Norman Yakeleya

I’ve got a cold here, Mr. Chairman. I want to comment on the initiative that the Housing Corporation’s going to pursue on the housing rent initiatives. Certainly we look forward to it in our communities.

I wanted to say that this is a longstanding issue. For many years they talked about the whole process of the rents. It has an impact on our relationship with the federal government and their way of doing business. I want to just encourage the Minister and his staff to see if they would be able to speed up the process. I know it takes some time to go through the transition; however, if they...

I’ve been raising this issue for a number of years until I’m green in the face. There is some movement in this government here. I will be talking to the federal government and I’ll be talking to them until I’m blue in the face. However, I want to deal with this one here, Mr. Speaker. In terms of the process, the Minister said he’ll deal with the process, but I want to know the significance and what will happen. Is that going to be a time when this government is going to do something in terms of Deline being the place where hockey was played in the Northwest Territories? I want to let the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment... In the News/North newspaper last Monday it talked about a designation of territorial historical sites or events and in there it has Deline as a place of a significant event. I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the significance of this place being named as an historical site or event in the Northwest Territories, can the Minister explain to me the significance of this announcement.

(Inaudible)…Culture and Employment, Mr. Speaker. In the goals of the department here, on goal five it says “Northerners will actively participate in communities and societies to their fullest.” Then later on in the binder it talks about the different opportunities that the department is going to initiate throughout 2010-11. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the Minister in terms of the programs and training, as I spoke in my Member’s statement, in terms of training of young people. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment tell me what’s been done to prepare and implement training...

The community of Colville Lake has community health representatives. It’s not a health centre; it’s a nursing station. These good dedicated people work throughout the year. They have needed some training to just do the basic health care services in Colville Lake. I want to ask the Minister as to the level of comfort... As Mrs. Groenewegen has indicated, when people know there is a nurse in the community, there is some level of comfort for people. The people in Colville Lake are also trained throughout the year. Regarding training our community health representatives that don’t have a full-time...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take it that the Minister will look at a territorial-wide initiative in terms of just the one issue of fish, in terms of how we can get this into the government facilities.

I certainly don’t want to go back in time. The residential school days, according to my uncle, they served rotten fish there, so I’d like to just leave it at that there.

I want to ask the Minister of ITI, in terms of even just for the one issue on fish here, in terms of working with the Minister of Health and Social Services at the Stanton Territorial Hospital serving fish for elders who are in the hospital, who want fish broth, who want some boiled fish for their recovery. The Minister is responsible for traditional economy and, you know, they have wonderful fish in Great Slave Lake and Great...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is asking if I can assist. I can certainly do that, Mr. Speaker, in terms of going forward with putting programs in place for young people. I can do this through the request from myself in terms of also the leader from Fort Good Hope in terms of having a Sahtu education symposium where part of this discussion can be on the agenda in terms of going forward, and actually have other leaders to assist to make sure we get training on the ground for the people in the Sahtu.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister did talk about the Labour Market Agreement. Also in the binder that I’ve been reading, the department is going to be developing a new framework, multi-year annual plans and program guidelines. I want to ask the Minister in terms of this initiative going forward in terms of involving the people in the Sahtu. Would he involve the people in the Sahtu in terms of going forward to have training programs in place, implemented and ready to go within the life of this government for the young people in the Sahtu region?

Mr. Speaker, in the Sahtu region we have many young people under the age of 25 years old. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, 45 percent of the entire population of the Sahtu is under 25 years old. That’s an amazing fact, Mr. Speaker.

We need to develop and implement a solid plan for training so that our young people get the best training for the future. Our young people are eagerly waiting to contribute to our communities and to the North. Many young people are making their best efforts to participate in upgrading and employment training programs, and we need to have a regional training centre...