Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in honour of International Women’s Day, I would like to take this opportunity to speak about the Canadian Women’s March 2005 Coalition. This is a group made up of 10 national women’s and social justice groups committed to the elimination of poverty and violence in Canada and making the links between local and global actions.

Mr. Speaker, they are launching their international campaign today on International Women’s Day and it will go on to October 17, 2005, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Poverty. In particular, Mr. Speaker, the...

Crying shame.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that the GNWT may have some programs for someone with a disability. It’s very minimal. It’s about $300 a month extra on top of normal income support. But one cannot get that, as they go through the federal process first and make sure they don’t qualify for the federal process. The problem is these take a long time. They could take three or four months. For someone who doesn’t have work, they have no money, the government does not allow any transition amount between while you’re waiting. Could the Minister revisit that issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to just state that the new run will join force with the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation which will be able to provide the much needed and important administrative structure and support. I am also happy to see that one of the main corporate sponsors, CIBC, will stay with the run. I have no doubt that when the first Run for Our Lives is held on October 2nd of this year, the northern people will be out in full force as they always have done, especially now knowing that we are doing it all northern communities and literally all of the NWT. Thank you...

Just a very short addition to that, as the Member for Hay River South mentioned earlier, there are many priorities that Members of this House have stated with regard to their priorities for Justice and that is what we are supposed to be doing. We are doing exactly what we would like the Minister and the government to know in terms of what we think should be done. I think this motion should be taken as a recommendation in a consensus government for the government to review the decision that they have made. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the department has to eat whatever is the lost revenue...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a number of topics that I would like to offer some comments on. They have to do with court registries, the South Slave remand centre, the North Slave Correctional Centre, community corrections, crime prevention, RCMP policing and the courthouse.

Mr. Chair, court registries; I know that these services were in the books for possible reductions, but I just want to speak again on this more because I’ve had time to think about it. I know that one of the reasons why there was some suggestion to close the Inuvik office or the Hay River office was because of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment and I will be happy to provide him with all the information he might require. But the third thing that I have to ask the Minister is the fact that our income support is really designed for people who are not able to get work for one reason or another, but not necessarily for those with disabilities. This woman who is disabled and can’t really function at 100 percent keeps getting asked to take a course on how to get a job and how to lead a productive life. That’s very frustrating. Would the Minister consider getting a different...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in his capacity as the Minister responsible for income support. Mr. Speaker, recently I have been contacted by a constituent who is suffering from a chronic heart condition and requires a heart transplant. She also has two young children who she has to look after. Because of her condition, she is not able to work. She is highly educated. It’s not that she can’t get a job; she’s just not able to work. While she’s waiting for this transplant, she has to get herself into really good...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at 11:00 a.m. this morning, I had the honour of attending the launch of our very own fundraising initiative in the name of breast cancer, Run for Our Lives. Mr. Speaker, Run for Our Lives will replace the Run for the Cure in 2005 and will make it possible to use 100 percent of the funds raised by the people of the NWT in support of national research, programs, services, support and equipment purchases for NWT breast cancer patients and survivors. Mr. Speaker, I have been a supporter of this move, because I believe this is about taking an ownership of...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a motion. I move that this committee recommends that funding for the remand unit for the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre be reinstated in the 2005-06 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice.