Norman Yakeleya

Just for clarification with this new responsibility that we’re going to receive under Bill 2 and the passing of this legislation, certainly it will bring the control mechanism of making decisions and having protection of our heritage sites, our archeological sites closer to the North. I just wanted to ask the Premier for a clarification on the modern land claims and modern treaties, comprehensive land claims. In chapter 26 we speak to the heritage resources and provisions in these chapters would be respected and that is inconsistent with the existing legislation. Our Constitution document...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These Aboriginal games come from our ancestors, and basically, they come from the land and their survival. Now they have a different meaning but they’re very, very, very important. This is the foundation of our culture and our people.

I want to ask the Minister, in regard to these new Aboriginal games that are being out here, if he can work with this Department Education, Culture and Employment Minister. Is that part of the curriculum for physical education in our schools? This should be, actually, a mandatory part of the curriculum in our schools with our young people.

It was duly noted last night at the opening ceremonies that the Minister was preoccupied, and so that was understandable by the participants.

I guess what I wanted to say was there were so many people out there – coaches and athletes and volunteers – that it would be nice to have some type of a book so that we could start reading about the traditional games, because that’s kind of where things are going nowadays even though they’re handed down orally. We kind of understand that in our smaller communities.

I want to ask the Minister, for the support of these traditional games, is there is long...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the amount of dollars going into the Sahtu and people having that type of opportunity, those are some good things that people are doing with the money. There are also some things that people are not doing so well. With this type of readiness session sometime in the future, hopefully it will be in the next five months, we want to look at the social impacts.

Recently, we’ve seen lots of liquor being confiscated by the RCMP. We need to talk about some of the social issues. Will that be part of the forum?

Mr. Speaker, going back to the two ladies, the chief and the lands director from Fort Nelson, they talked about striking a balance. Certainly we hear the benefits that Mr. Ramsay indicated. Now we are talking about striking a balance of the economic benefits plus looking at the sustainability of our land, water and animals. Mr. Ramsay communicated with the Minister of ITI. We are actually on the verge of a huge turning point in the Northwest Territories.

Is there some type of discussion with his department and ENR, saying we need to look at balance with the land and with the economic...

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize a young Page that was serving us. His name is Ben Karstad. Ben and my son Chase practice karate together, so I want to recognize him. I would also like to recognize the chief from Aklavik, Charlie Furlong, and his partner, Joanne Deneron. Thank you.

Thank you for the clarification. I’ll close the book on that now

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m certainly interested in the questions and exchange with Mr. Bromley. A lot of questions have to be thought out. Certainly, when we negotiated and settled the Sahtu Dene/Metis Comprehensive Land Claim, chapter 27 spoke to the Surface Rights Board. Because that legislation hasn’t happened until today and a few months ago we had a Surface Rights Board, we had an arbitration panel that was before us. The arbitration panel, under chapter 6 of our land claim, was like the Maytag repair person, very quiet. The agreement was already negotiated and settled, put together, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the honourable Member for bringing this motion forward. I was very pleased to second it because I believe this motion is giving the communities and the people in the Northwest Territories a greater chance of saving lives. No guarantees, if the big guy wants you up there he’ll take you no matter what, but this gives us a fighting chance. It’s a possibility for our community members, as Ms. Bisaro has indicated, giving our communities a fighting chance if we had these defibrillators situated in parts of our communities. I know this was an issue a couple...

The Aboriginal Sport Circle should be getting all our support we can give, even to increase their funding to support all these small communities, communities around the Northwest Territories that bring kids together to learn about the traditional games and, more importantly, to practice them and to get the best out of themselves and for their schools.

I want to ask the Minister, is there a review process, once these games are finished, to say what went well, what we need to do next time, and is there any way that Members on this side could be part of that review, because I have small...