Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, certainly the leadership was happy again to have the Premier there and listen to the people. I want to ask the Premier, in terms of going forward with the Sahtu, they certainly want to make sure the communities were not going to be excluded in the management or administration of public lands and resources and other interests that could be pushed out or overlooked. We want to know if this government here is serious in terms of how do we implement the strong chapter 6 of this agreement where it talks about true partnership, because right now we are not seeing it here. We want to ask...

Would we then see the elders in our schools this fall? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Yesterday the Premier and I, with staff members, met with the majority of the leadership in the Sahtu. We talked about the devolution. I appreciate the people in Deline for hosting us and thank the Premier for taking me down to Deline.

I want to ask the Premier, as he heard the leadership speak on devolution and the Sahtu’s position in terms of going forward we want to work together, however there are some serious concerns with the present draft AIP as it stands now. I want to ask the Premier about chapter 22, whether that chapter will be...

Thank you. I look forward to the Minister’s discussion paper or analysis in terms of IT support in our communities. Again, the Minister is somewhat correct in terms of giving the O and M money to the educational boards to decide where the priorities are going to be spent, but when you have 450 computers in the Sahtu region and no IT support to upgrade, to facilitate smooth operations of our computers in our schools, our schools again are hit with a tough decision as to where do they spend the dollars. It’s not fair that these computers are then asked to be brought into our schools to keep in...

The students I know from Sahtu, there is quite a significant number that went to Aurora College programs this year. Some went to other institutions, post-secondary institutions. We’ve provided them a lot of support. The communities support them. We need them back in our communities. I don’t know if the Minister had a quick hand in this in terms of getting some support into our communities by offering the practicum back into my community.

I talked earlier in the House about someone who was doing some programming in Grande Prairie and now there’s a possibility of her doing her practicum back in...

The Minister is correct that the DEA does have the discretion as to where they spend their O and M. In saying that, we have about 450 computers in the Sahtu that certainly need support, IT support. Right now there’s none in terms of unless the DEA takes a little pot here, takes a pot here, and there’s different programming that they also need to be funded. There’s no dedicated dollars going to IT support in the Sahtu schools and that’s something that I want to ask the Minister if that’s a true statement that there is no IT support in our schools for computers unless the education board...

That’s the point I want to make with the Minister. What mechanisms would make her familiar with some of the issues that the different departments have to deal with seniors? It seems like things are still not quite yet connected as the Minister responsible for Seniors, in terms of giving them a strong voice within the departments to tell the Housing go to Fort Good Hope, fix this senior’s house up. This senior’s wife is crippled. The senior was living on the land. The senior comes back and yet the house is not done. What is this Minister doing to make sure that there’s a strong voice for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister in terms of the timelines. It is usually about springtime, I guess, and hoping that by then can I get a commitment from this Minister that we would have a person in Fort Good Hope that is hired and working in the community to help with the youth on their issues and work with the families.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House as to when the position will be recruited and hired for Fort Good Hope?

Thank you. I’d like to recognize a friend, Delores Lacorne.