Jackson Lafferty

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] When I talked about the Member's statement, I talked about the elders who are living at home, how they are taken care of. A lot times, our elders are not well taken care of at home. I have a question for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. [End of translation] [Microphone turned off] ...issues in my region. In my Tlicho way or Dene way of life, we always, always take care of our elders. Allowing elders to remain in their own home is a win-win all around; for our elders, for our families, the community, and also for this government. We...

Masi, Madam Speaker. An elder once told me, "Enough talking. Do the action now. Fix the problem." There is an issue here, a real challenge for this elderly couple, and I would like to know from the Minister: could we have a dedicated person to deal with these issues? I understand she is dealing with the Tlicho government, the agency, and so forth. There is lots of talk happening, but elders want to see somebody who can service the furnaces, somebody who can service the plumbing. Could we have a dedicated service person, technician, in the community to deal with those during the winter months...

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] Today, in Gameti, they have been asking for the station for a long time. We have two RCMP in the community. Sometimes, when they are in a situation, where are they going to hold the people? They do not have any place. They have a small building that they hold people there, which is not right, so I would like to ask the Minister a question. [Translation ends] Obviously, the community of Gameti has been pushing an RCMP detachment for a number of years, and I think this is a great opportunity for us. Yes, it may not be suitable, but it is a facility that can be...

[Translation] As we stand here today, regarding the Ministers, they are responsible for each department, and they also work with the RCMP. [End of translation] Does the Minister agree that the Whati RCMP detachment should stay within the region, from Whati to Gameti? Gameti badly needs an RCMP detachment to hold those individuals who are causing issues in the community.

Masi, Madam Speaker. I'm glad that the Minister will be taking those best practices into consideration. My question is: when can we see those adaptations into our current policy within the department or departments in the GNWT? Madam Speaker, masi.

I am glad the Minister brought up the target. I think it's very important to have each department have targets. When I talk about Indigenous male, eight, nine percent within GNWT. That is very low considering that 50 percent population of Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories, only 30 percent of our workforce is Aboriginal. Out of that, only eight to nine percent male. It is disappointing to see those stats. It's been there a long time now. I talk about decades. I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance if there could be established targets within each department to specifically hire...

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] There are a lot of workers in the Northwest Territories. There are approximately 5,000 employees. Not only that, but we have a lot of workers all over the place, Indigenous and Inuit, Metis people. They are hired by who they are, and sometimes in the Northwest Territories, people are hired differently. [Translation ends] [Microphone turned off] …single source of work in the Northwest Territories. It is the largest single employer of the Indigenous people. That makes our government absolutely essential for informing the policies of Indigenous people. No matter...

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] This supplementary, we had a long discussion yesterday. Some supported it; some did not. I want to say a few words on this topic. Yesterday, there was an election going on in the USA, so some of them may not have listened to our proceedings yesterday. Madam Speaker, when we are here in this House as MLAs, the people are the ones who voted us in, and we, in turn, say whatever they want us to say. It's not my own words; it's my people's words. Once I leave this building, we talk to people, and we get feedback from people; we talk to the people who we represent...

I would like to ask the Minister about the process in also engaging the community, the community chiefs, and my Tlicho Government. I would like to know from the Minister what kind of engagement has taken place so far with respect to RCMP, the Commissioner, and also at the federal level within the Justice Department and my leadership. Could the Minister provide me with an update of what has been happening or what would be the process of engaging those parties?

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] I want to ask the Department of Justice a question regarding there is supposed to be a new RCMP station in Whati. I would like to ask him questions regarding the Justice Department. [End of translation] I have questions for the Minister of Justice pertaining to the process of how we allocate a structure from one community to another community. I am referring to the RCMP detachment out of Whati to Gameti within the same region. I'd like to know from the Minister: what would be the process to establish that type of dialogue within my region and the other...