Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to follow up. I didn’t hear a response to my question in general comments, so I thought I’d follow up here on the Inuvik-Tuk Highway Project. I believe we committed $2.5 million at the last minute in the 2011-12 just before year end. I think the goal was to seek out gravel resources and I have heard that they had low success there. What was the result of that work? Did all those dollars get expended? Were the objectives achieved? How does this money relate to that money and the results? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also rise to support this motion. I want to start by thanking my colleagues Ms. Bisaro and Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this forward. There has been, indeed, perpetual interest and discussion on this, and that discussion needs to be resolved. There is an obligation of government, clearly, to provide the full opportunity for their citizens’ voices to be heard. This is a proven mechanism, and clearly across Canada there is good recognition of the need to fill this responsibility. We would certainly be consistent with them in doing that.

I know my colleagues and, certainly...

Thanks for the comments from the Minister. I know that the Minister recognizes that this is a serious situation and will do good work to get this rectified, and I ask that we would be kept apprised of the progress on that.

As the UN decision pointed out, Ms. Kell’s traumatic experiences point to the need for greater public understanding of property law and ensuring that clients of our LHO partners are aware of their rights. Since we are trying to stress the breaking down of silos and coordinated actions across government, such as through the development of the Anti-Poverty Strategy, can the...

I’m just having a hard time accepting that this late in the game we don’t know what specialized services are required. This is our own system. I can spend 15 minutes on the Internet, or so could our research people, and find out what all the other jurisdictions are doing, what they’ve had put in place. We’re talking accountability here. What specialized services are we missing that are required for diversion from court systems into mental health? From what I’ve seen, these are just mental health programs. I want to hear now the specifics, so that we can have some accountability in knowing that...

Yes, it does.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I just noticed that the NWT hospitals funding is down $7 million. Maybe I could start with getting an explanation of what’s happening there. I know our expenses have not changed there.

Just one further clarification there. Does that include an updating of what we measure or is it just the updating of information relating to what we’re already measuring?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the House is aware of the recent United Nations’ decision that finally brought justice to NWT resident Cecelia Kell. In 1995 Ms. Kell fled her abusive relationship to a safe haven in the Alison McAteer House.

While she was away, her non-Aboriginal spouse, who was serving as a director of the Rae-Edzo Housing Authority, had her name removed as a co-holder from the Aboriginal housing lease with the approval of the LHO board. Ms. Kell was served an eviction order and lost her home. That began a legal journey of 17 excruciating years through a series of rulings...

So the unspoken here is that it’s all a gap. We do not have any programs and services in place currently in mental health to assist with the diversion program. Is that what I’m hearing?

Actually, I’m happy to just accept the Minister’s. I had forgotten some of those things, and he reminded of some of those things. So I think that’s fine. I’m happy to move on.