Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister consider shifting resources, both human and financial, in the area of addictions as opposed to residential treatment to community-based treatment in order to provide much needed support at the community level?

Thank you. The issue of addictions varies from community to community and what I think the Minister and the department need to do is to develop a specific community-by-community strategy to combat alcohol addictions, and need to consult. I’d like to ask the Minister if using money for those programs, start a process of consulting community governments and local stakeholders and actually develop a strategy for each community on a strategy on addictions and wellness. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to speak on a very important issue in Tu Nedhe. When I speak to addictions counsellors and local health officials, they advise me that the number one cause of health and social problems in small communities is excessive consumption of alcohol.

The Department of Health and Social Services must make the shift from treating people for the causes of heavy drinking to preventing them from drinking. Some of the people are drinking alcohol to a point where it’s affecting their health, their family and their employment, and in some cases worse than that: drinking...

Does that mean that Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority will get the money for Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e?

I’m assuming that it would be a matter of the prevention and promotion services. In here it’s indicated that programs assist with emotional and social problems such as suicide, homelessness, and dealing with residential school issues. The majority of those, homelessness and residential school issues, are of course something that I recognize the department has to pay some attention to. I know that it is difficult to address the homelessness issue because it’s difficult to find absolute homeless people in the small communities because relatives take them in and they end up becoming relative...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Dene people see this as a loophole by the federal government. It does not seem fair when the federal government designed and implemented a regulatory system, will take 50 percent of the royalties on these developments but won’t pay for the cleanups. This is a loophole. Why is there no definite plan in place to place full responsibility for the remediation that’s needed on the federal government? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, what is the Government of the Northwest Territories doing to ensure that the waste sites that are listed or that are contemplated in such devolution agreement in the future are cleaned up in a timely fashion? What is the time frame for this? Is this going to go on forever or is there going to be a time frame for a clean-up of these waste sites? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Krutko, Mr. Roland, and Mr. Robert C. McLeod are not in the House and would have recognized the Languages Commissioner, Sarah Jerome. I’d like to recognize the Languages Commissioner.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

It’s very unfortunate that money can’t go directly to the communities. I think that the communities would have a better idea. I know that in speaking to the elders in the community -- I know I’m out of time, Mr. Chairman, I’ll be short -- the elders in the community indicate to me that their idea of trying to work with the emotional and social aspects around suicide prevention would be to be bringing people. I had asked the Minister on this on another matter, to bring people in that will work with the communities, like healers and so on that will work with the communities. I think that’s...