Kevin A. Menicoche

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, May 22, 2008, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that this Assembly urge the Prime Minister of Canada to make a public apology to the many aboriginal people who suffered abuse while attending federally funded residential schools, and further, that this Assembly strongly recommends the Premier of the Northwest Territories communicate this desire to the Prime Minister at the next opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with...

Mr. Speaker, of course exciting news with this announcement. Just in terms of the general public, when can we see some impacts, whether it’s municipal or transportation projects being delivered, as a result of this announcement and expenditure? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table an information package sent to me by Open Doors Society with regard to a request of the government to help them relocate, as well as support letters from various organizations in Fort Simpson.

Document 29-16(2), Information Package Regarding Open Doors Society Re-Location, tabled.

Mr. Speaker, I’m sure that people are using our programs and services with NWT Housing Corporation. They really don’t have an avenue of appeal; in fact, they have to appeal right now to the person who ruled against them in the programs and services that they wanted. What existing avenues do they have currently?

Once again, I’d like to state the urgency of this situation, because the Deh Cho Hall will be shutting down this fall, and all non-governmental organizations will be asked to vacate the premises. So once again: will the Minister convey to his department and his officials the urgency of addressing the non-governmental organizations’ needs in Fort Simpson?

Mr. Speaker, I’d just like to advise the Minister that I’ve been getting contrary information from the people that run those organizations. There hasn’t been a meeting set up, to date. As well, in some of the back-and-forth correspondence we’ve received…. I thought the intent here, too, was to appoint a contact person, a point of entry within the government that these NGOs can work with. To date, there’s been no such person established or identified. I’d like to ask the Minister: will the Minister identify a contact person these NGOs can work with?

I’d like to recognize in the gallery my Constituency Assistant from Fort Simpson, Ms. Janice Mandeville.

As well, I'd like to recognize a former Fort Simpson and Deh Cho resident, Father Joe Daley. Mahsi cho.

Once again, we’re urging government to levelize our electricity rates in the North. Once again, we’re asking government that…. Electrical power’s an essential service. That’s something that none of our communities can get by without. We’ve got many, many remote communities that operate on diesel-generated services and our community-rate-based structure. There’s no equity in that for our communities, Mr. Speaker. We’re expecting small communities such as Nahanni Butte, Colville Lake, Jean Marie to pay for the O&M and infrastructure of our power systems in those communities.

We cannot continue to...

There’s something that’s been outstanding for quite some time. Is the Minister looking at instituting something this year? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister Responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation some questions.

Over the course of time in my term as an MLA, I’ve been pursuing an appeal within the Housing Corporation. I don’t know how much work has been done to date. I’d like to ask the Minister: have they been looking at it, and if they have, how much work has been done with it?

Mahsi.