Norman Yakeleya

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on November 7, 2013, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, February 5, 2014;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to February 5, 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 the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has...

Thank you. The delegation that actively lobbied for the Inuvik-Tuk highway did a successful job. I’m sure they can use some of their points as to how to start working on the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Specifically, I’m speaking from Wrigley all the way up to the Dempster Highway. I’m looking at a huge chunk of the road into the Sahtu, and with the oil and gas activity, I’ve asked the Minister, is there a game plan from the Government of the Northwest Territories when they go down to Ottawa to lobby the government, who then would see the importance of this highway, along with the activity that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Transportation. I’d like to talk to the Minister about the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The Minister has a proposal called Corridors for Canada III. I want to ask the Minister if there’s any type of signal or indication on the efforts on the part of the Government of the Northwest Territories, as to where that proposal is within the Government of Canada to see what type of support we’ll have to start building that important highway.

Thank you. With this idea that the Minister is putting out there, would he be able to, within this fiscal year, direct his staff to work with the other departments such as Justice, Health and Social Services, and Education, Culture and Employment to look at a new structure of a program through their working groups or the committees in the Sahtu to say this is something that’s unique, it’s different, where we can support these younger adults that want to learn about trapping and their way of life?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ITI. Yesterday we talked about education with Minister Lafferty, and another view of education is with the hunters and trappers in the Sahtu region. I want to ask the Minister of ITI what types of programs we have for our on-the-land professors who want to take out young students to train them how to be a good hunter and trapper, and also to be a good person.

What kinds of programs are there that young people can apply for and what types of programs are there for the elders and trappers to take these young people on the land to sustain...

I just want to thank the mover and the seconder on this motion here. We’re talking about education, which has been a long-standing issue in this government. This is not something new. Over the years, as an MLA, and as the Minister is well aware – this issue is not new to him – we’ve been talking about the quality of education for a long time. Whether it’s in Yellowknife or it’s in the small communities such as Colville Lake, we’ve been talking about the quality of our education and the quality of our certificates that we give our Grade 12 students, called diplomas.

When I read that we’re the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think one of the most effective ways is to lobby, to go down face-to-face with your partners to show the benefits of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley further up north. I want to ask the Minister, is that something the Members will have some input on as to what type of lobbying will seek the most benefit from our proposal in Corridors III.

We talked earlier about the increase of oil and gas in the Sahtu and I want to ask the Minister if he has had any type of preliminary discussions with his federal counterparts to see that this important proposal seeks a favourable response so we can start developing the resources in the Sahtu in a responsible manner and that the Mackenzie Valley Highway is a must for the people in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know the government is going to be entertaining some of the main estimates in the next couple of months. Is this something that the Minister can foresee that it’s something where we could have some of these discussions within the main estimates?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in the motion, the Sahtu employment rate is at 55 percent, and also that 9 percent of the population in the Northwest Territories has a less than Grade 9 education, and 20 percent of the population has not yet obtained an education beyond high school.

When I did my numbers here in the Sahtu, there are 675 youth between the ages of 10 and 24 years of age. That’s a high population. That’s 30 percent of the entire Sahtu population, which is about 2,680 people, according to our stats here.

With all the oil and gas development, there is great potential for major...