Norman Yakeleya

Does the Minister anticipate the ruling of the court will have an impact on future discussions involving aboriginal groups and treaty rights?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice. I want to ask the Minister of Justice who Cabinet consulted with on the decision to refer the question of the Government of the Northwest Territories’ legal right to impose a ban on aboriginal people from hunting to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories.

That’s what I was alluding to regarding the communication on this project. There are certain things you want to communicate to the public, certain things you want to communicate to specific organizations out there. There is also the communication process for Regular Members that members of the public aren’t privy to. You know, some of the briefings that we had are very helpful in terms of going forward with this project.

I’m happy to hear the Minister is going to put together a communication plan of various levels. It’s a very important asset that the GNWT will own and have on the books here...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask the Minister about other legal things that could be associated with the Deh Cho Bridge Project, some of the unresolved matters. For example, ATCON is in receivership and there may be claims outstanding that may be unresolved issues with the bridge. Is the GNWT likely to become involved in any legal actions related to the project? What matters might be unresolved that might cost the GNWT money? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. I look forward to that discussion with the Members after he’s had some discussions with the Minister of Finance Canada.

Mr. Chair, in terms of the time frame to complete the bridge, we’re looking at 2011, in terms of this time frame and the amount of work that it is required, we aren’t too sure how things are going to unfold next week or the day after. We’re under a time frame. There are certain consequences of not meeting the time frame. In his good judgement and estimation, can the Minister of Transportation say that the quality assurance of the project, things that we...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask about the toll fees and when the Minister will have some type of solid information in terms of the new information that we’re going to get for the toll fees in light of what some things that may happen in terms of revenue coming in for the payment of the bridge.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister consider withdrawing the reference question to the court?

Will the Minister commit to discussing any future decisions to refer matters to the Supreme Court with the Regular Members?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to ask the Minister of ENR about the issue with the Yellowknives Dene and the news he had yesterday. I want to follow up, this being the last day of the House. I want to ask where the deal is with the Yellowknives Dene. Are they closed or still ongoing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to say to the mines that I appreciate them choosing Norman Wells as a pickup point for the workers coming out of the Sahtu. I want to ask the Minister about new development going forward on diamond mine training. Could he look at one community in the Sahtu bringing in new training programs in the next couple of months to develop a program that would have the NWT mining society work with the Aurora College to look at programs they could have in the Sahtu region?