Bob Bromley

When the Minister highlighted this in his opening remarks, this budget proposes an investment of $1.24 million. These dollars, in fact, were proposed and implemented several years ago. Is that correct?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Welcome to the Premier and his witnesses here on this occasion. Just looking at this bill and the work that’s been done, I have to congratulate all involved. I know it’s been a tremendous amount of work and today is an exciting day indeed.

I see an elders’ council. I see a justice council. I see a beneficiary’s board. I see the main council. These elements tell me that there’s been a lot of focus brought to these negotiations that the people are there to serve their people here, and there’s been a lot of excellent consideration gone into this.

I see an annual report at a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Dechinta, with leading indigenous professors co-teaching with northern leaders, is celebrating the fifth anniversary of a pilot project to test delivery of original northern university courses designed and developed in the North. It’s been a resounding success for the only land-based and independent university-accredited education provider in the Northwest Territories. It is now time to transition to an operational program in all regions.

The unique Dechinta model has no infrastructure expense. It is designed to be land-based and to use and support already built private...

The opportunity to promote development of a made-in-the-North university with a curriculum tailor-made for northern students is not to be missed. In the words of founder Dr. Erin Freeland-Ballantyne, “we need to build a new generation of leaders and researchers who can walk confidently in both worlds and be change-makers.” The pilot has clearly demonstrated how. Now let’s put the financial and legislation support in place to put this unique model to work across the NWT.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. I appreciate, I guess, that I now know I am dealing with this in a timely way, given that this will be discussed in the next few months. So, I guess I would ask the Minister, is he prepared to push for school projects to finally be addressed in Yellowknife and including Aurora College to try and get them on the capital as soon as possible as a priority of this department?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a few questions here. I see the department or this activity includes the overall development, design and planning of capital infrastructure projects. As we know, there’s been a real paucity of infrastructure for the Department of Education over the last three years in the order of 2 or 3 percent of the infrastructure budget. I’m wondering, given the many requests the Minister has heard, at least for the region I’m in, can we expect that there will be significant proposals coming forward to address some of the infrastructure deficiencies we see in, for example, some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, again, appreciate the Minister’s return there. I just mentioned that I focused on eggs today. The same thing could be true for the birds themselves which are a well-known source of nutritious food, and so I just ask the Minister that he include the possibility of harvesting the birds. The Sachs Harbour hunters have had a lot of experience with them and are fully capable of answering this need if directed and provided with the support. I’ll leave it at that.

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that follow-up. As I mentioned, this issue was highlighted 20 years ago. I know the Minister is about as long in the tooth as I am with this department. With an NWT proposal to address this issue and benefit our people at that time, yet almost every province and state in concert with their federal government have recognized both opportunities and need and acted to try and address this issue, we, who are holding the solution in our hands, have done nothing.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he has any ideas why, given the clear benefits, the many opportunities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to acknowledge and congratulate my Ndilo constituent Brent Betsina on his outstanding performance in the sport of judo at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George, BC.

Master Betsina, an active member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, is 18 years old and competed in the over-100 kilograms category at the Games. Brent has been active in the sport of judo for eight years and contributes his success to his role model and coach, Mario Desforges.

Brent went into the Games with a goal of having fun, having a positive attitude while competing and doing his best...

For 15 communities with demonstrated need, about 500 dozen goose eggs would go to each community, the equivalent of over 1,000 dozen chicken eggs. A significant contribution to the health and well-being of residents while helping to solve a North American wildlife population issue and provide some modest employment in Sachs Harbour.

A smaller harvest the first year could prove up the methods of harvest and distribution, followed by larger harvests in subsequent years as assessed and approved by federal and territorial government biologists. International funding would undoubtedly be available...