Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure held its public review of Bill 65, An Act to Amend the Safety Act, on September 17, 2015. The committee thanks the Minister and his staff for presenting the bill.

Bill 65 amends the Safety Act to harmonize with the new Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, including regulation-making power and authority for three sections and with the new federal Workplace Hazardous Information System legislation.

The committee recognizes that extensive consultation informed the draft of the new Occupational Health...

I could go on at length how the president of the association had told me how the old DM and the present DM met with them and told them they’re out the door and they have to figure it out on their own. But you know what? If all we’re going to do here is point fingers, we haven’t solved a darn thing about the daycare spaces that will be in serious crisis about it.

Let’s go to the next problem, which is what is the department really going to do to help them? Can they help them in the same way we helped the folks in Inuvik, who deserved and needed good help? This government has been known to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It`s not my intent to continue this all night, so I’ll just be quick. I know there’s no willingness on the department to make that change and we have to be very clear, distracted driving at the time is equal if not worse than drunk driving. I`m not a scientist and I`m not going to try to explain which one’s worse, I’m just going to say equal, for safety’s sake.

At the moment that particular individual stopped, the crime itself has been stopped, they’re no longer impaired in the sense of mental impairment of driving has been taken away and I think that’s probably some of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I raised the issue of the Yellowknife Day Care situation here that’s in a GNWT-owned building. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about why he’s forcing them out of that particular building by July 31st of next year. Furthermore, what is in there in terms of flexibility considering the circumstance of the single point that 55 children have nowhere to go? That also means it impacts the parents as well as the more than dozen staff that work there. I want to first start off with why is the department forcing this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was on the tip of my tongue on the last question, but I was trying to find out if the Minister of Health and Social Services was tasked with the lead role on the Disability Steering Committee for these initiatives. So, he is somewhat responsible for all the areas.

My last question is really focused around employment, and some people say the best poverty plan is jobs, an action plan, creating employment for people. I did talk earlier in my statement about stabilizing income and helping people so they can have a meaningful quality role in society that they so truly...

I certainly appreciate that answer. In 2014 the NWT Disabilities Council decided on their own initiative to conduct their own territory-wide survey. So, they reached out to clients, caregivers and certainly professionals obviously connected to disabilities. Their survey reached out to more than 320 people in all communities but one.

My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: What is the Department of Health doing with that valuable survey information gathered by the NWT Disabilities Council, and are they able to put it into some type of use and action, because it is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize a couple of people quickly. First off, I’d like to recognize a constituent of mine, Ms. Karen Wright-Fraser. I’ve know her for a very long time. We all know Karen is a wonderful woman who is a timeless talent of the ages in the art of Gwich’in traditional arts and crafts, so she is certainly a hero to her community and women alike in her amazing talents. To that, I give a great nod.

The other person I’d like to quickly recognize is Denise McKee. She is up in the gallery here today and I suspect she is here for the motion that will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The detailed plan, the NWT Action Plan for Disabilities, has certainly come forward in 2008 and it’s a shame that it wasn’t received with better enthusiasm. During the day, of course, it probably was. It got its own nudge, but of course, like many great reports, they find themselves on the way quickly to that shelf or certainly holding that table up from wobbling.

Seniors and disabilities are my two favourite areas I’m working on and I certainly dedicate myself, any time I’m ever asked, to these particular issues and I’m always looking for ways to see what I can do more...

As my colleague had said, this is a multi-disciplinary issue. So, in other words, what that really is, is government jargon that’s spread across multiple departments and it’s difficult to nail one person as responsible.

The initial action plan identified five key areas. I won’t go through them again, but maybe the Minister can talk about how the department has helped facilitate better housing for people with disabilities and found ways to help them work through poverty to ensure we can get them back into the workforce to do better things, because they want to be in a meaningful role in society...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first question will be to the Minister responsible for disabilities. In 2012 the NWT Disabilities Council asked for an update on the NWT Action Plan for Disabilities. Part of their launch of the action plan originally identified a hundred concerns and they were further refined down to five particular themes. Of course, things like education, employment, income, and disability supportive housing were the themes that they had refined them down to.

The question to the Minister is: When will there be a progress report on the success of that action plan and when will we...