Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak about telephone service in the North and the problems with the phone services in Tuktoyaktuk this week. Since early last week telephone service has been down. NorthwesTel has experienced problems with one of its frame relays. Technicians couldn’t get to the site until today due to high winds and extreme cold. They found the problem at the Parsons Microwave Site halfway between Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik. The next day long distance completely failed.
On Friday tower crews were able to fly in with helicopters to repair the structural problem on the microwave tower. Local cell services are in operation, but long distance services are still out.
On Monday NorthwesTel sent in three cell phones to the hamlet office, the health centre, and the power station. More cell phones were sent in for the school, the college, and Aklak Air, but long distance services are still not working for the people of Tuk.
Today we find out that the technician has to wait for the weather. The blizzard warning has ended. I hope phones will be working soon.
Also, not everybody in Tuk has a cell phone, so you know families are not being able to phone in to see how their families are doing due to the weather. Not having operational long distance phone systems in the communities is unacceptable. What if there’s a major accident? Given the few cell phones available could make it difficult to calling Inuvik or Yellowknife for help. Would any other community accept this lack of service?
We need more reliable telephone services in Tuk and throughout the NWT. If telephone service is down, we need to be kept informed from NorthwesTel, the service provider, of what’s going on and what they’re trying to do to fix the problem. The community of Tuk has an FM station now, so they should be keeping the community informed via the radio station.
All this week people were not even able to use their debit card or credit cards to purchase food. These days everybody uses debit cards in the communities and don’t carry money. So the lack of service and the lack of people able to go purchase food and stuff, the necessities for the family, there should be something...
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
With NorthwesTel having the people bear the brunt of this weak service or lack of service in the community for the telephone system, I hope NorthwesTel and our telecommunications rep, our Minister should get a letter into NorthwesTel requesting a full investigation on how they can make better this problem.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
