Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The second paragraph to the opening remarks to Bill 5, I just want some clarification in regards to the driving restrictions related to medical conditions. The proposed amendment allows the registrar the authority to request a medical examination and additional driver testing.

Speaking from a small community such as Colville Lake or Deline or Tulita or Fort Good Hope and the Wells or any other small communities, the registrar has the authority to request a medical examination. We don’t have some of the facilities and resources in our communities for this request to come in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing this motion to come forward to have a debate on it.

This motion is a good news story for the small communities. Certainly, there are a wide range of opinions as to the program and how it’s going to be implemented and how it’s going to be rolled out in the coming years.

Our small communities, at least 10 of them, some of our communities do not have some type of programming for our junior kindergarten schools. As in the newspaper, it’s been quoted from Mr. Kochon, that’s welcome news to Colville Lake.

Twenty-nine communities next year...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Minister is looking and blaming the people. The people have spoken to him. I went to the workshop in the Sahtu; we had some dynamite discussions. We were hoping that in 2010 with this discussion, this will push… This issue has been long standing in the Sahtu and also for the people of the Northwest Territories. We are saying our education system in the North is broken. Fix it. Our students need to be well educated, our schools need to be well functioned. We know the system and why it’s not producing what we want it to produce. Let’s get on with it. Let’s not stall...

Mr. Speaker, Members on this side of the House are telling the Minister right now that they represent the grassroots people, the people in their communities. They are saying they need new gyms and they are saying fix old schools, build new schools, get gymnasiums. We heard it. Social passing, we don’t have good directors. We’ve heard all that. The Minister has gone out. The Minister stated in this report that there is going to be an assessment, there’s going to be an ER Action Plan. The development of this plan was supposed to be out in February 2014. I am waiting for this action plan. We know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning I received some sad news from the Sahtu. I stand here with a heavy heart with my people in the Sahtu.

I guess I’m trying to say something that’s in my heart that’s so sad it’s hard to be written down. We have lost two people in the Sahtu who are very good people, two men, one from Colville Lake and one from Norman Wells. These two men were very loved by their people. They did a lot of good things in their communities.

One fellow is from Colville Lake and he grew up on the land, he knew the land, he came from the land and now he has returned back to the land...

It’s true, Mr. Chairman, every day you learn something new. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Minister.

I wanted to say that hopefully this bill here, then, will certainly help us in the Sahtu. There’s willingness and some flexibility, say, in like Colville Lake. There are people there that drive vehicles that are pretty fit and they are over the age of 75, 80, and are still driving. We need to have some flexibility in our smaller communities. The age of 75, so I don’t really have to worry because I have a long way to go yet, so I’m okay. Those are my closing comments. Thank you.

I like that answer there, so I will see how we could work on that provision. Also, the provision will ensure accuracy and fairness in determining drivers’ fitness. I guess the mechanism… How do you determine a driver’s fitness, I guess, especially in the small communities? He may not look fit, but once you get an old-timer out in the bush, boy, they are fitter than us. So, how do you determine the fitness? You know, some of our elders are 75 or 80 but they are more fit than us sitting around this table here. You go in the bush with them and they will put us to shame. So, I guess I am taking...

Mr. Speaker, I concur with Mrs. Groenewegen and Mr. Menicoche to this amendment to the amendment. We do have qualified teachers, they are called mothers, grandmothers. They may not have their qualifications as an institution, but they are special people in our communities.

These are four-year-olds. Think back on your child or grandchild as a four-year-old. This is about teaching some social development skills, language, play, respect and values. So these are small children that some of the qualified people that are not recognized in our education system may be recognized in our communities in...

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion.

WHEREAS our children are our future and the way we treat them will have impacts that will be felt for generations;

AND WHEREAS the literature on early childhood education demonstrates that the success of junior kindergarten depends upon the requirement that high quality programs be delivered by fully trained early childhood education workers;

AND WHEREAS Kerry McCuaig of the Atkinson Institute and junior kindergarten implementation consultant to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has written that the requirement for high quality programming through...

Just a quick comment here, Mr. Chair. The issue I have with this department would be the responsibility in regard to our water management and the role that the government is going to assume after April 1st. But even as we speak, Imperial Oil has applied to renew its water licence in the Norman Wells operation. It will be a 10-year licence.

I want to ask what type of role the government is going to play in the process of Imperial Oil seeking the renewal of their water licence from the Mackenzie River that has been done in the past. Their 10-year licence expired so they are seeking another 10...