Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to again commend the two Ministers and commend the Minister of Transportation for coming to the Sahtu. It’s a good sign to come to the people in the smaller communities. I’d ask the Minister if he would commit to looking at the all-weather road project. Would he consider doing it from the discussions from the community base where they would connect from the different regions and communities before they push down south? Would they look at, having been with the Sahtu people, community approaches in terms of an all-weather road? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the people in the Sahtu region’s favourite song is “On the Road Again.” They just can’t wait to get back on that road again. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister if his department would consider, because of the increased volume of traffic in the Sahtu region and the oil and gas exploration, moving one of the offices to have some presence in the Sahtu. Because right now our offices are outside of the Sahtu, for example, in Fort Simpson and other regions. I want to ask the Minister if he would consider having his office presence in the Sahtu region. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize a former high school teacher, Ms. Roslyn Smith, in the gallery. Thank you.

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Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Just reading the opening comments from the Minister, for general comments, Madam Chairperson, I want to say…Like my colleague Mr. Menicoche mentioned, in the Sahtu region housing has been a really big issue for me in terms of the services, the building of houses, and just basic, general housing. I believe, over the past year, we have made some progress in terms of taking care of those needs. We are still a long way in terms of the housing programs, especially for the community of Fort Good Hope which is in dire straights in terms of home repairs and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was at a negotiation session one time and I read where it says in order to get to the Promised Land you have to negotiate your way out of the wilderness. I think that’s what we’re doing here. I think the Northwest Territories has a lot of promise and things could happen in the Northwest Territories. I think right now with this Northern Strategy, that the Premier is giving us an opportunity to look for vision in the Northwest Territories; things that we’d like to see in the North.

Within the 15th Legislative Assembly we have only a short period of time...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, three communities in the Sahtu are going to be directly impacted by the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline. They are very afraid in terms of the social impacts. There is increased exploration activity in my region right now and we are seeing the impacts. We are also seeing the benefits. However, the people are really concerned about the social impacts in terms of family violence and alcohol. So again, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister what specific things is his department going to do to ensure that people in the Sahtu will see some benefits in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of MACA. Mr. Speaker, in the past 30 years, the concept of selling past dreams and lands in the Northwest Territories has been introduced by the federal government. Today, Mr. Speaker, we have made some progress. The Tlicho people have proven this over the last couple of weeks. My question to the Minister of MACA is what is his department doing in terms of protecting the aboriginal rights and claims within the areas that haven’t been settled yet? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is my last point, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to the electronic project that will be happening in the Territories.

The last point I want to make is regarding the physicians in the Sahtu region. We have allocated some positions in the Sahtu. I guess the dollars will be spent by the Inuvik regional health board in terms of dictating or the decision-making with the Sahtu region. Do we wait until the Sahtu has set up the health board and from there they have some authority in terms of the physicians coming over to Sahtu? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess the way this budget is structured, all we do is give comments to these communities. I am not sure if the Minister can provide it today, but I am looking for some assurance that the communities like Colville, like Fort Good Hope, like Deline who already has Telehealth in their system, but I am not sure it’s being used to the extent it could be used, rather than have our patients wait or be delayed or not be sent out if they don’t have to be. How’s that? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I support the Minister’s initiatives in terms of expanding Telehealth. I am looking for some concrete answers that Telehealth will be in the small communities that don’t receive physician visits; for example, Colville Lake. Colville Lake receives two visits per year for eight days' worth of services for a doctor to be in a small community. That’s ludicrous. It’s a crying shame that we have physicians visiting two times a year.