Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Chairman, as the Minister agreed, there was a real deal at the time that the community wanted an additional gym. It couldn’t get it, because they said they didn’t have the money. It wasn’t budgeted for. If you want the stage for the community, you will have to put in an extra $400,000. Thank God the New Deal came in. That was the real deal to give the community: some money.

The community as a whole between the three organizations, the three governments, said: we want to support education for children; the school needs a gymnasium, a proper gymnasium; we will pay for it; we will help with...

The policy of the small communities committee in terms of its membership as initiated by Cabinet…. I’ll ask the Premier if he has the authority to say that this committee needs to be implemented. Does the Priorities and Planning committee need to initiate it to get it going?

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to pay tribute to the late George Blondin. George Blondin was an uncle to many people. He was an uncle to me. I have a statement here I want to make in the House.

George Blondin, a respected elder from the Sahtu, passed away October 12, 2008, from a heart attack and double stroke at the age of 87.

George was a traditional Indian and a skilled hunter and trapper who enjoyed living off the land and water. He’s best known as a storyteller for the Dene culture and tradition. He was an author of three books: When the World Was New, Yamoria and Trail of the...

I’ll be happy to receive that package from the Minister in terms of all this. This is a very worthwhile, golden opportunity in that we have strong aboriginal people coming together.

We talk about the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We talk about the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. We talk about the hydro potential. We talk about partnerships with groups with unsettled land claims that have negotiated contract policies and memorandums of understanding with the Government of the Northwest Territories. You have unsettled claims.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister: is this a golden opportunity for this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that commitment. Could the Minister commit herself to also looking at initiatives such as the Strategic Initiative Committee on Refocusing Government and various options to again work with boards and agencies on how to deliver services like this to our community members, especially seniors?

Mr. Speaker, I would really like to work with the Minister responsible for Seniors on this. There’s a very valuable opportunity in working with seniors and putting them at a level where we are taking care of them and showing the community that we are taking care of them.

Can I ask the Minister in terms of the involvement of Regular Members or myself, would we have some options to look at some of these areas that we could work on together?