Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members of this House may be aware of a recent national contest for project funding in which one of the winners was the NWT Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the NWT SPCA.

The SPCA received $300,000 from the Aviva Foundation and will use those funds to build an animal shelter in Yellowknife; a shelter which will provide services to all of the NWT.

The NWT SPCA is an organization run by volunteers. It works to provide homes for animals, to save and adopt out animals who are in distress, who have been left behind when their owners moved, or who are just no...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I spoke in my statement about the NWT SPCA. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not MACA has ever considered funding veterinary services and programs within the NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my great pleasure today to recognize a resident of Range Lake, but he happens to go to school in the Frame Lake riding. Mr. Tim Riviere is up in the gallery here and I wanted to note Tim is a grade 7 student at William Mac. He is shaving his head for cancer for the fourth year in a row and it’s his second year as a Relay for Life team member. He is the team captain for the Relay Rink Rats. He’s been the top youth fundraiser for three years in a row and has raised over $9,600 in those three years. This year Tim wants to raise $5,400 to bring his four-year total to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I have to take that as a no. So I’m really disappointed in Justice if they can’t meet or beat their last year’s goal. I’d like to know from the Minister if he could give us an idea of the number of students, out of these eight students, how many of them will be working in Yellowknife and how many will be working in communities outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you. I’d like to ask the Minister, he mentions that there are eight students that are hired at the moment. He also mentioned that the department tries to get students on board as soon as possible. I really appreciate that attitude on the part of the department and I believe there was a previous Minister who indicated that they have most of their students hired already.

Students, when they’re coming out of university, have four months to try and make some money to get them through the next university year and the sooner we can hire them, absolutely the more money they’re going to make and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m really glad we’re on the same page in terms of not waiting for 300 years. The removal of assets is one thing, but the clean-up of the mine site itself is a bigger issue. I know it’s multijurisdictional, but I’m wondering if the Minister can advise whether there is any long-term plan in terms of mine clean-up. That would be clean-up of the whole site, remediation and so on.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to my colleagues. Some may consider this a somewhat unusual motion and feel that perhaps it isn’t necessary as often the various departments will recognize particular weeks. I think it’s really important that we as legislators and that this Assembly makes this motion and passes this motion, because it indicates the importance that we as legislators give to our seniors.

I’ve often heard Members speak and say that part of our culture is that we respect seniors and honour seniors, and that elders are a very important part of our culture and our society...

I’m really confused now, because the Minister told me that information in October of last year. At that time, and later on, I was advised that there was an RFP that was being developed in February 2011. We’d have the results of an engineering study and what could possibly be done by mid-April 2011. I guess I need to ask the Minister if the RFP for engineering work was ever let.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 44 to deal with Motion 7-16(6) which I gave notice of yesterday.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to recognize a Frame Lake constituent, Ms. Yvonne Quick.