Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked about the traditional foods at the health facilities in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, other than the Aboriginal Wellness Program, the Stanton Elders Council, are there any types of discussions happening to increase the amount of Aboriginal foods that are served at the Stanton Territorial Hospital and possibly at the Aven Manor?

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the government, we continue to try to regulate rather than make common sense. I am talking about getting our elders their traditional foods in our health centres and facilities, like serving fish, moose or caribou, or even a rabbit at our health facilities. Mr. Speaker, our elders are starving for their God-given foods. I want to state why we are falling short in helping our elders and how we can help in the long run.

What are our policies about serving Aboriginal traditional foods to our elders in our health facilities? It is reported that at one time we had 65...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to see a program stronger than Project Gearshift, but that we actually have a program in our schools that would allow a driver education program for our youth, that they actually not wait for funding but initiate it. Schools are always competing for funding and other initiatives, and sometimes we’re not quite there as we’d like to be in regards to having funding for the schools.

Is this something that they could look at more concrete that could be a pilot project, so say this could work, especially in the Sahtu where there’s oil and gas activity that’s going...

Certainly, we want to close the gap on the disparity within our regions. We know not all regions are created equal, so I want to ask the Minister with regard to the driver education training program, is this something that he and his colleagues, specifically the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, can look at as a pilot project in the Sahtu, for example, to raise the challenge with our young people to have one of these types of drivers’ licences for next year?

I say to the Minister, initiate a pilot project now. Start to introduce one next year, with a target date of September. The message is: education pays. Drive home this pilot project.

I call upon this government to bring forward a proposal to have a driver’s education training program in one of our Sahtu communities or any other small communities in the North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Mrs. Groenewegen for bringing this motion to the floor and having Mr. Hawkins second the motion and the Members who spoke in support of this motion. I think Mr. Bromley said it best, if we have a day that is dedicated to this issue here.

It is a very personal issue. We can talk about bridges, roads and infrastructure, but how do we talk about a human being, a gift from God, of our choosing? How do we talk about the intangible questions of what a parent is going through, what a mother is going through, what a father is going through?

I have dealt with this...

Mr. Speaker, would the driver education program have a schedule in a Sahtu community high school for these driver education training programs, that every so often the instructors will be coming into these schools where there’s incentive to receive a credit, get to school, and every three months that in one of the Sahtu communities you’ll know these young students will be receive one type of driver’s licence. It will do a lot of wonderful things in terms of increasing their self-esteem, once they get a driver’s licence.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement and certainly reading here Mr. Dolynny having an exchange with Mr. Ramsay last week in regards to driver education programming in our school, I want to ask the Minister if he’s given some serious consideration with his colleague, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Is this something we can look forward to putting on a piece of paper saying by next year, if we put our heads together and the will of the people and the will of the department, we can have a driver education training program in one of our small communities?