Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Chair, I just wanted to comment on this. It is a very important department for us in the Sahtu region. I’m very happy to say that I have three words: Bear River Bridge. It is something that we’ve somehow bumped off the rails there. I’m looking forward to seeing the department work as hard as they can to move this up in the construction phase. It’s going to be an important infrastructure with the winter roads past Tulita to the activity of the oil and gas exploration that wants to move into another phase of this oil and gas development.

The Minister talked about the Corridors for Canada III...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize a young fellow and one of our Pages here. This young fellow and I do some physical activity in the evenings. His name is Ben Karstad. He’s one of the Pages. I just wanted to recognize him because he’s a pretty good little fellow.

I appreciate that. I am certainly looking forward to any type of correspondence from the board of governors or the Minister himself. We know that we approve the funding for Aurora College, we approve this, this is the money that they are going to get for infrastructure. They don’t come to us and ask for money, they go through the Minister. We know that. It’s up to us and that’s what I’m asking. The buck stops right here with this Minister and Aurora College. That’s a given.

I want to ask for more, stronger, I guess you can call it, commitment, or working together or working closely, but we see...

The income assistance, I certainly hear the Minister will work with them to support any type of policy or regulations or assistance to get the families out to live on the land. Certainly on this page it talks about working towards a greater self-reliance. There is no greater self-reliance than having your family out on the land and relying upon each other, which also means there are risks. Families talk about those risks and talk about improving the quality of life. There is no better life than getting on the land and working, hard work but working together. I take my family out on the land...

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...