Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, February 13, 2014, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on February 13, 2014, it shall be adjourned until Monday, February 17, 2014;

And further, at any time prior to February 17, 2014, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon...

Within the life of this government, would the Minister look at a discussion paper where he could bring forward to the Assembly to say where we could start having discussion on the Heritage Fund and the government framework for the fund? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is on the mechanics of the Heritage Fund. It’s fine and dandy if you have a Heritage Fund, and colleagues have talked about the amount of money going in and how it’s going to be administrated. I wanted to look at the mechanics. Should the Heritage Fund come to a full-blown discussion with the people in the Northwest Territories, what is the purpose with the Heritage Fund and how it’s to be set up within the government structure, independent, arm’s length from the government and have people who would administrate it and look after it for us, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement is on the ongoing requests of the people, especially the family members of the elders. They have been asking for a palliative care service in Deline.

There are 54 elders 60 years and over in Deline. People have asked since last year when the letter was written to the previous Minister, Tom Beaulieu, when he visited the community. Upon his visit there, people wrote a letter and asked if there could be a possibility of putting two palliative care beds in the existing community wellness building.

People have noticed that since 1994, when the facility...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have certainly known elders who have left the Sahtu and have come to me and said we have to pay for their tickets, because they don’t have any money from their $550 a month pension cheque. We have to pay money to get to the centre. The Minister is also welcome to walk into my office to have this discussion.

I want to ask the Minister if he’s willing to look at this file again and properly compensate the elders who have made their own travel arrangements, paid their own tickets to come to Inuvik or Yellowknife.

I am certainly happy that Cabinet has agreed to put a long-term care facility in the Sahtu for the people of the Northwest Territories. My understanding, from talking to some of the elders, is once they are assessed and with the lack of infrastructure in their communities, they have to somehow make their way to Yellowknife or Inuvik and they have to pay for their airfare.

I want to ask the Minister, if that’s the case, is his department looking at where the elders don’t have to pay for their airfare once they get assessed and they have to come to a long-term care facility for their future needs...

I know once we get Ministers into our communities, there are issues even without the Minister’s role or responsibility. There are all kinds of issues. So, specifically, I want to have the Minister put some emphasis on the request for palliative beds in the community of Deline, and certainly as I’m standing here today, I will be inviting the Minister into Deline. When we have time we can go into that community. So I want to ask the Minister to talk about specifically the palliative care request that the people in Deline have.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services, and it goes to my Member’s statement on palliative care for the people in the community of Deline. It has been a big issue for some time, and actually since 1993 they’ve had units that were there for extended care shut down in 1994. They’ve made some changes to it. However, my letter of 2005-2006, just an update from last year from the previous Minister of Health and Social Services that went into Deline. People in the community of Deline are asking that the existing community wellness building have two beds...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was reading the budget and the highlights over the weekend. I made a comment in one of my meetings that it’s not a bad budget, and then I woke up.

---Laughter

Mr. Chair, I want to say that when I looked at the budget and looked at it from the perspective of the communities and from the Sahtu region, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen in budget history that the budget is going to be shared with the Aboriginal governments. In all my time with the Legislative Assembly I have never seen that. There’s a significant amount of money going to the Aboriginal governments. For me...

Would the Minister be committing to look at past files where people who have left their communities in the Sahtu who have to come to a long-term care facility because of their medical needs where these elders have paid for their own tickets from Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope, Deline or Tulita and that these files will be looked at and proper compensation will go back to these elders?