Wendy Bisaro

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...

Mr. Chairman, maybe I could get a bit of an explanation from the Minister as to what this policy would encompass. I am not exactly following, I guess, why it couldn’t be done in conjunction. What would a self-government policy describe for us? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. A couple of questions here. During business plans and actually I think it was actually a year ago, but in discussion with the department at one point we talked about a document called the Key Features of Western NWT Society. I believe it was during a presentation. At that time, there were some comments from Members that that document needed to be updated. I just wondered if I could get an update on whether that’s been updated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question with regard to the section on corporate communications and protocol. I believe it was in the business plans that I read that the department was doing a review of the GNWT communications standards and practices. I’d like to ask the Minister, the DM, if indeed that review was done and what the results were, can we see that report, all those sorts of questions.

Mr. Chairman, I think maybe I should thank the Minister for his example because he pointed out that the need for a focal point for NGOs in the voluntary sector by saying that when there is a problem, then the Executive has to go to the department the NGO has the contract with and work with them. To Mr. Abernethy’s point, if there is the focus of the Department of Executive for NGOs and for voluntary sector, I think there might be a little bit better efficiency in our operations.

That is all I have at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s not ever asked, but I will ask on this page: what are the numbers for persons with disabilities in this department? Thank you.