Jane Groenewegen

So let me understand; the Minister is not denying that there are many youth in the Northwest Territories that could benefit from treatment, but there are not youth that are coming forward, identifying themselves as candidates for treatment and the ones that we are sending to the South are being forced into treatment because they’ve come in contact with the law or have been referred there kind of as a desperate measure. So we have a drug and alcohol problem amongst our youth and we don’t really have any way to get them into treatment. They don’t really want to go do treatment. So they’re coming...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that there are a lot of skills contained in that office and certainly we don’t want to make rash moves without sufficient analysis before we would make moves in the area of decentralization, but I just want to say that I do appreciate the Premier’s public commitment here today and his willingness to look at this. I thank him very much. Thank you.

I’d like to ask the Premier, is he prepared to, I guess, issue a decree as the leader here in the North to his Cabinet colleagues and to the people in the bureaucracy that this is something we are serious about. Not to do things that are insensible, but to seriously analyze opportunities to do things in the regions, in communities outside of Yellowknife wherever possible. Is he prepared to put that message out in a way that we can recognize it and see it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Pastor Emmanuel Adam. He’s not my constituent, he’s yours, but I appreciate the good work he does in Tuktoyaktuk. Often when my husband has visited up there, he’s stopped in at the church and I do not think we can underestimate the good spiritual leadership provided by our pastors here in the North.

As MLAs we’ve heard the desperate cry of parents who have children that are addicted to drugs and alcohol that are turning to us as a government and saying what can you do for my child. Is there any mechanism through the Department of Social Services, through community wellness workers? Is there any tool that this government has access to that could work with these youth to encourage them to seek help, to help them self-identify as having a problem and seek help? It’s almost unbelievable to me that we have this big a problem with drugs and alcohol and yet we as a government say hey, we’ve got...

A very strong support network of your family comes in at these times, and I think it’s very important that our children do feel the security and acceptance of their own family when these kinds of things happen in the world out there at large.

I think it’s a good message to parents that we can’t always control everything that happens to our children. I know that in my foray into politics, people have asked me, how can you stand people saying things about you? How are you thick-skinned enough to go out there and do it? And in a strange kind of a way, maybe it was because I did develop that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to today recognize two Pages from Hay River South, Angela Roy and Kateryna Staszuk, Grade 8 students from the Ecole Boreale school in Hay River, and also the chaperone, Kateryna’s mom, Michelle Staszuk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It used to be that bullying was seen as a normal part of growing up. Kids who were bullied just needed to learn to stick up for themselves. Fortunately, our thinking has changed and we’ve become aware of how much bullying really does hurt. Even as adults, many people still carry emotional scars from what used to be thought of as just the ordinary rough and tumble of the schoolyard.

At its most basic, bullying is when someone keeps saying or doing things to have power over another person. It can take the form of name calling, threats, leaving a person out of activities...

The funding that goes to the NWT Seniors’ Society is project specific. It goes to fund things that are clearly outlined in terms of programming, the NWT Seniors Helpline, and various things like that. There is no money that is given to the NWT Seniors’ Society which then is passed on to a local seniors’ society such as the one in Hay River.

I would like to know if it would be possible to identify funds that could be applied for directly by local seniors’ societies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about the Hay River Seniors’ Society. This is a very vibrant and fun-loving group of seniors in Hay River, an association of which I am proud to say I’m a member.

I have a recent newsletter and I’m just going to use it to highlight the very busy schedule seniors keep in Hay River. They do get together often and have a very good time. They have coffee at their facility five times a week. They’re having a crib tournament in February. They’re having a fun bingo with a Valentines theme. They’ve produced calendars and cookbooks which are almost sold...