Norman Yakeleya

WHEREAS it is critically important that elders in the Northwest Territories share their knowledge and culture in our schools;

AND WHEREAS elders in most communities are willing to teach the young people in schools, or as part of school programs on the land;

AND WHEREAS the simple presence of supportive elders in school and the high degree of respect that they get adds to students’ sense of security and strengthens their ability to learn;

AND WHEREAS elders should be compensated for their work and time, like anyone else providing a valuable service to the GNWT;

AND WHEREAS the Government of Nunavut...

Mr. Speaker, with our small population, compared to the province of Alberta, I want to ask the Minister, does it make sense to have any type of carbon tax in the Northwest Territories going forward in the 17th?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about the carbon tax. The carbon tax government revenue option paper in 2008 indicated that the GNWT, when they did the assessment stating that carbon tax would increase the cost of living in the Northwest Territories. This goes contrary to one of our goals to reduce the cost of living in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister of ENR with the carbon tax that is coming up for some discussions here, we need to protect seniors and low-income residents and recognize the regional cost of living. How is the Minister going to propose to look at...

Again, as I read further into the comments, I don’t know what to make of it. I want to ask the Minister, in this transaction that happened between the Norman Wells issue here, the Land Corporation and MACA, when the Minister is taking a look at it will he do a review to satisfy some people out there that we did follow policy, all transactions happened in a fair manner and that this deal here is one that should never be questioned again to the extent that I saw in the Hansard?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of MACA. It has to do with an issue that was brought up in the House on March 1st, with Mr. Bromley and the Minister, an exchange of the Norman Wells land sale, land base. The comments I’ve read and the exchange that I’ve read, it was pretty brutal and the people of Norman Wells we’re pretty well taken back and very hurt about this deal and they really are hurt about the comments made in this House.

I want to make it clear to the Minister here, when this deal was going through and this history of this deal, did MACA exclude the interests...

Mr. Chair, it’s been indicated before that the committee did not go to the smaller communities to hear some discussion around this work. We went to the larger centres. We certainly heard very passionately from the larger centres that we went to, but we did not go to the predominantly smaller communities of Aboriginal people, we did not get their view, really get their view and their definition of this clause. When we did talk about it in committee it was the majority of Members that wanted to go with this section of the legislation. So I’m going to, and this is what we worked out in terms of a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs initiate discussions with stakeholders and veterinary colleges to explore options for expanding access to veterinary services, and in particular spay and neuter programs, throughout the Northwest Territories, and where necessary, facilitate the implementations of such options.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say a few words to this motion. I want to thank Mr. Abernethy for making this motion on the floor here for discussion. I want to say that I will support the family’s request to look at this incident and ask the government here to strongly consider an internal investigation into what happened. The family does want to know the truth of this and they want to make sure that this type of incident doesn’t happen anymore or doesn’t occur anymore at Stanton Hospital. To prevent it, they want to make sure that no other family could go through this if they can prevent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be brief. I want to thank the Member for Weledeh for seconding the motion. I want to say a few comments here to this motion.

In this day and age and with the vast challenges that the youth have with the conflicting values that they are being taught at home and school and what they see on TV, and how the community is running these days, it’s critically important, it’s actually life and death that we start to enrol our elders into schools so that the youth can get valuable teaching and get some of the knowledge that the elders have and have held and want to pass on to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had indicated before, our region is very dependent on carbon and fossil fuel. Mr. Speaker, we do not have the luxury of having hydro power in our communities. Just recently INAC issued one of the largest land bids in the Northwest Territories: 11 parcels. There are a few more up in the Beaufort-Delta. We depend on fossil fuel in the Sahtu. Until we see some hydro initiatives coming into the Sahtu to lower our costs and to look at carbon tax, I cannot support this carbon tax issue right now. What is the Minister doing on a going forward basis to show that we are...