Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Madam Chair. The information that I guess I would be looking for from the Minister is regarding different physicians who come to smaller communities. We know that we wait five weeks to three months for some of the physicians to come into our communities. Sometimes people are out on the land or somewhere else and they don’t get to see that doctor that day or that week. Then they don’t see them for another three months. Mr. Chairman, is the department looking at putting some of the money towards Telehealth into our communities, which is a lot easier? I like the system. I know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my written question is for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs.

Can the Minister outline the process for settling outstanding claims within the municipalities that don’t already have land claim settlements?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to allude to the question on the access granted to the Yellowknives Dene in the municipality of the city of Yellowknife and that clarification. I would ask the Minister. This is only access to a certain parcel of land within the city. Is that correct? Thank you.

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to say to the government not to take the cotton balls out of their ears, but take the acorns out of their ears. That’s what we are doing in the Sahtu in terms of the financial picture that Mr. Roland indicated we have. We have a wealthy territory here, Mr. Speaker. The roads that go into the Sahtu and small communities in terms of the amount of money that comes out of these regions. The picture that Mr. Roland painted for us in his budget address, we have a surplus in the small communities. I say again, some of these larger centres take the services for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the interim measures agreements forced the sandpits or something that the Yellowknives Dene want to have. There is a process in terms of resolving that within the interim measures agreement. Is that the process that this will take in terms of further interest by the Yellowknives Dene in terms of the sandpits? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, land within the municipalities such as the….We settled in the Sahtu. There was a lot of land within the hamlet boundaries that had a lot of interest and was claimed by our own people. These lands were distributed among the GNWT, the federal government and the aboriginal people. I would like to ask the Minister if he states that this interim measures agreement will stay in place until the settlement within the areas that haven’t yet been settled by the aboriginal people. Thank you.