Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ad that was put out by the board on the recruitment process for the CEO was out. I was informed about it as the ad had gone out. I met with the acting chair of the board as well as their recruitment committee for that position. They have informed me that there has been no designation as to whether it be Hay River or Yellowknife, but they included that, and partly due to the fact of the review that was done that talked about some restructuring of the executive part of the headquarters. There is no commitment from that piece that we are not planning to do any moves...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spent a great deal of time this summer talking with NWT residents and organizations about their vision and priorities in the future of our Territory. I was pleased and challenged by the many conversations that I had in various Creating Our Future Together roundtables, but even more so by the passion and commitment that NWT residents have demonstrated by their participation.

I have been particularly inspired and rejuvenated by the discussions I enjoyed with our Territory’s youth.

Today’s youth are ready and eager to meet the challenges of the future. They do not back...

Mr. Speaker, the area of the work that’s being done at the Northern Leaders Forum, which we do have involvement from Regular Members, we will pull that work together, we will come up with options of how we proceed. How much of that, for example, will be run through this forum, being the public government, the process for it and what type of recommendations... Do they get debated, for example, in this Assembly? Do we put it out there for more comments? Our goal is to come back in June of the upcoming year for discussion by this Assembly as how we would progress on those key areas and adopting...

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 The question that was put forward to the courts and subsequently, as Members are aware, that we’ve withdrawn that question.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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we have heard from all Members of this Legislative Assembly, including yourself, many stories and the history of Mr. Whitford throughout the Northwest Territories. Indeed on the trips I have been at and he has been a part of, he seems to always know someone in the crowd. That has always impressed me with that ability to speak to people and touch their lives.

There are so many stories. Mr. Miltenberger leaned over to me as we listened. He said, “For all of the stories we have heard and as many of us have heard around this table, he really must be 150 years old or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues.

WHEREAS Anthony W.J. (Tony) Whitford was appointed Commissioner of the Northwest Territories on April 29, 2005;

AND WHEREAS Mr. Whitford served as Deputy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from October 2004 until April 2005;

AND WHEREAS Mr. Whitford was elected by his fellow Members in 1999 to serve as Speaker of the 14th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS Mr. Whitford was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in 1988 and has served as Minister of Health and Social Services, Safety and Public...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this subject has been raised in this Assembly a number of times by Members in this area that has been brought up today. I know Members were very concerned when the news came forward that, in fact, this program had been sunsetted and there wasn’t going to be a renewal of it. So we’re supportive as myself, as an individual from Inuvik Boot Lake, having two residential schools in our community and seeing both the negative and some of the positive impacts of that. I know that there’s a journey that needs to be completed. So I’m, in principle, supporting this.

I...

Thank you. Since that information is detailed ongoing discussions with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, I’ll have that redirected to Minister Miltenberger.