Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; the budget was approved by this Assembly and we’re operating within that budget. A portion of that has been allocated to the aboriginal governments for their work in that area and we’re gathering all the information between not just the forums but the mail-outs, the website, and seeking all that from individuals as well, and by sitting down with the aboriginal leadership. We’re targeting the end of November to pull that work together and discuss at that point how we would proceed to, for example, how we bring that work back to this Assembly and this...

Thank you. As Members that have been around this Assembly for a number of terms, as well as know the history of our Territory as it has developed, we used to have a level of services set out in the government standards, depending on your size of population and community. We have worked with that and in fact expanded that beyond those initial guidelines to look at the level of programs and services. One of the things that happens now is it’s broken down into our tax-based communities and the general taxation area. When we talk about the services in larger communities, there’s a higher tax...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From the very early days of this Legislative Assembly through our Strategic Initiatives committees, we also established the Rural and Remote committee to look at the level of programs and services offered in our communities and how we can look towards enhancing those, considering our existing environment is one of the key factors.

As I stated in my comments earlier on today that, for example, the RCMP and the backup policy and reaching out to smaller communities is one of those ways. The work of our electricity rate review project and team will probably be one of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess this is the one time I get to speak in Committee of the Whole to a motion. That reflects more on the Assembly as a whole and as Mrs. Groenewegen has stated, the verification of individuals who would sign on the website is going to be absolutely critical. The one thing I’ve seen, and I’m sure all of us have seen in this new world and this new technology that is ever changing, is there are so many opportunities and things happen so fast and there is a certain anonymity to the Internet world, as they say, that would be somewhat difficult to prove...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know earlier in my Minister’s statement I went on to recognize much of the work of Mr. Whitford and his accomplishments and service to the people of the Northwest Territories. I can say from my own experience, being elected first in 1995, I did have the pleasure of serving with Mr. Whitford in the 14th Legislative Assembly as well as watching him do his work diligently in this Assembly as the Sergeant-at-Arms. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, the opportunity to work with Mr. Whitford has allowed me to build a friendship with someone who has such experience...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that the Legislative Assembly expresses its sincere gratitude to Mr. Anthony W.J. (Tony) Whitford for his dedicated and exemplary service to this House; and further, that the Legislative Assembly designate Anthony W.J. (Tony) Whitford as an honourary officer of this Legislative Assembly with permission to enter the Chamber and sit at the Table.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question that was put forward to the courts and subsequently, as Members are aware, that we’ve withdrawn that question. It was after a meeting with aboriginal leadership across the Territories that we took that into consideration and the work that we do with the regional leadership. In the discussions with the leadership across the Northwest Territories it was felt that the better avenue was to sit down together and work through this arrangement, and that’s what we’ve done. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the chief negotiator is an experienced Northerner and a past representative of the Legislative Assembly in his own time. I think that’s one of the reasons why, with his experience in the North, that may help in the deliberations that are to follow. We’re going to stay in close contact with him. We have our consultation framework that’s in place and we’d be prepared to share that with the chief negotiator on the file and see what work comes from that. Again, we’ll stay in touch with the regional leaders, as well, with this issue as it develops. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member raises a valid point on the interaction of the land claims in the Northwest Territories, how they’re protected, and any changes to any regimes that are in place need to be paid attention to.

As the Government of the Northwest Territories, we’ve developed a consultation strategy and a consultation framework with First Nations and aboriginal governments here in the Northwest Territories to look at any program that might impact on those types of agreements. The federal government has just initiated its work to look at doing some work around the regulatory...