Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question is directed to Mr. Dent, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item numbers 8 and 9, I would like to talk about these two together. They refer to debts owed by the Metis Heritage Association and the Metis Nation of the Northwest Territories through accounts of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. They total about $120,000. The first one for the Metis Heritage Association is for $84,000, and to the Metis Nation of $35,000. The reason that I would like to look at these two in combination, Mr. Chairman, is they occur in the same time frame, 1998 to 2001, those fiscal years. The information we have so far suggested...

Mr. Speaker, it is a real pleasure to repeat what my colleague has said on behalf of some of my constituents: Mike and Helena Haener and Josie and Howie Gould. Congratulations. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, as far as the documentation that the government would require when it looks at these applications, would there normally be a list of the directors of an organization, the financial officers? Is there any kind of backup to handing this money out? Is there an agreement in place? Are they contracted to provide the justification and the reporting on it? I guess what I’m looking for here, Mr. Chairman, is how solid is our paperwork, if you will, and our contracting method when we make these kinds of contributions to organizations? All of it is in good faith. But there is an onus to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To item number 3 on schedule 2, Northern Addictions Services. Again I’d like to see if we can track some of the history and the layers that there may be in this particular request for a write-off of almost $120,000. I think it warrants some attention at committee level, Mr. Chairman. This is through the Department of Health and Social Services. Could the Minister advise if there was a cumulative history here for this $120,000? Could he advise on some of that? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, then to add some numbers up here, we see that we have a total of $350,000 that was advanced to Nats’enelu from the Business Credit Corporation and the Development Corporation, and in addition about $430,000 was provided through other departments. So we have almost $800,000 by some accounting here to Nats’enelu, but we are able to go after $150,000. Do I have that right, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There was no other agency involved and the total amount of GNWT contribution to Nats’enelu was then $250,000. I just want to confirm those numbers so far. Thank you.

Okay. So it started in March of 1999 and up to what period? I am looking for the time frame here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay, I’m still looking internally here. The Minister has said, if I follow, that any kind of accountability or if we’re going to hold our own people to account for their performance, if their duties are to watch and monitor and take suitable action on files, if they fail to do so then what kind of provisions do we have in our agreements or our contracts or our performance measures with them to see that they’re held accountable? I’ll leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answers from the Minister. He did, I think in response to an earlier question, say that there is a process of monitoring and checking and vetting and confirming that what we are doing is indeed the right thing. Can the Minister advise of perhaps the most recent report that there may have been on that, or when the next monitoring or reporting cycle will come up? Thank you.