Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in reference to honourable Minister Krutko’s statement with respect to the 30 years of celebrating the Housing Corporation in the Northwest Territories, one of the questions that has often come up in our small communities, especially amongst the elders, is the promise that was made by federal government agencies in terms of housing and how they get into housing.

This is very young, in terms of the Housing Corporation being in the Northwest Territories; only 30 years. Previous to that there were other houses in the Northwest Territories that were managed by...

Winter’s coming. This is fall right now. Winter’s coming. Wait until it gets really cold, minus 50 and 60; that’s winter. These people need major repairs in their homes and yet we can’t do it. That’s why I support this motion. I support the Minister going down and getting a good deal from our federal government. We’ve done it with health, we’ve done it with equalization. We need to do it on…I’ll maybe have to retract that. I’ll have to wait until I hear from the Minister of Finance. However, Mr. Speaker, this is why I’m in full support of this motion and I’m passionate about this motion. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my written question today is directed to the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development.

Could the Minister provide detailed information of the direct financial benefits the GNWT has received over the last five years as the result of oil and gas exploration programs in the Sahtu and in the NWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll do a follow-up question to the Honourable Charles Dent with regard to teachers. I want to ask the Minister what is this government doing to keep teachers in the North? What type of incentives are they working on to keep the teachers in the North, so they don’t have to deal with issues such as housing? I know that the government is not in the housing business now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister. When will this strategy or discussion come to the House or come into the Sahtu region for communities to discuss this amongst themselves to see that the teachers don’t have to go through this again next year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in regards to the crisis issues in the Sahtu, and specifically in the Tulita community school. We have teachers staying in hotels. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment what is he doing with his partners in the Sahtu Divisional Education Council to work with the teachers to see that this issue is resolved and that this won’t happen again in the future? Thank you.

Thank you. Just one final comment here, Madam Chair. I'm still trying to make sense of the restrictions on 737 aircraft by January 2006 with regard to the Yellowknife Airport, yet these types of aircraft leave other airports in the Northwest Territories, so this doesn’t make sense right now. I wonder if the Minister would have some meetings with the federal Minister in terms of any future discussions or any future direction with regard to our airports that we would have some input, rather that showing up in our books here. It just doesn’t make sense to me, so that’s all I have to say...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With regard to the user fee, it’s quite a large amount of money that’s going to be spent for the user fee. I guess I want to see what type of recovery process or how long it’s going to take, 10, 15, 20 years, to recover that money. I just want to ask Mr. Dent if he can shed some light on that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a letter I received from Lorraine Kuer, a teacher at Chief Albert Wright School in Tulita, which is signed by 19 staff and teachers in Tulita.

Mr. Speaker, the letter is addressed to the Government of the Northwest Territories and it describes the housing crises facing teachers in the Sahtu region and other small communities in the Northwest Territories, and it challenges the government to take immediate action to redeem the situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I support the Minister in terms of aggressively looking at some initiatives that would keep our teachers here and have them be aware of the high cost of living in the Sahtu. We are no strangers in the Sahtu region, we know that. I would ask the Minister what would he do with his department in terms of working with the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to look at some unique initiatives of providing some secure housing to our people in the Northwest Territories and the Sahtu region. Thank you.