Norman Yakeleya

I, again, look forward to some of the information that the Minister is going to bring forward to us. I want to talk about the Aboriginal culture and building the bridge for the new type of academic western type of learning. I want to know how that bridge is being formed in our small communities, and that the Aboriginal culture is certainly at the foremost and at the base of our education in our schools.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ve looked at this department and I’d like to make comments. First of all, I’m glad the department is responding to the oil and gas activity by the planting of two positions in the budget so they can come and work with the people in the Sahtu to handle the increase of oil and gas activity. As to their role in the community, I’ll probably ask the Minister later as to what type of work they’re going to be doing to get the people in the Sahtu ready for the oil and gas activity.

As you’re well aware, we also have the new hospital and long-term care facilities. So there’s...

My questions are to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I did a Member’s statement, as other Members talked about, on the Anti-Bullying Campaign. I want to ask the Minister of Education, what percentage of Aboriginal cultural content is in our education system.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask the Minister, in light of what we are discussing on another front, the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line and what we see here for the Technology Service Centre.

In our small communities, we have different departments that belong to us and different authorities and health and education boards. Everybody is using different systems. It costs us quite a bit of money in those small communities. Is there a system now being looked at where everybody will be using that will cut down costs for some of the innovative concepts and ideas that are being discussed, like...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask the Minister about the infrastructure requirements or needs in our smaller communities. For example, our schools or Aurora College. Is there infrastructure information that we could look at in terms of a 10, 20 year, sort of, down the road? For example, my colleague from Nahendeh talked about the schools in his riding. They’re no different than the schools that we have in Colville Lake and we still expect our children to obtain a level of educational standards that is pretty difficult to beat at times. I appreciate the work that you’ve done in the last...

Okay, that’s great. My next question is on the safe drinking water initiative. Some communities have some questions on their source of water. Has the department been, in the past, willing to support communities who want to look at other sources of water initiatives? I’m talking about Fort Good Hope where there is an issue on their water source, and that Fort Good Hope wants to look at other alternative water intakes to calm the concerns of the people in that community. They are looking at another source, but that costs quite a bit to get that going. So is there support within the department to...

Thank you. I look forward to being in contact with the people in Deline because they’ll be happy to hear what the Minister has said. I will relay the message to them. Of course, I will ask the Minister’s guidance as to how we kick off this type of discussion. I know Deline has been quite anxious to begin this discussion and look at this concept. Where do we begin? Where should we begin? Letter writing? Phone calls? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could let the Minister of Public Works know that we have a process such as the devolution process now. We don’t want to get the jobs out of Ottawa and bring them into Yellowknife. I think the basic process that he has a path. I want to ask the Minister, within the life of this government, to serve the people the best that they need. As the Minister of Finance has always said, we want to control their own destiny. We want that in the Sahtu.

Will the Minister again commit to a discussion paper, a paper that would make sense, similar to the devolution deal that we did...

Just as we have staff in the other communities, I’m asking for the regional authority to be moved to the Sahtu. Right now, the decisions are made in Inuvik. When will the regional authority be devolved into our region? As the Minister of Finance would say, we want control of our destiny. When will that happen?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aboriginal context or Aboriginal culture in our schools starts with our elders. I’ve been at this job for close to nine years and I want to ask the Minister, in the nine years that we’ve been working – and he actually worked on this side with me – when will we see the elders in our schools. It’s been promised before and I want to ask again, when can we see elders in our schools?