Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today it gives me great pleasure to use my Member’s statement to do a special acknowledgement of the crew of the HMCS Yellowknife who are in our gallery today.

They’ve been here for a number of days, and I want to thank them for making the long trek all the way here to Yellowknife, to our community. I believe they are meeting with a number of veterans and seniors, and they’re getting to know folks on the ground one on one. I’m very grateful that they’ve taken this time.

I understand that several of them will be playing in the Midnight Golf Tournament, and I wish them good...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off, I fully support this motion, and I appreciate the Member for bringing this forward. I think we’ve all seen experiences around us where cases haven’t worked out as they’ve dreamt upon, where sharing children hasn’t always worked out through the courts and they’ve deemed that one parent should have rights over the other parent. I truly think it’s unfortunate that that’s happened.

I think every parent has a right to have access to their children. Every parent — willing, of course — has the right to make sure they’re there in the lives of their children. For one...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. I think the motion really speaks loud and clear to the issue. The fact is that northern businesses work and struggle here in the North to provide a good living, and they need opportunities presented for them. The BIP offers this opportunity and sometimes that competitive edge so they can compete successfully against southern contractors who fly in and take sort of the ripe or the prime best contracts being offered.

It’s been my experience that the BIP was developed because at one time, over 20-some years ago, more than 50 per...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a written question for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding contract information with the Government of Nunavut. Please provide the following information in detail for the past three years:

How many people work in the speech-language pathology and occupational therapy unit; and further, what are the staffing levels historically, noting duration of any vacancies?

How long has this unit been providing speech and occupational therapy services to the Government of Nunavut?

Please provide the details of the contract with the Government of Nunavut, such as...

I’m finally really glad to say that I can agree with the Minister in the sense of this being a federal responsibility. I’m glad the day has come that we both see eye to eye on this issue.

The program provided through the Ministry through Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority goes down to the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities. Right now, as I understand it, there are 14 people on that list providing services only a couple of hours a week. Furthermore, there are 14 on the waiting list.

The issue really is, where is the framework and policy to develop this concept, to make sure...

Mr. Speaker, I want to continue with the autism questioning. I just want to be clear, to make sure that everything gets on the record so parents can get access for their children for services.

As I highlighted earlier in my questions about the limited ability to receive speech and OT therapy, I wasn’t 100 per cent clear on the fact that…. Can parents access funding through the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority to obtain speech and OT therapy in the community, if it’s available and in the community to access?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to be clear: are the professionals employed by the Northwest Territories government putting our citizens first or the private contract that they’re providing to Nunavut?

Case by case is pretty thin, to be honest. A parent who has a child with autism can only receive a few hours a week for OT therapy as well as speech therapy. The problem is that the amount of time a week they receive for therapy here in the Northwest Territories is what is provided in Alberta for one single day.

My question once again is: would the Minister be able to look into the situation and develop a framework so these parents accessing money through Yellowknife Health and Social Services can use some of that money to access more — and private — speech and OT therapy that’s available?

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize a few guests in the gallery. We have a group visiting from Lacombe, Red Deer, Alberta, visiting family and friends. Their names are Ken Morton, Norma Camman, Ben and Marg Linkletter, Everett and Marion Joselyn. As well, in the gallery, we have Ed and Joan King from Lloydminster. Welcome to the Northwest Territories.

I move that this committee recommend that the government provide a comprehensive response to the report within 120 days.