Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to just state here in terms of the family law initiatives, which we heard about this morning at our briefing, I think the department is absolutely on the right track and the success, obviously, the initial evaluations that they’ve done so far in a number of their programs indicates that the programs are working very well and they’re a success. So I’d like to commend the department for the work that they’ve done there, and I missed the page, but the domestic violence court option is also another area which I think is going to prove to be quite successful.

I wanted...

Thanks to the Premier for those remarks. I didn’t really get any idea of whether or not there’s been any action over there, but I’d like to ask the Minister if he can explain to me and to this House just what priority an ombudsman office has in this government’s total priorities. Is there any hope that it might soon be on the radar? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a number of questions here. Initially I want to follow up on my colleague Mr. Abernethy’s comments with regard to the volunteer sector. I am totally supportive of his comments. I fully believe that we lack coordination of the voluntary sector across this government. I did want to point out, although it’s a matter of semantics perhaps, whether or not NGOs are a voluntary sector, I would think that, I can’t guarantee, but I would imagine 100 percent of non-government organizations are run by volunteer boards, and in my mind that makes them part of the voluntary...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I’d like to thank my colleagues for their remarks. I don’t know, Mr. Speaker, how many other ways I can say it; I am not asking or this motion does not ask for the policy to be opened. This motion asks for the priority hiring lists, which are not within the Affirmative Action Policy, to be opened. Those are listed in the Human Resource Manual. I don’t believe that’s a policy as a policy approved by Cabinet. I don’t think it is a policy that was approved by Cabinet.

I’d like to also point out to my colleagues that I am not advocating that a P2 with a disability have a...

Thanks to the Minister. I guess I’d like to know, then, what the focus of the regional leaders meetings is intended to be over this next year. If we have kind of gone through the AIP process, so to speak, and we will be moving on devolution elsewhere, what’s going to be the focus of these meetings as we go forward in the next fiscal year?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the vision of the 16th Legislative Assembly is “strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories;”

AND WHEREAS one of the goals of the 16th Legislative assembly is “effective and efficient government” to be achieved, in part, through improved human resource management practices;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories Public Service Strategic Plan titled “20/20: A Brilliant North” has a goal “to establish a public service that...

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate the comments and I would like to say that I appreciate the work that the department has done to raise this issue and to identify the shortfall, but I have to go back to my question.

When push comes to shove, if these agreements are signed off and we know there is a shortfall, what is the effect that has and is the federal government expecting the GNWT is simply going to make up this shortfall? If that’s the case, what can we do about it? That is kind of where I was asking about whether or not there’s any solution. Do we have the right, do we have the...

I was going to ask the Minister what the findings of the review were, but if he doesn’t know what was reviewed, I guess he doesn’t know what the findings were. I’ll ask him instead: is he aware of any changes in the method by which daycares will be funded that might be coming forward shortly?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to first of all echo the comments of Mr. Bromley. I also am somewhat concerned that we haven’t seen concrete evidence of how we’re going to get the parties back to the table and where the money is going to come from. The Minister has said that he’s coming back with a supp and I guess I would like to know what the funding in this supp is going to be used for. Is it intended only for devolution, which is what I thought I heard earlier, or is some of that money intended to provide for the Aboriginal governments to get back and get involved with us in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to highlight the Yellowknife Association for Community Living, commonly known as YACL. They are a non-profit, non-government organization that supports NWT residents, families, children, youth and adults with intellectual disabilities. The goal of the association is to ensure inclusion for their members in community life and also to provide them with an opportunity to contribute to the community. In the 30-plus years since YACL was started, they’ve met that goal time and time again.

The association provides seven different services and programs for persons...