Shane Thompson

Yesterday, the Minister talked about new leases or new existing leases or there's no new equity leases. The situation is that, if I bought a car and I sold it to the Minister, he doesn't have to go back and pay the dealership. It doesn't happen that way. I get the money, and then we move on and I get the rights to the vehicle. Again, I'm not talking about new leases. I'm speaking about honouring the equity lease which existed with the original owner. Will the department honour the existing leases to the new owner as they purchased that? That was what they're trying to do. They're trying to...

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I asked the Minister of Lands some questions about equity leases, and I would like to follow up more today.

---Laughter

Well, I am just trying to make the Minister of Infrastructure happy here today. Mr. Speaker, my question again is to the Minister of Lands. My first question is: if all equity lease payments are made by lessee under equity leases and the lease is assigned, does the lessee who makes the payments get reimbursed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is great to hear, and I am very happy to hear that the department is working with the coalition on this issue. I really appreciate that we are working with families to keep the families together. I have known the Minister was very committed to that, and I appreciate him and the department for doing that. How does the department ensure that the homes are safe and the parents get the necessary training to deal with these youth, especially when we are talking about families and that as the process moves on?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Foster parents are a very important part of our child and family system in the Northwest Territories. I greatly appreciate the selfless work that they do to help our children as they grow and develop during difficult times. Mr. Speaker, I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister tell us how many foster parents we have in the Nahendeh region, including those families who make their homes available for emergencies? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I totally agree with the Minister on that. I greatly appreciate that answer. This is just more of a commentary, and I am going to try to be real quick. I know, in the Deh Cho proper, they are doing some pretty amazing things. They have a new system. They are looking at it because of the challenges that we are facing. Our EDI scores are not as great as they should be. We had junior kindergarten in our region prior. We used that as a pilot project.

I have to give credit to the education system, the divisional board. They are trying to find new ways of doing it, trying to be...

We are not talking about a new equity lease; we are talking about an existing one. That is a concern. When somebody purchases a lot, there is equity into this lot. Can the Minister advise us what happens to the equity leases, and why does the equity that they have into it not return back to the original owner?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently I've been advised by a few people in the Nahendeh riding that they have purchased lots that were equity leases, but once they purchased them, they became regular lease lots. This doesn't seem fair, especially since the department is now working forward on equity lease lots in the Northwest Territories. My questions are for the Minister of Lands: can the Minister explain why the department doesn't honour the original equity lease agreements until this issue is being resolved? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for the answers up to this point. My problem is that, when we have an equity lease and the person purchases it, the equity lease now gets turned into a regular lease again. Now the person doesn't own it; he is given a lease. Will the Minister look at those files that had equity leases, then they were turned back to leases, and will they turn them back to equity leases until all equity lease files are dealt with so that the individual can purchase it, whether it is for a home or a business? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was asking the questions: when the person has an equity lease and sells it to somebody else, what happens there? Why aren't we just turning it over to an equity lease? My next question here is: with leases that are being switched to Commissioner's or NWT lands, what happens to the equity that the previous landowners had on these leases?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Floyd Edward "Bo-Boy" Diamond-C was born on April 1, 1967, to Theresa Diamond-C in Fort Nelson. He lived his life in Fort Liard and, as a youngster, Theresa and his Grandpa Edward taught Floyd about trapping, the traditional way of life, and surviving off the land. His grandpa and brother Dale would go out to Bovie Lake to go trapping and hunting on their trap line. He would often find himself out on the land with different family members to help them out any way he could. Floyd was a happy and giving man who would be there when needed for anybody who asked.

Floyd was...