Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the town of Norman Wells in the Sahtu region, there is every oil and gas activity. I just can’t see that this government is putting a centre like this that we desperately need on the back burner of the capital plan. Would the Minister again assure the people of Norman Wells that this learning centre in Norman Wells gets high priority in terms of putting it back on the capital plan before any more beautiful new buildings like the one building in Inuvik are built? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister is going to bat for the town of Norman Wells on this facility here. However, can the Minister tell me whether this tiny, run-down ATCO trailer in Norman Wells is a typical community learning centre across the Northwest Territories, or is it standing out as a sore thumb in terms of the facilities that the department owns in Education? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a person that I’ve known for some time, a staff member of the office of the Indian Residential School Solution Canada, Ms. Irene Fraser.

---Applause

The point here, Mr. Chairman, and I understand the coming in line with the federal provisions of this act, and that is where the Northwest Territories seems to be somewhat unique in always following the top dog in terms of this type of legislation. That is where the North needs to stand on its own to have this type of discussion with the legislation as is being talked about today. I am going to leave it at that, with just a comment to the Minister, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just want to ask for some explanation or some clarification on the comment the Minister made in his opening comments in making reference to section 7 dealing with the income averaging for farmers and fisherman. He made reference to those two occupations of workers. The trappers are left out. They are not mentioned in here, which is something that I don't quite understand. I would ask the Minister for clarification. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, the Minister is very accurate on his observation of our facility in Norman Wells in terms of the Aurora College. I would like to ask the Minister if he would be committed to meeting with possibly the Town of Norman Wells or the Aurora College authorities to possibly look at alternative locations for this centre and also see what they could come up with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke in my Member’s statement about the Norman Wells Aurora College, the community learning centre and about the facility that is in Norman Wells. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment tell me if there are any future plans to relocate the Norman Wells Community Learning Centre to a more suitable location in the town of Norman Wells? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is on the Norman Wells Aurora College. Recent statistics on employment rates by the highest level of schooling demonstrates the importance of education. The employment rate for people with university degrees is over 90 percent in the Northwest Territories for 2004. For people with other certificates or diplomas it was over 85 percent. These statistics drop to 80 percent for people with high school only to less than 50 percent for people with Grade 9 to Grade 11, and to less than 35 percent for people with less than Grade 9 education.

As the late...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the special constables have played a special and very important role in our communities. Again, it’s one of the many lists of things that the federal government seems to have some control over in terms of how many RCMP are provided in the Northwest Territories. It seems like we’re left to the whims of the federal government in terms of federal funding. Are there any types of plans? I understand that the Minister has talked about meeting with the federal government and his counterparts. Are there any types of assurance or some sort of satisfaction the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct that these one-time special constables provide a very valuable service to the RCMP as a whole. Because of the lack of RCMP in the smaller communities, I’d like to ask the Minister on the Special Constable Program, can he provide some written documents to the House in terms of the type of substantial discussions held with the RCMP in the Northwest Territories in reintroducing this program to the North? Thank you.