Michael McLeod

It is a camp, Mr. Speaker, that has a tremendous amount of potential for the people wanting to deal with their alcohol addiction and deal with it close to home. There are some people without that support group that may find it easier to go south, but there are also a lot of people that want that support group with them. I commend the Nihtat and the Gwich’in Tribal Council for seeing that there is a problem and not just talking about it. We talk all we want. They see a problem there and they want to do something about it. Mr. Speaker, alcohol is a killer. Today, it is no accident that I...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I spoke to this yesterday and I wanted to say a few more comments, make a few more comments. This is a continuation of positions that were allocated a couple of years ago on term, four positions, that have sunsetted now. The idea was to have some bodies in the communities that were impacted by, first of all, the pipeline project and other resource development that is going on. A lot of work has been done. Yesterday, there were comments a made that MACA should have all the baseline information that the communities have in terms of infrastructure and capacity. That...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I moved that $291,000 be deleted from the activity regional operations under the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs operations expenditures, not previously authorized, on page 11, for the provision of funding for two regional resource development impact advisor positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, stand in support of this motion and I appreciate everyone in this House giving this motion the attention it deserves and the respect it deserves by paying close attention to the words that are being spoken on this side. Mr. Speaker, I’m living testament to the devastation that alcohol can cause on a family. I’ve lost two aunts, two uncles, my grandfather, cousins, friends to alcohol and the abuse of alcohol. All these people, and many more across the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, would be still with us today had it not been for alcohol....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Metis Nation is the primary government that has come forward lately. The other issue that has, I guess, caused us to take a second look at this is the process that we’re going to use. Is it a protected area strategy that we’re going to be pursuing? So we’re kind of taking a step back, but at the same time there is another government that has come forward and asked us to speak to us. So we’d like to do that prior to moving forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have to ensure that we have all the people that have an interest in this area and this sanctuary have a say in it. There has been a process out there. Some aboriginal governments have indicated to us that they have a desire to speak to the issue. We want to take the opportunity to hear them out and decide what our next steps are going to be, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

…the concept of going to find partners such as CPAWS and the Canadian Boreal Initiative and those types of partners is something we are working on. However, we need somebody to do the actual legwork. We need partners to be able to come forward and help us put the budget together for our water summit, similar to what we have done with the caribou summit where we brought in a number of partners. They have contributed towards a gathering. We need to be able to do that. We didn’t have anything in our budget for this coming year to do a water conference. It’s obvious that we need to have one to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we all know that prevention is the best tool for dealing with alcohol abuse, but there’s always going to be alcohol abuse no matter what and a lot of these people continue to try to go for treatment. A lot of them have to leave home. They come back and I’d like to ask the Minister if he knows, or is aware, of a mechanism in place when they return to their home communities to monitor them after a 28-day treatment session? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Once any information that the Minister can provide, does it have a timeline as to the earliest that they can expect to see a Dialysis Program up in the Beaufort-Delta? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we listen to the people of the Northwest Territories and they tell us that they feel that there is a need for treatment centres in the region. Yet we get a $97,000 report called Stay the Course recommending no need for treatment centres. I’d like to ask this government and the Minister, who are we listening to? Thank you.