Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I’d hate to waste a question by asking, what does that mean?

Is the Minister running a competition right now? Is he looking for someone? Not personally, obviously. What are they doing in the context of finding someone on a permanent basis? If he wants, I can give him names of qualified individuals who could certainly fill this role. But it’s not my job to be a human resource officer; I’m an MLA.

So, the bottom line is, I want to know exactly what actions have been done to fill this position permanently. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I actually know one person who had applied for this position and I certainly would have felt that they would be very qualified for it. My understanding is that they were either screened out or, for whatever reason, they weren’t interviewed, and of course, as the Minister says, the position is empty today.

This role is very vital to the health and certainly the well-being of these inmates who we want to be returned to the public with the best opportunities before them. Mental health and cultural health are all critical, important parts. We have invested approximately $200...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too wish to recognize Karen Wright-Fraser. She’s certainly a well-known lady to all of us and I’ve known her for a long time. She deserves much credit for what she does as an artisan. She’s put many devoted hours into supporting her culture and demonstrating it through her beautiful designs. Now, I don’t know if she continues to practice the same amount – she used to have the store – but I know she’s busy on a personal level, and that is keeping the culture and history alive for the Gwich’in people. We’re lucky to have people like her, ensuring that it’s alive, it’s...

I believe in the Yellowknife region, I’m not sure about South Slave, but I know we have the SARA, so that’s the search and rescue group. I know, Mr. Speaker, in your region we have the Rangers and we have certain resources that we can tap into, but Northerners being Northerners – the wonderful type of people we are – we want to help.

What more can the Minister do from his particular position and what type of public communications can he send out from the Department of Justice to provide opportunity for people to lend a hand?

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say – and this will be my last question –...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use my second opportunity to get some information from the Minister of Justice, as we all have been recently informed in a very troubling circumstance that’s happened. We’ve been informed lately about a Japanese tourist, what appears to be a single lady, who has gone missing for reasons unknown and, of course, it’s best that we don’t speculate, but certainly it’s hard not to fear the worst.

Residents such as myself and Northerners at large would like to know what the Department of Justice is doing. People have been asking me questions such as what is the RCMP...

Trust is a very difficult thing to build. It takes experience and it certainly takes a relationship. I am glad we have some elders coming in, but it’s not a permanent solution.

What efforts are being made to permanently fill this position, because it is critical for the well-being and rehabilitation of inmates who need this vital service. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer from the Premier. I mean, it certainly goes a long way of appreciating the complexity of this issue. The bottom line is, how are we putting more money in Northerners’ pockets? It had been frozen at approximately $5,400 for decades and finally migrated by 10 percent to just above $6,000 in 2008. The bottom line is, how do we get money in Northerners’ pockets, because we know more money in a family’s pocket is really going out into the community to buy that Klik, my colleague from the Sahtu had said, whether it’s buying gasoline for their skidoos...

Mr. Speaker, what analysis really is broken out of this low-income factor? The Premier is right; it’s more than one jurisdiction. As a matter of fact, there is the A-base and there is the B-base, and the A-base, for sake of illustration, is the three territories. The B-base, which is a lesser tax deduction, affects places like northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan and works its way across Canada. But with that illustration, we should be really asking ourselves, how do we encourage people to live here in the Northwest Territories, and by waving off those folks for whom this could make a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise with the opportunity to talk about the cost of living as well. What’s important to say is I remember the days when people talked about families with one paycheque. I can’t remember how long ago that was. Any family with one paycheque must be an amazing money manager to this day. Because I will tell you, nowadays two paycheque families are having a tough go at it just getting through their day to day.

As always, I want to give thanks to my favorite champions out there in the government, that’s called the Bureau of Stats, because they have provided me these...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I could go on at length on how important our fire system is, and certainly our resources and personnel. I would certainly like to do so, but unfortunately, time doesn’t avail itself to the amount of things that we should be talking how great they are. I will say that without them, we would have seen such a horrendous result of this summer, and I am very thankful they have been on the line providing the services that they do.

The government does provide the resources necessary to do this job, and it’s our job to support the government where necessary and we feel it makes...