Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister of Health and Social Services has already delivered her Minister’s statement, this is Mental Wellness Week. It is encouraging that so much more awareness today is being brought to this topic of mental wellness. When we see Olympic athletes like Clara Hughes in a media public service announcement talking about her struggle with depression, that was once considered something to be shrouded in secrecy can now be talked about openly.

As a young mother I suffered with postpartum depression and anxiety. Unless you have experienced depression, it’s very...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s unfortunate because I did think it was going to be a road realignment. That’s the word I was missing was “realignment.” Because there already is a guardrail there, actually. Here’s the edge of the road and here’s the drop-off to the riverbank. I mean, it’s impossible. What would you set any kind of... How could you shore that up? It’s like a sheer drop down of a hundred feet. I don’t know how you could possibly shore something like that up. I will ask the Minister if he will provide me with the details as soon as he has them on what the solution to this what I...

I’d like to ask the Minister if he could describe what the nature of that work would be.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to congratulate the Northwest Territories Metis Nation. There was a signing ceremony today in the media room at noon and the representatives and leadership of their government were on hand to sign and to witness this historic document.

Mr. Speaker, as Ms. Betty Villebrun noted in her comments today, she said: “In signing the agreement-in-principle, the NWT Metis Nation is now in a position to be a part of the negotiations that will ultimately determine the final agreement that will come and will be in the best interests of their citizens.”

When we took...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The wish of the committee today is to continue with the Department of Health and Social Services and, time permitting, to begin with the general comments on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would assume that little portion of the highway there would be rerouted or moved so that it’s not so close to the edge of the riverbank. When does the Minister anticipate... I mean, this is February, it’s almost spring. When would the tender be going out for this repair?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll make this question brief. I’ve raised in this House before issues about the road, the highway that’s operated by the GNWT Department of Transportation that runs south of Hay River to Enterprise, in the Minister’s riding. For the record, could the Minister please update us on what his department has done about the erosion taking place beside the highway so that people in Hay River and Enterprise who travel that highway and others don’t need to worry about falling over the cliff into the abyss?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Mr. Speaker, the Minister has gone to the second part of the question I was going to ask, and that is why, when a student returning from travel who provides an airplane ticket receipt with a credit card receipt stapled to it, why the department would want to see the name on the credit card and would like to see a copy of the credit card statement? I think that is excessive; however, what the Minister is saying here, I believe, is that there are other agencies who could possibly be paying for that and the government does not want to be reimbursing a student if, in fact, it is some other...