Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has his department or any of his colleagues done a survey as to why people are leaving the Northwest Territories? Is it the high cost of living? Is it the infrastructure? Is it programs and services? Once you get that survey looked at, then you can see the problems and solutions. If it is the high cost of living, then you know we have to do some work. Is it child care? Is it training? Whatever it is, then we can unravel the issue.

Has the department done some type of survey on why people are exiting out of the Northwest Territories?

Is there some type of think-tank that his department is considering to attract or bring in people and keep people in the North here? I want to ask, is there any type of think-tank that will look at all kind of options, how we keep people and attract people back who have left?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have also been thinking about the question in the budget statement where the Minister wanted to look at how we increase our population. Actually, the number was 2,000 in five years. When you look at it from an economic standpoint, the less amount of population we have in the North we get a decrease in our revenue. So, to increase our revenue, we need to have more people coming into the Northwest Territories.

I thought about that and I said to my colleagues here, first things first. Let’s get our northern people, who are trained and educated in the Northwest Territories...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The motion is an interesting one, and certainly we heard from the Aboriginal governments at the Bill C-15 federal government public hearing at the Explorer Hotel. I concurred with my leader in the Sahtu, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, when she spoke to the bill. In 1993 the negotiators of the Sahtu Dene/Metis, the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories completed their negotiations of a comprehensive land claim agreement, and we signed off and it became law in 1993-94. We were the second Aboriginal regional group to settle a land claim, the Gwich’in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I noted in my Member’s statement that this week is Aurora College Week, and we had some discussions with the students. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about one of the suggestions to have elders or cultural activities in the Aurora College campuses or learning centres.

Is there any plan within the department to have elderly cultural office positions staffed in our campuses in Yellowknife or any other campus in the North?

In my hands here, I have the stats from the students who are going to Aurora College from the Sahtu. The numbers shown here are 81 people who have taken some sort of post-secondary education. How do we track these 81 people? Some of them have left the North and there are reasons why they left the North. I have a young man in Vancouver who is a classical cartoonist who has a hard time finding work in the Northwest Territories. The only places he will find work is California, Montreal. There is no way that our government will attract that career, so he has to be in Vancouver. That’s where the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I want to ask Mr. Ramsay about the goal of attracting workers to at least 2,000 over the next five years, according to the budget address by the Minister of Finance. As Minister of ITI, what plans does he have in place, with regard to working with other department officials, to attract workers into the Northwest Territories?

Yesterday we watched a short video of the people up in Yellowknife, Norman Wells. Shotagotine people and life on the land. We also saw a clip in 1957 where there was oil being...

I have a question on the reciprocal billing. Do we also bill for the oil and gas and mining companies who have employees come into the North and use our facilities?

I appreciate the compliments from the Minister. Actually, it was Mr. Moses that headed up this meeting with some of the Members here, and we actually had a good discussion.

I want to talk about the attraction. We talked about how do we attract people. Aurora College can be a very unique campus that would bring students or people from outside into the Northwest Territories saying, yes, this is a worthwhile place. I want to ask the Minister because he controls the budget. We control the budget. The Minister makes presentations to us through this form of session. Is this something that he would...

Thank you. I appreciate that from the Minister. I think the people from the Sahtu or any other winter road drivers who are listening would appreciate that. I think that’s what the people are asking. This constituent is shocked and surprised and saying how come I’m not getting any type of roadside assistance, and I need to call the dealership. I ask the Minister if he would do that as soon as possible, and I’m not even talking to see if there’s any type of how do we go about reimbursing him, but I would appreciate that. I would ask the Minister if he would send me a quick note saying these are...