Joe Handley

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Everybody wants stabilized funding. Right from the pipeline companies, to our government, to the federal government; everybody does.

That is a reality that we all have to deal with. We all have to be accountable for our money. I will say it again, Mr. Speaker. If a specific agency, Mr. Speaker, has a problem with filling out applications year after year, they should talk to the appropriate Minister, whichever one is responsible for that mandate, and talk about multi-year funding. We have multi-year funding agreements in place, we have some that are under...

Mr. Speaker, any NGO or municipal government or anyone who wants to enter into a multi-year funding arrangement with our government would have to approach the appropriate Minister. If it is a municipality, you would go to the Minister of MACA; if it’s one that’s doing work on the social agenda areas, you would go to Education or Justice or Housing or whoever is appropriate. Mr. Speaker, they would have to come back to whichever Minister is responsible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, even if non-government organizations have multi-year funding agreements, they still have to annually account for the money that has been given to them. We still have the right and responsibility to change the mandate or change the contract that we may have with them. Mr. Speaker, this House votes the budget every year. We can’t have multi-year agreements that go beyond the authority of this House. So, Mr. Speaker, they will continue to have to account for the money. If some NGOs are frustrated because they are applying for money every year, then they should talk to the...

Mr. Speaker, there may be some cases where NGOs are offering a service that we do not offer. In most cases, I would look at it as the NGOs enhancing the programs and services that we offer by dealing with it in a more specific way, often regionally or by community or simply in terms of the mandate doing it in a more detailed way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If someone had concerns with regard to the quality of service or questions about the service or programs delivered by the Tlicho Community Services Agency, of course they would go to a board member or they would go to the chairman of the board or they could go to the director if they wanted to. If they felt that this was a matter that they wanted to bring up to the GNWT, the contact person in the legislation is the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. So that would be their first point of contact and then, of course, they would be referred to a specific Minister or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Michael Miltenberger will be absent from the House today to attend the Canadian Northwest Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Partnership Ministers’ meeting in Victoria. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, but I think there are a lot people who did a lot of great work on this; much, much more than I did. I appreciate the compliment as well though. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, Tlicho laws apply only to Tlicho citizens. At a practical level, we don’t want to operate two different systems in a small community. I would hope that we would be able to come to an arrangement where we would have one arrangement for all of the people who live in that particular community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the governments of Canada, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and Nunavut jointly released the document "Nation Building: Framework for a Northern Strategy," on December 14, 2004;

AND WHEREAS all four governments have agreed to use this document as a basis for further consultation with all northerners leading up to the finalization of a Northern Strategy;

AND WHEREAS all four governments have committed to involving aboriginal governments and organizations in the consultation process;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories will be consulting with...