Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the Frank Channel Bridge moving forward, which is an important piece of infrastructure for the NWT. We all know that that infrastructure is over 50 years old and liability is great. Our young people from Behchoko and Edzo travel on that bridge every day to attend Chief Jimmy Bruneau school in Edzo, which is over 50 years old as well, and our day care in Behchoko. Therefore, will the Minister of education commit to ask the federal minister of infrastructure commit to billion a new school in Behchoko as soon as possible, maybe within the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge Minister Vandal. And I'm sure he I know he has they have a good working relationship with the Tlicho government. And I just want to acknowledge him that he is here in Denendeh and that I want to ask just let him know that we do you know, like, one of the questions that I was going to ask was that, okay, we have a lot of aging infrastructure in Tlicho region as well. We need a new school and a water and sewer line. I'm sure he probably heard from the community government of Behchoko. So I just wanted to, you know, to say that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, where does this government get their money from? From the federal government. So therefore he can ask the federal government, probably not this one or whoever, but to commit that if we can if they can billion or help us billion a school. So I'm just asking the federal  the Minister of education, wherever they're getting their money from, to ask those government to help us billion a school in Behchoko. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I do support this motion because we do have a lot of if you go to our warming shelter, you will see some of the family members who lost their house after parents passed because their name is not on the lease. And that policy created a lot of homelessness in many of the small communities in the Northwest Territories. And we didn't hear about it not just in our riding but in other other community as well because parents are aging, and these are their forever home, and even you know, like I did a Member's statement on it yesterday as well, because when these...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I like this motion too as well. It's a good motion. It's going to help men help each other, helping each other. It's not just men but there's other young men too as well who needs help and support, you know. So but the studies show that it's the girls and women that suffer the most. But I have heard we have heard many times from others as well that men do need help as well. We got to focus on men so that way if they get the help that they need, then, you know, their relationship with their loved ones might improve, which is true, you know. So I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if we have more housing in small communities, there would not be any homeless issue. And if housing policy it's a housing policy that created a lot of homelessness too as well. You know, there's, like if you go to our warming shelter in Behchoko, all many of those people are there because of the housing policy. So it's the housing policy if housing policy was fixed, you know, we wouldn't have this issue. But if we all we need is more housing. And another one too is that for young people, okay. There's no support for young people who are between...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to talk about the reality for our people in small communities; and I represent majority of Tlicho people from four communities.

Yesterday we talked about which colonial government to trust, the federal or territorial government. As an Indigenous person, we have trust issues because we know what the colonial government did to our people. Through the colonization, they tried to assimilate us. In the process, they ruined our life and we are still feeling the impact of it. Not only that, pushing us aside while they exploit our land.

Mr. Speaker, we are...

Madam Chair, this is good because I've always been, you know, bringing up arrears. And I do support the forgiveness of arrears for residential school and other people as well. But in my riding there are some probably not just in my riding, it's probably all over in the Northwest Territories with the mortgage as well. There are some residential school survivor who are in their 70s, they still have mortgage payment from the NWT Housing mortgage program. Some of them were refinanced. And their pension, they're paying their mortgage through their pension and it's being garnished. And their...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I think this is really good. It's good for our young people, especially some young people who, you know, are into high performance sports. And I know there are some youth that go to Yellowknife and some of these parents, they need funding to transport to go to Yellowknife. It costs money to come to Yellowknife and wait for your child while the child plays sports. And it's not just that only, but hockey equipment, you know. I know quite a few years ago, there was lots of hockey players and now we don't have as many, and I know that hockey equipment they are...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I did prepare a Member's statement but I'll do it for this. This is the right time to do it.

Madam Chair, we say that this is a consensus government, and this is not how the consensus government should be operating. The consensus government that I know in my region, they work together. They collaborate; they consult, you know, on issues that might have an impact that you know, on its citizens. So I don't see this as a consensus government. And, yes, being an Indigenous person, you know, like, since 1763 we never like, I mean, we know what the government...