Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am prepared to put efforts into working with the two boards, but I think to be fair it has to be recognized that there is not likely to be a resolution in terms of space by fall of 2006. All of the parties have agreed at this point that we are working towards the fall of 2007. I am prepared to continue efforts. I have recently received a letter from the Yellowknife Catholic Schools that calls into question their willingness or interest in continuing this process. I am going to have to check on that. If there is an interest, I would be quite prepared to put every...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The answer is yes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am afraid I can’t give a specific date or even a range of dates at this point, because once we have the new person selected, they have to be formally appointed to that position. Then, as the Member has rightly pointed out, there needs to be a process of them learning how to do their job properly. It’s unlikely that would happen within a matter of days. It will probably take a couple of weeks for somebody to get their training. Then when everything is ready, we will have to contact the lawyer for the appellant to see when they are going to be available, when the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I would say we have received a number of qualified applicants that we can consider for filling the vacant public interest position. It is my intention to attempt to consider them as quickly as possible in concert with the Minister of Nunavut. We have been in touch with his office several times in the past week since the receipt of all of the applicants. We are hoping that very shortly we will be able to make an appointment to the vacant public interest position. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I will table the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut 2005 Annual Report. Mr. Speaker, it contains good news for northern stakeholders.

Everyone agrees the sooner an injured worker is helped to return to work, the better. The WCB offers injured workers the Healthy Return to Work Program. Through this innovative program, the average duration for lost-time accidents is under 44 days.

Mr. Speaker, last year the WCB registered 3,321 new claims. Of these, 950 were from workers who lost time at work. Of all the claims registered...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my response to Mr. Ramsay, the promise that was made publicly and in this House was that when the subsidy program for public housing, which includes the subsidy for seniors in public housing, when that was transferred or responsibility for that program was transferred from the Housing Corporation to Education, Culture and Employment it would be taken over with no change in the policy. At this point there is no change. We are examining all of our income security programs and all of our subsidy programs that are administered by Education, Culture and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because this House was assured that when the changeover took place that there would be no change in the rules that were administered by the Housing Corporation and that any change would come about as a result of the overall review of the income security programs, all of the income security programs, that process is underway with us working to go back to the standing committee, hopefully fairly shortly with some proposed changes. We have gone back to the standing committee to outline what we have heard during the consultation process and what some of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I say that the issues might be resolved, I am afraid, Mr. Speaker, that I can’t say that everybody is going to be satisfied with the resolution. I do believe that we have been working towards a resolution. I don’t know if we are still in that position today. We may be in a situation where we haven’t got an agreement to work any longer. I am going to have to confirm whether or not that’s happening and then we’ll follow up on it. It’s my goal to try to have a decision made by the parties at one point or another. I think it’s important to point out we have two...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know from my discussions with the chairs of the divisional education councils that there’s a broad acceptance that we need to be moving this way. So I’m certainly of the opinion that the leaders in the educational councils will set the standards in their regions and make sure that they are moving to have healthy foods in all of the vending machines across the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Most actions outlined in the Framework for Action have been completed. Significant among these is the implementation of the Protection Against Family Violence Act. As well, resource tool kits have been developed and distributed to frontline workers across the NWT to help them work with families who are suffering from the effects of violence. An integrated response protocol is nearing completion and we thank Yellowknife, Deline and Fort Resolution for their participation in the three pilot projects. We believe the protocols developed will...