Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The motion here speaks to allocate some needs. I certainly have driven the Dempster Highway. I went there a couple of years, and I know how dusty it is. I said to several Members that I can’t believe that in this day and age driving the highway was so dusty. It’s dangerous — very, very dangerous. I’ve also driven Highway No. 6, a very rough road also. I have had the opportunity to drive Highway No. 7. Highway No. 7 is pretty good. You know, there are a couple of spots that need improvement. I’ve certainly driven the highway to Fort Smith, a good highway. I know there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to differ with the Minister in terms of the best people and water rights down here in the Mackenzie River, here in the communities. They live off the water; they know their water.

I would like to ask the Minister about the Mackenzie River being labelled as a sensitive cultural, spiritual heritage site that needs to be protected right down the Mackenzie Valley, because we are at ground zero of all the mega developments that are even on the table right now. I would ask the Minister if he would see that the Mackenzie River gets full — the highest — protection...

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy and very proud when this Assembly is making first commitments to protect the water in the Mackenzie River, and also the 15th Assembly passing the motion saying it’s our right; it’s in our blood down in the Mackenzie Valley.

In terms of protection, I would ask the Minister: would he work very closely with his federal counterparts and the aboriginal groups to have the resources there for the Protected Area Strategy group to implement a critical component of their work in terms of protecting our land and our water in the Mackenzie Valley before development?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the Thanksgiving weekend I spent some time in Fort Providence with my father-in-law, and there we spent some time on the Mackenzie River. I thought about that the time I was there, when we put the net in and we caught some fish. I thought about the Mackenzie River in terms of the type of protection that the Mackenzie River is receiving now, the type of protection that it should receive if we are not protecting it.

I was looking at the Deh Cho Bridge. I’ve been on the Mackenzie River and the Sahtu. We have to use that portion of the Mackenzie River as a highway...

I certainly look forward to an explanation from Mr. Aumond.

The second last question is high school career and technology studies at $400,000. We talked about communities that want to have some opportunity to be even on par with the other communities in terms of high school career and technology studies. Can I get a list of what this means and where it’s going? Some communities like Colville Lake simply don’t have that — or Tsiigehtchic or Ulukhaktok or even some of the smaller communities down in the valley that want to get into some high schools, and they’re at a disadvantage right now as I...

Mr. Chair, the question I have here is with the Chief T’Selehye School in Fort Good Hope. To be very brief, the community was offered to negotiate this school with the government. Under our land claim agreement there’s a chapter that somewhat supports contracts with the government. I know the different interpretations, different needs. I just want to know: would the government have made an offer to people in Fort Good Hope to look at it and negotiate a contract rather than a two tier RFP construction of the school?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to ask a few questions of the Minister. I want to ask the Minister: in terms of renovation or replacements or small repairs to the schools in the Sahtu, where does that fall? Does that fall under small capital projects such as the Colville Lake foundation or the Norman Wells school or Délînê? Is there funding there? I don’t see it in the book.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The question that I have for the Minister or his staff is that when the communities ask for additional space in these facilities such as Inuvik or even Tulita, the community had to buy into the deposits. The community had to upfront some money in terms of additional spaces that they need, and then the community put the funding to, say in Tulita, the addition of a stage to the gymnasium. Now that the budget has increased significantly for the Tulita school building by just over $20 million, the community is asking why they had to put an extra $400,000 out of community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier in terms of the initiatives he announced earlier in the life of this Assembly. The initiative I’d like to talk about is a small community committee that he initiated. There are certain challenges these small communities that we represent have to deal with.

I’d like to ask the Premier, in terms of the status of this specific committee, when we could see some light of day in getting this committee off the ground.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform this House as to the status of the water resource management strategy? When can we see the final version?