Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Chair, I’d ask for a recorded vote.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Before I respond to Mr. Bromley’s questions, I want to thank the Members for speaking to the bill. Certainly I look forward to continued support as we go through this process.

The question to Mr. Bromley’s question on the point of evaluation on monitoring, certainly, Mr. Bromley, this is quite unique. It’s doing something that is bold and imaginative for a solution. Not maybe the perfect solution the way I’d like to see it, as legislators doing something that’s right for the people who spoke to us in the Sahtu in the communities. Even though we went to four of the...

Madam Chair, I thank the Member for the question. The legislation is specific to the Sahtu region. Mr. Menicoche raises a very good point because the only other liquor store in the Northwest Territories that has restrictions is the Fort Simpson liquor store. However, this legislation specifically speaks to the Sahtu region. Could I ask Ms. Kelly McLaughlin if she has any comments?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems that we have a disconnect. The Minister is asking the Aboriginal governments, the communities, to give us the proposal for on the land. The communities are saying this is what we believe is an on-the-land program and it seems that we’re not connecting as we need to sit down together and talk about this. We do have the proposals, I’ve seen them myself and I actually passed them on to the Minister.

Would the Minister then say, okay, Fort Good Hope, Tulita, Deline, Colville Lake even, we think we have a program. Let’s work on it together. I’m asking when can the...

Thank you. It’s said that we need to think like our ancestors had been thinking. They knew the culture and the customs, Mr. Speaker. The culture taught them how to live in harmony with each other, so the people are saying we need to think like this again and that we must rely on a power greater than ourselves and that they don’t need alcohol in their lives.

So I say this: When will the Minister present a concrete on-the-land program for people in the small communities so they can take advantage of this service and this program?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize two distinguished couples, Andrew John and Marie Therese Kenny and John and Camilla Tutcho, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaries on September 23rd in Deline.

These two couples are well respected throughout the Sahtu communities and the North for their traditional knowledge and traditional contributions to our youth.

On behalf of the Sahtu, I’d like to congratulate them and wish them a continuous lifetime of happiness. Mahsi cho to their children and grandchildren.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, colleagues, for giving your thoughts, your opinions, your analysis to this bill that is being asked by the Sahtu people. I have been asked by the Sahtu people as a legislator – as Mr. Miltenberger put it so eloquently, as legislators we do the unpopular, bold initiatives to represent your people on whatever issues. When you have your people pushing you for a resolution or solution on an issue such as alcohol, the impacts in the Sahtu region, then you listen to them and you work on their behalf.

I am here before you because we have chosen to do the right thing...

That’s what I said in my Member’s statement. How do we try to regulate something that is just common sense in our small communities? We should see some of the places where we store our food and wonder, gee, it must be quite the challenge to cook it up.

What makes something that is common sense in our small communities so unexplainable when it comes to our health centres? Why do we have to go through all these processes? How can the Minister help me with the existing facilities we have now so Aboriginal people and elders can get their traditional foods in these facilities?

Thank you. Certainly, the Minister is correct of our discussion. I want to ask the Minister, is that something that could be within this fiscal framework, to look at the various solutions to increase the Aboriginal foods, say, at Aven Manor? I understand they serve traditional foods only twice a month and at the Stanton Hospital they serve traditional foods every Friday at lunchtime. At Stanton Hospital, the last report indicated 65 percent of patients were Aboriginal people. So I want to ask if the Minister would look at some of these types of solutions to help our elders and our Aboriginal...