Robert Villeneuve

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think one of the priorities of this government is servicing and good justice for our youth, Mr. Speaker. Just one point on the community justice committees. I know that this government has cut a lot of community justice coordinator positions also, with this new rolling out of this new fiscal responsibility. I just wanted to make the Minister aware that the many years that, for instance, the Dene K'onia has been in operation, when they have had 30 to 40 kids in their custody, with a $2.2 million budget, they still managed to come way under budget. If that isn’t...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize two Pages from Tu Nedhe, Nicole Abel and Olga Aviugana, who have done a lot of good work here this week and hopefully we’ll have them back again some time. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the unforeseen cost overruns that we are going to run into here is retraining a lot of the staff that are going to be taking care of these kids here in Yellowknife. Just to go back to the mandate of the Justice establishment policy, the mandate will be carried out in a manner which respects community and aboriginal values and encourages communities to assume increasing responsibilities. I don’t know how far away you can sway from that through these proposed changes. That is way out to lunch there, as far as I am concerned, with the whole Justice savings and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to direct my questions to the Minister of Justice with respect to the remand centre and the Dene K’onia closure and the proposed changes that the Justice department is going to be undertaking come April 1st. Many of these changes are going to be directly affecting my constituents, which utilize many of the services that are offered south of the lake today. I just want to point the Minister’s attention to one of the policies, in Justice establishment policy 82, where the mandate clearly states that shall carry out in a manner, which respects...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to talk about our delicate and diversified northern environment. Mr. Speaker, as everyone is well aware, the next step in the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol Agreement has been met with some opposition and question as to the validity and the expectations from all the parties and partners involved.

Mr. Speaker, this agreement and the implications of the agreement will have a direct effect on us all. I’d like to mention something a constituent, who is an environmentalist in his own right, mentioned to me with respect to the protection and the acknowledgement of how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess with reference to some of these programs that are going to help these people get into homeownership, with reference to some of the programs the Housing Corporation used to run, the HAP program, from the feedback I have been getting from Housing is that that was a very successful program, but that was sunsetted a few years back. The good part of that program is people were able to at least assist in building their own houses. Sweat equity was a big consideration in that program. I think a lot of people took a lot of pride in participating in constructing their...

There are 22 units on the books here for this year. I am just wondering if the government would consider looking at the cost of those units with regard to the cost of having a stick-built one-bedroom apartment complex in these communities as opposed to two trailers. Thank you.

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I think the stick-built approach would have been something better to look at in the long term and invest into with regard to this…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to talk about shelters or what some people in this House might call housing.

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I like to use the term “shelter,” because in many instances, that is exactly what people are living in, not a home or a house but an enclosure that protects the occupants from the natural elements.

Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents, especially families with children, are housed in squalid and unhealthy conditions. Their living conditions negatively affect their family fabric which holds them together. By this, I mean families are considering splitting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know if the department looks at long-term, but a 20-year life on trailers is not really looking long term as far as I am concerned with the housing initiative. When we are thinking long term, we have to look at least 50 years down the road. At a cost of $190,000 per unit, we are looking at almost $1 million spent in one community and they haven’t been utilized for a year now. The $1 million could have gotten a good size one-bedroom apartment complex, or maybe two. With the second phase of this new market housing initiative that’s going to be rolled out this...