight of traditional knowledge in today’s government. How strong would it be for the people in our region?

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and concerns traditional knowledge. Members have had some discussions in terms of traditional knowledge implementation by this government. I’d like to ask the Minister: could he update the people in the North and the people in Sahtu about the progress of traditional knowledge implementation in terms of the discussion we had in the previous government? How will traditional knowledge be implemented in my region in a government-wide approach?

Can the Minister advise people that with these smart meter readers there will be initiatives looked at in one of the regions in terms of implementing this project? I think that’s really something the people would appreciate in our communities in terms of being responsible and taking ownership of their use of power. I think that’s something we look forward to. Again, I would ask the Minister: can he do that as quickly as possible and within the time frame of the next couple months?