Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask the Minister about the relationships we have with the Aboriginal governments. I know we have an Engagement Strategy. I guess it’s two-pronged. One, are we going to continue to support the efforts made by this government to strengthen our relationship with the Aboriginal governments right across the North? It’s pretty diversified and quite challenging. However, this should be strengthening our employees to not be so complacent and go out and expand their ability to look at different points of view, the different nations and different governments. We are on...

The Minister is correct; he’s given me some numbers for Nats’ejee K’eh on the capacity and finishing and he’s very correct on the success rate. We can probably do it very bush league type and I can tell you how many people in the Sahtu went to Nats’ejee K’eh and how many stayed sober after six months, eight months, 12 months. I think what the Minister, I’m not too sure if I really want to know that, because that takes a lot of effort and energy and we want to do something that’s different, like prevention. Like you talked about before, how we can best use those resources, time, and effort. I’m...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to the Minister’s information. Just on the principle again of the nurse practitioners, and the Minister can correct me if this is the place where I need to continue digging into this or just ask about it later on in the business plan, but I am asking the Minister on the principle in the policy of these active positions, if they’re working closely with the Sahtu Health Board or the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, or any other authorities we have on these valuable positions and people that we have hired. Is there a policy in health that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister is challenged with many, many challenges. Of course, our system is bulging at the seams with all the needs that we want in the communities that we face. As my colleague talked about Tsiigehtchic, it’s no different than talking about Colville Lake. It’s the same situation. It’s a different town, different time, and situations like that. The Health department is doing its best to get into the community from time to time and be there longer than a couple hours or a couple days. Thank God we have some pretty dedicated people that just need to deal with the...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

I’ll get to that area when we talk about the modernization of this act. I want to definitely see the nurse practitioners in there and how we can continue to support them in their efforts and make it easier for us, and I hope we can have some fruitful discussion when we get to that area. I’m just lending my support to those professions.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask the Minister, and maybe it might be in another section of the business plans, on the principle of the Nurse Practitioner Program. I’m not too sure if it’s in here or fits in this section or later on on these positions that are within the department of within the health board, so we have some graduates this year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. It is my hope that our region and other regions will be treated fairly and acknowledged once and for all that our currency has been stretched to the limit in all of our communities. Please, we need help from this government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To live in the North it is very costly. We all know how much it is costing us to live in our small communities, even in Yellowknife. When we come to Yellowknife or when we travel to Edmonton, we do the necessary things. We have to shop. We do this to seize the opportunity to bring back cheap groceries, clothing or material. A lot of our people are shocked to see how much things cost in Yellowknife. I am definitely in awe to see the prices in Edmonton. It has been reported by our government that to live reasonably well in Sachs Harbour, you would have to make about $95...

I’ve seen some notices up in the communities where they have a big poster saying that they’re going to implement the new rent scale. I want to ask the Minister, prior to making changes or looking at the changes or implementing some of the changes of the people in the Sahtu, the seniors who are living in these public housing units, prior to this, maybe six, seven, eight, nine months ago, has the Housing Corporation talked to these seniors who are in these units, saying that in the future we’re thinking about or we’re going to charge you rent? Does the Minister have a record of this in the five...