Norman Yakeleya

This apology gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, we can begin a new chapter in the history of our country.

From living in the bush we know life can be different, a far cry from now what we experience in our communities.

On May 26th I encourage people across Canada and the Northwest Territories to pray and to think about the healing process and the work towards reconciliation that we all need to do.

It is an honour to stand here and say thank you for being the first and only government in our land to support survivors by giving them this date to help them. Imagine what it would be like if we all...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

1.

Please provide a schedule showing how often the Housing Corporation conducts assessments on its public housing units to check for mould and other potential health hazards.

2.

Please provide a copy of a policy and detailed action plan of how the Housing Corporation will deal with mould and similar health hazards in public housing units.

Thank you. It’s my understanding that Education, Culture and Employment has been the lead department to monitor and coordinate the GNWT’s support with the TRC Commission. I want to ask the Premier, through the Department of Education and Culture, collecting the archives and the photographs and putting this historical event together for the survivors and the community, if this even, or this collection at the end of the TRC process, will be made available to all the residents for a show and explain the history to the people at any public venue that could be sponsored by this government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has a five-year mandate, and that is to examine the legacy of the residential schools in Canada. Inuvik will host this historical healing moment of our past. We have a lot of GNWT employees who have been impacted by the residential schools and the effects it has caused. I want to ask the Premier how will our government support them in this Truth and Reconciliation event in Inuvik.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to recognize all the Pages; specifically the two Pages from the Sahtu and the community of Deline: Raymond Bernarde and Jordon Kenny.

I also want to recognize the support in the House for Members, especially for Mr. Jacobson and his family. It’s nice to see them here and to know that the real boss is in the House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories declared May 26th a National Day of Healing and Reconciliation. It is still the only Legislature in Canada to recognize the day and acknowledge the abuse suffered by well over 10,000 Aboriginal children in residential schools in the North alone. Of the 150,000 students, there are 80,000 students living today.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently travelled to the Northwest Territories, giving voice to residential school survivors and other community members. Tulita hosted a very powerful meeting on May 10th...

It’s encouraging to hear the Minister say that he’s willing to listen and work on some of the innovative solutions. I want to ask the Minister in regard to the eviction list in one of my communities. Is this something that the Minister can possibly look at implementing with Housing as policy? Right now it’s at discretion. If we had a policy that would give more direction to the LHOs to say now we can look at another avenue to have people work on their issues and what it means to be a homeowner or to live in a public housing unit, it will help them in terms of being more independent.

WHEREAS people with post-secondary education are six times more likely to have employment, and completing post-secondary education dramatically increases the lifetime prospects of having well-paid, stable employment;

AND WHEREAS the Department of Education’s Student Financial Assistance Program is designed to support full-time students pursuing a post-secondary education;

AND WHEREAS the living allowance for these students has not increased for 11 years, since the year 2000;

AND WHEREAS the Consumer Price Index in Canada has increased 27 percent since 2000, which indicates that the value of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the possibility of the homeless people in the Sahtu communities and other communities who face the issue of the eviction notices and termination of public housing units. This is all due to a number of attempts to collect arrears payments to the units. I want to ask the Minister, in his review of the Shelter Policy for the NWT Housing Corporation, if there is going to be a policy where tenants like these that are very high in arrears can have some other options such as working off their arrears or looking at some garnishment for...

I mentioned the Ministers of PWS and DOT because he talked a little bit on this issue here. For example, the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority is going to hire four, but in any other regions, none of their health boards are hiring any summer students. This is an agency of something like the Sahtu Health Board. I want to ask if this opportunity can be given the same as the Fort Smith Health and Social Services Authority, which has hired six people.

The fairness and equality is not there. Can the Minister ensure that our regions will also have the same opportunity as the boards in...