Jane Groenewegen

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, I have a constituent who is currently in their second year, who is in law school because of the bursary program, and has not heard back from the GNWT Department of Justice about articling or summer employment opportunities. It just seems ironic that we’ve had limited success so therefore let’s just pull the rug out from under the whole thing. What about the students who are currently enrolled in law school, who are depending on the law bursary program to conclude their studies?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week during the review of the Main Estimates for the Department of Justice we discussed the government’s plan to eliminate the law bursary program for aboriginal students.

Mr. Speaker, the department’s reasoning for the reductions centred on the reality that very few of the students who had received the bursary returned to the North to work after completing law school and that the department would not be able to guarantee articling positions and summer employment opportunities.

I’m aware that the Standing Committee on Social Programs accepted at face value and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The wish of the committee is to continue with the Main Estimates for the Department of Health and Social Services today.

I appreciate the fact the Minister agrees we could do better, and I think time is of the essence in trying to come up with something. I believe, as I said in my comments yesterday, that with the increased cost of fuel and electricity, this is going to become an urgent matter for seniors. You’re going to see many seniors unable to cope with these costs as they come upon us this winter.

Mr. Speaker, another anomaly within the support to seniors is the fact that some of the support is means-tested, some is not. For example, if you are living in public housing, it does not matter how much money you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on one of the questions asked by Mr. Robert McLeod from Twin Lakes, and it has to do with the fairness of the support we offer to seniors when it comes to housing generally. My questions are for the Minister Responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, we know to live in public housing as a senior over 60 there is no rent charged. With the changing demographics, the aging demographic in the Northwest Territories, is that offering on a universal basis sustainable?

Mr. Speaker, my constituent is in second year of law school. They would like to complete their degree. Why can’t the students who are currently enrolled, at the very least, be grandfathered and receive support for the remainder of their degree?

It may be that when these young people do graduate from law school there may be some attraction to stay down south for awhile. Ultimately, a lot of people will return to their roots and will return to their homes when they get ready to settle down, perhaps raise a family. They will come back to the North.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe we can cut off...

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I raised the possibility that the reason the law bursary program failed to encourage any recipients to return north to article and practise law may have been related to the lack of attention the department paid to the recipients and the program in general. Can the Minister of Justice inform this Assembly whether, once the department realized the law bursary program wasn’t meeting its intent…? Did the department examine the program with a view to improving it so it would meet its objectives?

To the issue of this being given some kind of a priority here, we cannot afford to lose any more professionals out of our community. As I said, I believe that the lack of this legislation is something that has affected Hay River just this past week in a very detrimental way. What kind of time frame could we be looking at to have this legislation in place and approved in this House?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement today, we are probably the only jurisdiction in Canada that does not have legislation enabling professionals to become incorporated. I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice if this type of legislation is forthcoming in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last Friday your Committee of the Whole considered a motion to delete funding from the Department of Justice for planning towards the renovation of the Territorial Women’s Correctional Centre in Fort Smith. In a very unusual step a Minister other than the Minister responsible for the department whose estimates were before the committee spoke to the motion. Mr. Miltenberger is the Member for Thebacha, which includes the community of Fort Smith.

In speaking to the motion, the Member made the following remarks, and I quote from the unedited Hansard of May 30, 2008: “And as...