Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I travel to the communities in the Sahtu, the people talk about help they need at the community level with their families, especially with the elderly people. They talk about their hope that they have some support with wellness workers. They thought that when they had the Sahtu health board, they would get this kind of help. They thought that with the health board they would initiate on the land cultural programs. They thought that people in Colville Lake would get help, and they would have on the land programs for the people and the issues they had to deal with.
Mr. Speaker, in my region there’s been a lot of deaths. In my communities there’s been a lot of hurt. In my community of Tulita, over several months, I experienced a number of families’ deaths. We are expected to take three days off and then go back to work or tell our kids — or sometimes we don’t even tell our kids — what’s happening. We expect them to go back to school in typical fashion to learn while they wonder what is going on with them. How come no one is talking about their grandfather, their brother or uncle?
The people in the Sahtu want an on the land program. Our elders have been telling us: go on the land; it’s for a purpose. But somehow we fall into an attitude that we’ve got to have accreditation from a university. That has shut a lot of doors on my own people with expertise. That shuts them out of true healing.
I am going to ask the Minister if she would support a pilot project like Tl’oondih, Nats'ejée K'éh or even wellness centres. Have people on the land. Let our people do our work. We can heal ourselves. Let’s give the power back to our people.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
