Norman Yakeleya

Thank you. Just a few questions. My first question is on the Senior Citizens Supplementary Benefit Program. I know at one time – and maybe the Minister can help me out here – that some of our seniors didn’t know about the Guaranteed Income Supplementary Benefit from the federal government. They weren’t applying for it and it has to be applied for every year. Some of the senior citizens were wondering why, after one year, their income cheque was down low again. Is there something within the department where the workers notify, maybe through the service centres, to fill out these guaranteed...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few comments to this. It’s really speaking about reallocating, and people are hearing us in the communities. We do that on a regular basis. We see that, we allocate a few dollars here and there, we do things that certainly we want to see projects in the communities. This is a statement from this side of the House to say that the Early Childhood Development Initiative that we have taken on and the government has been working towards is a top priority to meet the objectives of the 17th Assembly, so what we are saying is that we, as a government, could do it. I have...

I look forward to that information given the long, continuous push from my side, at least, to have elders in schools. I thought the Minister would have the information on hand because it’s such a high priority for me to have elders in schools. I am a little bit disappointed the Minister doesn’t have the information at hand to tell me how many elders are in school right now and how the education boards are working as to what ways of putting these valuable professors into our schools. I will leave it at that.

My second question I want to ask on the culture and heritage section. This afternoon I...

So, Mr. Chair, the funding has gone to the school boards. Is that correct?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask the Minister about the involvement of elders in our schools. If the Minister could just briefly let me know which schools have elders in their schools and where the funding is coming from. If he could provide me with the department’s plans of ensuring that all the schools will have the best opportunity to bring elders into their schools.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to acknowledge the naming of Mount Fred Andrew Sr., truly a Shuhagot’ine from Tulita. The mountain was officially announced on December 6, 2013.

Mr. Speaker, the name honours Mr. Fred Andrew Sr. for his knowledge and leadership, by guiding the U.S. army through the Mackenzie Mountains during the World War era of 1943-1944.

Today this route is now formally called the Canol Heritage Trail, considered one of the toughest hikes in the world.

Mr. Andrew is one of the many other guides who helped with the war efforts at that time.

Mahsi Cho for giving recognition to our...

Mr. Chair, there’s not much I can say other than wait until the Minister reports back on the updated facilities. I really want to see a region-by-region plan on the facilities. Colville Lake is not even in here. I don’t know where it qualifies. Is it a learning centre or training facility? It’s not a campus for sure. That’s what I mean. This is outdated. I appreciate what the Minister’s saying. I wish him the best that he can come back to us with an updated facility plan.

The questions I have, we could go on, but I want to leave it at that. I think that I have said what I have to say.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to read a quote from an elder. “When a community does something together, that community is very happy, jubilant, connected and unified. …(inaudible)…” Larry Atkin, Chipewya.

The Aboriginal people have always been able to adapt. If the hunting changed, we found new hunting grounds. If the earth changed, we moved to a better place. If the river changed course, we followed the river. But with every change, we kept our Aboriginal values and culture and our spirituality. Our culture and our spirituality have always been our strength. Our culture and our...

Mr. Chair, I have a question in regards to the facilities of Aurora College. I do have a 2007 report on the 10-year facility plan. The plan is for 2007-2016, and in the report it does give a list of the community learning centres on page 32 and its projection, I take it as a projection, and the go-forward planning. When will the new updated report be coming out, because it says the population projection for 2014 for Fort Good Hope is 496 and I think that’s a little bit shy of what’s in the community now. They also have a list of the years the learning centres were being built and how old they...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly I’m a fan of the service centres that we established. I think that’s something that this government has certainly done well within our communities. Speaking with people who manage that office, they love to work with the elders and the elders love to converse in their own language in these centres. That’s a good thing. As Mr. Heide was saying about a checklist from the elders, especially at the end of the year, have you done this, have you applied for this. I check this for the seniors. Sometimes we get so busy, we forget things. If you have an elder coming...